Mckees and Blaines

Deb:

Hello again!

Here is a link to the online Irish phone book https://www.eirphonebook.ie/  This directory is only a partial list of phone users. Make sure you use the Residential TAB. I noticed there are three Blaine records in the Killyb egs area and one McKee around Ardara.

Roger McDonnell

Hi Deb 

There are Blaine's still in Malinmore but the McKee name died out in 1940's approx .. They were  connected to the Ardara McKee's .. 

Both Blaine and McKee's were church of Ireland and registers survive for Glencolmcille from 1827 . Various registers from adjacent parishes  survive , check for dates and availability on https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/registers…

Thank you so much for your replies and this great information!  I have seen the McKee's in the 1800's Census's but I didn't know how long they remained there.  I know that they came over with the Plantation of the Donegal and Ulster.  There was a Patrick M'Kee that was given land over there in the Donegal area.  I have that information.  It is just hard to know when exactly they came.  I know that Andrew M'Kee was buried in Kilcashel cemetery in 1790 at Loughros Point by Ardara, the McKee's there have been there for hudreds of years.  My distant cousins, It is my belief that their great grandfather Alexander Charles McKee was most likely the nephew of my Grandpa Charle's father so his 1st cousins.  But to find the actual paper proof of that is a bit difficult.  Do you know if anyone is taking pictures of Headstones in that area? Or if there are records to be found that tell you who is interred in the cemeteries in the Malin More area?

Thanks again for your help!

Deb

The main migration of Scots to Donegal (and other parts of Ulster) was in the 1600s, either as a part of Planation or as famine refuges in the 1690s. Some estimates suggest that 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland during that century, representing 10% of the entire Scottish population of the time. Looking at the Muster Rolls for Donegal c 1630 I see several McKees listed. So in my opinion the answer to your question about when exactly they came to Donegal, the answer is probably in the 1600s.

Deb 

I am taking photos of the 2 graveyards in Glen over the winter . I will post details on here once project is completed ..

Ken 

Most landowners  were granted  estates by the crown  in return for favours etc but as time went on they could have increased their holdings by marriage, inheritance or buying the land.. 

Thomas Connolly was part of a huge landowning family whom were native Irish 

Some papers survive inc http://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/pdf/products/105/Reduced%20size%20The%20…

1724-1831
Rentals.
National Library of Ireland Ms.17302
1772-1793
Rentals Civil parishes Drumhome, Glencolumbkille, Inishkeel, Innishmacsaint, Kilbaarron, Kilcar, Killybegs Uper, & Killymard
National Archives of Ireland M.6917 (1-17)
1782-1786 – Civil parishes Donaghmore & Urney.
National Library of Ireland Ms.17302

http://www.castletown.ie/About/TheConollyFamilyandCastletown/

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni also have some papers 

The majority of tenants in the parish of Glencolmcille purchased their holdings under the terms of the  1903 ( Wyndham) & 1909  land purchase acts with the rest  under terms of 1923 land act .. Some tenants had to wait till the 1940's before the land commission finalised terms 

Hope this helps a little 

The Plantation is a subject which arouses a lot of strong feelings. I am not an expert, and wouldn’t claim to have any authoritative knowledge.  If you want to read more detailed accounts by experts, I’d suggest:

Eagles Wings by Dr David Hume

The Planation of Ulster by Philip Robinson

The Scottish Migration to Ulster in the reign of King James I by M Perceval-Maxwell

But my understanding of the broad historical position is that in the 1500s Britain and Ireland had been the subject of an attempted invasion by Spain (the Spanish Armada). Bad weather and a bit of tactical smart behaviour by the Royal Navy had seen them off, but there was a real fear that they would return and that also the French would likewise invade. Ireland was seen as an easy back door into the British Isles. If you could land an army in Ireland, it’d be easy to move on to England. (A bit like the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, as far as the US was concerned). So government strategy was to ensure that Ireland was not somewhere that it would be easy to land a foreign army.  Naturally most of the native Irish were not very pro-British so it was decided that the answer was to swamp Ireland with British (ie Scots, English & Welsh) settlers, so altering the dynamic of the country to ensure that it became more pro British and more able to resist any invasion.  In the final years of Queen Elizabeth 1st’s reign there was a stand off with some of the big Irish landowners. This led to a couple of battles and what was called “The flight of the Earls”. 2 Earls and about 90 kinsmen fled Ireland (for Spain) in 1607. Their lands were declared forfeit. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Earls

Elizabeth I had no children and as a result the king of Scotland (James VI of Scotland) was invited to rule both Scotland and England. He was known thereafter as James I. His strategy was to invite Irish landowners to sign a loyalty oath to the Crown. If they did that (and many did, Ulster examples being the Maguires in Fermanagh, O’Kanes in Co Derry and O’Neills in Co Antrim) then they generally kept their lands. Some did not, and their lands were therefore declared forfeit, as were also the lands owned by the Earls who had fled.

