Allen of Camus, Glenleary etc- Macoquin, Dunboe, Coleraine

[LindeL]

Thanks to everyone for extra information. I am still a little confused; I'll be glad to have Maggie McMichael as a great great great aunt, but I am still hesitating a bit. I am still concerned that perhaps there are two Robert Allens both married to women called Elizabeth, and possibly even that the two women are Henrys. The question about the Allen/ Henry marriage with associated townlands that I wasn't expecting, is one thing; but also the Chronicle notice says Maggie Allen was of Camus. My Robert Allen was apparently in Glenleary in 1858 and afterwards, while there was a William Allen in Camus. One possibility is that Maggie Allen is indeed a daughter of Robert Allen of Glenleary but was in service in Camus; would the newspaper have worded the notice that way if so? Would there even have been a newspaper notice for a girl who was in service? Maybe not. Two Robert Allens married to two Elizabeths is not impossible.  If there are two parallel families, it could explain why you have alternative birthdates for  Margaret Allen McMichael, as indeed I have for an Ann or Nancy in "My" Robert's family; 1849 or 1859. I need a bit more headspace to think about all of this; very confusing!

[Brown1777]

Hi Linde

I note your confusion about the townlands - I will send you a PM about them. Brown1777

[LindeL]

Thanks Brown1777, yes the townlands are contiguous, and there are certainly cases where boundary change complicated things, and people used older names for townlands but in this case my Robert Allen seems to have been  in Glenleary in most or all records and William Allen seems to have been in Camus.         While checking them on the Val maps on Askaboutireland i noticed something which i will have to explore more in Deeds or somewhere. In Ballyness on the Bann shore, a Robert Allen, immediate lessor, was listed as possessor of an unoccupied house and offices valued at £14, ie more than the Robert Allen holding in Glenleary. This cannot be my ancestor, but it may be that it was a descendant of the mysterious (to me!) Andrew Allen of Coleraine, linen draper, who was mentioned in a1770 deed re one sixth of the lands of Glenleary. More work required!

[aghadowey]

There was no Allen listed as head of household in 1831 census for either Camus or Glenleary-
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Coleraine/Macosquin/Camus
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Coleraine/Macosquin/Glenleary

My great grandmother Isabella Allen was granddaughter of Robert Allen of Glenleary who was 88 in 1911.

Who were her parents?

[LindeL]

Good question! My great grandmother was brought up as a daughter of Robert Allen, but on her marriage cert it states that she was the daughter of John Smyth. Her mother was a daughter of Robert Allen. I don't know if John Smyth was indeed a local man called John Smyth or if that was just a polite fiction for not giving the man's real name.

[aghadowey]

If she was trying to cover up illegitimacy then it's more likely she would have given her father as Robert Allen rather than making up the name of someone in the area.

Father listed as John Smith not Smyth-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1892/10649/5879735.pdf

[LindeL]

What I meant was that I  don't know if her father was a man who was really called John Smyth or Smith or whether that was a name used for example by the minister or the family as a name to cover the identity of a known or unknown local man. John Smith is used as a sort of a fictional name, like John Doe in America

[aghadowey]

The minister wouldn't have made up the name on the marriage certificate. The spelling, on the other hand, might be his variation of Smith/Smyth. It's also unlikely that Isabella made up the name herself- if she was trying to hide something she would have given her father as Robert Allen.

Birth certificate for Isabella should list mother's name and possibly her father's name. A baptismal record would also probably give those details.

If she was born elsewhere and came to Glenleary as a young girl then school register might give name of a previous school.

[LindeL]

Her mother was Sarah Jane Allen. Isabella was born or baptised 27 April 1873 acc to Macosquin register. I haven't found a birth cert. Sarah Allen may be the same as Sarah Allen living with her daughter Jane Connolly in Cullyvenny in 1911. I am still inclined to think that the minister was tactfully concealing paternity by filling in the father as John Smith; as in "A.N. Unknown" but more opaque