More Middle Names

I have been playing with the Internet sites again! I read in the latest issue of the magazine of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society that sometimes a missing offspring can be found in FamilySearch.org by putting in to the search boxes only the parents names. I haven't done this yet, but I have tried a number of different ploys.

I put in McElhago as mother and got two people I knew about. I put in McElhago as father and got three people I already knew about. I put McElhago in to the father's first name and came up with a family McEllego in Madera, California in the 1910 US Federal Census. I haven't tried to research them yet. McElhago in the mother's first name didn't produce anything. Neither did McIlhaga nor McIlhagger anywhere. McIlhagga as a first name produced four people only one of whom I knew. He was William McIlhagga Boyd in the Scotland Births and Baptisms Index. He was born 24 Mar 1873 in Greenock, Renfrew, to James Boyd and Jane McIlhagga.

The other three had surnames I recognised from families that had married a McIlhagga, though as yet I don't know exactly where they fit into those families. They all come from the Ireland Civil Registration Indexes as follows:

Jane McIlhagga Rush, born Jan-Mar 1920, Belfast;
Agnes McIlhagga Clarke, born Jul-Sep 1910, Ballymoney;
George McIlhagga Whiteside, born Oct-Dec 1908, Ballymena.

Finally I put in a 'wild-card' version of our name, McIlhag* and got two more middle names, again with recognisable surnames, though again I'm not quite sure where each fits into a family. They are:

John McIlhaggard Wilson, born 1895, died Jan-Mar 1896, Belfast;
Elizabeth McIlhaggs McPhee, from the Ontario Births, born 21 August 1910 in Nepeau, Carleton, Ontario, to parents John Thomas McPhee and Elizabeth McNinn.

Another time I'll tell you what happened when I put McElhag* into the search boxes.

Birth in Australia & a Farm in Ireland

Port Muck, Islandmagee

Isn't it interesting how ofter a death and a birth happen close together in a family? On 9th June I reported the death of Elizabeth McIlhagga in Cloughmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. On 12th, Toby Samuel Loughridge, a grandnephew (by marriage) was born in Australia. Congratulations to his parents, Colin and Leanna, to his siblings and to his grandmother Mary (nee McIlhagga). 

Also I've had an interesting correspondence recently with two people about Islandmagee. Neither were researching our clan but one did give me the names of the three children born to John McCalmont and Martha Forbes, the first of whom was Samuel McIlhagga McCalmont. Martha was the granddaughter of Catherine McIlhaggo who married Arthur Forbes about 1835 in Islandmagee. So we can record another example of McIlhagga being used as a middle name. 

My correspondent also sent me a number of photographs, including the above, which in her opinion are probably of the site of the farm in Port Muck, Islandmagee, where Catherine my have been born to Samuel McIlhaggo and Ellon McWhinney about 1806.

Grave Mystery

It's always good when a correspondent shares some of their own creative thinking, especially when it's been sparked by something in this blog. A regular correspondent from Yankalilla, South Australia, has sent me the following interesting letter and has agreed that I may share it more widely. If anyone has any comment we would be most interested.

Your latest blogs about the Cemetery records made me revisit the site and this time I managed to work out how you see everyone buried in one grave. I don't know why I hadn't seen that before!

I was surprised when I looked at the grave of Elizabeth McIlhagga (nee Walker) in Roselawn Cemetery. She was the wife of Andrew McIlhagga who is buried with his parents Robert & Margaret (nee Craig) in Dundonald Cemetery.

Originally when viewing her record I assumed a typing error was made on the recording of the year of her burial as it was 2 years after her death. But all four people in the grave have the same error???

Elizabeth had a sister Margret one year older than her and a brother Thomas 3 years older but nothing indicates a link to them. I can see no link between the names in the graves except their death dates are close and two burial dates recorded indicate they were buried at the same time in lots of two.

I can only think of a couple of possible explanations. Perhaps their bodies were donated to science and this is the procedure. Or their bodies had been relocated due to some reason like landscaping/ renovating of this or another  cemetery.

Occupants of grave T 2212, Roselawn Cemetery

Forename	Surname	Age	Date of Death	Date of Burial	Cemetery	Details	Record Image
Lizzie Brown	Archer	88	2 July 1975	1 July 1977	Roselawn Cemetery	View Details
Sarah	Cadoo	74	31 August 1975	1 July 1977	Roselawn Cemetery	View Details
Elizabeth	Mcilhagga	67	18 October 1975	18 October 1977	Roselawn Cemetery	View Details
Samuel	Smith	68	21 October 1975	18 October 1977	Roselawn Cemetery	View Details

 Do you know of any explanation? It is a mystery to me and although on the peripheral of my research it has me curious.

