McIlhagga - 'E'

The FamilySearch site offers us eight McIlhaggas with a first name beginning with 'E', the first of which is Eliza McIlhagga of Ballymena, daughter of John, a farmer. She married Matthew McDowell of Carniny, a Weaver, son of Robert, a Weaver, on 17th May 1856, at Ballymena 3rd Presbyterian Church. Eliza was a minor when she married, so she had to have been born after 1835. The two witnesses at the marriage were William McIlhagga and Mary McIlhagga. Family search records the birth of four children, all at Ballymena, as follows: Cecilia on 1st February 1864, Robert on 10th Jun 1866, William Houston on 28th Jan 1868 (mother's name Elizabeth) and Samuel on 3rd Jan 1872. It is somewhat surprising that there were no children registered in the first eight years of marriage, though if there were some who did not survive, this may account for the apparent departure from the Scottish/Irish naming pattern. One would look for a first male to be Robert and a second male to be John. Can we decide where this family fits into the wider clan picture? Perhaps the second name of William Houston gives us the clue. Eliza is most likely the daughter of John McIlhagga/o and Mary Houston of Maxwell's Walls, and indeed this Mary under her married name may well have been the female witness mentioned above. Who the second witness, William McIlhagga, was I cannot be sure.

The next three are all Elizabeths, the only information given being place of event and the registration quarter of a particular year. I do however have more information about two of them. In date order they are first Elizabeth McIlhagga who married in Belfast on Oct-Dec 1910. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Owens McIlhagga and Henrietta Wilson. She married Hugh Minford on 16th Nov. 1910 at Antrim Road Baptist Church, Belfast. I have written about the McIlhagga-Minford link in an earlier blog. The second record is of the death of Elizabeth McIlhagga aged 76 in Jan-Mar 1913. She was born Elizabeth McCulloch and married John McIlhagga. Again, I have written previously about the McIlhagga-McCulloch link. Third, we have the death of another Elizabeth McIlhagga in Belfast in Jul-Sep 1919. She was only two years old. Unfortunately I don't have a record of an Elizabeth born in 1917, so if anyone can enlighten me, I would be most grateful.

I now come to a marriage in Ballymena of Elizabeth Lowry or McIlhagga to James Graham, son of Robert Graham. This was on 10th Apr 1854 when Elizabeth was 30 (born 1824) and James was 46 (born 1808). Clearly this was a second marriage for Elizabeth, confirmed by the name of her father, William Lowry. Sadly I have no record of an earlier Lowry marriage to a McIlhagga so I cannot determine how she is linked to a Family Tree.

Lastly I come to five children born to couples where the mother's maiden name was McIlhagga, all of them new to me. The first is Robert, born on 15th Feb 1872 in Connor, County Antrim, to Robert Scroggy and Ellen McIlhagga. Ellen was I believe the daughter of John McIlhagga/o, one of three sisters, Rose, Mary and Ellen. John was a farmer in Maxwell's Walls. The next birth is of Ellen Jane on 14th Apr 1876 to John Hinton and Ellen McIlhagga. Now my records spell Ellen's surname McIlhage, from a marriage giving her father as Nathaniel and the event on 5th Jan 1872 at Eglinton Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast. I do not have a record of an Ellen born about 1850 to a Nathaniel, so again I do not know where to place this nuclear family in a Family Tree. The FamilySearch record is unusual in giving a very precise place of birth for the father, John Hinton, namely 57 Everton Street.

Finally there are three children born to Robert Whiteside and Esther McIlhagga. Again my marriage records have the variant spelling of McIlhaggar for Robert and Esther's marriage on 9th Aug 1851 at Ballymena Registrar's Office. On this occasion I can fit them into a Family Tree. Esther's father was David, a Linen Weaver of Newtoncromelin, County Antrim. This is part of the family that emigrated to Ohio and particularly to Jamestown, Pennsylvania, an emigration led by Esther's brother David. William was born on 7th Jun 1875 in Broughshane, County Antrim. The baptism place is given as 149, Broughshane. Elizabeth Jane was born on 9th August 1872 at Broughshane (baptism at Broughshane) and Thomas Alexander was born on 18th Nov 1874 at Skerry, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.