So in the period 1600-1610 you had a situation where some native Irish kept their lands but in many other places new landlords arrived from Scotland, England & Wales to occupy lands declared forfeit. Their right to occupy the lands came from the king, to whom, all land ultimately belonged anyway. Even today that right exists (in the UK) to the extent that if someone dies intestate and no eligible relative can be found, the property  goes back to the Crown on the basis that it originally held the title anyway.

But to answer your question about how the landlords got their land and what happened after that, the answer is that some were native Irish who retained their lands (about 30%) and the others were settlers from Britain. Once they had taken title to the land, under royal warrant, their position was exactly the same as any landlord anywhere. Same as today. They could sublet, sell or set leases on any terms they chose.

The general arrangement for the Plantation was that the King invited big landowners in Britain to go to Ireland. He granted them land with low rents on condition that they developed the area. So they undertook to build public buildings, a bawn (defensive fort) and roads etc. They were therefore called “undertakers”. They also had to undertake to take a significant number of their tenants with them from their estates in England, Wales or Scotland to ensure there were enough people to make the new settlements viable. (Previous attempts to settle Ireland had failed due to lack of incomers). So many of the first “ordinary” settlers came from the parts of Britain that their main landlord had properties.

The King wanted people he could rely on. Though he was King of all the UK, James I was Scottish and he favoured Scots. He encouraged a lot to go to Ireland because he felt he could rely on them.

Ardara is in the barony of Banagh. In the early 1600s, that was settled by landowners from Ayrshire, Wigtownshire, and Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland. So possibly that’s where your ancestors originated. See:

http://orrnamestudy.com/plantnire1610.htm

According to Perceval-Maxwell, Boylagh & Banagh Barony was settled by Sir Robert of Bomby from south Kirkcudbrightshire.

Apart from the names of the main undertakers, no names exist of individual tenants and artisans and so it’s not normally possible to trace them back to Scotland via paper records, though you might get lucky with DNA.

It’s seems to me from the information that Cordangan has provided that the Connolly family were native Irish who acquired lands in Banagh barony in the late 1600s. Presumably sold to them by the previous owners/tenants (possibly Sir Robert of Bomby but I don’t know enough about the history of the area to say for certain).

Elwyn and Cordangan,

Thanks for your previous replies.  I have not been very good at getting on here.  :)  Cordangan were you able to get those cemetery pics?  I know that the McKee's of Glencolumbkille and my mckee's are related as I found a Craig McKee whose Gx great grandpa came over to Coshocton Co Ohio from there, and married a Love girl whose family came over later from Glencolumbkille, Craig and my male like cousin Tom Mckee are very close matches on YDNA, as well as Barry McKee whose line are still represented by Aaron and Raymond McKee at Loughros point who has the same close match to my cousin Tom as well, and they have a close match as well.  So that is exciting!

But there is still the mystery of Moses and his wife Jane.  My main issue is that I don't know because the matches with boy Craig and Barry McKee are equal 108/111 markers I still have no clue which line my McKee line comes from.  We all share a common ancestor some time in the 1700's but that is not all that easy to prove.  I had hoped getting Craig tested would give me some answers, but I match them both the same  LOL  Go figure!

We suspect that Jane McKee who was married to Moses Blaine is the daughter of Andrew McKee who is buried at the Kilcashel cemetery on the point.  He was 95 years old when he died in 1790.  As you know finding records going back that far are few and far between.  I have found copies of the Freeholders list which has Several McKee men in Donegal from 1765 but the names of their townships are different.  Lackaugh which I have learned is near portnoo, Tinnycahill which I believe is in the Letterkenny area.  Carricken?  is that in the Carrick area, and then one from loughros point. 

So lots of information still so many questions!  :)

Elwyn and Cordangan,

Thanks for your previous replies.  I have not been very good at getting on here.  :)  Cordangan were you able to get those cemetery pics?  I know that the McKee's of Glencolumbkille and my mckee's are related as I found a Craig McKee whose Gx great grandpa came over to Coshocton Co Ohio from there, and married a Love girl whose family came over later from Glencolumbkille, Craig and my male like cousin Tom Mckee are very close matches on YDNA, as well as Barry McKee whose line are still represented by Aaron and Raymond McKee at Loughros point who has the same close match to my cousin Tom as well, and they have a close match as well.  So that is exciting!

But there is still the mystery of Moses and his wife Jane.  My main issue is that I don't know because the matches with boy Craig and Barry McKee are equal 108/111 markers I still have no clue which line my McKee line comes from.  We all share a common ancestor some time in the 1700's but that is not all that easy to prove.  I had hoped getting Craig tested would give me some answers, but I match them both the same  LOL  Go figure!

We suspect that Jane McKee who was married to Moses Blaine is the daughter of Andrew McKee who is buried at the Kilcashel cemetery on the point.  He was 95 years old when he died in 1790.  As you know finding records going back that far are few and far between.  I have found copies of the Freeholders list which has Several McKee men in Donegal from 1765 but the names of their townships are different.  Lackaugh which I have learned is near portnoo, Tinnycahill which I believe is in the Letterkenny area.  Carricken?  is that in the Carrick area, and then one from loughros point. 

So lots of information still so many questions!  :)