Thank you for your prompt reply and your enthusiasm aboutmeeting another member of what is
proving to be the “vast” tribe of Collisons,scattered as we are throughout the English
speaking world.
I guess I’ve already mentioned that the most importantresultant for me of the matching up
of my cousin Mike’s DNA with that of AllanCallison has been the fact that it proves that
after so many years ofwondering, our Collisons are in fact directly connected with the
Callisons (andother spelling variations) who lived in the Mullaghbrack area of co. Armagh.
Thatwe have also shown that we have many relatives in the United States is anunexpected
added bonus. Now I can go ahead and see who I can find and try todraw relations between
them and ourselves.
Actually, that’s what I’ve been doing. I imagine you’re muchmore interested in finding
connections between the Callisons in the U.S. On the other hand because I feel my first
step is to first find as manyconnections back in Ireland itself, I’ve been trying to find
what I can there.In time that will be followed by the attempt to find out as much as
possibleabout any and all Collison relatives who have relocated to the US, Australiaand
New Zealand, as well as in Britain and Canada.
My concern will be trying to gather as much information on howthe Collisons/ Callisons/
Cullisons/Callistons, etc., relate to each other. Unfortunately,as you probably know, with
the fire in Dublin in 1922, very many of the churchrecords that would have helped, were
burned by the rebels. However, I’ve beendoing some investigations to see where there might
be some records which willhelp.
I have discovered that some kinds of records do exist, someof which apparently are online,
and hope to soon access those. You probablyhave the brochure from the Markethill area
called “Bygones and Byways ofMarkethill and District” which gives the website describing
the resources thatare available from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).
Idon’t know if you’re very interested in it, but I’ll give you the website URLanyway:
www.bygonesandbyways.com,I looked at this site for the first time yesterday, and found
that it lookslike it might be very useful for the investigations I’m intending to do.
I also discovered an interesting website today which I savedto more than twenty pages of
my word processor, and which shows a family treeof Callisons who having originated in the
Mullaghbrack-Markethill area ofArmagh have migrated to, and settled in England and
Scotland where they have notonly been successful in finding employment but have
multiplied quiteprofusely. If you’re interested, it is called “The Callison Family
History”,and the URL is
http://www.mauchlinefamilyhistory.co.uk/pages/FamilyFiles/CallisonFamilyF....
Although some of the relationships this chart shows aretaken directly from entries in
church records, others are quite speculative, asone might expect, based on
what the author feels is likelyto have happened, based on the nearness of two events
in the same or nearplaces, so it seems for the sake of convenience the assumption is made
that thetwo entries are related. I expect thatin the absence of church records this is
all anyone can do – speculate andassume!
Finally, I have a sheet of events sent to me in 1992 by amember of the Northern Ireland
Callisons – a man named William Neill. I’mafraid that when he sent it to me I was very
busy at my job, and did not replyto him for an extended time. When I finally did, he would
not reply, being, itseems, quite angry with me, so I have had his letter and information
all thistime, but been unable to ask any questions about it. In it the spelling he
usesmost of the time of the family name is Calliston. He also points out that by1875 there
was only one Collison left living in County Armagh, and that was inPortadown. He mentions
that although co. Armagh did not suffer from the GreatFamine like Southern Ireland, still
tenant farmers found things “very difficult”.That would likely have been when our
Collisons moved from co. Armagh to Dublin,where they may have had relatives who helped
them.
I won’t go on any further for now. Perhaps, as Ireland islikely not your present focus,
you really don’t need information about it, atleast at the present time.
About myself: I am a76 year old ex-teacher, my wife is Muriel, an ex-registered nurse, we
havethree grown children, and seven grandchildren: from 22 yrs to 7 yrs old. Welive in
Kamloops, a city of 85,000 in the south central part of BritishColumbia.
I’m looking forward to your reply
Peter Botham