Cultured Views

Tracing your Family History: Brownhall and the Hamilton’s.

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I was very fortunate to find that my Hamilton line of ancestry had been well recorded over the years. It certainly helps when you find they have been the subject of a book or two.
If the name ‘Hamilton’ happens to be in your line of enquiry you will find you are going to be for quite a task. This is because so many with the name travelled from Scotland to America and many other parts of the world.

Here, I will deal with the Hamilton’s of Brownhall in Co Donegal. Bear in mind that many with this name settled in Co Donegal, even tenants of Brownhall Demesne bore the Hamilton name…but not the same history!. Remember this is a name like ‘Jones’ or ‘Smith’ - it is quite commonly found in Ireland.

‘Brownhall’ was recorded as a dwelling as early as around 1570-90 and was situated at Murvagh, near the small village of Ballintra.
No trace remains of the original house - to my knowledge anyway, and I’ve been there a few times. In 1690 the then John Hamilton and his wife, Jane (nee Creighton), moved the family seat to a location that is now on a hill amidst the valleys outside of Ballintra. Having seen the general location of the original house and the location of the present house, I can only marvel at this feat. The two locations are a good 25 km’s (at least) apart from each other, and the terrain in the wet would have been extremely difficult to deal with.

The house has been in it’s present location since 1690. Jane Creighton was the daughter of Col. Abraham Creighton, and this man was the ancestor of the line of the Earls of Erne. The spelling is sometimes ‘Crighton’, depends where and what you read. The family is found in Debretts Peerage.
One clue about this Hamilton family is in the names of the sons. They followed the tradition of naming the first son/heir after the paternal grandfather. So, to this day, the names have gone James, John, James, John….
The family have never deviated from this, so if you have a William, or a Charles for example down as an ancestor of your own chances are that you are form another line of Hamiltons. As far as I have found, there has never been a Charles in this family. They stuck to pretty much the same names over the years.

Up until the late 19th century Brownhall Demesne was an extensive estate comprising hundreds of square miles; today it is greatly reduced, but it is still there and in the hands of the family. One of the few ‘old’ families to retain their ancestral home.

See site: Hamilton Family History

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