McDowell, little detail,maybe impossible

[anniebelle]

I am trying to find more Irish historylon my ancestor John McDowell and his parents Samuel and Mary McDowell.  Given the early years and the small amount of information I have concerning their Irish history it may not be possible to find out anything.  The facts I have are:

John McDowell with his wife Mary (nee Davidson) who married on 9 Feb 1853 in Alfred St Presby Church, Shankill, Belfast (Note this info generously provided by kingskerswell on RC, thank you) departed Ireland as Assist immigrants to Aust in late 1854.

The information on John McDowell is that he was 24 yrs (born c1830) and his native place was Tednavnet, Monaghan.  His parents were Samuel and Mary living at Coothill?, Monaghan in 1854. His religion was Church of Scotland. His calling was Groom. This from the immigration record.
His death record adds that his place of birth was Glass Lough Co Monaghan and that his mother was Mary McColl.

I have followed the previous threads on RC re Mary Anne Davidson, native of Gilford, Co Down and the postings re her parents John Davidson and Elizabeth Mary Warburton.

I am interested in any suggestions regarding John McDowell and his parents Samuel & Mary. 

With thanks,
Anniebelle

[homeless simpson]

Not impossible by any means!  I recently did Samuel Grey/McDowell research for someone and indeed your McDowells were from Cootehill, which in fact is just over the county border into Co Cavan.

I did note by error  (too many Samuels!)  that on 9th Oct 1826 Samuel McDowell, Cootehill, Co.Cavan, Married Mary McCall, Derrynagan witnesses  were William Bewley + John Bothwell at Tedavnet Church.

While he may have been Church of Scotland, very often their records were kept by C of England (now C of I) as they were the official record keepers. Tedavnet records are fairly handy to get but you won't get much further back in time than this with church records.

Hope this helps in your research.

[anniebelle]

Thank you for your response.  Do you have any suggestion as to why John and Mary Ann would have married in Belfast in 1853?  Mary Ann's family seem to have originated from Co Down and Belfast which seems a good distance from Tydavnet in those days.  I have noticed in my research that there are a lot of McDowells in Down and Antrim.  Is Glaslough part of the parish of Tydavnet? Could John's parents have moved to Monaghan to work for families in that area? It seems strange to me that a native of Monaghan would marry in Belfast in 1853?

Anniebelle

[homeless simpson]

Many people from Monaghan moved to Belfast, often for work. There could be many reasons from extended family, end of leases, work, college education so circumstances are individual!

Glaslough is only a few mile from Tedavnet.

My g/aunt worked in Dungannon and cycled home every w/end to Monaghan. People moved around more than is thought!

Cootehill in Cavan is also a reasonable distance from Glaslough, so they moved around a bit. Samuel could have been a coachman or a drover and so would have travelled to other estates, people on different estates knew each other and even football matches were arranged between different estates by the workers, these often met up at market days too.

[jackstorey]

Yes - Samuel McDowell of Cootehill, Co. Cavan married Mary McCall of Dernagun at Tydavnet Parish Church on 9th Oct 1826 - the witnesses were William Bewley & John Bothwell.  One child - Sarah was baptised at the same Church on 22ndJuly1827.

[jackstorey]

More data re Samuel McDowell & Mary McCall is shown against the townland of Coolkill East.  The children baptised at another Church are John, (1829), William (1833), Susanna (1835), & Samuel (1838).  It seems that the birth of John at Glaslough is incorrect. 

[anniebelle]

Firstly, thank you very much to both of you for your responses.  The information re Glaslough is from John's death certificate, the informant an Aussie born son.  So likely to be wrong.  The information of where Samuel and Mary were living in 1854 is handwritten- - the ship's immigration record.  I have had another look at it and I think Coolkill is what is actually written.  These look to be definitely my ancestors as John and Mary Ann named children Susanna and Samuel.

A few questions - if you don't mind:

Where is Coolkill East townland?
What is the name of and location of the Church that the children were baptised at?
Where is the Tydavnet Parish Church?
What would people be likely to be doing at Coolkill East in the 1830s?

I understand the earliest Parish records for Tydavnet are 1822, is this so? Does this mean no further information can be found on this family prior to this date?

Do parish records provide any more information then already provided?

With thanks,

Anniebelle.

[anniebelle]

Just a further clarification.

I noticed that there is a slight difference in the marriage record of Samuel and Mary mentioned in 2 of the replies.

Mary McCall of Dernagun 
 Mary McCall of Derrynagan

Are these the same location?

Thanks again,  Anniebelle

[jackstorey]

According to the Church Records (difficult to read sometimes) the townland is Dernagun but I feel that it should be Derrynagad which is in Tydavet Parish.  I advised you of Dernagun which is what is listed in the Records - frequently spelling errors occurred by the person who actually recorded the event.  All the Church Records are on CD & there are obviously relatives etc living at Coolkill East.  If you really want to trace your Ancestors the Church Records are probably the most reliable & you will find my e-mail address at all of the other Ancestry websites - Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, Rootsweb.com etc.  All these Records are copied from Original Church Record books made available to me by the Churches concerned who wish to make links to ex-attendees of their Churches, many in decline now. Attached is a photo of Tydavnet Parish Church