McWilliams, Maholland, Ward, Cooper and Stewart

The marriage between Henry & Sarah was probably a Church of Ireland ceremony. In 1832, neither the RC nor the Presbyterian churches would have married them because of the mixed denomination aspect. So they would almost certainly have gone to the Church of Ireland which, as the state church, would marry anybody regardless of denomination.

Your next problem is that there are several hundred Church of Ireland churches in and around Belfast (there?s something like 50 in Belfast alone) and not all of their records have survived (many were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin) and of those that do survive, not all are on-line.

If you have the time, you could go to PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. They have copies of most of the surviving church records. A personal visit is required to view them. You would need to work your way through those in Belfast and the surrounding areas. Allow a couple of days for the task. Church of Ireland records are gradually being put on-line, and so another option is just to keep trying the pay to view sites every year or so, in case the marriage shows up as a new set of records is added.

Thank you very much for your reply.  I hadn’t realized there were so many Church of Ireland churches in and around Belfast, that information goes a long way toward explaining the difficulties I’m having tracing another part of my family that is from Belfast.  Hopefully I will be able to get to PRONI within the next year or so but in the interim will keep checking on-line.  Again, thanks! 

I seem to have replied to the above twice, but can't figure out how to delete the complete message...

Hi Claudia,

I see it is 5 years since your message board was posted and wonder if you made any headway in your research?  I too am researching McWilliams in Antrim (Belfast area) around these same dates, although yours are about 10 years earlier.

I am looking for a possible sibling, cousin match.  Here are my names and dates in case anything matches with your McWilliams's, then we could possibly swap information.

I eventually will get to PRONI but I live in the US so it will be a year or two before I can go. Curious about that as well if you went and your opinion:

James McWilliams b.1819 d.1894 WI, USA (3rd great grandfather) emmigrated 1843

Thomas McWilliams b.1822 d.1891 WI, USA (brother to James) emmigrated abt 1845

Charles McWilliams b.1839 d. 1889 WI,USA (cousin to James & Thomas most likely, possible brother) emmigrated abt 1860

William McWilliams est:1795 (possible father of James & Thomas which I can explain further if there is any chance of a connection here.

Thanks,

Felicia McWilliams Froschmayer

email if you like: fafroschmayer@sbcglobal.net

Hello,

I descend from Richard McWilliam, who was born circa 1709 in Ireland or possibly England to a merchant.  In the late 1730s he migrated to Delaware, along with many others.  He was educated and had means.  He was appointed the Registrar of Deeds by 1743 and ultimately became Chief Justice of New Castle Co., Delaware.  He died in 1781 and was succeeded by his son Richard McWilliam in high office.  While my ancestor had three sons, two died young and childless. Son Richard also died in his early 30s leaving five young daughters.  While we have a fair amount of family information about Richard McWilliam, including family biographies, none say explicitly where he came from or who his ancestors were.  

The clues we have are as follow.  One bio states that Richard McWilliam came from Dublin.  Another states that he was born in England.  Several formal publications on the History of Delaware claim that he came from Ireland..but have no mention of where.  Many of Richard McWilliam's peers and close friends were from Londonderry or families from that area in earlier times.  A William Spencer, whose familyl had been in Delaware for several generations, called McWilliam brother in law and even Richard McWilliam's children left monies to the Spencer children.  It is possible, however, that the connection was through Richard McWilliam's wife, Margaret Shaw McWilliam.

Another stab in the dark is a mention of a possible connection to an earlier John McWilliams, a merchant from Caerlaverock, Dumfries Scotland, who moved to Pennsylvania and left his  large estate in 1719 to the children  and grandchildren of his brother William McWilliam, some of whom moved into Antrim and then further south..  This John McWilliams married a woman who was very well connected in early Philadelphia politics.  

I have had two formal genealogical searches done by Irish researchers but these studies have been inconclusive.  Treasure Your Exceptions, a site that explores McWilliams families in Ireland, finds one later line where Richard is a prominent first name.   Names of sons in my family were Richard, William and Stephen.  Grandsons were Richard, Williiam Henry and Walter. 

