Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland as a research resource

Regular readers may know that I don't have a lot of time for the fancy dress trappings of the so called 'great and the good' politically, and certainly show no deference to the absurd institution of monarchy or the landed gentry. However, I do appreciate a good resource for historical research concerning them, simply because much of what they did in the past did affect us, particularly in their role of landholders and landlords. There is a great blog on that front for those researching the landed gentry in the north of Ireland, entitled Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland, which can be accessed at http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.co.uk. He's not a genuine lord, it is a spoof title by a blogger called Timothy William, but it does carry some interesting material.

Today, I notice it has a post on Caledon House in County Tyrone. My mother's line, the Grahams, can be traced back, at present, to my three times great grandfather Thomas Graham, who was born about 1820, and for whom I know he had a likely sister called Margaret born in 1809. They settled in Belfast, but the only possible clue that I have on their origins is a vague note from Thomas' youngest grandson Brian, who passed away in 2007, that he believed that the family came from Caledon. It's on my to do list to check for any possible parish and estate records for the area, but the post itself explains about the families of landed gentry that were resident at the estate - a useful resource in terms of knowing for whom I need to start looking for records!

The Caledon post is available at http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/caledon-estate_21.html but do spend the time exploring previous posts - there may well be something of relevance there to your own research.

Incidentally, the site also deals with other parts of the British Isles, as landowners held interest all over the shop, so you'll find material there on Scotland and the Republic of Ireland also.

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.