www.raymondscountydownwebsite.com/html/index2.htm
www.irishroots.net/AntmDown.htm
There is a mention in a gedcom found on a LDS site that my WHITE ancestors were from County DOWN. I heard from a third party that the source might have been a newspaper article in the 1900s - which might or might not have been correct. A county history and a newspaper article on separate lines of descent mention CAMPBELL as an ancestor's name in our early WHITE line. the two sources contradict each other. CAMPBELL is listed among the main surnames.
In a later generation, Thompson WHITE could have obtained his first name from a relative with the surname THOMPSON. I see this surname listed as a common name for County Down.
Smith, Johnston, Thompson, Wilson, Campbell, Stewart, Robinson, Bell, Brown and Boyd.
The following US Presidents have roots in the counties of Antrim and Down: Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
The chief towns in the centre's designated area include Belfast, Ballymena, Antrim, Lisburn, Newry, Downpatrick, Kilkeel, Banbridge, Bangor, Newtownards and Larne.
Among the many internationally known locations in this centre''s catchment
area are:
The Linenhall Library in Belfast, Belfast City Hall, Queen's University, Belfast
Folk and Transport Museum, The Ulster Museum, The Giant's Causeway, The Mourne
Mountains, St. Patrick's Grave, Bushmills Distillery, The Glens of Antrim and
the Europa Hotel.
Unlike other parts of Ireland this area has a tradition of emigration, in the main to North America which stretches back to the 17th century. This steady stream of Ulstermen and women were largely Presbyterians. Emigration on a large scale became commonplace in the first half of the 18th century. The decade of the Great Famine added impetus to this haemorrhage and again Belfast was the focal point and North America was the destination. However, Britian and Australia also received emigrants in greater numbers.
Belfast was Ireland's main industrial centre and attracted many people from the adjacent counties and from Ulster in general. Between 1841 and 1851 the population of Belfast increased by one third to c.103,000. The urban population suffered severely from fever with over 2,500 dying during the cholera epidemic of 1847/1848.
County
Down Surname Interest List
Genuki's
pages for County Down