A Workhouse Death

Belfast Workhouse

Having, in the past two days, listed the details of twelve burials in Belfast, six of them using the name McIlhagga and six using McIlhagger, finally we have an unusual document from the Belfast Cemetery, using the surname McIlhaga, which is entitled An Application for Interment in the Public Portion. For the low fee of 2/6d the Registrar accepted a burial at 10am on 19th October 1915 from a Mr. A. Linton (I think this is the name) for Norah McIlhaga aged 11 weeks from the Workhouse. She died on 16th October of a Congenital Disability. Her religion is given as R.C. (Roman Catholic). 

This is the extent of the information on the form. I'm afraid we know no more. I would like to find the name of Norah's mother, who we may suspect was a single woman, and I'm sure it must be in the birth and/or the death records of the Workhouse which are now in the Public Record Office in Belfast. However, this may not be possible until 2015/16 as those records are closed for 100 years. I'm visiting the Office next week, and will enquire.

McIlhagger Burials

I am continuing yesterday's blog, revisiting the Belfast City Council burials on line. Yesterday I recorded all the McIlhagga spellings, though one was a mis-spelling for McIlhagger! Here are the rest of the McIlhaggers:

Belfast Cemetery, Section H, Grave 289.
Martha McIlhagger of 99 Charles Street South, aged 15 months, died of Worm Fever on 17th November 1875. Religion: Presbyterian; fee paid 7/6d. Owner of grave: John McIlhagger. John McIlhagger was Martha's father. Martha died eight years before the family emigrated to Australia. They had another daughter in 1876 whom they called Martha Ann.

Belfast City Cemetery, Section H, Grave 289.
Rebecca McIlhagger of 99 Charles Street South, aged 17 days, died of debility on 24th November 1878. Religion: Presbyterian; fee paid 7/6d. Owner of grave: John McIlhagger. John was the father of Rebecca.

Belfast Cemetery, Section KI, Class 4, Grave 334.
Henry Joseph McIlhagger of 42 Gainsborough Drive, aged 32 years, Shipwright, died on 23 July 1918 of Influenza. Religion: Presbyterian; fee paid 10/-. Signed as Proprietor of the Ground, James Boyd. In the past it has been thought that Henry (Harry) who worked at Harland & Woolf Shipyards, had died as the result of an accident there. However this is not born out by this burial record. James Boyd was probably his brother-in-law who had married his sister Mary Kathleen.

Belfast Cemetery, Section KI, Class 4, Grave 334.
Mary Jane McIlhagger of 168 Alexander Park Avenue, aged 75 years, died of Senile Debility on 6th Feb. 1929. Religion: Episcopalian; fee paid 15/-. The person who signed as having the management of the interment was James Boyd of 168 Alexander Park Avenue. He signed as the representative of George McIlhagger, deceased, the registered Proprietor of the Ground. James must have been Mary Jane's son-in-law.

Belfast Cemetery, Section KI, Class 4, Grave 334.
George McIlhagger of 29 New North Queen Street, aged 66 years, died of Cardiac failure on 15th September 1914. Religion: Presbyterian; fee paid 7/6d. The person who signed as the Registered Proprietor of the Ground was James Boyd. George was the husband of Mary Jane (nee Boyd) above. Again, James Boyd must have been George's son-in-law.

Belfast Cemetery, Section II, Class 2, Grave 59.
David McIlhagger of 87 Fitzroy Avenue, aged ?, Foreman Shipwright, died on 7 March 1919 of Pneumonia. Religion: Episcopalian; fee paid 15/-. Signed by ? McIlhagger. This document is badly water stained, hence the question marks. David was in fact aged 40 and was the husband of Elizabeth Louise Sherwood.

Belfast Burials revisited

The Belfast City Council Burial internet site that I reported on on 26 March 2011 has added some images of documents which can be downloaded. Not all of our clan burials there have such images but thirteen have. There is more information than we have known before, such as place of residence, cause of death, religion, fee, name of grave owner. I will take them in groups, according to the surname on the documents. Today, McIlhagga:

Belfast City Cemetery, Section II, Class 4, Grave 279.
Daniel McIlhagga from the Fever Hospital, 15 Ashton Street, aged 25 (an error for 24), a Baker, died of Exhaustion on 7th June 1905. Religion: Presbyterian. Fee paid 10/-. Signed as Registered Proprietor of the Ground by H.J. McIlhagga, who was his wife for three years, nee Harriett Jane Mc(C)autrey. They had one son, John, in 1903.

Belfast City Cemetery, Section LI, Class 4, Grave 568.
Elizabeth McIlhagga of 20 Ambleside Street, aged 2 years 7 months, died on 12th July 1919, of Broncho-pneumonia. Religion: Brethren. Fee paid 10/-. Signed by the Registered Proprietor of the Ground, George McIlhagga. Elizabeth was the fifth daughter (and eighth child) of Samuel Robionson McIlhagga and Jane McNeice. George must have been Elizabeth's half-uncle, the son of George McIlhagga and his second wife Elizabeth Patterson. George and his first wife were the parents of Elizabeth's father.

