William Means

Lori,

You mention Enniskillen (which is in Co Fermanagh) and also “Fermaugh County, Tyrone.” Tyrone & Fermanagh are 2 separate counties which share a common border.  I suspect Fermaugh is Fermanagh, and somewhere down the line, the two have been confused.

Means is not a common surname in Ireland. In the 1901 census there are about 8. Only 1 born in Fermanagh:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Windsor/Lisburn_Road/966306/

The name isn’t listed in MacLysaght’s The Surnames of Ireland so I can’t suggest much about its possible background. What denomination were they, do you know?

I searched the tithe applotment records for 1835 and found just 1 Means in Co Fermanagh, John in Meenaghan Y: 1835-Derryvullan-Fermanagh. 

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/fermanagh/tithe-applotment-books/paris…

Meenagahan is more commonly spelled Moynihan (North). There’s a John Mayne(s) farming there in 1862. So I suspect your family name may have changed from Means to Mayne(s).

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

One still farming in Moynaghan North in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Milltown/Moynaghan_North/1355579/

I can’t say that’s your family, merely that it’s the only Means/Maynes family I can find in the county in the 1800s. Perhaps they are related to your generation?

McCord is reasonably common in Tyrone, with the majority being Presbyterian or Church of Ireland, so they are possibly descendants of Scots who settled in the county in the early 1600s. MacLysaght says the name is an Ulster name and possibly a variant of MacCourt.

The problem you face is that there are no records for Fermanagh or Tyrone in the 1600s that are likely to record the 2 families. Researching that era is pretty well impossible unless your family were very wealthy or notorious. Coupled with that is that if they are descendants of settlers who arrived in the 1620 or 1630s and left in 1718 then they had only lived in Ireland for a couple of generations. So may not have left much of a mark in any records that do exist.

A little background on the 1718 migration from Antrim & Londonderry. Perhaps your ancestors left for the same reasons.

https://www.ancestryireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/The_1718_Mig…

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

John Means is buried here in the states at a Presbyterian Church. As well as his son William. So I would assume that they were Presyterian

Lori,

Being Presbyterian certainly fits with the era in which your ancestor left. Most migrants from Ireland in the 1700s were Presbyterian or sometimes Church of Ireland. What some might call “native Irish” migrants, most of whom were RC, didn't start leaving Ireland in significant numbers until the 1800s.

I had a look in the 1841 Scottish census but did not find anybody named Means there. So a rare named in Scotland too, in spite of his Presbyterian roots. Possibly the name has got changed over the years. So the family background is probably that they settled in Ireland in the 1600s, probably originating in Scotland. There are no Presbyterian records for Fermanagh in the 1600s. (Enniskillen Presbyterian church’s records only start in 1818). You could check the Churhc of Ireland records. Their main set of records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin but some survive and can be consulted in PRONI in Belfast. They cover:

Extracts of baptisms, 1667-1789, marriages, 1668-1794, and burials, 1667-1781; burials, 1879-1907 and 1941-50;vestry minutes, 1731-1920; copy deeds, 1796-9; select vestry minutes, 1871-80; register of church members, 1871 and 1946-50; preachers’ book, 1895-1928.

Extracts from baptism, marriage and burial registers, 1666-1826.

Printed copy of Old Enniskillen Vestry Book, with extracts of births, marriages and deaths, 1666-c.1797.

Extracts from vestry minutes, 1666-1912, which include some baptism, marriage and burial entries

Your other chance of finding anything about this family is perhaps through DNA.