McClenaghan family history wanted for Drummaul around 1800

There aren?t any church records, for any denomination, for Randalstown in the 1700s and so research at that period can be very difficult, if not impossible. (Very few families in Ireland would know their own ancestry that far back either). The surname is quite common in the area which doesn?t help either. There?s a couple in the town in the current phone book, spelled McClen..

http://www.ukphonebook.com/

There was a McLenahan family in Magheralane in the 1901 census but they were Presbyterian:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Sharvogues/Magherealone/920301/

Another nearby in Drumsough. (Spelling of the surname varies a bit, even within the same family, as is quite common in Ireland):

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Sharvogues/Drumsough/920148/

Thank you most sincerely for your prompt reply to me concerning these families. Do you suppose that searches of the Belfast Newsletter would result in news of inhabitants of Randalstown during that period? It is difficult to think of what else to pursue. I appreciate your intelligence that McClenaghan was a common name which is still active in the area.

You could certainly look at the Newsletter. If you have access, Ancestry has it on-line from the start in the early 1700s through to about 1925. In the earlier years it was only issued twice a week and only consisted of 4 pages. Births, deaths and marriages were usually on the front page, so it?s not too difficult to search.

Having said that, in my experience the average working man tended not to post BDM notices in the paper. That tended to be more for the gentry. But you never know. Also you say your family were RC. The Newsletter has often been perceived as more of a Protestant paper (though I can?t say whether that was also the perception in the 1700s) but again that might steer them away from announcements in it. However any newsworthy items in Randalstown could be reported by the paper. There?s certainly coverage of the fighting in Randalstown in the 1798 uprising, as a consequence of which the town was burned. I have read that report myself in the past. (Local United Irishmen took the small garrison in Randalstown prisoner. They were eventually relieved by soldiers from elsewhere who, after releasing their colleagues, took reprisals on those involved by setting fire to their homes. Since every home in the village had a thatched roof, and most were adjacent to each other, the effect was to burn the whole village down, regardless of whether you were a United Irishman or not).

How sad! Although I have sort of been preparing myself for events such as these...My Smiths were actually a split family : Leslie Smith was Protestant and Frances Harbinson (parents of this William Smith who remained RC) was RC. Decades later when Frances died (1862) two years before Leslie in Ontario he buried her in the Anglican churchyard instead of in the fine RC Cemetery just 3 blocks away.  I have come to so admire this man (for whom my own grandfather was named Leslie) that I would love to know more. I will search out a good account of that 1798 event unless you can recommend the best account. Another  quesion I want to ask is this---which repository holds the best early photographs of the Randalstown area? I may, in fact, come in June to Dublin (2 days) and Belfast (5-6 days) and two days of general sights in Down and Antrim. I have an opportunity requiring a decsion by tomorrow as to whether to go to Northern Ireland. If I cannot find further details of the family, at least I can flesh out some of the history of the area with a trip like this....Thank you, once again. ---- Laurie Simms

Laurie,

There are some photos of Randalstown in this collection. Mixed in with some of Randallstown MD. You obviously need to ignore those.

https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A9mSs22dwFBV.4IAoNFLBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByZmVxM3N0BGNvbG8DaXIyBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Old+Photographs+of+Randalstown&fr=yfp-t-406

Here?s some more:

http://www.downmemorylane.me.uk

There?s one of Hollybrook beetling mill (the area your ancestors lived). There are photos of numerous Smyths but I don?t see an McLenaghans or Harbi(n)sons.

You could contact the Randalstown Historical Society both for photos and perhaps any local information on your families. Here?s the link. One of the key figures in it is Christine Doherty who lives above the old post office in the main street, just across from O?Kane?s pub. She?s a helpful and knowledgeable lady. I have lived here 30 years but didn?t go to school here, whereas I think Christine did and so could know a bit more than I do about local families.

https://randalstownhistory.wordpress.com

If you do come to Randalstown, I would be happy to meet you for an afternoon and show you around, if that would interest you.

You are up against what genealogists call the 1800 barrier in Irish research. It?s very hard to get back earlier than that due to the general lack of records, save for families who owned a lot of land or were otherwise notorious.

For the Battle of Randalstown, this was a preliminary skirmish in the Battle of Antrim. You could try David Hall?s book ?A battle lost and won: the battle of Antrim? 1998. Or if you go to the local studies section at Ballymena library they should have some material on it. If you want more detailed material to read, PRONI has some material on MIC 575/1. There are various accounts by General Nugent, and various contemporaneous documents. For example a statement from a widow in Duneane (next parish to Randalstown) about what she had seen the United Irishmen do. (It?s probably worth pointing out that the United Irishmen didn?t have universal support, and a lot of the community were opposed to their actions, hence the willingness to give information.).

A neighbour of mine was renovating his farm some years back and he decided to strip the roof of some outbuildings in his yard. When he did so he found a couple of pikes (long poles with a sharp end used as a weapon) which must have been hidden there in 1798, and then forgotten about for 200 years.

I have attached an account of the United Irishmen events in nearby Broughshane in 1798, taken from ?As the Crow flies over Rough terrain? by James Kenny 1988.