Belfast Cemetery, Section II, Class 4, Grave 279.
This is to me a new record, using the same grave as Daniel McIlhagga, above. Hugh Hagan, of 31 Lepper Street, aged 4 weeks old, died of Bronchitis on 24th April 1920. Religion: Episcopalian. Fee paid 10/-. The interesting thing here is that the person who signed as the Registered Proprietor of the Ground was Harriet J. McIlhagga, the former widow of Daniel. However, the date of this burial is long after she had remarried. Presumably she signed with the name McIlhagga because she was still 'Proprietor' in that name. Was Hugh Hagan her child? We don't know. Hagan was not her new married name, unless she had married for a third time.

Belfast Cemetery, Section LI, Class 4, Grave 568.
Ruth McIlhagga, of 103 Kilburn Street, aged 2 years, died of an infection of the lungs, on 14th March 1902. Religion: Brethren. Fee paid 7/6d. Signed for the Registered Proprietor of the Ground, Saml. R. McIlhagga, Ruth's father.

Dundonald Cemetery, Section F4, Class 4, Grave 356
Robert McIlhagga, aged 53 years, of 5 Azamore Street, a Plater, died on 13th October 1912, of Broncitis. Religion: Episcopalian. Fee paid 10/-. The document is signed as Registered Proprietor of the Ground by Margate McIlhagga and initialed by S.McI. 'Margate' must have been Robert's wife, nee Margaret Craig, and 'S.McI' was probably their son Samuel who must have accompanied his mother to make the funeral arrangements.

Belfast Cemetery, Section H, Grave ?
Mary McIlhagga (note mis-spelling for McIlhagger) of 97 Charles Street South, aged 66 years, died of Diarrhoea and Bronchitis on 31st January 1884. Religion: Presbyterian. Fee paid 7/6d. Owner of grave John McIllhagga (note mis-spelling for McIlhagger). Mary was John's mother. As Mary McAusland she had married John's father, David.

Belfast Firm

I have picked up the above photograph from 'Belfast Forum', under the topic, 'Every Black & White Photo tells a story'. The comment accompanying the photo is "The shop on the left was owned by Paddy Thompson. I knew him when he was a glazier in McIlhagga's on the Shankill Road. He was also a good footballer". The comment is signed with a pseudonim. The firm referred to must be the one still advertising as 'faircomcilhagga'. It would be interesting to know whether Paddy had any family links with the McIlhaggas.

PS: I have added a brief comment to the blog, 'Port Glasgow to Yarraville' which I published on 4th July 2009. It comes from a correspondent in Australia.

Death in Cloughmills

The following notice appeared on 5th June in PassedAway.com concerning Elizabeth McIlhagga of Cloughmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland:

Elizabeth Elaine McIlhagga (née Currie), late of Cloughmills, passed away on June 5. Dearly loved wife of Bobbie, much loved mother of Andrew and Elaine, mother-in-law of Jamise and Mark, very dear grandmother of Amy, Sarah, Joshua, Zach, Michael and Adam, and dear sister of Barbara, May, Billy, David and the late Sadie, Iris and Jim. The Funeral Service will take place on Friday (June 8) at 2 p.m. in Hebron Free Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney. Interment to follow in Ballyweaney Presbyterian Graveyard, Dunloy. House private. Donations in lieu of flowers have been requested to Autism N.I. (North Coast Branch).


We express our sincere condolences to Elizabeth's husband, Bobbie and to their children and families. Elizabeth and Bobbie were born within a month of each other in 1941 and were married in 1966. Bobbie can trace his McIlhagga ancestors back to the 1750s in Carnmoney and on a female side back to the 1650s, making his one of the longest family lines in our clan.

Diamond Jubilee

Group from Ballymena T.A., 1953

A minor landmark for myself - this is the 400th blog I have written for the McIlhagga Clan. But this month sees a much more important landmark - Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. I have searched in vain for a clan member who is taking part in either of the two great events in the UK this year, the Olympics and the Jubilee. I am not a great collector of artefacts to commemorate royal events, though I have found a booklet outlining all the events around the Queen's Coronation, and I do have a set of coasters made to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee, to the best of my knowledge unique because they were the only item produced with the Scottish Crown as the central design. The maker told me it was chosen by the Duke of Edinburgh. 

However, a clan member in Canada has sent me the important photograph above. It is of her father, John McIlhagga, taking part in the Queen's Coronation in 1953. John, born 1909, was one of five men from the Ballymena Territorial Army unit who were chosen to stand guard at that event. John is the second from the left in the above picture. John had served in World War 2 with the Royal Ulster Rifles and served in North Africa. His daughter thinks that at the Coronation  their post was at Hyde Park Corner. John was the second son of James Spence McIlhagga and Elizabeth McGrillis. James was still alive at the Coronation and must have been very proud of his son. John lived until 1975 and his wife Jane until 1998.