William McIntyre

Michael:

I searched on two sites and did not locate a baptismal record for William Jr. with father William. I also did not locate a marriage record for William and Catherine. I searched for all of Ireland not just Co. Cork.

In the mid 19th century based on the Griffiths Valuation, the sunrme McIntyre was mainly found in Ulster province and there were no McIntyres listed in Co. Cork.

Roger McDonnell

There’s a tree on Ancestry (Trinity Abernathy) that shows son William as born in Donegal (Ulster) on 10.3.1843.  You might want to contact the owner to see what the source is for that information. The tree seems to have at least 1 error in it as it lists William & Catherine's daughter Mary Ann as born in Ireland in 1847 whereas she looks to have been born in Paisley, Scotland on 18.4.1846, according to a baptism record on Scotlandspeople. So any information from the tree needs verified before being accepted.

But if the family did have a son in Donegal then I would question whether they came from Cork, 300 miles away at the other end of the country. And if they did live in Co Donegal then the bad news is that you are unlikely to find any records for them. The family appears to have been RC (judging by the 1846 baptism anyway), and few RC parishes in Donegal have records for the 1840s.

Well thanks for the fast reply, both of you.  That's all my info on Ancestry.  For more than 30 years, I went with Donegal, because that's how he listed it on his Civil War records.  A relative long ago told me County Cork, but there was no proof so I discounted it.  Now a DNA test on me shows Cork and no Donegal, so I am rethinking things. I know they are not perfect, but I'll try anything.   And like you said, now there may be some hope for records.  

MacLysaght’s “The Surnames of Ireland” says the surname in Gaelic was Mac an tSaoir (meaning son of the craftsman) which was sometimes anglicised as MacAteer. He says: “An Ulster name for which the Scottish MacIntyre, of similar derivation, is widely substituted.” 

So MacLysaght reckons the name is an Ulster name (obviously that includes Co Donegal); your ancestor reportedly gave Donegal as his place of birth, plus McIntyre is almost unknown in Cork.  For me, this all tends to point to Donegal as being the more likely origin than Cork.  

The underlying problem, and the probable reason why you cannot locate the family, is simply that there are no comprehensive records in Co Donegal for the 1830s and 1840s to search. The churches weren’t recording baptisms and marriages in most parishes in Donegal then. No easy way round that.

Thanks, Elwyn.  Very insightful, and I am afraid you may be right.  So would you then discount the Ancestry DNA?

Corvino3,

I don’t know enough about DNA to advise you about the accuracy of your Ancestry DNA results. I am more a paper based researcher. However Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match with someone who might know more about your family. You might want to try them and if you have already tested, you can transfer your results for no fee. The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA. Their expert is Martin McDowell (a colleague of mine) and he can usually answer most DNA questions.  In my opinion he’s the man to ask about DNA. http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

As far as general migration streams are concerned, folk from Donegal went to Scotland for work in huge numbers. Tens of thousands every year.  That’s not to say that folk from Cork never went there either but it would have been more unusual. Folk from Cork tended to go to Wales or London for work. 

From the information you have given us, my instinct is that your family probably came from Donegal. There was a regular overnight ferry from Derry/Londonderry to Glasgow. The main cargo was cattle and passengers were top up income and so the fares were very low. That’s how most people got there. Huge numbers from Donegal went there. Many later went on to North America and elsewhere. They had little money in Ireland, often being a subsistence economy.  The money they earned from working in factories or shipyards etc in Scotland then gave them the funds to move further afield.  It was called stepped migration.

Michael:

I agree with all of Elwyn's points.You can also load your DNA data from Ancestry to MyHeritage and Gedmatch www.gedmatch.com    The one frustration that I have and I'm sure you have experieced is that more than 50% of the people that I have contacted to explore a connection, never respond to my e-mail/message.

Roger

Thanks again to both of you.  Excellent information.