Finally, I have searched McWilliams from my DNA connections.  I would be happy to share that information with anyone interested in comparing notes.  I have also tested my  father who is a generation closer to all of this.  Richard Jr. was his 3xs great grandfather and he was named after a line of Richards.

I am interested in all of the information found on this site and hope all of us can find our McWilliiams connections.

Bev  Walker

Hi Bev,

Your McWilliam family sounds very interesting and it is great that you have so much information.

Although I know the spelling is different, yours McWilliam I see, and mine McWilliams, I was sufficiently hopeful to check my Ancestry DNA matches to see if any McWilliams in Delaware came up, sadly there were none.  

I’m by no means any type of authority on Scottish surnames but I have noticed a significant number of McWilliam families in the records in Southwest Scotland so perhaps the possible connection to Dumfries might be worth exploring a bit.  Just a thought though.

Good luck with your search!

All the best

Claudia Lewis

Thank you for adding to this.  My Richard McWIlliam is found both ways in records...McWilliam/McWIlliams.  I only have one significant match to this McWilliams family on Ancestry and she and I share a rather small segment...but after all, Richard McWIlliam is my 5xs great grandfather. Both of us descend from son Richard's daughters.  

 If you happen to be on Gedmatch, my kit number is A307425,  My father's kit on Gedmatch is T804463 and he and Michael McWilliams, who is a cousin of Peter McWIllliams of "Treasure Your Exceptions" share a small DNA segment.  My sisiter also shares this segment but I do not.

Curiously, several of my shared matches on Ancestry have McWIlliams ancestors from Wigtown, in Scotland.  Is this also true for yeu?  I do know that John McWilliams of Dumfries and Philadelphia (who died in 1719) did have a nephew who came to Virginia.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a substantial link between my Richard and this family.  The only surviving male into the 19th century appears to have been cousin Richard McWilliam Spencer but he appears to have left Delaware and possibly went further South.  

There is a Finlay McWIlliams, who came to Accomack Co. VA in the 1600s. This is the same area where the Spencers  of Delaware first settled.  But again, I have not found an actual Spencer/MacWilliams union in those records either.

One frustrating thing is that our Richard was clearly educated and had means.  You would think that would help in identifying his ancestral family!  He even built an estate outside of New Castle, De in the 1750s that he called Spring Garden..supposedly after his ancestral home.  Unfortunately, there are many places in England and Ireland that have been referred to as SPring Garden.  It is a true challenge...lol!!

Beverly W

Hello Beverley,

I ran a quick check on Gedmatch and sadly neither of your kits match mine (LA152991C1).

I do have quite a few connections to people in Wigtownshire with McWilliam ancestors in their trees but as the other side of my family is from that part of the world it is impossible to tell if they are connected to the McWilliams from Co Antrim or to my Scottish ancestors.

You do seem to have quite a bit to go on and I hope you find more information soon!

All the best

Claudia Lewis

Hi Claudia,

One last thing that may help.  Have you looked at the McWilliams Y DNA project that FTDNA has ?  Sadly, my ancestor had granddaughters and unless I can tap into descendants form a brother or cousin, we don't have a male to test with our McWilliam/McWilliams surname.  I occasionally check the progress of the project to see if anything makes sense.  

I am keeping my fingers crossed for both of us.  One of the researchers in Ireland told me not to give up hope as more and more early records are becoming available.  

Best Regards,

Beverly W

Hi Beverley,

Yes I have looked at the FTDNA McWilliams project and as they are letting people without Y DNA join have joined it as well as the North of Ireland project ,  I think I have only 2 matches on the McWilliams project and 40 or so on the North of Ireland one.  The percentage might be about the same though due to the number of overall participants. I do have a few closer matches on the North of Ireland one though and keep hoping to come across someone with similar ‘branches’ in their family tree but so far have been unable to say for sure how any connections fit in.

I’ve just notice that the Guild of One-Name Studies has a McWilliams project associated with the FTDNA site, if you haven’t done so already that might be a place for you to have a look next.

Nice to hear more records are becoming available and thanks for the words of encouragement!

All the best

Claudia L