OLD RECORDS
Copyright 1999 Trevor Fulton
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    I will now set out the sources which I have so far identified which may be of help in my search. I have not yet managed to look at them all as many are in the Public Record Office or local libraries in and around Belfast and my time there is limited, so I still hope for the firm confirmation which I lack at present.

Primary Sources

(PRONI=Public Record Office, Northern Ireland)

17^th Century Records
 

1. The Muster Roll of Ulster. (Manuscript Section of the British Library in London - there is also a copy in PRONI) This was a census prepared several times in the 1630's to list all the able bodied settlers aged over 16 who could help defend the area against a rising of the original inhabitants which did in fact happen in 1641. The lists are by county, and for each county there is a separate list for the tenants of each major landowner. The copy I have seen, in the British Library, appears to be a manuscript copy made by or for Jeremiah Milles DD, in 1747

Fulton entries -  There are a number of Fultons in northern areas of counties Donegal, Londonderry and Antrim - which is the main area of Scottish settlement but none in the other counties of the Province of Ulster. Though the list appears fairly comprehensive the Lisburn estates of the Conway family, where our Fultons should have been, is not included.

3. Hearth Money Rolls for 1666 and for 1669. (PRONI) Hearth Money was a form of tax, based on the number of hearths a house contained. Some of the registers for the dates indicated have survived, and gives a clue to the Fultons who were head of households at that time.
 

Fultons mentioned in the Belfast area -

Derriaghy Parish

John Fulton in both 166 and 1669. Matthew Fulton 1666 only

Shankill Parish (i.e. Belfast) - Malone, an outlying part of Belfast lies between the town centre and Derriaghy

Thomas Fulton Upper Malone 1666, Town of Belfast 1669
William Fulton Upper Malone 1666, Town of Belfast 1669
 

Carnmoney Parish - Carnmoney is north of Belfast on the shore of Belfast Lough. It is convenient to Carrickfergus and its Norman castle, which in the 17^th century was the main town and port for the area.

Hugh Fulton 1666
Henry Fulton 1669
Robert Fulton 1669
James Fulton 1669

5. Clanbrassil rental (PRONI) - This is the rental of an estate centred on Holywood, a town about 5 miles NE of Belfast, where a William Fulton held a 31 year lease jointly with John Watt from 1^st October 1678. This referred to an area of over 50 acres and included a number of subtenants.

6. Army Lists. (Seen in the National Army Museum in London) A Richard Fulton is believed to have been an officer with King William III in 1690, but so far I have been unable to find him in the army lists for the time, which still exist, but he may have been locally recruited and there is a possible source which I have not yet tracked down.

18^th Century Records

Hertford Estate Rentals for 1719 and 1728/29. (In PRONI). The land in this area was granted to Sir Fulke Conway around 1610 and remained in the family until about 1900. When Conways did not have male heirs it passed to the related family of Seymour, and ultimately to Wallace (see above) From the 1719 and 1728/29 records the following entries seem relevant -

1719

In Lisburn town - Francis Fulon and Richard Folton (I find that even today with firmly established spelling, my name is subject to many variations if I do not spell it out-perhaps we are a bit careless in pronouncing it - so in the 18^th century variations are frequent)

In Derriaghy - John Fulton, 73 acres, (matches the Belsize estate)

In Aghallon - (a parish at the western end of the Conway lands) - Thomas Fulton and William Futon

1728/29

In Lisburn - James Fulton (associated with Mary, Matthew and with Richard Coulson) James is thought to have married a daughter of Richard Coulson and later leased property formerly Coulsons.

In Derriaghy - James Fulton (associated with Thomas Thompson, his brother in law ) 73 acres in Belsize.

In Aghagallon -Thoms Fulloon (another variation?)

There is also one for 1684 which I have not yet tracked down, and Hope refers to one (perhaps the same on) which shows John Fulton as being the holder of the land at Belsize on 1 Nov.1678.

I think there may be later Conway/Hertford records in the Record Office in Warwick, England but have not got there yet.

Hertford Estate map of 1726

Surveyed by John Sloane. It shows the land at Belsize occupied by John Fulton, so he must have died between 1726 and 1728.

Registry of Deeds (Original in Four Courts, Dublin and micro film in PRONI)

This is an extensive collection of deeds mostly relating to land ownership, in about 650 large manuscript volumes which survived the 1922 attacks. It was not obligatory, so is rather hit or miss. It starts in 1708.

The first Fulton in Lisburn to be recorded in the Rgistry is James in 1740, presumably the one on the rent roll of 1728, as he is again associated with the name Coulson.

Belfast Newsletter. Originals in Linenhall Library Belfast.

Microfilms are available in several locations. This is one of the oldest newspapers in the world which is still in publication and with the exception of a very few individual copies the collection exists complete from 1734. There is a full index of the paper up to 1800 and an index births, marriages, and deaths up to about 1864 after which those facts can be found in the General Registry. The births marriages and deaths index is in the Linenhall Library in Belfast and the full index which was prepared by the University of South Carolina is now available on the internet at: http://www.ucs.usl.edu/~jcg3525/Main.html. I can really recommend this site which is much easier to use than the microfiche of the index which I have used in the past.  I am working my way through this index with over 400 Fulton entries (at present I am up to about 1785).
 

