| |
We
are currently having some technical difficulties with our
database. In the meantime you can log onto www.ancestryireland.com
for further information.
County
Down was the first Ulster county to be colonized by the Normans,
the county being formed around 1300. In 1609 a well planned
plantation of Ulster, led by various adventurers began.
One brought over 10,000 Scots
to northwest Down, with names such as Boyd, Fraser, Johnston,
Lindsay, Morrison, Patterson and Maxwell being common in Down.
English
adventurers such as the Annesleys, Hills and Montgomerys brought
over English families with names such as Wilson, Johnston,
Young, Taylor, Walker, Jackson, Watson, Bradshaw and Bradford.
The
relative proportions of people of Irish/Norman, Scottish and
extraction can, generally, be estimated from the proportions
of Catholic, Presbyterian and Episcopalian (Protestant) respectively
in the country.
In 1841 the respective portions
were 32, 45 and 21 per cent, with the population being 368,000.
County Down was less badly affected
by the Great Famine which caused many to leave from the rural
areas to the City of Belfast, reducing the population bt around
11 per cent in 1851. Of these, 46,000 died in the years 1847-50.
The level of emigration was one
of the lowest in Ireland; only 6 per cent of the population
as against a national average of 11.4 per cent.
|
|
|