Elwyn

Hello Elwyn: I am trying to get used to this site and have not figured out a way to access the account of the Broughshane event. Actually, I was going to drive through Broughshane after seeing Randalstown because I also may try to locate remnants of a Scots Convenenter family named Peden who stopped there in Broughshane for a generation + more? - in the mid 1700's before going to America where they participated in the Am Revol. I will do the research on them probably in Proni the  following week of the 22-26, but I thought it would be nice to see if anything historiic remains in Broughshane. I like the idea of meeting with you and Christine. I have also had a kind offer from Arthur Houston to meet him after my inquiry to the Randalstown Historical Soc. I will save your note about the Battle of Randalstown for a look-up at PRONI. I feel very inept but on the "memory lane" site I do not see the Hollybrook beetling mill or photos of Smiths. As to McClenaghans, I have made an interesting discovery about the family of Sarah McClenaghan ( RC). It appears that many of her family including her parents William and Sarah McClenaghan and a younger sister named Bridget (and possilby a brother named George) moved with the Smiths to the districts of Grenville and Dundas about 1840. I am going to attach a full page with this memo of the 1843 tithe record for the section of Magheralane that was home to the Smiths and McClenaghan families. As to my possible visit to Randalstown, it will likely come in two sections 1) on the late afternoon of the the 19th; and again 2) on the day of Sunday the 28th--- so that I can follow up on any ideas and any recommendations given the first afternoon and  also sort out any material I will pick up at PRONI during the intervening week. Thank you ever so much for writing back so thoughtfully. The identification of Randalstown as a place of origiin for my Smith/Harbison family has taken years. Laurie

Laurie,

Sorry you couldn’t access some of the pictures. I am not sure if there are any remains of Hollybrook Beetling Mill left. Looking at it on Google earth there doesn’t seem to be much there now. It was at the end of Hollybrook Rd, on the River Main as it was water powered.  Beetling is the process in linen making whereby the linen is hit repeatedly with gigantic wooden hammers, to strengthen the material and give it the nice shiny finish. There is a working beetling mill just outside Cookstown which is now a museum so if you are interested in that, I can recommend it. If you want to learn all about linen and the origin of phrases like “pop goes the weasel” you’ll learn all that there:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wellbrook-beetling-mill/

If you want to read the description of the United Irishmen in Broughshane in 1798, I can let you have a copy when you get to Antrim. I will be out of town on Friday 19th . However I should be around on the 28th for most of the day. There is a free open air music event in Antrim Castle Gardens between 2 and 3 which I intend to go to, weather permitting, but otherwise I should be free all day and can meet you.

For some other background reading on the events leading up to 1798, go to the PRONI website:

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/ecatalogue.htm

Type in D2095/18 and you’ll get a contemporaneous account from the late 1700s.

The lay out of Randalstown hasn’t changed since 1798. It’s basically one main street (helpfully named Main Street) with a side street called New Street. (They didn’t spend a lot of time coming up with fancy street names in those days). New Street meets Main St in a T junction. In 1798 nearly all the houses were single story.  They were thatched and as I mentioned previously were mostly burned down following the rebellion. However they were then rebuilt. Many have since acquired a second floor, but the basic structure of the town remains unchanged. The barracks where the soldiers were seized by the United Irishmen is still there, at the foot of the railway viaduct, overlooking the river Main. The area in front of the barracks (now private houses) is still known as the parade ground, though no soldier has paraded there for a hundred years or more as far as I can tell. The population of the town today is around 5000 people. There was a huge US army base nearby during WW2, mostly soldiers awaiting D-Day. It was in the grounds of Shane’s Castle (Lord O’Neill’s estate) which you may pass on the way into the town. Obviously there’s not much left of that military base now, but those streets once swarmed with US soldiers for a few years during the 1940s. Some of the US military Quonset huts in the camp were “liberated” by locals at the end of the war and are still to be found in various backyards around the town. (There’s one behind the library).

The RC chapel and graveyard is at the start of Magheralane Rd. You’ll have no difficulty finding it. The original church as used by your ancestors is still standing (built 1784) though now just used as a church hall. However it may give you a sense of continuity to see it.

http://stmacnissirandalstown.com/about/parish-history

If you would like to meet up on Sunday 28th, e-mail me on elwynsoutter@yahoo.co.uk and we can fix the details.

Hi , Laurie

Maybe a long shot like you a bit stuck My 3 times great G=grandfather John McClenaghan born approx 1805 married to Jane in the Ballymena Workhouse 1847 with an address of Drumanway, Drummaul. My 2 times G=grandfather Robert married Mary McKittrick both of Ballymacilroy they were in the 1862 Griffiths valuation in Andriad  Drummaul with a spelling of McClenchan and still there in the 1901 census when he died his address was given as Kells Water and Mary's as Ballybracken both buried in Ballyclug, Ballylesson graveyard. My great grandfather born Tullygarley, Ahoghill living in Slaght in the 1901 census, died young in Whiteabbey hosptal just outside Belfast. My grandfather born Slaght went to Tullygarley School and moved with his father and mother when he was 9/10 to Monkstown close to Whiteabbey.  I have heard stories how as kids they used to jump on the back of the boats on the Maine river go under the bridge jump off and run back to start all over again most of them rented themselves out at farmers markets which make them very difficult to trace.  There is a lot of Scotish connections in mine with some going back and forward my father still has a very broad Ulster/Scots dialect. 

Beth

Hi, I have a g.g.g.grandmother Jane McLenaghan from Magheralane. She married John McDonnell in Randalstown RC Church in 1828.  Her death registration in 1886 gives her age as 88 which means she would have been born about 1798. Family oral history has her parents as James McLenaghan and Rosie Mooney, but I have yet to find any documentation supporting / refuting this.  The first entry in this strand is for a Sarah McLenaghan b. abt 1803 of Magheralane.  The known years and place would make it possible that Sarah and Jane were related, possibly cousins.

DNA testing has confirmed a match for me with someone descended from one of Jane McLenaghan and John McDonnell's sons and his wife ...so who knows, DNA may help to link some on the McLenaghan line also.

Regards

Maryeliza