tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13344062.post90210239099266368..comments2024-02-18T17:35:25.382+00:00Comments on Bloggin fae the 'Burn: <i>Ulster-Scots thoughts</i>: (Part Two) Barry Griffin, the Census of Ireland, and the mysterious long-lost Gaeltacht of Antrim and Down?Mark Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820251983224121718noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13344062.post-62721774273453425012019-05-07T01:31:58.700+01:002019-05-07T01:31:58.700+01:00Hi Mark:
My name's Gerry Harbison. I'm cu...Hi Mark:<br /><br />My name's Gerry Harbison. I'm currently living in the States, but both my parents were from Belfast, and I grew up Dublin. My great grandmother, Margaret Magill née McNeill was from Glenarm. She and her kids filled out the 1911 census in Irish, probably to annoy the census taker, but also because they were involved with the Gaelic League, And I think that might have been the cause of there being so many self-declared Irish speakers in 1911; it was an act of nationalist rebellion. My great grandmother might have spoken Irish -- there was some spoken in the glens of Antrim in the mid-19th century -- but she filled out the census in English in 1901, as did all but two of her children. All of them claimed to speak both languages. <br /><br />I spent some time in Co. Down as a kid, and I completely agree with you about the Ards peninsula. Gerard Harbisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06182552979528991484noreply@blogger.com