Thanks for visiting the Derry, Northern Ireland website, a GenWeb project.  I became interested in Derry as a natural part of my quest for geneology information on my family.  My grandfather and father gave me a natural interest in my family history and the factors that confronted them.  I was lucky enough to get information on one of my great grandfathers and his emigration to America from Derry.  My wife and I made a recent trip to Northern Ireland to  look over the “homeland” and we were lucky enough to meet Dr. Don MacFarlane.  Don has a strong interest in this area and he has meticulously collected and maintained the valuable information contained on this site. 

I expressed an interest in contributing my own personal experiences to the project. To accomodate my technically challenged mind, a colleague converted the site to a WordPress Blog.  I believe this will allow for a more free exchange of ideas and inputs from a wide range of visitors.

About: Information about the contributors to this site
Introduction: A brief overview of Derry
History: Early and recent history of Derry with extensive links to other sites of interest
People: Famous sons and daughters of Derry
Tourism: Things to do in Derry
Geneology: A primer and links to more intermediate and advanced information

Further, general links of interest have been added to the blogroll on the front page. My intent is for myself, together with Don and the volunteers,  to carry on the valuable work in this new format.  I hope you find something interesting.  Please feel free to add comments or suggestions.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Vic Barnett
Dayton
Ohio

HOT OFF THE PRESS

The ebook ’The Sea is Wide – New Celts from Old Horizons’ is now available for downloading at very modest cost from Smashwords from this site (see links below). Sample downloads at no cost can also be viewed and  give a flavour of the contents of this book which will shortly also be for sale in paper version at National Trust outlets in Scotland, Ireland and elsewhere. The contributors are all highly acknowledged experts in their field.  Please do not be put off too much by some formatting problems in the meantime in the Introduction section of the ebook. This is due to some quirk with Smashwords which will be corrected soon.  Anyone who chooses to purchase the ebook now will be able to download it later without these minor glitches and at no extra cost. The chapters themselves appear in the meantime in their proper page format exactly as you would expect.

http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/75880/120/the-sea-is-wide-new-celts-from-old-horizons

 Poll Start Date: 28th August 2010

It would be helpful to the website and to gauge interests if  visitors without a query in the form of a post could complete the survey: 

Take Our Poll

BEST POST 2011

This was written by Mary Cornell (after a frustrating search over the last year) from information supplied by Gaynor Watters, North Queensland, Australia. This story goes to the heart of the struggle for colonisation of Ireland and it sounds like Mary and Gaynor could have a lot more digging to do!

The particulars concerning the family of John Cornwall, attained by King James 2nd, Parliament 1689 point to Hertfordshire as the probable place of origin and home of the Cornwall family in Ireland.  John Cornwall built the Blackwater Fort  in 1575, and it was there that the articles of peace with Turlough O’Neil were signed on 27th June 1575. This John Cornwall list of family were thereafter to be settled in Ireland [perhaps to ensure the peace agreement was honoured or perhaps banished (attainded, not attained?)]. Through the line of Edward Cornwall who died before 6 March 1676 (in Heath Money Roll 1664) and Mary Mitchell of Annaginary (?), their four children included:

1. John Cornwall, of Cornwalls Grove, who married Barbara Lindsay (daughter of  Dr.Alex Lindsay – second son of Robert Lindsay, Loughrey – killed in siege of Derry).
2. Barbara, born 1674, buried 13 February 1747, Newmills (Newmills is Presbyterian  and they share a minister with Carland , 1st Presbyterian Church about three miles away).
3. John, born 1666, died 22 March 1731, buried in Newmills also.  He had eight children, the sixth of which was Grace, born 1708, married 3 April 1734 to Wm Whitsitt (Whiteside?).  Grace died in 1749, buried Cornwall’s Grove, Newmills.

Editorial Comment

1. The Blackwater Fort mentioned may  likely have been in Ireland  (there are three Newmills and three Blackwaters; one in Northern Ireland, one in Hertfordshire and one in Cornwall – indeed one lot may have been named after the other?) A branch of the River Blackwater runs through Newmills in County Tyrone where the Battle of the Yellow Ford  was fought in 1597.  Note: Most sources attribute the building of the first Blackwater Fort in 1575 (rebuilt in 1598 after it was destroyed by rebels) to the Earl of Essex.
2. The English struck a truce with Turlough O’Neill (Chief of the O’Neills), and later with Turlough’s scheming cousin, Hugh, upon Turlough’s death in 1595. Hugh took over as Chief and he tried to secure terms of permanent peace with the English. He distrusted the English but he had no natural antagonism to them as he was reared in the Dublin Pale from the age of nine by the Lord Deputy of Ireland after Hugh’s father was murdered. 
3. Blackwater Fort became the Camp David of Ireland but peace broke down and Hugh raised the  rebellion against the English which culminated in the Battle of the Yellow Ford. The Government forces marched to relieve the besieged Blackwater Fort, led by General Henry Bagenal . The rebels were led by the Chieftains Hugh O’Neill, Hugh Roe O’Donnell and Hugh Maguire. The outcome was a complete rout of the English with very heavy losses for the Government troops who left the scene with their tails between their legs. The remnants of the English forces had to be bailed out by boat from Newry for Dublin. The tables were turned in 1607 when the three chiefs, in their Flight of the Earls gave up the fight, abandoned their people with false promises, fled to the Continent, and left Ireland open for plantation by the English.
4. Turlough O’Neill had a sizeable support of Scottish Highland Galloglasses in his army as he was married to the daughter of the Duke of Argyll.
5. Annaginary (?), where Mary Mitchell was from,  sounds like Annagry in Donegal (a Scottish Plantation) situated between Dungloe and Gweedore (just outside Mullaghdoo Scotch). Loughry  (not Loughrey)  is a townland in Derryloran Parish due south of Cookstown in Tyrone. Mitchells still in Derryloran (Cookstown) mentioned in Griffiths in 1848-52 were  Alexander and James (Coagh Street, Cookstown) and Hugh  (Gortalowry).