First Day at PRONI

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

So many things to report!

1. First of all - we are exhausted!  Yesterday, we were tired when we were in PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) looking at records, but we were there for only 3-4 hours.  Today, we were there just after it opened and left when it closed.  They are good at kicking us out!  We looked through hundreds of records, which is a great sleep aid.  But we take breaks to shake sleep off and then we're back at it.

Amidst the disappointment of NOT finding things, we feel that we can celebrate a couple of finds:
   a.  Aunt Kathy found the baptismal record of Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton to Robert and Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton in 1830 in Tandragee.
   b.  Liz found a birth record of a Bob (Robert) Singleton in Mullabrack in 1810.  We think that this might be our Robert Singleton; the date is about right.  More checking to come.

2.  To catch you up on what happened on Monday:  Before we left Armagh, we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, the Church of Ireland one.  It is the center of the Church of Ireland for all of Ireland, pretty cool, eh?  In the cathedral, we saw the name of our cousin, John Ward Armstrong, listed on the same wall as St. Patrick himself.  Patrick was the first bishop of Ireland in 432; John Ward Armstrong came along much laster.  It is the same office, although they now call the head of the church the Archbishop and Primate.

After leaving Armagh, we headed to Loughbrickland Lake, the site of the first LDS baptism in Ireland in 1840.  Beautiful swans floated across the lake but the water close to the shore was covered with lily pads.  If anyone wanted to get baptized there now, they'd want to wade out quite a ways to avoid coming up covered up with green leaves.

Our next search took us to the small town of Ballyskeagh.  It really WAS a search, but Rich's and Reed's GPS skills won out.  In Ballyskeagh, Rich showed us the bridge where two young Irish "home missionaries" around the age of 16 stood up to a mob in the rest of 1850s.  Thomas Lonsdale Allen was one of the missionaries; Brother Scott was the other.  They are two of Rich's heroes, and now ours as well.

Then, it was on our way to Belfast to check into our hotel and head to PRONI. Want to know something interesting?  Our hotel, the Ibis Hotel, is located on King Street.  John McKenna, one of Hugh's sons, had a shop on 70 King Street.  We think we know where his shop was - it now houses a bookie shop!  Liz didn't realize when she was booking our hotel how handy it is to Albert Street (where Hugh lived), Christ Church (where they attended church), Sandy Row - which leads to the last thing we did on Monday (other than have the conference call with the Home Team).

After dinner at Robinson's Restaurant (did you know bacon steaks in Ireland are the same as pork chops in the U.S.?), we took a short walk south to Hope Street, over to Sandy Row, and south on Sandy Row to the ruins of the Belfast and Ulster Brewery Company where Hugh worked as a bottler and a packer.  Right around the corner (where the graffiti says to "Stay Out of Sandy Row") was Boyne Street where Hugh lived as well.  We hiked a short distance north to Albert Street to the site of Hugh's homes, had pictures taken by an ex-con (he told us he'd spent 18 years in jail, but he'd been brought up proper), headed over to Galway and Killen Streets, and then back to the hotel.  From Christ Church to the hotel - less than 5 minutes.  John McKenna set up shop not far from his home on Albert Street.

So, there you are - all caught up!  Well, mostly.  Tomorrow, Liz will share her experience meeting the Dutsons and Dot in England.  They are our third cousins, twice removed, and Liz reports they are wonderful!