Origins of Protestant Families arounf Ballymena and Portglenone

[Leigh P]

Thankyou Skoosh and Margaret,
Where would I find who owned the townlands of Carmagrim at Portglenone and Lismurnaghan at Ahoghil?

During the 1800s many families from Ulster also migrated to Australia and New Zealand for better lives.

Regards,

Leigh

[Elwyn Soutter]

Leigh,

Land ownership records for Co Antrim up to 1923 are kept at the Land Registry in Dublin www.landregistry.ie. There is a fee for searching those records. The older records that you are interested in are kept in folios (paper files) and are not on line.

Carmagrim is 919 acres, and Lismurnaghan 275 acres. Both will have contained many farms and cottages (all in effect sharing the same 2 addresses) but not necessarily ever having one single owner. In fact I would reckon that there could be many different owners. You probably need to narrow your search to the exact property(s) that your ancestors owned otherwise searching may cost you a fortune. (I suspect you probably don't know exactly which property it was anyway).

Perhaps you could approach the problem in a different way by contacting the local historical society (I am sure there will be one, the local library would surely know if it is not on the web) to see if someone there can assist you with general information about who the early Scottish settlers were, and where they came from.

Elwyn

[Leigh P]

Thanks Elwyn for your suggestions. I'll certainly follow them up.

Regards

Leigh

[scotmum]

Perhaps you could approach the problem in a different way by contacting the local historical society (I am sure there will be one, the local library would surely know if it is not on the web) to see if someone there can assist you with general information about who the early Scottish settlers were, and where they came from

http://www.nifhs.org/ballymena.htm

and

http://www.librariesni.org.uk/libraries/local-studies-service-neelb/


 

[Leigh P]

Thanks Scotmum,

I've emailed the secretary of the Ballymena branch of the NIFHS but have not heard back from her.

I'll contact the library and see if theya re able to help.

Regards

Leigh

[TheWhuttle]

Hi Leigh P,

[From memory:
 Likely source Ref ? : "The Scottish Migration to Ulster in the Reign of King James" from UHF ...]

Many of the early families in the Portglenone/Ballymena area originated from the NE of Scotland.

Responding to King James's 1605 deal with the Earl of Antrim, they marched arm-in-arm all the way to their new Utopia, having suffered from a terrible series of famine years around the turn of the century in their home locations.

[Lord Antrim (McDONNELL) had long been a thorn to Queen Elizabeth's political aspirations and church reforms in the 16thC, and was despised by the victorious English adventurers in the 9 years war 1594-1603. They wanted him declared a traitor and removed from power, with his lands forfeit.

However, earlier, he had helped King James to rid the seaways between Scotland and Ireland of pirates.

In recognition of this, on accession to the English throne, the wily King James decided to permit Antrim to retain his title in return for a concession to let a substantial body of loyal settlers come on to his lands.

James knew from the bitter experience of his disatrous 1603 plantation on the Mull of Kintyre that powerful local political support and large numbers were essential to avoid failure. ]


I know of one family (CHEYNE) who are likely to have come this route.
[They were clergymen at St Machar's in Old Aberdeen for many centuries.
N.B. Aberdeen city was/is a centre of strong Scottish Episcopalianism.]

----

However, much happened from then on, with further settlers arriving with (or after) the Covenanter army in the 1640s and the Williamite armies in the 1680s-90s.

A century later, the unique topography of the area attracted industrialists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with many water powered mills being established in the hills.
[Such locations were also very suitable for illegal whiskey making, still practised to this day!]

Artisans with complementary skills will have moved to the areas from elsewhere, possibly arriving fresh from "abroad", brought in by the entrepreneurs of the day.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs for the area would be well worth a read.
[Sorry, can't consult.  My trusty ship is condemned to dry dock just now!]


Capt. Jock

[Leigh P]

Thanks Capt. Jock. Looks as if I need to do some more reading.

Both families do seem to have Scottish first names throughout - eg  Alexander.

Regards

Leigh

[TheWhuttle]

Leigh,

Hmm ...

Those surnames don't match too well with those of NE Scotland.
[So descendants might not understand "the Doric" too well!]

Another "favourite" area of emigration from Scotland was (The Kingdom of) Fife.

It was King James' backyard, so superfluous inhabitants were given extra-special encouragement.
[His HQs (Palaces) were at Falkland, then Dunfermline (from 1590 till 1603).]

Capt. Jock

[Leigh P]

Hello Capt. Jock,

I did a quick search of the IGI for both Swan/Swann and Gault/Galt in Scotland.
Below are the areas with more than 50 of each name -

Some areas had many more than 200 named.

Gault/Galt - Aberdeen, Angus, Ayr, Banff, Fife, Lanark, Midlothian, Moray, Perth, Renfrew, Stirling.

Swan/Swann - Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll, Ayr, Berwick, Clackmannan, Dumfries,
Dunbarton, East Lothian, Fife, Inverness, Kirkcudbright, Lanark, Midlothian, Orkney, Peebles, Perth, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Stirling, West Lothian, Wigtown.

As you can see Swan/Swann was more widespread than Gault/Gault.

Someone with more knowledge of Scotland than I may be able to make an assumption of the name spread.

Regards

Leigh