Australian visitor with a passion for the history and heritage of Co Down

Australian visitor with a passion for the history and heritage of Co Down

11 March 2015

AN Australian woman regarded as an authority on Co Down family history visited Downpatrick library last week.

Ros Davies, who was accompanied by her partner, Ray Marner, who is originally from Annacloy, was at the library’s heritage services department where she met staff and Ardglass historian Michael Howland.

Ros — who hails from Sydney — has visited the Market Street library on several occasions to collect and collate information for her website which makes information about family history across Co. Down freely available on the world wide web.

Ros is fascinated by local family history and is a recognised authority in her field. She is regularly  sent reams of information which she posts on line at her genealogy research site, a facility with information on a staggering 800,000 people.

Her research site contains information about surnames, place names, churches, photographs, maps, schools, ships, articles, including many from the Down Recorder, and links to other genealogy research sites.

“I launched the database 14 years ago when I discovered there was not that much information online about Co. Down family history,” she explained, surrounded by tens of thousands of pages of reference books.

“Since I started this venture things have really taken off. When I was researching my own family history I recognised there was a need for more information and decided to launch my genealogy web page. I also thought, as more public records were put online, my workload would lessen but it hasn’t. I am as busy as anything.”

Ros explained the initial reaction she gets from people who do contact her for her help about their families in Co. Down is “good grief, you are an Australian.” 

She said she was recently asked why someone from Sydney is an expert on Co. Down. “My response was that I believe I am the ideal person as I do not come with any bias, preconceived notions or baggage, so people from both sides feel comfortable sending me all of their information. 

“I get a lot of data sent to me literally every day. I am sent church records and families who have spent a lot of money researching their own history have made the information available to me as they don’t want to leave it sitting in a drawer.”

Ros said many people who have sent her their respective family histories are keen to forward it to her so she can make it freely available to other people involved in tracing their own roots.

“I get a lot of people in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand contacting me when researching their own family trees. When they type in their ancestor’s name and and Co. Down, internet search engines direct them to my website,” she explained.

Ros said one of the issues she faces in trying to help people is that surnames can be mis-spelt or misinterpreted by immigration and clerical officials due to the person’s accent. She said when people left Co. Down generations ago, some of their surnames ended up being recorded incorrectly.

“I have come across cases where people’s surnames have been scrambled due to these reasons and it has been difficult to work out their proper names,” continued Ros who said she finds it extremely beneficial visiting Downpatrick and Co. Down.

“My first visit was in 1990 and we have been coming here every two or three years since. I find my trips here really beneficial as it allows me to scour bookshops, including one at the Down County Museum. This helps me browse books on local history which I can then index on my website.

“My research started out as a retirement hobby because you have to keep your brain active. I suffer from Multiple System Atrophy, which is a rare degenerative neurological disease. As the condition progressed, sitting in front of the computer was ideal for someone like me and in my condition. I love this part of the world. When I am here I miss Sydney and when I am in Australia I miss Co. Down,” she smiled.

Ros admitted she and her partner Ray thought about living locally at one stage but that was before her illness. She explained while she does not like the heat, her partner Ray does and while he’s out sunbathing in 40 degree heat, she is “flaked out inside with the air conditioning on.”

Confirming she hopes to be back in the area in 18 months’ time, Ros said she finds Down District very friendly, and says she has detected a real change in people since her first visit a quarter of a century ago.

She added: “To me in 1990 everything was grey. The people were grey, the buildings were grey and it appeared a grey place. Over the years I have seen people starting to enjoy the peace and they are not grey anymore. 

“You are starting to get some colours into the towns and people are starting to wear bright colours. Their thinking is optimistic and they are desperate for peace, sick and tired of all of the hooligans. We have been overwhelmed with people helping us and being friendly in shops — we are not used to that in Sydney. We love this place a lot.”

Ros’s website is freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com-rosdavies/