Lulu, Gleason and McIlhaggo

Sometimes one chances on a 'link' to something genealogically productive. A book produced by the online publisher Lulu contained in its advertising blurb a reference to a McIlhaggo family. The book was entitled A Genealogy of the Gleason Family by Diane Marie Gleason. It was far too expensive to buy, but as it said it was a 'work in progress', I thought she would welcome a contribution I might be able to make. I emailed the company asking to be put in touch with the author. I had no reply so had another look at Lulu's site. I realised I could download the book in pdf format for about a third of the price of a hard copy. I bit the bullet and paid up!

The McIlhaggo link was to Henry McIlhaggo of Maxwells Walls, about whom I have written fairly fully in this blog. He married Agnes McMeekin on 31st August 1851 in Templepatrick, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The marriage record for Henry and Agnes simply says 'full age' for them both, and I have to admit that I assumed this probably meant they were both about 21. Diane Gleason has rightly taken their ages from the 1881 Census, which hopefully I would have got round to checking! This reveals that James was no less than 15 years Agnes' senior. She was born about 1836, he about 1821. The link to the Gleasons, of which of course I did not know, is through Henry and Agnes' daughter Mary Ann (born 1864) who is Diane's great-grandmother through the female line. For me the result is that my attempt at reconstructing a Maxwells Walls Family Tree is now a little fuller than it used to be.