The name David

On a couple of occasions I have looked in some detail at a given name to see whether any of its features, like frequency, can offer us any clues about particular clan family trees. I have done this with the male names Francis and Nathan. I have yet to do so with a female name. My last blog has suggested to me that I might look at the name David.

So I have searched through 15 clan family trees of which 7 have no examples of the name David. They were those who had their earliest known progenitors in Ballycloghan, Islandmagee, Templepatrick, Ballee and Belfast (3), all in County Antrin, Ireland. Two trees had just one David, both from the twentieth century, from Tullygarley and Belfast. One had two Davids, from Ballymena in the late twentieth century. Two trees had three Davids, all from the twentieth Century, from Carnmoney and Connor. I really don't think any of these examples are likely to help us in relating the trees to each other and possibly find more information about origins.

We are left with three trees which may be more worth looking at, one in Scotland and two in Ireland. However, I am going to discount one family, despite the fact that the name David comes down through five generations, back to 1826. It is the family which spells our surname McIlhagger, and my judgement is that the first David must have come from the side of the family which had a different surname to our clan name. I would of course be pleased to be proved wrong on this matter.

The earliest examples of the name are in Scotland, all in the village of Kirkmichael in Ayrshire. David McE/Ilhagow was born in 1634 and married Katherin Baird. The second was David McElhagow, born 1675 who was a first cousin once removed to the first David. He was son of Thomas. The third was David McIllhago, born 1702, the grandson of the first David, so was in a family that was following the Scottish naming pattern. He was the father of William about whom I wrote in my last blog, who as I said, may well be the 'missing link' between the clan's existence in Scotland, and its existence in Ireland. With three generations of Davids in the 17th and early 18th Centuries in Scotland I wouldn't be surprised if later Davids in Ireland relate back to them. But do they?

I have to admit that there is no other David known to me for another hundred years, but one of the earliest clan members in Ireland in the 19th Century was a David. He was born in 1806 in Newtowncromelin. He married twice, to two Marys, and had six children by his first wife and four by his second. One of his six was also called David, born in 1843. He and his family emigrated to Jamestown, Pensylvania. He married a Maria and had three children, all girls, hence the name, which they spelled McIlhagga, died out. Before they emigrated this family lived in the townland of Lisnacrogher in County Antrim, near enough to the town of Broughshane to relate to the First Presbyterian Church there for baptisms and marriages.

Can we draw any possible inferences from this information? David born in 1702 had a son William born in 1743. If he was following the naming pattern which was transferred to Ireland, we could expect William's first son (if he had one) to be called David. There is no evidence that William married in Scotland, and it is possible that he was unmarried when he first appeared in Ireland in 1781. On the assumption that he did marry and produce a son this could take us to say 1785 and then another generation to the time of the birth of David in Newtowncromelin in 1806. Admittedly this gives us a couple of unusually long generation gaps and it distorts the naming pattern! So I'm afraid we have to leave this theoretical though interesting speculation at this point and wait for more evidence to turn up to link our clan families more positively.

Scotland-Ireland missing link?

On 7 November last I noted a reference in the Belfast Newsletter to William McIllhago in 1781. He appears in Ireland 'out of the blue'. Where has he come from? On 15 February I raised the question whether he had moved into Connor from Islandmagee? I now think this unlikely. Why? Because I have now asked myself whether there was another William with whom he could be identified. In filing a paper copy of the Newspaper report I have realised that he could be the William born on 9 January 1743 in Dalmellington, Ayrshire. One reason for this is that the spelling of the surname McIllhago is the same in the Belfast Newspaper and in the Ayrshire Old Parish Records, both in the Baptism Register, and indeed in the Marriage Register where his parents appear in 1740. His father was David McIllhago; his mother Elizabeth Dunbar.

