McIlhaggo - Fullerton

Mary McIlhaggo was the younger daughter of Samuel and Ellon (nee McWhinney) McIlhaggo of Port Muck. She married John Fullerton, a farmer in the townland of Kilcoan on Islandmagee. I first learned of their marriage from a notice in the Belfast Newsletter giving the date of 17th December 1840. I then found it on a card index at the Linen Hall Library with the date of 25th December 1840. Maybe the marriage was reported on 25th and actually took place on 17th. It can hardly have been the other way round! The marriage appears not to be recorded in the records of the First Presbyterian Church, IslandMagee, so I think it must have taken place in the Second Presbyterian Church, where the Rev. David Potter was the 'Seceder' minister. Be that as it may, no fewer than ten children all born at Kilcoan, were baptised at the First Presbyterian Church, all by the Revd. William Campbell, as follows:

Margaret, born 28 Sep 1841, baptised 8 Oct 1841;
Ellen, no birth date recorded, baptised 8 Jun 1843.
She was to marry Samuel Forbes of Portmuck, who had been baptised six months earlier, as I recorded yesterday. This was a marriage of first cousins. They were to have three children.
Martha, born 15 April 1845, baptised 27 April 1845;
Robert, born 1 June 1847, baptised 27 June 1847;
Mary, born 18 December 1850, baptised 2 February 1851;
William, born 2 May 1852, baptised 22 May 1852;
Anna, born 5 June 1854, baptised 3 August 1854;
Eliza, born 24 June, 1856, baptised 24 July 1856;
Jane, born 24 July 1848, baptised 20 October 1858;
John, born 12 October 1860, baptised 26 November 1860.


In the past I have referred to the marriages of two John Fullertons, the first on 17 December 1840 and the second on 8 January 1872 in Connor Church of Ireland to Margaret, the daughter of James McIlhagga and Mary Ann Gardiner. In the second case the name and occupation of the father is also given as John, a farmer. The son John was a Weaver. I have therefore assumed that the father was the farmer from Kilcoan and John was his son. I have made this assumption not knowing John Junior's date of birth, but now I do! If John born in 1860 had married in 1872 he would only have been eleven years old, so I now think my assumptions were in error. An alternative scenario could be that John senior married twice, the second time eleven years after the birth of John Junior. This would probably mean that in the meantime his first wife Mary had died, which is of course a distinct possibility. Sadly I wasn't able to see the Connor Church of Ireland marriage registers as they are held in private custody. I'm afraid that for the time being the matter remains 'unresolved', though with a possible 'second marriage' solution.

The Islandmagee records included the above marriage of Samuel and Ellen as follows:
27 November 1873. Samuel Forbes, Widower, Farmer of Portmuck, Islandmagee, and Ellen Fullerton of Kilcoan, Islandmagee. Witnesses: Arthur Forbes and John Fullerton.