McNally family from Maghera, Derry

[lesleystree]

I finally know where my McNally ancestor came from in Ireland - his Scottish marriage says it's Maghera, Derry. I was wondering what else I can find out about him and his family in Ireland.

He was born about 1808-1811 (not sure exactly). His parents were Francis McNally and Martha. David appears to be Catholic. I'm not sure when he left ireland but he was married (possibly for the second time) in Glasgow in 1835 but I think he had a child in Scotland with possibly his first wife in 1833.

I was wondering what records/evidence exists for Maghera for that period eg catholic church records, gravestones etc etc

Any help will be greatly appreciated

[aghadowey]

Unfortunately Maghera R.C. Church records seem to start 1841 which is too late to find your McNally family.
Some of the records are here-
http://www.magheragenealogy.com/roman_catholic_church_records

[lesleystree]

Thank you for your reply

I did spot that site the other day but hadn't realised that they were the only records. I was hoping someone may have come along and said that they had started earlier (or another church) but hadn't been transcribed yet, then I may have had some hope for the future.

Thank you for the time you have taken to check for me. You've been really kind

[aghadowey]

According to another source I checked the baptisms and marriages start 1841.

[lesleystree]

Hello, thank you for that.  It's really good of you to go to all that trouble.

It's taken me a long time, but I'm really lucky to find out whereabouts he came from in Ireland and to have his parents names too.

I was wondering why he left Ireland, obviously I'll never know for certain, I think it was too early for the Potato famine. However, I noticed on Wikipedia it said:

"On 12 July 1830, Orange Institution parades led to confrontations between Orangemen and Ribbonmen in Maghera and Castledawson. Several Catholic homes were then burnt by Protestants following these clashes"

I wonder whether a lot of catholic families left because of this? He may have left before this but it's something to think about.

Again, many thanks for your post

[Elwyn Soutter]

You are looking for the reason that your ancestors left Ireland. You say that it was too early for the potato famine. There were 2 - 3 years of very bad potato blight in the late 1840s but actually the crop failed fully or partially many many times from the 1780s onwards. So by the time your ancestors left, crop failure had become a regular feature. (The ground was particularly suited to potato growing;  you could get more potatoes out of an acre of land than any other crop and so Ireland had become very much one crop dependant. With obvious disasterous consequences).

But there were a multitude of other factors. There was massive population growth in the 1800s. No-one seems very clear why. Perhaps the start of innoculations or some social factor, but neonatal deaths reduced considerably. Most farms and families couldn't cope with this huge population increase, and so most children had to find work elsewhere. (The famine was really the final straw on a population explosion that would have led to massive emigration anyway). There was some heavy industry starting around Belfast (the shipyards etc) but nothing like that in Scotland or England - the industrial revolution never had the same impact in Ireland that it did in GB - and so the opportunities for employment were much better there (or America and all the other places people emigrated too). Plus there appears to have been discrimination against Catholics trying to get jobs in the Belfast shipyards. When people did decide to emigrate, they often were influenced by letters home from people from their townland, describing the employment prospects where they were, and offering to help find temporary accommodation etc.

So as I see it, there was a wide spectrum of factors at play which pushed huge numbers of Irish people (of all religious denominations) to emigrate. The choice of where to go might have been influenced by friends who had gone before them. And as far as Scotland is concerned one of the reasons it was so popular was that it was very easy and comparatively cheap to get to. (Just an overnight boat from Belfast or Derry). Settling in Scotland allowed for occasional holidays home, especially for the harvest, in a way that was not possible if you went to the US or Australia.

That's my opinion, anyway.


Elwyn

[lesleystree]

Thank you for your opinion, it is most welcome. I really appreciate all the time you have put into your reply, it has given me a better insight into my ancestor's life. Thank you

[california dreamin]

Hi Lesley

This is the area that my family come from also. I think it is a beautiful place, but I like always like to quote my Irish friend "You can't eat a view", even in the best of times life would have been harsh here.

Having said that I would comment that in general I agree with Elwyn- but I would add that many Irish went to Britain annually for the harvest therefore it is not unrealistic to assume they had been before and liked what they saw.
Yes, passage was considerably cheaper to Scotland than places like the US.  I understand that in many places in Ireland many landowners paid for their tenants to leave the country because it was far cheaper than to try and support these families during the difficult famine years, many from this area went to Quebec. But basically the very poor just could not afford the passage to these distant places so their only option was Britain.

There is no doubt that there would have been Catholic/Protestant tension in the emerging Belfast shipyards however Glasgow was rife with these same tensions. Just because the Irish moved doesn't mean they left there prejudices behind!

There is also the human factor here too Lesley - my g-grandfather left for Glasgow at something like 18yrs old.  This is not uncommon today - the lure of work, new places, new people, new experiences you cannot rule that out.
I really suggest you have a look for some of the great books around not only about the Irish Diaspora but this area in general.  Have a look at Bill Macaffe's website/CD also lots of info there.

[lesleystree]

Hello, sorry for my late reply. Thank you for this information, it's extremely interesting. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply.