Looking for Hugh Cunningham's (1826-1901) family in the Carndonagh area

Jeff:

I would focus on the Cardonagh Presbyterian church for possible records for your family. The subscription site Roots Ireland has records for this church starting in 1830 and there are many Cunningham records. I did not find any records where the parents were George and Margaret.

I did find a civil death index record in 1868 for a Margaret Cunningham who was a widow and died at age 67 according to the informant her son Thomas. The location was Gallwilly/Galwilly which is a local place name and maybe a part of the townland of Glentogher.

I also found a 1906 death record for a Mary Devlin see fourth record. Informant was son Patrick and location wasagain Galwilly. Possibly this is the record for Mary Jane.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…

People in the 19th century/early 20th century were not very exact with their ages so 86 in the 1901 census was likely a guess and again in 1906 Patrick showed his mother as 86.

Roger McDonnell

Eliza Cunningham's marriage to John Smyth is available at irishgenealogy.ie.  The record notes that her father's was THOMAS.  I hope this is helpful.

Dear Roger and Patricia,

Thanks very much for those prompt and helpful replies. I was finally able to get thru to the Presbyterian Church in Carndonagh and they have promised to go thru their records. They also will try to put me in touch with a local woman who has done quite a bit with their local history and genealogy. I will also subscibe to RootsIreland and take my own look. 

I may be jumping the gun, but considering the DNA matches, I have the distinct feeling that Margaret is Hugh's mother and thus Thomas his brother. Hugh had eleven children and it would seem that he and his wife, Maggie Jamison, named them according to the traditional Irish pattern, as did their children for the next generation. Their oldest son, my great-grandfather, was George and the second daughter was Margaret. There were eight sons in total, and after George, Andrew, Adam et al., the seventh was Thomas.

I di have one question though: our Cunninghams, once they got to Amerikay, seemed to alternate between Presbyterian and Episcopalian (COI), with even a little Methodist period. It seemed to depend on what church was closest. Is it possible that there were a COI or Methodist church in Carndonagh at this time?

Thanks again ever so much, my 86 year-old aunt, Joan Cunningham, is having a bal with all of this.

Jeff

Jeff:

Yes, according to the 1837 Lewis Topographical dictionary, there was a church in Donagh parish. See this link. Go to the writeup for Donagh and in the second paragraph, there is a description about the church. There is also a reference to 160 Cunningham acres?

https://www.johngrenham.com/records/lewis.php?civilparishid=758&civilpa…

The records for the C of I parish in Donagh start in 1876. Earlier records were destroyed in the 1922 bombing of the Public Records Office in Dublin. The 1876 and beyond records are held in the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin and at this time are not available online in a searchable form. Also, not on Roots Ireland.

Roger

Roger,

Once again, thanks for all that helpful info. That and your guideance really helped my research. As you suggested, I've found lots of Cunninghams in the Cardonagh area on RootsIreland, and they all appear to be Presbyterian. I am still waiting to hear back from that church and if I understand correctly I will have to drop by Dublin for the COI records. I've seen several references to Cunningham acres in Donegal but have a feeling it either refers to the Marquis who was a huge landowner there or perhaps it's considered a different form of measure?

Among the Cunninghams, I found Eliza Jane's father, Thomas, who is the son of Margaret. I have to think that this is Hugh and Mary Jane's brother but I cannot confirm this just yet. He married Jane Nelson on March 7, 1854 and they had eleven children in Glentogher, only six of whom survived infancy.  Margaret is a common name, so there is a possibility that he is just a first cousin. His father was Andrew, not George, but Andrew is a recurrent name with our Cunninghams so perhaps Andrew is the correct name of Hugh and Mary Jane's father. In any case, he would have predeceased Margaret, as she is listed as a farmer's widow when she died. I guess I need to find birth or marriage records to confirm their parents' names, but so far no luck.

As for the other Cunninghams, there are ten other couples in the immediate area at this time, but I have not been able to link them as yet, although there are at least two sets of brothers. Once again, I need to find the parents' names to link them.

Thanks again, and if you have any other ideas, I'm all ears.

Jeff

Roger,

I just looked up Cunningham acres: it is a measurement that was brought over from Scotland and used in Ulster. It's about 1.3 standard acres.

Jeff