Back to FamilySearch

I thought I had done a thorough search of the Mormon Internet site, FamilySearch.org, until a genealogy blog suggested going straight to the 'advanced' method of searching, and after putting in a surname and not ticking 'exact form' - I put in McIlhaga - and then selecting either 'spouse' or 'parents' - I selected 'spouse' - and clicking 'search'. I immediately got 90 page of 'Historical Results', most of which I admit were for names not among my clan 115 variants of 'McIlhagga' (yes, there really are 115 variants!). Many however gave me good 'clan information'. Much I already had, though it was all worth checking as there were date and place details I didn't have, or maybe had not previously noted down. Many results gave me totally new information, not least about children born to clan women who had married and so had non-clan surnames.

Again, some of this information contained additions to marriages about which I knew. Inevitably the most interesting was the earliest. For example Margaret was born in Ayr on 8th April 1714 (baptised in Ayr on 18th April), the daughter of Agnes McIlhago and James Gemill - a marriage I didn't know about. Unfortunately there was no date for the marriage, though doubtless I can probably find this on the ScotlandsPeople website. Agnes was the eldest child of four born to Robert McIlhago (or McIlhagow) and Bessie Johnstone (or Jonstoune). The FamilySearch site gave me dates (rather than simply years) for the births and the baptisms of all four offspring, Agnes, Robert, Mary and John. Sadly it didn't give me marriages for the other three. If either Robert or John had had descendants we might be nearer knowing who emigrated to Ulster!

The other interesting piece of 18th Century information was that Robert, the eldest son of Robert McIlhagow (or McIlhaggart) and Elizabeth Jamieson (or Jamison) who was born on 10th October 1789, was baptised on 8th November at Paisley Abbey. The rest of their children were baptised in Ayrshire. Assuming that the internet site is accurate, I wonder why Paisley Abbey? Perhaps one of the grandparents was living there at the time. Of the six children in this family all of whom I had assumed must have spent all (or most) of their lives in Ayrshire, I was surprised to find that John had marriage banns called in a Greenock parish where he married Jean Glen, who presumably came from there. This is of course the family for whom in an earlier blog I postulated a youngest daughter, Margaret, who went to live first in Ulster, before emigrating to Pittsburg, Pensylvania.

There are many marriages in the 90 pages that I cannot place in clan Family Trees, marriages where there are children born to clan women with non-clan married surnames. These names include Bates, Brownlees, Christie (2 children), Clarke, Carmichael, Francz, Fullerton, Gibb (7 children), Hill (6 children), Hilton, Johnston (3 children), Kelly (3 children), Sloan (7 children), Winning (2 children) and Wylie. If any of these names ring bells with anyone, I would be glad to hear from them.