We started out at the Carrowdore Presbyterian Church. Presbyterians are not a huge part of the Irish population, but they've been there since the late 1500s, and have pretty much stayed Presbyterian since that time. Our drive into Carrowdore, and some houses of the era.
We met Herbie (?) Robinson at the Church, and he let us in, talked to us for a bit, showed us around, and basically told us that that was all he could do. The minister was not available, and he had all the church records. But Mr Robinson was willing to take us to Dunover, and to the Whitechurch Cemetery.
The church in Carrowdore.
Dunover is a townland, a land division of Ireland. John's great-grandfather, Hugh Hamilton, was born in Ballywalter, Dunover, and seeing the farmland around there was pretty amazing. Hugh's wife, Great-grandmother Jane Robinson, was born in Carrowdore, Ballyrawr, only a few miles away, and we were able to see that, also. Hugh's brother, Patrick, had a gravestone erected for their mother, Mary Ann Boyd, and we searched high and low for that stone, finally resorting to bothering one of the town workers on the site. He led us right to it.
Driving through Dunover.
Great-great Grandmother Mary Ann's headstone.
When Herbie left us, he pointed out the home of the minister for the Ballywalter church, and told us to tell him Herbie Robinson sent us.
Minister Graham had no idea who Herbie Robinson was, but gladly spent about an hour with us, showing us around the Ballywalter Presbyterian Church, combing through old records for names we recognized, and razzing us about our Lutheran faith. In the end, we found nothing about Hugh and Jane, per se. We did find a marriage registry for Patrick, and it showed that Hugh and Jane were witnesses at his wedding. We also found a plaque that needs investigating, listing Hugh as a member of the congregation who served in WWI. We had not heard that about him, yet, and will be checking into it.
A scene from Ballyrawr.
Aaand...the obligatory Irish sheep.
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