I am aware that spelling variations were to be found frequently in the 18th Century, but surely it is significant to find the same very distinctive spelling in the same time frame? If William in Connor had been born in 1743 he would have been 38 in 1781, a man in his prime as a farmer making a new start in a new country. If this identification is correct, he had a sister Mary born in 1744. His father David was born in 1702 and his grandfather John in 1666, both in the village of Kirkmichael. John's father was another David, born 1634 and his grandfather Thomas, born 1610. That is as far back as we can go with absolute certainty, but I have postulated in another blog that Thomas' father was a Robert known to be in Tradidnell, Ayrshire in 1597, possibly son of Patrick, known in Kyle in 1533, possibly son of Michael, known in 1527 in the village of Colmonell. Michael could have been born in the 15th Century.

Have we now found a near certain link between Scotland and Ireland?

The Summer Soldiers

On 2 November last I wrote about The United Irishmen and about Andrew McIlhagga from Islandmagee who joined them. I have recently been reading A.T.Q. Stewart's The Summer Soldiers (The Blackstaff Press, Belfast 1995) which is probably the best historical account of the year 1798 when the Battle of Antrim took place and the United Irishmen's attempt to establish a viable Republican Movement was defeated by the troops of the British Government.

There is a section in Stewart's book (pp. 92-95) which gives some background to Andrew's 'enthusiasm'. Clearly the men of Islandmagee had something of a 'reputation' - "the savage disposition of these people being particularly dreaded" (Massereene/Foster MSS in PRONI - D562/3038). 'Sixty or so pikemen...(seen) on the hills of Islandmagee were only a portion of the insurgent force which had mobilised there...' A Prof Atkinson has calculated that 180 Islandmagee men.. took part in the Rising (Atkinson, Between Two Revolutions, pp. 2, 180 note 20, in Stewart p.269 note 42).

The United Irishmen was an organisation which brought together Catholics and Presbyterians and Stewart says 'there was.. no doubt about the solidly Scottish and Presbyterian character of Islandmagee by 1798. Probably no reason beyond the homogeneity of the Islanders need to adduced to explain their response to the 'turn out' (of the United Irishmen gathering for the Battle of Antrim).... Early on the Thursday morning (of 7 June) a large body of men assembled at the Knowhead Brae, under the command of William McClelland... whose family had fifty-eight acres at Portmuck.... With contingents from other parts of Islandmagee they were to muster before Redfall. The two columns from Islandmagee converged at the causeway near Ballykeel point and went on to join up with the United men from Ballycarry.' It was of course in Portmuck that a McIlhagga family farmed.

We do not know what happened to Andrew and it is unlikely that he is to be identified with a rebel who appeared in Ballymena, after the Battle of Antrim, but it may be worth recording that, according to Stewart, along with a Volunteer captain called James Brown, 'a group of insurgents from Broughshane was heard calling for sledge-hammers to smash open the lower gates of the market house. "Get tar barrels", he cried, "try it with fire". One McIlhatton got a tar barrel from the premises of a dealer in Mill Street'. McIlhatton is of course a different Scottish name from McIlhagga, though the fact that there was a McIlhagga family settled just outside Broughshane, at Ballycloghan, and that I do not know of a McIlhatton there, raises the possibility of a confusion of names in a time of great confusion in County Antrim.

1915 Valuation Roll, Scotland

ScotlandsPeople has put the Scotland 1915 Property Valuation Roll on line. This is a useful Census substitute for the period of the First World War, though it appears to be only the heads of households who are listed. I entered McIlhag* in the search box and received five responses, all related to houses, as follows:

1. Clark MacIlhagga, 97 George Street, Govan, Glasgow. Ref: VR102/1097/101;

2. Marion MacIlhagga, 31 Lyle Street, Greenock. Ref: VR36/71/41;

3. James MacIlhaggie, 22 Blackburn Street, Govan, Glasgow. Ref: VR102/1091/147;

4. John MacIlhaggie, 10 White Street, Partick, Govan, Glasgow. Ref: VR102/1095/109;

5. George MacIlhago, 40 Murano Street, Glasgow. Ref: VR102/1089/260.

You will note that all the names are spelled Mac, rather than Mc. All these references were for people who were Tenant Occupiers. For a small amount (£3.50) I could view the actual documents, which I have printed and which reveal a little more information, as follows:

1. Clark was living in a house owned by The Shepherds' Society Investment Committee, per John Marr & Sons, 16 Merkland Street, Partick, Glasgow. He was one of 11 tenants in that property, mostly craftsmen, though Clark's occupation is left blank. It could be that he was unemployed in 1915. By 1919 he was a Coal Dealer. The annual rents varied from £7/10/- per annum to £11/15/- per annum. Clark was paying £7/15/-.

