Irish Shipwrecks

I discovered recently that there is an Internet site which lists all the shipwrecks around the Irish coast, so I looked for the sloop Industry of which our ancestor Robert McElhago (born 1770) was the Master and in which sadly he and all his crew drowned when the Industry was wrecked just off Drogheda harbour in 1798. It wasn't listed as an Irish shipwreck, so I wrote to the editor of the site who was surprised to receive the information, as the person who compiled the information is said to be proud of its completeness. He has now added Industry and we can be proud that our research has made a very good 'shipping site' even better.

Name 'deviant'

Yesterday's blog made me go to the 1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses and rather than put in a name, I put in the names of streets where I knew clan members lived, or had lived. The result was that I found three siblings living together whom I had missed before. The reason I had missed them was because when they (or the enumerator) had filled up the Census form the surname written down was 'as heard' rather than as handed down in the family. The result was as follows:

1901 Census: 98 Queen Street, Ballymena:

Mary Miclhagga, age 22, Head, Spinner, Church of Ireland;
Andrew Miclhagga, age 20, Son, Machine Boy, Church of Ireland;
Clark Miclhagga, age 18, Son, Carter, Church of Ireland.

Mary did sign the form, using the same spelling. They were the three youngest offspring of John McIlhagga and Mary Ann Atkinson. I suspect their parents had both died and that the three eldest, William, John and Elizabeth Jane were living elsewhere. William was married by then to Agnes Anderson McClure. John was married to Mary Sloan. I have no knowledge of what happened to Elizabeth Jane.

Two marriages & Two burials

Finally, from the Kirkinriola records I have noted two marriages and two burials. The first marriage I have already referred to in my recent blog, 'Shoemakers', the full record of which is:

Marriage at St. Patrick's, Kirkinriola on 1 November 1854:
John Hill, 22, Bachelor, Shoemaker, of Mill Street, Ballymena; Father: William Hill, Shoemaker; and
Margaret McIlhagger, 21, Spinster, of Harryville, Ballymena; Father: Crawford McIlhagga, Shoemaker.
Both bride and groom 'made their mark'. The Witnesses did not include a McIlhagga. Their signatures are difficult to read but are possibly Lorna Heaney and ? Henry.

The second marriage is of a McIlhagga widow. She had first been married to John McIlhagga, a Timber Yard Labourer, son of William, a Weaver (possibly from Tulleygarley). John had previously been married to Mary Ann Atkinson by whom he had had six children. He then married Margaret Tuff in 1901. As far as we know they didn't have any children. John died in 1903 and Margaret, now Widow Margaret McIlhagga married Joseph Hills, the full record of which is:

Marriage at St. Patrick's, Kirkinriola, on 11 April 1903:
Joseph Hillis, full age, Bachelor, Carter of Harryville, Ballymena; Father: Jospeh Hillis, Labourer; and
Margaret MacIlhaggart, full age, Widow, Mill-hand, of King Street, Ballymena; Father: Thomas Tuff, Shoemaker.
Margaret 'made her mark'.

The two burials are at the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries and are both from Queen Street, Ballymena. The first is Mary McIlhagga of 87 Queen Street, who was buried on 9 February 1898 aged 54 years. This means she was born about 1844. The second burial was on 23 February 1902 of John McIlhagga of Queen Street. He was 65 years, so was born about 1837. This means that Mary and John were born within seven years of each other. Were they siblings or husband and wife, or were they not closely related?

Although John died just a few months after the 1901 Census the only John listed there was 58 years old, though of course he may have given a false age. In 1901 he was a lodger in Ballymena High Street and was probably the John  who was to marry Margaret Tuff in July 1901, in which case they would only have had 8 months of married life before he died. Who Mary was I'm even less sure. She lived at 87 Queen Street, but by 1901 a Hamill family lived there, interestingly with a newborn son called Andrew Fullerton (full name), a surname we have come across before. Was there a link?

A North Street Family

My next three Kirkinriola baptisms are I believe of siblings despite the fact that in four years this family was at three different addreses. The clue is that they gave their children distinctive second names, Atkinson, McLurkan and Todd. The parents were Andrew and Elizabeth (once Lizzie). I think we are looking at Andrew son of John McIlhagga and Mary Ann Atkinson, who married Elizabeth Todd on 7 August 1906 at Ahoghill Church of Ireland, Ballymena. The records of the three children at St. Patrick's, Kirkinriola are as follows:

Baptism: 8 Jul 1907 (born 15 Apr 1907) Andrew Atkinson to Andrew and Lizzie McIlhagga, of Patrick Place, A Millworker;


Baptism: 11 Apr 1909 (born 16 Jan 1909) Agnes McLurkan to Andrew and Elizabeth McIlhagga, of Ness (?) Street, Ballymena, Mill Worker;


Baptism: 15 Jan 1911 (born 24 Sep 1910), Elizabeth Todd to Andrew and Elizabeth McIlhagga, North Street, Ballymena, Labourer.

From a family source I knew that Elizabeth had the second name Todd, so this gave me confidence that I was right. Also these folk appear in the 1911 Census at 4 North Street, Ballymena, where Andrew's age was 32 and his occupation was Flax Buncher. In addition to the above three children there was also an older child in the Census, Jeanie. Andrew and Lizzie both signed the Ulster Covenant a year later, till living at North Street. Andrew does not appear to be on the 1901 Census. After 1911 Andrew and Elizabeth were to have another six children.

If I am right about this family, we know from the McIlhagga-Atkinson marriage that John's father was William. I was therefore wrong in my blog of 16 Dec 2011 to identify John as the son of James McIlhagga and Jane Middleton.