    The  Map shows the parishes of Co. Antrim lying in the vicinity of Lisburn. Lisburn lies on the borders of Counties Antrim and Down, and the parish of Blaris/Lisburn straddles the county border. I have also sketched the position of the adjoining Co. Down parishes of Drumbo and Hillsborough.

    As you probably know Irish Church records were destroyed in Dublin in 1922, making genealogy difficult. However, a number of churches particularly larger ones kept their own and we are lucky that so much has survived in the area of interest to Fultons. There is a register of surviving church records from which I have taken the following information.
 

Lisburn (also known as Lisnagarvey or Blaris ). The town of Lisbourn was besieged and burned in 1641, and a serious fire burned the town down again around 1707. Little exists from before 1641 but quite a lot survived the later fire. Births for 1637, 1639-41 and then from 1661 all exist supplemented by some early 18^th century Presbyterian records.

Derriaghy. This parish which lies between Lisburn and Belfast is the one which American records seem to have got confused. Belsize, the first known home of the Fultons in the area lies in the townland of Magheralave, in Derriaghy parish. The church was in ruins for many years and throughout the 17^th century the parishioners used and were recorded in the Lisburn parish. It came back into use around 1696 and births for 1696-1763 then 1771 -1886, marriages 1696-1746, 1772 and then from 1818, and burials 1696-1738, 1772/3 and then after 1823 with a few missing years exist. The early records up to 1763 have been reprinted and indexed so are particularly easy to use.

The name Derriaghy is derived from gaelic and means the field in the oakwood, or something along those lines. It seems to have caused confusion in American records and I have seen several variations such as Denaghy, and attempts to link it with other places with similar names, even Donaghadee which is a port some 15 miles away.

Glenavy, Camlin and Tullrusk. These three parishes used a common record and it is complete from 1707 for births marriages and burials and the vestry books for these years seem also to have survived, but I have not yet completed searching it.

Drumbo, Co. Down. The parish church here on a very ancient site is used by the Presbyterians and the Church of Ireland (which was the established church until around 1870 and was the custodian of all burial records though other denominations kept baptism and marriage records) did not have a church in the parish until 1788.

Hillsborough, Co. Down. There could be some Fulton records here but I haven't yet searched here. There are some records as early as 1686, but they are not continuous.

Secondary Sources
 

IGI. (International Genealogical Index) This is a useful starting point, but is only as accurate as the source who supplied it. In the case of family entries this can often include an element of wishful thinking and I believe that it is a dangerous to accept information from this source without checking its origin, which isn't always possible. This can be accessed on the Internet at: Family Search.

Theodore Hope's book "Fultons of Lisburn" published in 1903 Hope met my grandfather during its preparation. From this meeting it was said that we were related, but we do not appear in the book (and we are not the only omissions). I assume that it is accurate in talking about the period from around 1800 when Hope would have known most of the facts from personal knowledge and usually can back them up. Much of the 1750-1800 period can also be cross checked, but earlier entries are more difficult to check.  To see the relevant chapters of this book, go to: Sir Theodore

Burke Publications Burke's Peerage giving the pedigrees of the British nobility is the best known of several publications which have run through many editions since the mid 19^th century. Among them are Burke's Landed Gentry, Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland and Burke's Colonial Gentry. The Lisburn Fultons first appeared in the 1863 edition of the Landed Gentry of great Britain and Ireland, under the heading "Fulton of Braidujle" Basically the same entry appeared in the 1876 and 1882 editions. The 1899 edition, which had become a separate "Landed Gentry of Ireland", was revised by Theodore Hope as he explains in the preface to his book, and reappeared in 1904 and 1912. Two entries appeared in  he Colonial Gentry of 1891 for Francis Crossley Fulton and General John Fulton who were brothers and who emigrated to New Zealand, one living in Napier and the other in Dunedin. Curiously the early generations are different in these two entries, and though they have a resemblance to the 1863 edition mentioned above, the Hope version of 1899 is different.

The General John entry in the Colonial Gentry gives a descent from Richard b. about 1678 who had two sons James and John. James born about 1720 is said to have emigrated to Little Britain, Lancaster, Penn and two sons Richard born about 1750 and Robert b. 1765 who he claims was the steamboat inventor. The descent he shows is sketchy and does not cover many of the Fultons who show in the official records, but I find it interesting that he claims the connection to Robert. John was born in India in 1827 and as far as I know never lived in Ireland though he may have visited. In retirement, he was far from the rest of the family, so I assume that the descent he gives came from his father Robert Bell Fulton 1788 -1836 who was born in Lisburn. As John was only aged 9 when his father died I assume the facts came through his mother who died in 1863. If this was the source then it came from someone who was contemporary with Steamboat Robert. The detailed family links quoted in this reference in Burke do not seem to tally with other sources for the family of Steamboat Robert, but the fact that there was a family tradition of the link from a contemporary source may be significant

Go to The Earliest Fulton Connected With  Lisburn