Ireland Reaching Out

 This morning I received an email from Elwyn, who is an Ireland Reaching Out volunteer.  We've arranged that the three of us (Elwyn, June and I) will meet for lunch at the Fullerton Arms in Ballintoy on 18th April, and then spend the afternoon together.  

Elwyn had excellent advice on research:

You are so very lucky to have such a well known family. Most Irish  research involves weavers and small farmers whose records fizzle out around 1800. In your case the Fullarton family were wealthy Scots and they left a significant paper trail.  As an example, PRONI has a lease for John Fullerton, Gentleman, of Ballynaris dated 5th July 1680, for the lease of Ballynaris and Ballyneeese, in the parish of Billy. Ref D/2977/3A/3/1/34. And there will be many more leases after that in PRONI and the Registry of Deeds. So you have documentary evidence of Fullertons in the Ballintoy area from the mid 1600s. Not many folk can find that sort of record in Ireland. 

George Hill (1810-1900) produced  a book on the Stewarts of Ballintoy which contains many references to the Fullertons. So a source you might want to investigate. 

Many of your ancestors were Presbyterian Ministers. The Presbyterian Historical Society in Belfast has records on all their careers, and those sometimes include biographical information. You could contact them. 

Until about 1850 it wasn’t possible for prospective Presbyterian Ministers to get a degree in Ireland (theology degrees were restricted to the Church of Ireland) and so they nearly all studied in Scotland.  That then only had 4 universities ie Aberdeen, St Andrews, Glasgow & Edinburgh. So your ancestors will have studied at one of them. All keep good records which again contain some biographical  information. Sources you could pursue if interested. 

So I've spent today immersed in Burke's Peerage, which lists the Fullertons of Ballintoy, and constructing a family tree for them.  Sadly, I still can't find the relationship between my 4th great-grandfather Archibald and these Fullertons, so more research is needed.

I've ordered the George Hill book from Amazon, and hope it turns up soon.

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