Hi there, Revving Jock
Many thanks for the comprehensive reply
I'm already aware of Breckenridges, Caldwells, Crocketts, Fin(d)leys, H(o)ustons, Wilsons and other Ulster Scots families associated with the American Doaks - problem remains that we have no real evidence of where the initial Doak emigrants lived in Ulster: Ballynure is just
one of the suggested 'home' places in Ulster.
As for the actual composition of the initial emigrant party, that's a whole other minefield - there's six brothers alleged from time to time (add a James to your 5) but we're really only sure of two (Samuel & John) although it's fairly safe to add David as a third brother.
Robert's a real puzzler - there are various reports of him in Virginia in the early years (1740 onwards) but the two main 'sightings' are actually of an entirely different individual called Robert
PoageThe known immigrant Robert Doak arrived in Boston on the
Elizabeth in 1718 and settled in New Hampshire - some folks like to think he and his wife Margaret were the parents of all the sibling immigrants but that theory is built on extremely implausible and insecure foundations
No sign of any brother James, except perhaps ca 1728 in Pennsylvania, and that James Doke seems more likely to have been a possible father than a sibling.
As for Nathaniel, he's a mythical beast entirely ... immigrant David's son of that name is the first Nathaniel Doak anyone's actually found.
re the sisters, forget Julia: she's another mythical beast (I think it's 2 generations before we get to a knwn Julia Doak). Most reasonable folk content themselves with three: Ann(e), Elizabeth (the original Thankful Doak, she) and Mary - these respectively married George Breckenridge, John Finley and John Tate, although some still dispute the Tate union in this generation.
The American Doak 'genealogists' have been at this stuff for years, which I suspect explains the mess - and it actually gets worse in some of the later generations - so I was sortakinda hoping there might be some actual trace of Doak occupancy in or around Ballynure.
Doagh (as in Doagh-Ballyclare) was the Ulster home place preferred by my American great-aunt Frances Doak ... and I think some of the Doaks like to claim connection with the Hugh Doak who was Lord Mayor of Belfast in (I think) 1647. Again, the lack of evidence is profoundly deafening.
However, there's evidence of Doaks, including one called James, in Co Down in the early 18th century and I've seen a William Doake and sword listed in the Muster Rolls for the Libertyes of Londonderry in the 1630s.
Ah well, maybe we'll turn up something
real in the run-in to the tercentenary (2018), by which time maybe we'll have had at least one more Grand Slam to celebrate ? !!
Best wishes from the People's Republic of Cork
Ralph b Manchester
son of Philip b Grand Forks, ND
son of Henry b Guilford Co, NC
son of James W (III) b Guilford Co, NC
son of James W (II) b Guilford Co, NC
son of James W (I) b Lunenberg Co, VA
son of John (brother of Samuel, father of Rev Samuel) b ? Ulster/Scotland ?
re John, there's a notion he was born in 1693 in Galston, Ayrshire but insufficient evidence to connect that individual in any secure way with the John Doak we know of from Virginia in the 1740s and, probably, also in Chester/Lancaster Co, PA, in the 1720s ... or, for that matter, with the John Doak(s), son of Robert and Margaret, who is known to have moved to Donegal, PA, from NH in the 1720s ... hey, I told you it was a mess
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