THE JOURNEY OF MR& MRS JOHN McTOPY U.S.A. TO BALLYCULTER KEAGHEY, GREER, SEEDS

[Lena McVea]

 Sharon Lea McTopy, nee Keaghey, has lots of information concerning her family passed down by relatives. She knew that the family came from County Down. Specifically she knew that her relatives came from the Strangford and Ballyculter area of County Down. Our first trip to Ireland was in 1991. We took a 9-day guided bus tour of the Republic of Ireland. After that trip, Sharon and her two brothers decided to enlist the services of a genealogical research firm in Belfast to see what information could be learned about the Keaghey family. That search gave us information that there was a burial vault located in the township of Christchurch at Ballyculter. It listed the names of the family members interred there. We did nothing with that information until we decided to return to Ireland in 2001 to search for the burial vault and any other information we could learn about the family. We drove ourselves on this tour. Our first two days were spent in Dublin. Then we ventured to Northern Ireland in search of Sharon’s family burial vault and history. Prior to the trip I located the Cuan’s website. We booked accommodations there as the owner told me she had two employees that were from Ballyculter. The employees were able to give us directions to Ballyculter after our arrival at the Cuan. Armed with that information we ventured to Ballyculter the day after our arrival at the Cuan. We had no trouble finding the town or the church. Once in the cemetery we split up and began searching to find the burial vault. Sharon was the one that located it. We were amazed at our luck in finding the vault on our first attempt. While there we noticed people entering the church. I approached a gentleman and introduced myself. That man was Mr. Leslie McCullough. He and his wife were preparing the church to welcome the new vicar. It was through Mr. McCullough that we learned of Mr. & Mrs. Leslie McKibbin.  Sharon’s grandfather’s middle name is ‘Seeds’. We found several graves with the last name of ‘Seed’ and ‘Seeds’. That was encouraging

   The following day we went to the McKibbin house and introduced ourselves. We were familiar with the McKibbin name as the information given us by the genealogical research group stated that a James McKibbin recorded the death of Alicia Matilda Keaghey Belcher in 1949. She was the last Keaghey living in Ireland. The McKibbin’s gave us what information they knew about the family and put us in touch with Ms. Mable McComiskey. They also gave us access to the church documents so we could document what we could about the Keaghey family. We met with Ms. McComiskey in the lounge at the Cuan. She brought a Mr. Robin Gill along with her. Turned out that he is a blood relative of the Keaghey family. Sharon’s ggg Aunt married Huge Gilchrist. The church records provided us with the fact that Annie Keaghey married Thomas Stockdale. Annie was the daughter of John Atkinson and Eleanor Greer Keaghey. Eleanor was the sister of Ms. Mable McComiskey’s grandmother. It was also during this trip that we decided to have the burial vault refurbished.
 
    Arrangements were made with the assistance of Leslie and George McKibbin and Leslie McCullough to have the burial vault in 2002. The McKibbins got a plasterer to look the job over and give us an estimate. We agreed on the price and sent a check to Les McCullough. Work began on the vault while Sharon and I were in route to Ireland. Once there we oversaw the work. The work was not complete when the our departure date came. Mr. McCullough assumed responsibility of the money and overseeing the work left on the vault. It was complete two days after our departure. Les McCullough and Robin Gill took photos of the completed vault and emailed them to us.
 
    Sharon and I returned to Strangford in 2004 and 2006. The 2004 trip was so that we could spend more time with the relatives and friends met during our earlier trips. The 2006 trip was to introduce our daughter and grandson to those relatives and friends and have them see the family burial vault in person. It was also the first time for our daughter and grandson to travel outside of the U.S.
 
