Donaghcloney Old Graveyard
This old graveyard is situated on a mound above the River Lagan. It's clear to see that the site was once a reasonably large ring fort, well sited just above the river. The previously circular site was altered by the building of the road. The oldest known gravestone dated from 1707, but many of the oldest stones are sadly no longer obvious or legible. The following inscriptions are or were on headstones in the graveyard. Photos of headstones follow beneath.
Finding Connections
About Us
ABC Family History Association is all about making connections! Our members usually have some connection with the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) council area or Northern Ireland itself, whether they live there or their family came from there, no matter how long ago. We run family history courses to teach people how to find the connections between us and know who our ancestors were, where they came from, what they did and how they lived. Members can also take part in projects to use those skills and share results. We love to welcome those from overseas to our area and help them get the most from their trip to their ancestral homeland!
Join Us
You can join ABC Family History Association as an Online Member who can enjoy our web page and online family history courses and workshops and start or take part in projects, or you can take out one of our local Membership categories for individuals, couples and students who can also attend events we organise in Northern Ireland, which will be well publicised on this page. Organisations who support our purposes can take out a Corporate Membership. Come and join us!
News!
Stay in the Know
Creeveroe, Armagh - New Work Published
We're delighted and honoured to publish the family history writings of one of our members, Pooler Clements. Pooler's ancestors came from the Navan and Creeveroe townlands of Co Armagh and he has written a superbly researched piece of work entitled 'Creeveroe Crisis - 1818' which looks at aspects of the life and untimely death of his great great great grandfather, George Leeman of Creeveroe. We will be releasing this work in four parts and we thank Pooler for kindly agreeing to give us the rights to publish.
Read Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 now - available in our Members Only area
Brackagh Photography Project Talks now over...
We have now had all the talks related to our Brackagh Project. Following on from Norman Kerr, from Bann Valley Heritage Museum at Laurencetown and Richard Edgar, local author and military expert, Victoria Millar, Senior Curator at Museums NI, gave us a most interesting talk about 'Houses and their Inhabitants'. We then had Curator of Textiles at the Ulster Folk Museum, Valerie Wilson, give us an excellent talk about the clothing that people here wore 100 years ago. Lucy Wray, PhD student from QUB, gave us a great talk about photography and what we can learn from images from the past and Liam Corry, Curator of Emigration from the Ulster American Folk Park, talked to us about the rural photos in the collection. Lastly, Dr Jonathan Mattison from the Museum of Orange Heritage gave us an excellent presentation on 'Fraternities in Ireland'.
Members from anywhere in the world are still invited to select the photos they would like to research and write up for this project. Just email us on if you would like to take part.
Our Next ABC Family History Talks
Our next talk will be in August - details will follow
FREE to all members
Carte de Visite....
One of our latest articles has been written by member Geraldine McIvor, who tells us about an old carte de visite photo album found by a friend. The photos date from the late 19th century.
Read all about this beautiful Grandfather Clock made in Portadown and now in Rhode Island, USA
Article Contributed by Member FM10
Articles by Members
Here we print articles of interest contributed by our members:
Activities
ABC Family History Association is buzzing!
SHORT COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
Educational
ABC Family History Association organises short family history courses and workshops from 30 minute online courses to 1 day face-to-face courses, open to all but with lots of free courses for members. We also offer bespoke courses to other organisations for their members. There are courses for beginners and more advanced researchers and we love to help young people gain the skills to take the first steps in finding out about their family history.
ENCOURAGING DNA TESTING
Using the Science
ABC Family History Association encourages you to consider the DNA testing which is now available from many different companies. DNA results can help to break down your 'brick walls' in research and find new family members, helping to connect us all. We explain the different DNA tests available, where to upload your DNA, help you to consider the implications of what you might find out and run courses to assist with the analysis of your DNA results. Join us to find out more!
RESEARCH SUPPORT
One-to-One Support
With this initiative, ABC Family History Association's goal is to help you with your family research. This may be through advice regarding the next steps to take, suggesting taking a family history course, showing how to use various web sites, assisting with presentation of research - including topping up the necessary computer skills. Request an hour of personal support from one of our volunteers and in return please consider a small additional donation to our funds.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Building a Community
Local research projects in which ABC Family History Association members can participate are a great way of finding out how we connect and can lead to improved understanding and better community relations. A project may be building your own family tree, trying to break down a 'brick wall' in your family tree, doing a One Place Study, a DNA project, transcribing church records and lots more, and we love to work alongside other organisations in local projects.
Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon
Borough Council Area
This is our Gallery of Members' Images of the ABC area.
Click on an image to 'like' it!
Email us your own images if you'd like to have them featured here
We'd love to show members' photos of places in ABC in our Gallery - please make sure you own the copyright of the image and email it with details to
