Searching for our Creighton Links

You don’t say what denomination the Creighton family were. If Church of Ireland (Episcopalian) the principal Downpatrick church records start in 1733 for baptisms, 1701 for marriages & 1718 for burials. The Cathedral only has records from the 1860s and there is also a church at Hollymount but it’s early records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin. Neither of the 2 Presbyterian churches in the town have any records for the early 1800s. The RC records start in 1851.

This site has a couple of mentions for Creighton in the parish of Down that might refer to your family. A Mary A(nne) Creighton married John McGarry in the Church of Ireland on 7.4.1833. A Robert Creighton is in the flax growers list for 1796 as having more than 1 acre of land.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Erosdavies/

http://www.failteromhat.com/flax/down.php

There is a record of a James Creighton, farmer of Grangicam, who died around 1831. Probate on his estate was granted that year. The probate file was lost in the 1922 fire, and all we know now is that probate was granted in 1831.

If the family were farmers, they would normally be in the tithe applotment records. The tithes for the parish of Down in 1833 list 4 Creighton farms. 3 are in the townland of Grangecam, and 1 in Marshalstown. The 3 in Grangecam are occupied by Ann, Richard & Samuel. Ann is likely to be a widow. So she might be Ann Ennis (but there’s no certainty about that).

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/down/tithe-applotment-books/down-parish.php#.WNHK0xR2ug0

Looking at Griffiths Valuation for 1863 I see a Richard Crayton in Grangicam. He had plot 13 which was a 10 acre farm. His was the only Creighton farm in the townland at that time. That farm today looks to be on the Old Course Rd, near the junction with Ballystrew Rd. The Valuation revision books show Richard left around 1867 (my guess would be that he died around then) when he was replaced as tenant by Robert Straney.

There were no Creighton families in Marshallstown by 1901 either.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Downpatrick/Marshalstown/

I would check the Down Church of Ireland records to see if your family are listed. Ideally also with a townland. (Not all early baptism records have townlands). There’s a copy of the  records in PRONI, the public record office, in Belfast. A personal visit is required to view them.

I had a look at the 1901 census for Co. Down (the earliest surviving complete Irish census). There were 85 Creightons listed, many in Belfast. I couldn’t see any in the Downpatrick area though. They seem to have died out.

Thank you for all that information. 

You don’t say what denomination the Creighton family were.. what exactly do you mean by that? 

What religious denomination were the family? (That's vital information for tracing the right records in Ireland, pre statutory registration).

Hi Elwyn. I would have to say Methodist. It is the only relgion consistant on birth certificates and death certificates. Robert was born in Scotland abt 1765 , But Anne (Nancy) Ennis his second wife was born in Ireland between 1780-1785. We cannot find anything on Robert. So we have moved on to Anne in hopes that Robert pops up somewhere. ty 

Methodism took a lot longer to become established in Ireland as a separate denomination than in England or Scotland. In Ireland there was considerable resistance to separating from the Church of Ireland. It was 1816 before Methodists agreed to conduct their own baptisms. However because of continuing loyalty and other factors, many continued to use the Church of Ireland for sacraments for many years after this date and it was 1871 before all Methodists routinely performed their own baptisms.

For marriages, the earliest ceremonies conducted by a Methodist Minister in Ireland that I am aware of, date from 1835 (Belfast Donegall Square). However in the mid 1800s there were only a few Methodist Ministers in Ireland (Methodism relied heavily on lay preachers). So the shortage of Ministers contributed to the continuing practice of marrying in the Church of Ireland.

So to summarise, you are unlikely to find any Methodist baptisms much before 1830. Few marriages before the 1840s and only a few for many years after that. If there are no Methodist records in the location you are interested in, I would search the Church of Ireland instead, as that’s the most likely place to find the relevant event.

Few Methodist Meeting Houses have graveyards and so most are buried in public or Church of Ireland graveyards (which are open to all denominations).

My advice therefore would be to check the Down (Downpatrick) Church of Ireland records in PRONI for Anne/Nancy's birth.

Hi. Apologies for such a late response.  I changed my email address and lost contact with this site.  I am related to your Michael Creighton via his sister Mary Ann Creighton who remained in Ireland. She is my 4th great grandmother and we still live on the family farm near Downpatrick where Michael was born.  Please contact me.  Brenda

To Elwyn.  Thankyou for putting the detail in your post.  The Richard Crayton you found on Griffiths valuation does appear to be related.  The 10 acre farm he had is the field immediately in front of my home.  Richard left the farm to a niece. So I have presumed that he had no children when he died.  I have seen a will  around 1800 where this land was owned by a James Creighton.  My gut feeling is that this James and Robert (Michael's father where brothers. James descendents went to Australia.  I am interested in finding out more about the Tithe applotments which I have not been able to locate. You say there are 3 holdings for Creightons in Grangecam and one in marshals town?  I think I can locate all of them, 3 certainly.

Brenda

Brenda,

Here’s a link to the tithe applotment records for Down parish, for 1833:

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/down/tithe-applotment-books/down-parish.php#.W7hkUBR9eg0

The above site only lists the names of the farmers in each townland. They don’t list the acreage or where in the townland the holding was located. You can get the acreage from the set kept in PRONI in Belfast but there are no field plans to show where each was.  However it’s always looking at the original Griffiths field notebooks for the townlands you are interested in. They were compiled in the 1830s and sometimes contain extra information. They are in PRONI and are in the VAL 1 series of records. A personal visit is required to view them.