Calvins in Ballynure

[akanex2]

Hi Liz

I have Calvins in my family tree from the Macosquin area of Co Londonderry and wondered, if as Steve suggests Roger Calvin was a newcomer to Ballynure, whether your ancestors may have come from that part of the world.  Griffiths Valuation - which gives a complete listing of all ratepayers (i.e. householders) in Ireland in the 1850/60s - records only 18 Calvins in the whole of Ireland, of whom 9 come from Macosquin and one neighbouring parish.  The only Co Antrim Calvin was in Ballymoney, which is much nearer to Macosquin than to Ballynure.

My understanding is that most french immigrants to Ulster were Huguenots - C17th french protestants fleeing religious persecution when the Treaty of Nantes, which had protected their rights, was revoked by the French King.  Around 10,000 came to Ireland, many encouraged by the government to add their textile skills to the growing local linen industry.  Huguenot churches were established in Lisburn in Co Antrim and in Dublin, but most of the descendants of these settlers were absorbed into the Church of Ireland which still retains a Huguenot archive in Dublin.

Hope this helps.

[scarletmill]

Hi Ralph,

No luck with the Doaks in Ballynure I'm afraid but my husband works with a Doak from Monkstown 5-6  miles up the road.
As for Old Arthur he was very helpful with Ernie Scott - colourful stories is all I'm saying !! Ernie is well into his 70's and lives in Ballyclare now. He did the history of both Ballynure and Straid and had both published a while back. If you need to get in touch directly with him I have his details.

June

[fred111]

Akanex2
That's absolutely fascinating.
Thank you so much.
Liz

[TheWhuttle]

Ralph,

A large family of DOAKs left Ballynure in the "dreadful winter of 1739-40", emigrating to Philadelphia, USA.

All were siblings.
5 brothers - Samuel, John, Nathaniel, Robert and David.
2 sisters - Ann and Thankful.

They took the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road through to Augusta County in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
[This, along with Rockbridge County, is said to be the most Scots-Irish populated region in the present-day USA.]

Samuel married widow Jane MITCHELL, who he knew from back home in Ulster.  They owned land near Staunton, and attended New Providence Pb church.

Their son, also Samuel DOAK (1749-1830) was ordained in 1777, becoming the first resident Pb Minister to witness in East Tennessee, establishing the first school and church West of the Alleghenies in 1778.

At the invitation of the Hugenot colonel John SEVIER, he delivered the famous fiery sermon & prayer to the Overmountain Men at Sycamore Shoals near Elizabethton before the pivotal battle of King's Mountain on 25-SEP-1780, thus becoming the most famous clergyman of the Revolutionary War.

He, and his wife Esther (d. 1807) had four daughters and two sons - John Whitefield DOAK and Samuel Witherspoon DOAK, both of whom became Pb ministers.

The austere CALVIN-ism that DOAK stood for left its mark on the community.
[These folks were, of course, "(King) Billy's Men from the Hills".
Styled in a more relaxed mode nowadays as "Hill Billys" - Yee hah!]


Ref: 
The Scots-Irish Chronicles:

The Scots-Irish in the Hills of Tennessee
Billy KENNEDY
1995 Causeway Press, Ambassador Productions
ISBN 1-898787-46-8
Chapter 16:  How the Scots-Irish shaped religion in Tennessee
pp 131-152, esp. pp 136-142

The Scots-Irish in the Shenadoah Valley
Billy KENNEDY
1996 Causeway Press, Ambassador Productions
ISBN 1-898787-69-7
Chapter 9:  The spirit of CALVINism in the Shenandoah
pp 53-62


There you can read more about the HOUSTONs (of Ballynure), the CROCKETTs (Hugenot CROCKETAGNEs of Castlederg & Donegal, defending Derry in 1688), etc.

I can recommend both as truly great buys/reads!

More on the main theme presently ...

Revving Jock

[redoak]

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 Poage
The 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 

[Tyresson2012]

Hi

I am looking for information on the Calvin Family from Macosquin.  The wife of my great uncle was Molly (Mary Isabel) Calvin, married to George Coulter and they resided in Cookstown.  Mollys brothers were Samuel, Thomas & John and she had one sister Jeanie.

Any connection?

[aghadowey]

Hi

I am looking for information on the Calvin Family from Macosquin.  The wife of my great uncle was Molly (Mary Isabel) Calvin, married to George Coulter and they resided in Cookstown.  Mollys brothers were Samuel, Thomas & John and she had one sister Jeanie.

Any connection?

Have just posted on separate topic here-
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=756198