    From documents Sharon had, we were aware that there was a connection between the Keaghey and Lowery families in the County Down area. During one of our trips we were able to locate records for the marriage of Elizabeth Keaghey to a John Lowery at the Cathedral in Downpatrick. We located their gave and confirmed that their daughter was buried there. She and Sharon’s aunt communicated via letter in the 1920 time period. We have not done any research on this line of the family

RESEARCHED BY JOHN McTOPY

Residents of a house 6 in Ballyculter Lower (Strangford, Down) 1901

Keaghey   Katherine   22   Female   Daughter   Church of Ireland   Ballycultor, Co Down   Farmer's Daughter   Read and write      Not Married   
Keaghey   Ellen   59   NEE GREER Female   Head of Family   Church of Ireland   Strangford, Co Down   Farmer and Miller   Read and write      Widow   
Rogan   Robert   50   Male   Servant   Roman Catholic   Annacotty, Co Down   Miller   Read and write      Widower   
MacReady   Ellen   14   Female   Servant   Church of Ireland   Annacotty, Co Down   General Servant Domestic   Read and write      Not Married   
Keaghey   Robert   27   Male   Son   Church of Ireland   Ballycultor, Co Down   Farmer and Miller   Read and write      Not Married

Residents of a house 8 in Ballyculter Lower (Strangford, Down) 1911

Keaghey   Ellen    68 NEE GREER    Female   Head of Family   Church of Ireland   Co Down   Farmer   Read and write      Widow      40   4   4
Keaghey   Robert   37   Male   Son   Church of Ireland   Co Down   Farmer and Miller   Read and write      Single   
Keaghey   Annie   35   Female   Daughter   Church of Ireland   Co Down      Read and write      Single   
Millon   John   35   Male   Servant   Presbyterian   Co Down   Miller   Read and write      Married

FROM ROS DAVIES WITH THANKS
Miss Eleanor/Ellen GREER Ballyphilip & Ballyculter born 26 Oct 1842, daughter of Robert & Mary Greer of Portaferry; wife of John Atkinson Keaghey; mother of Alicia Matilda b. 1871(regd. Strangford) & Robert b. 1873 & Annie b. 1876 & Katherine Helen b. 1878; died 18 Dec 1923 CR; John McTopy

Miss    Eliza GREER Ballyculter married Robert McComiskey 28 Dec 1858 at Ballyculter Church of Ireland; mother of Alexander b. 1864 CR

Residents of a house 8 in Downpatrick Street (Killough, Down) 1901

McComiskey Eliza  64 Female Head of Family Church of Ireland Co Down Income Derived from Dividends Read and write  Widow  NEE GREER

Residents of a house 4 in Church Square (Killough, Down) 1911

McComiskey Eliza 75 Female Head of Family Church of Ireland Co Down - Read and write  Widow NEE GREER
Blaney Ellen Margaret 33 Female Servant Roman Catholic Co Down General Servant Domestic Read and write  Single

Residents of a house 3 in Church Square (Killough, Down) 1901

McComiskey Eileen 3 Female Daughter Church of Ireland Co Down Daughter Cannot read  Not Married
McComiskey Margaret Lelian  Female Daughter Church of Ireland Co Down Daughter Cannot read  Not Married
Maginnis Elizabeth 20 Female General Domestic Servant Roman Catholic Co Armagh General Domestic Servant Read and write  Not Married  
McComiskey Arthur 37 Male Head of Family Church of Ireland Co Down Physician and Surgeon M.?., R.U.I Read and write  Married  
McComiskey Lena 31 Female Wife Church of Ireland Co Londonderry Wife of Above Read and write Married

Residents of a house 3 in Church Square (Killough, Down) 1911

McComiskey Arthur 47 Male Head of Family Church of Ireland Co Down Physician and Surgeon (M B B Ch RLLI L R C R I S) Read and write  Married
McComiskey Lena 42 Female Wife Church of Ireland Co Down  Read and write  Married 14 6 5
McComiskey Robert 9 Male Son Church of Ireland Co Down Scholar Read and write Single
McComiskey William 7 Male Son Church of Ireland Co Down Scholar Read and write Single
McComiskey Colin 1 Male Son Church of Ireland Co Down Cannot read  Single
McGreevy Rose 26 Female Servant Roman Catholic Co Down General Servant Domestic Read and write Single

POSTED BY LENA McVEA ADMIN.