Ballymena town: a Minnie problem

The final half a dozen baptisms at St. Patrick's, Kirkinriola, are all from the town of Ballymena itself, three from Queen Street, one from Patrick Place, one from Ness Street and one from North Street. They cover the period 1887 to 1911 so perhaps we can relate them to the 1901 and 1911 Censuses and even to the Ulster Covenant of 1912. The 1901 Census shows a family at 67 Queen Street: Robert and Margaret McIlhagga with children Lizzie (18), Minnie (17), Robert James (16), John (14), Samuel (10), Andrew (5) and Joseph (1).

Now here is our first problem. Not that I have the baptism of Joseph on 16 Jan 1900 (born 31 Oct 1899), to Robert (Labourer) and Margaret, but that I also have the baptism of a Minnie, daughter of Margaret McIlhagga of Queen Street (no number), Harryville, a Millworker by (Rev) J.W. Murrey, Deane. Now at this baptism only one parent is named, but the record doesn't say 'illegitimate', so it could be the family at 67 Queen Street, except that Minnie's dates are not consistent with the Census. The Census implies that Minnie was born about 1884 and the baptism record says born 8 March 1887 and baptised 30 March 1887. However, there is no other Minnie in 1901 and none at all in 1911 or 1912. Presumably by 1911 she had a married name.  I have no Minnie who fits the case in my marriage records and no other 'suitable' Minnie in my birth records. As Minnie age 17 at 67 Queen Street in 1911 wasn't an eldest child I must assume she was born in wedlock. So was there one Minnie and one Margaret or were there two Minnies and two Margarets? I am baffled.

The Kirkinriola records are as follows:

Baptism, 30 Mar 1887 (born 8 Mar 1887):
Minnie, daughter of Margaret McIlhagga, Queen Street, Harryville, Millworker, J.W. Murrey, Deane.


Baptism, 16 Jan 1900 (born 31 Oct 1899):
Joseph, son of Robert and Margaret McIlhagga, Queen Street, Ballymena, Labourer.

I have a further baptism on 18 December 1895 (born 1 October 1895) of Mary to John and Mary McIlhagga of 97 Queen Street, Ballymena, Labourer. The only couple who might 'fit' this record is I think John McIlhagga who married Mary Sloan on 5 January 1894 at Ballyclug Church of Ireland, Ballymena. He was to become a Railway Carter. According to the 1911 Census they had three children, all of whom died in infancy, and Mary, baptised in 1895, could well have been one of them. I have discussed this couple before and I think that John's father, also John, could well have been a son of James McIlhagga who married Jane Middleton.

Six Williams?

It would seem that around the turn of the 18th/19th Centuries and in the first two decades of the 19th there may have been as many as six men named William McIlhagga in County Antrim. Of course it may be that when more information comes to light we may find that one or more prove to be the same person and so reduce the number! It could be that one or more moved from one place to another. They were: 1) 1798: William of Ballymena, a Weaver, father of James; 2) about 1807: William of Ballycloghan, Farmer and Weaver, father of William, John and Crawford; 3) about 1810: William of Maxwell's Walls, Farmer, father of Henry, Nathaniel Owens and George; 4) about 1813: William Gage also from the Maxwell's Walls area and father of Henry, William and Samuel; 5) about 1820 William of Tullygarley, Weaver, father of John; and 6) about 1820 William (John) of Ballygallough/Ballyclare, Farmer ?, father of William James.

At present I can see no way of even two of these being the same person, and maybe they weren't. I started on this trail when I found a 'mass baptism' of a whole family of five children in Kirkinriola. They were the children of John, son of William of Tullygarley. John had married Mary Ann Atkinson on 14 March 1863 at Ballyclug Church of Ireland. He was a Labourer, eventually employed as a Sawmill Labourer in a Timberyard. When their children were baptised on 3 April 1881 John and Mary were living at Ballyclare. Clearly it was only when the fifth child had been born that they decided to ask for all five to be baptised, which they were on 7 December 1881 at St. Patrick's Church of Ireland, Kirkinriola. The five children were:

John, born 14 March 1868;
Eliza, born 5 November 1871;
Mary, born 26 October 1874;
Andy, born 26 ? 1877;
Clark, born 3 April 1881.

A Speculation

Sometimes one gets into a realm of pure (wild?) speculation! If I look at my own family tree, it hits a brick wall about 1810, which could be the year of birth of my great-great grandfather, William McIlhagga who married Agnes McCosh. But who were William's parents? As yet I have found no way of finding them. Ideally of course I would like to find a baptism and/or birth of William, and there is a (very) remote possibility in the Kirkinriola records!

It is remote for two reasons - first, I can't read the place of residence. It looks like 'Nivill' but as far as I can see there is no such place in or near Ballymena. Second, the spelling of the surname is a remote and unlikely variation, and indeed may be a separate name, though I have not come across it before. The record appears to say:

William, baptised 12 December 1812 (born 27 November) to James and Mary McIlaniagh of ?Nivill.

There are a couple of factors which encourage me to consider this couple as my GGG grandparents. First, for some time I have thought that William's father might have been named James, simply because his nearest clan neighbour in the 1862 Griffith Valuation was a James, with a smaller plot perhaps suitable for an older man to work. Second, if William and Agnes were following the naming pattern for their children, then they did call their second daughter Mary, maybe after William's mother. However, if they were following the naming pattern strictly his father should have been another William!

There is an additional factor - in 1862 there is a Mary living in Killygore, possibly an elderly widow, who could have been born about 1785 and so the 'right' age to be William's mother. But I did say this was all speculation!