About Arborealis

“Sheep may safely graze.” — J.S. Bach, 1713.
Photograph depicting a view from Glenarb townland in the parish of Aghaloo, county Tyrone, by Alison Kilpatrick ©2003.

Arborealis was created to present family and local history studies pertaining to Alison Kilpatrick’s research interests. These interests range from England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland as countries of origin—to places where our ancestors migrated within Britain and Ireland, or where they settled overseas in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the island of Saint Helena, Scotland, the United States, and such other places as yet unknown.

About the editor :

Sketch of woman in Victorian dress, sitting at a desk writing.

Alison Kilpatrick is an amateur genealogist with a keen interest in local history and historic newspapers.

In 1999, a telephone call from Horley, a city south of London in England, started Alison on this path. The gentleman calling was Mr Keith Wawman (1929–2009), an avid cyclist and member of the Addiscombe club. Keith was equally enthusiastic about tracing his family history, which undertaking he had commenced many years before. He had traced our common ancestors to Thomas Wawman (1681–1758) of Daventry in Northants and Elizabeth Gaboard, wife to Thomas. Thus, Keith was my second cousin, once removed. All of that was interesting enough, but Keith was also calling about the man whom we knew as our great grandfather, Richard Townsend Causton (1843–1930). During the 1860s and ’70s, our young master printer, R.T., spent far more time on the amateur cycling circuit than he did working in his father’s publishing house in Birchin Lane. R.T. Causton won some three dozen trophies (which were sold to a buyer on the European continent many decades later), and it was these which were also the object of Keith Wawman’s attention.

Thus, we commenced a written correspondence, interspersed with more telephone calls. One of those calls was of the “Sit down, you’re not going to believe this” type, at which juncture Keith related what remains a longstanding family history mystery: what is our paternal surname, anyway?

Eventually, Keith and I met up in western Surrey, to explore the childhood haunts of my grandfather, Henry Norman Samuel (Lamport?) Causton (1892–1980) in and around the village of Wotton, not far from Dorking. Keith was very helpful, not only in providing outlines and biographical details about the Wawman family (as he and I were not related via Lamport or Causton). Many others have assisted me along the way. For an outline of those friends and relatives, please see the page entitled, Acknowledg ements.

The family history mystery which Keith unveiled spurred on my interest and with the exception of that line, by 2001 my family’s paternal lines had been sorted. It was very gratifying to be able to deliver our maternal family history in Ireland to our mother shortly before her death in early 2003.

Current projects :

While software upgrades will continue to be rolled out through Arborealis during the latter months of 2023, the editor is also working on a local history project for south Tyrone, and has submitted a paper for publication in a county Mayo historical journal. In addition, the editor is penning two papers: one about an 18th century character of some renown and considerable misfortune, who lived not far from Caledon in county Tyrone; and the second about a trio of relatives, beneficiaries of the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland during the 1700s, yet two of whom suffered rather ignominious ends.

Unfortunately, web redesign has become a recurrent theme since it would appear that, where technological improvements (including so-called “refinements”) go, there must also go website design.

Currently, I hold memberships in the O’Neill Country Historical Society, which publishes historical research for the region of the River Blackwater in counties Tyrone and Armagh, the Ulster Historical Foundation, based in Belfast, and the NIFHS (North of Ireland Family History Society).

Publications :

Kilpatrick, Alison J. The Niagara Courier, Lockport, New York, 1828–1833: transcripts and extracts of articles selected from twenty editions of the Niagara Courier newspaper published between the dates, June 26, 1828 – November 6, 1833, with name and subject indexes. Nova Scotia: Quercus Arborealis, 2011.
Kilpatrick, Alison J. The Armagh Guardian 1844–1852. Vol. I: Births, Marriages and Deaths. (2nd ed.) Comprehending transcripts of birth, marriage. and death notices, gleaned from historical editions of The Armagh Guardian newspaper, as published by John Thompson between December 3, 1844 – December 25, 1852, at the city of Armagh, county Armagh, with indexes of surnames, place names, and institutions & publications. Ontario: Quercus Arborealis, 2015.
Kilpatrick, Alison J. The Northern Standard 1839–1847. Birth, Marriage, and Death Notices, with accounts of other auspicious and adverse events: transcripts, extracts, and indexes. Ontario: Quercus Arborealis, 2015.
Kilpatrick, Alison J. Rachel Mary Gilmore (1855–1930). Published in 2016 as one of a number of essays, in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Irish Genealogical Research Society.
Kilpatrick, Alison J. “The Killyfaddy, County Armagh Connection to the House of York.” In, Familia: Journal of the Ulster Historical Foundation (Belfast). Vol. 33 (2017), pp. 191–213.

Scope—What we do, and limitations :

Referring to the second paragraph, above:

Arborealis was created to present family and local history studies pertaining to Alison Kilpatrick’s research interests. These interests range from England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland as countries of origin—to places where our ancestors migrated within Britain and Ireland, or where they settled overseas in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the island of Saint Helena, Scotland, the United States, and such other places as yet unknown.

Arborealis is primarily a site for sharing information pertaining to Alison Kilpatrick’s family history and local history research interests. We hope that you find the contents interesting and, perhaps, useful to your own research objectives (keeping in mind our copyright notice and cautionary notes).

We welcome contact from readers who share our stated research interests. However, a lot of the e-mails received are variations on the theme, “Can you help me find my (surname) ancestors in county ______, please?” or “Please tell me how to connect my family with yours.” On querying the correspondents, it often happens that they have insufficient research and want me to finish their work, or the family has an oral tradition that they want me to prove. As we are neither pro bono (free) nor commercial researchers, such enquiries will be met with referrals to other resources.

End notes :

Source citation for this page: — Kilpatrick, Alison. “About Arborealis.” Published to Arborealis, arborealis.ca/about/, accessed [Insert date of access].

Updated 26th Oct. 2023.

Arborealis