For anyone out there who is interested in the game of Basketball I thought I might give a brief history of my married name “Naismith” Many of you may know that the inventor of basketball was James Naismith from Almonte,
Basketball Naismith
Are you dancing?
Derry Journal Published on Thursday 5 February 2009 The now retired dance teacher Lilian O’Moore recently collected a civic honour from the Mayor of Derry, Councillor Gerard Diver. The award was made in recognition of her contribution to the cultural and indeed
Fond food memories
When my sister Angela and husband Brian were visiting recently from Scotland we got to reminiscing about all the food we loved as kids so with that in mind I have written down a few of the things I miss
Two tellys Kilkie
My Uncle John Halliday was well known for his mechanical abilities and had many jobs based on these skills including being a TV repairman for DER and also being a car mechanic. While we were growing up he was always
Glenkeen
The Kilkie clan decended from John Kilkie (1780) were recorded as born in Glenkeen, Clondermot. Recent maps including Google show Glenkeen as an area in Waterside, ie on the eastern side of the Foyle. Historically Waterside was the protestant part of
Geography of Londonderry
All the known Kilkies living in the early 19th century were born within a few miles of the city of Derry and the county of Londonderry/Derry. An understanding an knowledge of the various names and their meanings will help anyone
Derry or Londonderry
First point to make before even beginning is that there is a disagreement among citizens in the area over the name of the City and the County. The historical name was Derry (Doire in Irish, meaning Oak wood). In 1613 London was
Is Kilkie Polish?
Another common search result found when looking for Kilkie connections is the name Kilkiewicz. People retrieved with this surname have always been recorded as Polish origin. So, the leading question? is Kilkiewicz a Polish person who came from Derry, or
Kilkie – from Clare?
The Irish seaside resort Kilkee in county Clare is often compared with Kilkie and the assumption drawn that the family name is derived from the town name. Although Kilkee is a very nice town with a lovely beach, there is
Kilkie – 1831 census
Whilst much of the 1831 census of Ireland was destroyed we are fortunate that most of the records for Londonderry survive. Family historian Bill McAfee has transcribed the records and provided internet access to these, for which we are grateful.
Kilkie – Griffiths valuation
Griffiths valuation was a land valuation carried out on behalf of the then government by Richard Griffiths who had previously carried out a boundary survey of Ireland for Ordinance Survey maps of Ireland (1825-44). The land valuation which began in
Kilkie 1800s
The same lack of documentary evidence described elsewhere affected records of the 19th Century. No complete censuses or central records of BMD exist for Northern Ireland for this period. However, parish records, land valuations and tombstone records do Exist. In
Kilkie pre 1800
Verified family records are scarce in Ireland. Early censuses were accidentally shredded and pulped by the government and later censuses were destroyed in the 1922 Public records office fire. Catholic parish records, various land valuations (e.g. Griffiths), gravestone transcriptions and
Its in the genes
Today most if not all surnames are inherited from parents. In the past (as explained elsewhere) surnames had other derivations, ie from places or occupations and a common surname was no guarantee of a similar origin. One route to discover the
Dark age origins
Until the 10th century people had no family name. they lived in small villages and had a first name to identify them from one and other. Ireland is thought to be one of the first countries to begin to use
Black Irish
There is a well known rumour about the group of Irish people called “the black irish”. Normally the story goes that these are decendants of survivors of the Spanish armada who landed on Ireland. The Black irish are those with