# Seek Book "Crofton Memoirs, Account of John Crofton of Ballymurray, Co. Roscommon."



## BillK (13 Mar 2006)

My Dear daughter-in-law, who is 6th generation South African, is trying to get hold of a copy of the above book.
The full title is:

Crofton Memoirs, Account of John Crofton of Ballymurray, Co. Roscommon.

The book was published in York in 1911. 
The Croftons were an Anglo-Irish family who went to Ireland in the 16th century firstly in the Roscommon area but latterly in Dublin.
John Crofton apparently "went to Ireland in the train of Sir Henry Sidney in 1565,.... and was holding office as Clerk to the Connaught Council in 1569"

On the recent death of her father my daughter-in-law went back to South Africa for the funeral and was able to photocopy part of the book which had passed to her elder brother. 
She made me a very proud grandfather last June, producing Crofton James K and would like to get hold of a copy of the book for him.

Any ideas, web addresses of antiquarian book sellers (should that be sellers of antiquarian books?) would be appreciated.

Thanks

BillK


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## extopia (13 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

 suggests it's available.

[broken link removed] looks promising to me, but there are other sources obviously.


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## BillK (14 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

That's brilliant Extopia!

Thanks to you I can now earn some brownie points. (I will put you at the top of the credits list.)

Many thanks

BillK


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## extopia (15 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

Live life to the power of Google


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## MissRibena (15 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

Don't know if it would matter to her but the current Lord Crofton still visits the locality fairly regularly. The estate is still there, minus the house. The last Roscommon Croftons (Mote, not Moate, Demesne - about 2 miles from Roscommon Town) only left in the 1940s. The local heritage group are a font of info on the Croftons - some of their relatives were employed as domestics etc so still have first hand accounts of the "big" house, its workings and their employers. Might also be worth getting in contact with the Moate (Co Westmeath) and Ahascragh contingents, particularly the latter, who I believe may have been the more affluent ones and most likely to leave a trail. I wouldn't swear to it, but I'm fairly sure I've seen a photocopied copy of the Crofton Memoirs at one stage. If it is the one I'm thinking of, its relability is not to be counted upon as it was produced as an amateur/family document and some of the group I was with could point to inaccuracies fairly easily.

One of the Lady Croftons (Caroline I think but don't quote me) was a very keen photographer when it was still a novelty (turn of century, I guess). There are lots of her glass negatives in the National Library as well as Roscommon Country Library (uncatalogued) and sometiems pop up in books. She seems to have been a bit of a philantropist and took photos of the "ordinary" locals more than anything else, a subject which doesn't exist much in photographic evidence of the time.

Rebecca


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## BillK (15 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks for that info which I will pass on to Louise.

Your caveat is right in that it was written by Henry Thomas Crofton ( with assistance fromThe Rev William Ball Wright and Helen Augusta Crofton) "from Public and Private Records" so needs to be read with caution.

The parts which we are most interested in however are those relating to the Croftons of Dublin which seem to be on much firmer ground.
We know from other sources, e.g. Thoms Irish Directory 1884 and the 1851 Dublin City Census (got this from www.eneclann.ie together with other useful genealogical cds) that Hugh Crofton was the grandfather of Elizabeth Harriett Crofton who married Henry  William Hopkins. Egbert Apsey Hopkins who is Louise's great grandfather was their grandson.

All very interesting to me as many of the Dublin Croftons were baptised and married in St Audoens Cof I church in Dublin and many of my relatives, including my father were baptised etc in St Audoens RC church.

How the wheels turn.

BillK


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## olddog (15 Mar 2006)

*Re: Crofton Memoirs 1911*

O/T remark :

Both Mayo & Leitrim county libraries list this book in their catalogues


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## Ciaran (15 Mar 2006)

Did you try in Trinity? As far as I know, they hold a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom and Ireland.


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## BillK (15 Mar 2006)

Thanks to both olddog & Ciaran but I live in England. I have emailed eneclann.ie to see if they can help, and have some email addresses in the US (thanks to Extopia) and am awaiting responses. 
I would much prefer to deal with an Irish company if at all possible.

BillK


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## BillK (23 Apr 2006)

Thought an update was in order.

Thanks to AAM another descendant of the Croftons of Dublin got in touch with me and provided some very valuable data re the family. This individual also got in touch with www.eneclann.ie  and as a result Brian Donovan of Eneclann is applying to Trinity to scan the copy of the book they have.
The info provided to me has enabled the identification of some possible other descendants in Cape Town and I intend to contact them during my trip down there next month.

Looks like good results all round.

Thanks to all at AAM

BillK


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## DrMoriarty (23 Apr 2006)

BillK, sorry I didn't spot this query earlier, but these [broken link removed] [broken link removed]s may yet be of interest (press Ctrl + F and enter 'Crofton' to skip to the mention of the book, in the latter case). Unfortunately, the link provided there seems to be dead...

http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/ireland/roscommon/roscom7.htm


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## BillK (24 Apr 2006)

Thanks DocM, that's the one OK; finding a copy is a bit like pulling teeth from a hen.
My daughter-in-law's grandfather was given a copy by his Grandmother for his 2nd birthday in 1911 when the book was published and very few copies appear to be available.


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## DrMoriarty (24 Apr 2006)

You might try [broken link removed], too? The _Crofton Memoirs_ don't show up on a catalogue search, but they might be able to advise on availability.


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## dlh2020 (23 Aug 2006)

I am currently looking at this book now.  It is only available from the British Library in Boston Spa and has to be requested for as a special item.


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## apduncan (22 Sep 2006)

I have acces to the book through HeritageQuest Online. What section are you interested in?

A P Duncan


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## BillK (22 Sep 2006)

Hi, apduncan

I am trying to get a copy of the book, either hard copy or on disc, for my grandson who is descended from the Croftons through his mother, my daughter-in-law.
I have a photocopy of part of the book, that part dealing with the Croftons of Dublin.When my daughter-in-law was in S. Africa for her father's funeral she photo copied part of the book and brought it over here to England where she and my son live.

As I mentioned near the start of this thread, there is a copy of the book in my d-in-l's family in South Africa but it now belongs to the eldest son.

I am fairly confident that I can get the book printed from a cd if that is all that I can get.


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## BillK (31 Jan 2007)

Had an email from Brian Donovan of Eneclann, Dublin, today to let me know that Eneclann have just published the memoirs on CD.

Great news for me!


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