2. Marion was a tenant of the Executors of the late William Sinclair, Steamboat Agent, per James Kinnaird, 19 Bogle Street. She was listed as a 'Spinster' among 11 tenants. They were paying rents of between £10/9/- and £14/11/-. Marion was paying £11/18/- per annum.

3. James was a tenant of the Trustees of John Smillie, per James Wilson & Son, 777 Govan Road, Glasgow. James was listed as a Seaman, one of 15 tenants in the house paying between £6/-/- and £9/19/- per annum rent. James was paying £8/10/-. Interestingly James was living next to John Young, Carpenter who was paying £9/19/- per annum. John Young was James' father-in-law. It was clearly good that when James was away at sea that his wife and two children had her parents next door.

4. John was a tenant of Marion Aitken, c/o Allan C. Miller, 1130W (Y.O.U.) San Francisco, California, per D.C. Fletcher & Co, 187/189 Byers road, Partick, Glasgow. He was one of 11 tenants in the house, paying between £17/10/- and £21/5/- per annum. John was paying £20/-/- per annum. Unfortunately no occupation is given for John, so again it may be that he was unemployed, though of course it may be that he was serving in the War. I cannot positively identify this John, though I think he was the 18 year old son of William and Agnes, who four years later was to marry Jeannie Anderson Hay. It is possible that she was living in the property while John was serving in the forces, and waiting for him to return, but this is conjecture.

5. George was a tenant of Mrs. Isabella Tolmie, Kelburn, Richmond Drive, Cambuslang, per Murdo Tolmie, Kelburn, Richmond Drive, Cambuslang. He was one of 13 tenants in the house paying between £9/9/- and £17/15/- per annum. George, who was a railwayman, was paying £9/17/- per annum. He had a wife, Isabella and three children.

DNA follow-up

As part of the 'Family Tree DNA' website you can check on the number (and names) of people who match with your own DNA. You can choose matches where differing numbers of chromosomes have been matched. It seems not worth checking when people have only 12 recorded. For me there are well over 2000 of them! I have therefore checked for 25 and 37 (you can go up to 67 and 111). Clearly the most significant matches are going to be at 37 and for me there is only one and he happens to be my third cousin once removed who lives in Canada. It would be great if more male members of our clan would agree to have their DNA analysed so that we can get more comparisons and therefore probably make more family tree links, where the paper trail hasn't yet allowed us to do so. If you are interested, or think you can persuade someone, do please get in touch with me.

Next you look for people whose DNA is nearest to your own. For me there is just one person with 37 less 3 (=34) matches. His surname is Brown, a name he can take back to 1765. His haplogroup is R1b1a2 (R-M269), which is not the same as mine. At Y-DNA 25 he is recorded as not a match for me, which is something I confess I do not understand. In addition to my Canadian cousin there is just one person who is an exact match to me at Y-DNA 25. His surname is Smith and like Brown his haplogroup is R1b1a2 (R-M 269). At one step away (so scoring 24 matches) there are four other men. Two have chosen to keep their haplogroup private, though they don't match mine (names Kendall and Todd). One of the four, named Jacks, also is in the R-M 269 haplogroup. There is however one man whose name is Cox, who can take his name back to 1790, who has the same haplogroup as mine, R1b1a2a1a1b4 (R-L21). If we now move to people who are two steps away from me (23 matches) there are 20 more names of which 17 are in the M269 haplogroup and 3 are in another, R-U152.

To sum up, of all the many thousands of people whose DNA is recorded there are just four men who at the present time have significant matches to me, one McIlhagga, one Brown, one Smith and one Cox.

