Seeking any records (military, civil, parish or anecdotal) for the following family:
Henry McNab (Macnab, McNabb) c1875 1775, self-identified in Canadian records as of Irish nationality & Church of Ireland denomination; occupation as “Farmer/Weaver, Discharged Soldier from the 83rd Regiment of Foot.”
Military records show him detached from the regiment, “hospital” in Dublin in 1815; apparent birth records in Westport, Mayo for sons Robert, John and Henry. In Canada, census records also show a son William.
No marriage record found for wife Elizabeth Levingston (Livingstone). (Military Chaplains, Dublin, other records)
From Canadian records, the Henry McNabb family is known to include Henry and Elizabeth Levingston (Livingstone) with children Robert (~1816-17), John (1818-19), William (~1816), and Henry (known as Thomas) (~1827).
A group of records from Westport, Co. Mayo, (Westport Church of Ireland) give Henry and Elizabeth as the parents of three children, Robert, John and Henry, with birth years closely matching the birth years calculated from later Canadian Census records for the McNabb family sons.
- Robert (baptised December 12, 1817) - sponsors Robert Livingstone, H. McNabb, and Mary Mullen, with the address of Tonaranny.
- John McNabb (baptised September 5, 1819) - Robert McNabb and Mary McNabb as sponsors. No address or other notes are given in this record.
- Henry McNabb (baptised January 18, 1827) no sponsors or other notes given.
- William McNabb (baptised April 6, 1815), son of George McNabb and Jane Purcell, - Robert and George McNabb listed as sponsors.
There is no record for a William McNabb, son of Henry and Elizabeth, born about 1815, which may simply mean that he was not baptised in Westport but elsewhere.
However, we do find:
- Although there are no death records for a Jane Purcell, there is a 1920 1820 death in County Mayo for a Jane McNabb. William is the only son who does not resemble Henry McNabb and the other boys, having a very different physiognomy. William named one of his sons George. If young William’s mother died in 1920, he would have been only five years old; if there were no other children, his father would have been hard pressed to care for an infant and still maintain his other responsibilities – whether as a tradesman, or a subsistence farmer. It was a commonplace during this period of history and in especially in the close-knit rural communities generally, that orphaned or motherless children would be fostered by the families of relatives – often assuming complete identity with their “adoptive” families. Thus young William could very plausibly have been fostered with an uncle's family, and made the trip to Canada as a “son” of Henry and Elizabeth, without occasioning any comment at the time or later.
