Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-04-02
Nutes Of Ttavelim Gnrppe.
OBSERVATIONS ON IRELAND.


OBSERVATIONS ON IRELAND.
By REV. r. LATHAM.
---s
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.]
1t may be safely said that nine-tenths of
the population of upper South Carolina, and
of, perhaps, dozen of the counties Of west
ern North Carolina, are of Irish descent.
In addition to this, at an early period in the
history of South Carolina, considerable num-
bers of emigrants from Ireland settled in
nearly every section of the State. The
county of Williamsburg was settled entirely
by the Irish. These Irish immigrants were
generally Protestants. Few, if any, Catho-
lies ventured out of the large cities. Pre-
vious to the Revolutionary war there were
very few Catholics in America, and in the
two Carolinas and Georgia, very few tor
nearly half century afterWard. The dio-
cese Of Charleston was founded in 1920. 1t
comprised North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia. In all this territory there
were less than one thousand Catholics. 1t
is stated by Catholic authorities, that when
John England, the first bishop, took charge
of the diocese of Charleston, there were in it
only one or two apologies for churches, with
congregations torn by scandals. There were,
it is stated by the same authorities, only
two churches between Baltimore and New
Orleans. Since that period Catholicism has
increased rapidly in the diocese, almost en-
tirely by immigrants from foreign countries
and mostly from Ireland. With some de-
gree of propriety, the Irish call America
Great Ireland. In fact, some Irish authori-
ties claim that America was discovered IN
the sixth century by St. Brendan.
The original settlers of Lancaster, Chester,
York, Abbeville, the upper part of Fairfield,
Williamsburg, parts of Newberry, Laurens
and Union, came from the counties Antrim,
Armah, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Ferman-
agh, Londonderry, Monaghan and Tyrone,
Ireland. These counties constitute what is
called Ulster Province. Antrim, Down and
Londonderry-more commonly called Der
ry-furnished by far the larger amount OF
Immigrants, of whom Antrim furnished
more than Derry and Down together. This
is especially true respecting those who set
tied in the counties of Lancaster, Chester,
Fairfield and York. Those who settled in
williamsburg and Abbeville were general
ly from the county Down. 1t would be a
strange thing if the people of Upper South
Carolina took no interest in Antrim county,
Ireland. Rather, it is not strange that they
take so much interest in it. There the dust
of their ancestors, only few generations
back, sleep.
Antrim county is the most northern
county of Ireland on the east. On the south
it is bounded by county Down, from which
it is separated by the river Lagan. On the
west it is bounded by Lough Neagh and
county Derry, from which it is separated by
the river Bann; and on the north and east
by the North Channel. From Tow Head,
on the northern coast of Antrim, to the
Null of Cantire, in Scotland, it is only thir-
teen and half miles. heard q lady say
she had often looked across the Channel and
seen, on Scotch wash days, the clothes hang
ing out in the sun to dry. 1t was either not
Scotch wash day when [ looked across, or
my eyes are not well adapted to long
ranges. At least I saw no white sheets.
Antrim county is about fifty-tive miles
long and about twenty-five wide. Hence
it contains about fourteen hundred square
miles. All the counties in Ireland are di-
vided into baronies each barony into par
ishes, and each parish into toWnlands. In
Antrim county there are fifteen baronies
which are known by the following names
Lower Dunluce, Upper Dunluce, Cary,
Kilconway, Lower Glenarm, Upper Glen
arm, Lower Toome, Upper Toome, Lower
er Massareene, Upper Massareene, Lower
Belfast and Upper Belfast. The minor di-
visions are so many that 1 was unable to
note them, and they are of no special i'm
portance.
The name Antrim is of doubtful origin
and import. BY some it is claimed that the
name originally was Aeiatruibh, which
means one tribe. This seems at least plausi-
BILE, and Aentrui6h has an Irish appearance
and sounds Irish. Notwithstanding this,
it is claimed that the original name was
Endruina, which means "a kabitation upon
the waters" The probability. is that at
one time it was called by both these names.
The reason assigned for calling il Enolruina
is the fact that it is entirely surrounded by
water. On the east by the sea and Belfast
Lough; on the south of by the River Lagan,
and on the west by Lough Neagh and the
River Bann. 1t seems that the name En-
d1aim might mean among the oaks, or in
an oak, or something of the kind. Druid
is generally regarded as being derived from
the Greek word d,'us, so dratim is no greater
change, and is just as natural as that from
drus to druid. Such being the case, we have
only to prefix the proposition en- and we
have Endruio, meaning an oak, or some
thing of the kind.
In Antrim county there are number
OF COWUS. SOllle vi SlLC dIis'
mportance-others, mere hamlets. The
largest town is Belfast, and is at the head
of Belfast Lough. The population of Bel.
fast is, was told, near two hundred and
fifty thousand, although by the census OF
1881 it was only about two hundred and
eight thousand. OF this number, more
than twenty-five thousand are in Ballymac-
carret. Belfast and Ballymacarret are sep
arated by the river Lagan hence. Bally-
maccarret is in County Down. In Irish Ian
guage 6ally means town. Thus Ballymena
means the middle town, meno denoting
middle. Bally is prefix to more than
five hundred towns in Ireland. In fact,
Belfast is as fiourishing town as is in the
United Kingdom. AS, however, | spoke
of this before, l will pass it over at present.
In northwestern direction from Bel
fast, and, if my memory serves me correct
ly, fourteen miles distant, is the old town
of Antrim. 1t is situated near the north
eastern corner of Lough Neagh. This may
sound strange to hear of a town being stu
ated near the corner of a Tough or lake, but
such is the fact. Lough Neagh isabout four
teen miles long, and perhaps eight wide,
and it is as near as Tough or lake can be
right angled parallelogram. Antrim
might be described as situated on the Six
mile water, where it empties into Lough
Neagh. Here it may be mentioned that
what we call rivers, the Irish call waters.
They never, at least l never heard them,
speak of the River Bann; it was always
the Bann water. A small stream, such as
we call branch, they call JtnW.