South Irish DNA

Last Autumn I agreed that my DNA sample which is held in America by 'Family Tree DNA' (FTDNA) should undergo a new test which is known as a Deep Clade test. Before this test the haplogroup (= a population descended from a common ancestor), to which I had been assigned as a result of the initial analysis, I reported on in this blog on 18 April 2011. A couple of weeks ago I received the result of the Deep Clade test (clade = sub-section of a haplogroup), which does not change my DNA result but does narrow down the section of the haplogroup to which I belong. All this is shown diagrammatically on something called a haplotree. Most sections of a haplotree indicate the place of origin of your ancestors and have appropriate Projects associated with them. I simply had an email telling me that I had been removed from the Project concerned with my haplotree reference, R1b1* and that now I had been assigned to section R1b1a2a1a1b4 (R-L21 for short).

It is possible on the FTDNA website to discover whether a particular haplotree section has a Project associated with it. I found that my new group did indeed have such a project and that it is called the 'South Irish Project'. This is the first time it has been suggested that from DNA evidence our name has distant origins in the South of Ireland, though perhaps we shouldn't be surprised in the light of the paper trail which has taken us to Lismore in County Waterford - see my blogs of 2009, Feb 3,8,13; 2010 Nov 13; and 2011, May 25, Oct 23, and Dec 3,4.

The R-L21 South Irish Project has many surnames associated with it, including O'Sullivan and McCarthy to which I have referred in our paper trail - see blogs on 2009, Feb 8; 2012, Nov 13, and 2011 Jan 9. I have been in touch with the Project administrator and as and when I hear anything of interest I will let you know.

Two marriages and a Cow

I'm continuing to refer to the Belfast Newsletter, first for the marriage of a Miss McIlhagga and a John Fullerton in 1840. After searching through twelve months of Newspapers I found this not very informative entry in December:

On the 17th Inst. by the Rev. D. Potter, Mr. John Fullerton to Miss McIlhaga/o both of Islandmagee.

Why, oh why did they not do what most others seemed to do and put in parents names? The new information however is the name of the minister. The Revd. David Potter was in the tradition of the Seceding Presbyterians though in the year of the marriage he and his Islandmagee church united with the Irish Presbyterians and locally became what is still known as Second Presbyterian Church, Islandmagee. This almost certainly gives us information about which Church all our clan there belonged to. This 'Miss McIlhago/a' was almost certainly Mary (born about 1820), daughter of Samuel McIlhagga and Ellon McWhinney. Samuel farmed at Port Muck.

Next, and from a family history perspective we have a most interesting NOTICE printed on 3rd October 1798 as follows:

Whereas my wife, Jennet McIllhaggo, otherwise Summers, otherwise Wilson, eloped from me some time ago, and carried away part of my Goods in my absence without any just cause. This is to caution the public not to credit her, as I am determined not to pay any thing she will contract. Dated at Island Magee this 3rd day of October, 1798. Patrick Wilson, X his mark.

Prior to finding this 'notice' we knew from the (damaged) Will of her father, another Samuel McIlhagga that his daughter 'Jen...' had married a Patrick Wilson. We now know that she 'eloped from him' probably with someone called Summers. My guess is that she was in her early twenties when this happened. As yet I have no information about what became of her. At least we know that the 'Jen...' was really Jennet. As she was likely the third daughter, perhaps this means that her mother, and so Samuel's wife, was also Jennet.

Finally we have the fascinating report in the paper of 6-9 November 1781 headed 'A Stray Beef Cow'. Until now I had assumed that William McIllhaga, the earliest clan member of whom we have any record in the parish of Connor, probably in the townland of Maxwell's Walls, had allowed one of his cows to escape from his farm, and was perhaps in some sort of trouble for this. However, as we can see from the brief report on 8 November, the opposite was the case. He must have found the cow and rescued it. The report reads:

In possession of William McIllhaga, near Connor. Whoever can prove their property may have her, by paying his expenses.