John McMullan and Margaret Orr origins

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your message and for sharing this information on the Ireland Reaching Out message boards. You obviously have put a lot of work into researching your family history! You have some great information here. Hopefully it will help someone with their own reasearch, or even better help you make a connection with someone who has ties to the same family!

Thanks once again,

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

I'm still hopeful to find more informaton about my John McMullan. I still don't have any birth information for him, and don't know what happened to him after about 1850 in Canada.

A friend in Ireland has given me some important information, he gleaned from Aynsworth Pilson's accounts for Downpatrick. Aynsworth kept diaries of information, and he had lived on Bridge Street in Downpatrick. Aynsworth had accounted for my John McMullan's marriage by indicating he was a shoemaker who lived on Bridge Street in Downpatrick, and that he married Margaret Orr, a servant, May 2, 1844.

Another account Aynsworth left was a death for Dec 5, 1846 of a Susan (Galway) McMullan 60 years old, of Bridge Street and she was a widow of Arthur McMullan a pensioner.

My John and Margaret's first son, was an Arthur McMullan, so I thought this might have been John's parent's?

Then, Aynsworth also left an account for a death for June 10, 1848 of a John McMullan, shoemaker, 81 years old, who lived on Bridge Street.

I have found references for a few other McMullan's who had lived on Bridge Street in Downpatrick. I have also accumulated some British Military records for McMullan's who were from Downpatrick. It would seem the husband of Susan, may have been one of those. The Arthur I found on the British Military records was also a shoemaker.

I wish I had access to Aynsworth Pilson's accounts for Downpatrick, as I'm told he kept diaries for many years. It seems copies of these records are only available at PRONI, and perhaps the Linen Library, and only available for on site visitors. I feel there would be a lot more that could apply to my McMullan family, but I'll never be able to visit Ireland, unfortunately.

Family Search has a record which I've acquired for a Rose McMullan, born to a Susan McMullan Sep 26, 1821 in Downpatrick. But, the record does not show a Father's name. I believe I found a marriage record for that Rose McMullan for 1845, when she married a John Skillen in Downpatrick. I obtained the marriage record, but it only shows under Father:  Susan McMullan, widow.

I do have more accounts from Tithe records, and Griffith's valuaton records for McMullan/McMullen's in Downpatrick.

Still hoping for something that will show my John McMullan's birth.

Thanks!!  Tom McMillan (Washougal, WA, USA)

Tom,

In the mid 1800s, the term pensioner nearly always referred to someone who had been in the armed forces (they were the only people who got pensions at that time), so it is likely that Arthur was a former soldier.

Tradition was to marry in the bride?s church so Downpatrick Cathedral is where I?d look for Margaret Orr?s baptism, and that of any siblings. The baptism and marriage records go back to 1733 (with some gaps). There?s a copy in PRONI.

If you can?t get to PRONI or the Linenhall Library yourself, you may need to get a  researcher to do it for you.

Elwyn

Thanks so much Elwyn!!

The 1861 Toronto census for Margaret, indicated she was born at County Antrim. Other marriage records (she was married 4 times at least), showed her parent's as David and Catherine Orr. So far still a mystery as to her birth. A family member does have a sampler Margaret made in 1833, which has her name, Margaret Orr, 10 years old, so likely born about 1822.

I should note, one of my closest McMullen/McMullan DNA matches had a John H McMullen who married Mary Herbison/Harbison at Ahoghill in 1854. But, by close, we may still be several generations from a known common ancestor, which neither of us has been able to work back further. We have both posted at the Mid Antrim Yahoo group.

My friend who has found some records for me, I'm sure will keep an eye out if he's able to review more of Anynsworth's records. He seems to get to the records offices occasionally.

I do have a chapter for a book the County Down Yahoo Group is working on. I'm not sure what the status is on that effort, but seems they were hoping to have it ready by Spring or Summer. Hard to know if I'll glean anything from that effort, but hopeful.

I've had autosomal DNA tests with 23andMe, ancestry.com, and Family Finder at FTDNA. Cousin's helped me to have two of those. Seems I'm having pretty good luck with ancestry.com for some family lines, but presently I don't think they test outside the US which is unfortunate. To enhance the usefulness of ancestry.com and other tests, I've uploaded my results to gedmatch.com where a person can see where people match on individual Chromosomes, which can help to find common surnames.

I've been in touch with at least one McMullan family in County Down who could connect to my family. They're elderly, and don't have a good knowledge of their ancestry, though. I think I've figured out a little more for them, but still can't connect the dots to my family if there is a connection.

Thanks so much!!  Tom McMillan