Macleans of Coll Who Went to Ulster

[GR2]

He is likely a first cousin of Rev. John McLean, minister in the Antrim C.I. Church. Rev. McLean was a son of Lachlan, 3rd of Grishipol. My John may have been the son of John McLean, brother of Lachlan. Lachlan's brothers John and Hugh went to "Ireland" in the late 17th century. I know nothing about them. I have discovered a possible link in the 1740 Protestant Householders Returns: one Hugh McLeane living in Kilowen Parish, Co. Londonderry. A son of emigrating Hugh?

If you mean Killowen, Coleraine then it is not near Antrim (about 40 miles apart).

Rev. John McLean's religious affiliation is difficult because he changed it, and genealogies present conflicting information because of that. The most authoritative coverage on him I have seen is James Noel Mackenzie Maclean's Reward Is Secondary (Hodder and Stoughton, 1963). In sum, his first charge was as a Presbyterian minister on Arran in 1688, then a year later in Antrim, then ordained in the Church of Ireland after the elders of his church outed him for coming to the defense of an Episcopalian minister (a classmate from Glasgow University) demonized by his fellow Presbyterian clergymen. It was then that he became chaplain to the Massereenes.( Who, by the way, also spoke out against the Presbyterian excoriation of Episcopalian ministers and advocated tolerance.)

No mention of a John McLean, or any McLean, a Presbyterian minister in Antrim town during this period in A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982. However they do list him under 1st Coleraine Presbyterian Church in Co. Londonderry: In 1689 Rev. John McLean from Kilmorie in Arran was "Outed" from Coleraine for suspected Jacobite leanings after having been there only a few months. He joined the Anglican church and became curate in Killowen, Coleraine.

Re aghadowey's secont point, here is a link to the page in the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae which gives an account of John McLean on Arran:

https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc04scot/page/62/mode/2up?view=theater&q=kilmory

[shanreagh]

Greetings Shanreagh,

....

He is likely a first cousin of Rev. John McLean, minister in the Antrim C.I. Church. Rev. McLean was a son of Lachlan, 3rd of Grishipol. My John may have been the son of John McLean, brother of Lachlan. Lachlan's brothers John and Hugh went to "Ireland" in the late 17th century. I know nothing about them. I have discovered a possible link in the 1740 Protestant Householders Returns: one Hugh McLeane living in Kilowen Parish, Co. Londonderry. A son of emigrating Hugh?

.....

Regards,
Douglas McLean

Just a wee point ...not sure about your use of the word 'emigrating' to describe movement between Scotland and Ireland.  It is not in the class of travel as between somewhere in the British Isles and North America for instance.  When I visited the north (along the coastline) I was mesmerised by the blinking of the lighthouses on Mull and other places in Scotland.  The two places are just 12 miles apart at the closest parts.

ETA Sorry not clear I as meaning the north coast of Northern Ireland, so close to Scotland. 

[Kiltaglassan]

Just a wee point ...not sure about your use of the word 'emigrating' to describe movement between Scotland and Ireland.  It is not in the class of travel as between somewhere in the British Isles and North America for instance.  When I visited the north (along the coastline) I was mesmerised by the blinking of the lighthouses on Mull and other places in Scotland.  The two places are just 12 miles apart at the closest parts.

The North Channel or Irish Channel - the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. The distance between the two shores is approximately 12 miles (19 km) at its closest point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Channel_(Great_Britain_and_Ireland)

[Maiden Stone]

The North Channel or Irish Channel - the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland. The distance between the two shores is approximately 12 miles (19 km) at its closest point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Channel_(Great_Britain_and_Ireland)

The current PM wanted a bridge across it.

[Douglas McLean]

Thanks guys for comments.

As to use of "emigrate" vs. "migrate", I have wavered between the two as to relocation between Scotland and Ulster.  My thinking is northern Ireland (basically Ulster) was not yet partitioned from Ireland as "Northern Ireland" in the late 17th century, and notwithstnding much British settlement in northern Ireland then all Ireland was a distinct country from England and Scotland. I would agree that relocation between Ulster and anywhere in Great Britain today is "migration". As I am woefully ignorant of Irish-Anglo history, I would welcome clarification on this. (And hope I'm not opening a can of worms!)

Sill seeking information re. any Coll Macleans "going to" Ulster in the late 17th century.

Cheers,
Douglas

[Elwyn Soutter]

Douglas,

I wouldn’t worry too much about the terms emigrate and migrate.  But it does make me smile when I read posts about ancestors “emigrating from Scotland to Ireland” and when sometimes folk look for passenger lists. Would it be emigration if you moved 12 miles down the road where you lived? (Rhetorical).

Shanreagh has accurately described how close Ireland and Scotland are. Folk have been going back and forth for thousands of years. Until modern roads, it was very difficult to get overland from Ballycastle to Dublin but very easy to get to Campbeltown or Port Ellen or to Coll. The sea was not a hindrance but their highway. Links with Argyll were stronger than those with Dublin or Cork. Coll to Coleraine was an easy journey. (A good overview can be found in “Antrim & Argyll – Some aspects of the connections” Edited by Dr Wm Roulston publ 2018).

For years inshore fishermen on Islay generally landed their catches in Oban but when weather was adverse they often landed them in Ballycastle instead. As a consequence of being in Ballycastle for a few days they sometimes took a bride home as a “back load” as some might say. Modern refrigeration techniques and internet dating have sadly killed that fine habit, but you’ll get the general idea.

If you walk round a graveyard in Islay or Coll you’ll often find the same names as in graveyards in Ballycastle and north Antrim.  You don’t need to be an expert to know those folk went back and forth all the time, and were closely related.

I have travelled from Ballycastle to Islay 3 times (twice by ferry and once on a small cruise ship). The ferry (Kintyre Express) takes an hour.  In the days of sail it’d have been quite a bit longer but not a major journey and certainly not migration. The skipper of the Rathlin Island ferry told me how he once rowed from Ballycastle to Islay (with 5 or 6 others and using a coarse sail) for charity. It took about 5 hours. Later they went on to Iona (so re-enacting St Columba’s journey). Hard work but not too challenging in good weather, he said. He reckoned that in the days of sail folk travelling to Ireland from Scotland waited till the wind changed to the north to make it easier to sail south. Those delays may have led to some Scottish brides coming to Ireland as another “back load”. Who knows?

None of this really helps with your search for Macleans going to Ulster but maybe gives a bit of perspective.

[JACK GEE]

Great Description - Elwyn Souttar.

Jack Gee

[Elwyn Soutter]

Great Description - Elwyn Souttar.

Jack Gee

Much obliged.

[shanreagh]

I love it Elwyn.

I am trying to find the story of a Saint who was banned from Ireland and travelled to the north of Ireland from Scotland, in a curragh I think, with clods of earth tied to his feet so that he could honestly say he had not set foot on Irish soil.  Apparently he preached on the beach with these clods of earth on his feet. 

This might have been a bit of blarney but known and approved of in our Protestant NZ/Irish family for the cleverness.