Returning home

Tony Allan, living in Hout Bay, South Africa always was wondering about his background. He knew that his ancestors on the paternal side came from the UK, but he wasn’t sure where. In 2007, he and his wife Dawn were travelling through Ireland and continued on to Scotland, hoping perhaps that they might get some clue as to where the Allan family (as they thought) came from. Nothing was learned from this trip, except that they enjoyed travelling throughout the various verdant landscapes. Tony remembers motoring up through County Tyrone and passing by small towns and villages like Augher and Ballygawley, little realising that his great-grandparents were buried in a little Church of Ireland graveyard at Ballynasaggart, which was a couple of miles off the route he was travelling.

Then when he returned to home, he almost gave up hope of finding out more about his long lost relatives but just by chance, a holidaymaker called Tony Grimes from Northern Ireland made his acquaintance in Africa and they got talking. The conversation came round to the old country and Mr Grimes who actually wasn’t from the Ballygawley area but knew of Allens who lived outside the town and he mentioned this to Tony.

When he got home Tony Grimes emailed Tony Allan a list of Allens that he found in the telephone directory, there were quite a few in the list so Tony Allan decided to write to all the Allens, rather than phone each one, because he wasn’t still sure if there was a link. He got one reply from my cousin Russell Allen ten days afterwards and they exchanged email addresses.

Russell had one piece of evidence that established the link between South Africa and Ireland, because Tony’s grandfather Robert Allen, born in 1854, had emigrated to South Africa and then had returned to Ballygawley in 1894, to erect a headstone in their memory at Ballynasaggart. The people in Ireland were still very poor and headstones were expensive. - more at  Allen / Allen - The South African connection

Russell included a picture of this headstone in his letter to Tony – The inscription included the wording “Erected by Robert of South Africa” Robert in fact was Robert Allen, but for some reason when he or his son Gordon (Tony’s father) was registered, the name was spelt Allan, this being one of the reasons that tracing relatives was difficult.

 Since then Tony has found details of his Irish family going back to the 1700s and found about 350 relatives [ranging from first cousins to third cousins removed etc].  But what is even more amazing is that he is now in regular contact with some of them and they have become not just relatives but good friends.  The nearest living relative to Tony now that we know of is Margaret Lavelle (nee Allen) who is my aunt and Tony’s second cousin. Tony was my father’s second cousin and his relationship to all my first cousins (of which there are many) is a second cousin, once removed.

 Tony has arranged to visit Ballygawley and other villages occupied by the Allen’s of Errigal in May, 2009 and is hoping to see as many relatives as he can meet.