Motheral, motherel, moterell, motherwell, moderwell, ect.

I think you may struggle to find anything significant from official records. Very few records survive for Co Donegal for that period. I note that your family were buried in Taughboyne Church of Ireland graveyard. That church has no records prior to 1820. (There were earlier records but they were lost in the 1922 fire). However if your family originated in Scotland, then chances are they were Presbyterians, and so wouldn’t feature in the Church of Ireland records anyway. It was common enough for Presbyterians to be buried in COI graveyards as they often didn’t have their own dedicated graveyards, especially in 1600s and 1700s. None of the Presbyterian churches in the area has any records for the 1700s or earlier. 1st Ballylemon has the oldest but they do not start till 1829.

As you say people did go back and forth between Donegal to Scotland all the time. (Indeed it’s still very common today). But there are no formal records of those movements.

I looked in the Muster Rolls for the Barony of Raphoe (c 1630). There was an Adam Moderwell and a Robert Moderwell both on Sir John Kingsmell’s estate. (Sir William came from Hampton, in England). Robert only possessed a sword but Adam had a sword and a snaphance, so was clearly the wealthier of the two. Not too far away in Strabane Town were Andrew and Robert Moderwell. Robert had both sword and snaphance but Andrew had no arms at all. (In broad terms you can tell a bit about a person’s prosperity from the arms they were able to bear). So it looks as though there were at least 4 Moderwell households in the Raphoe area around 1630.

Hi Elwyn, Thank you for your prompt response.  I do have many more records for this family in other places in Ireland and most all were in Donegal (big surprise right).  I did hire Boyd Gray to research the Church and he was able to unearth a few more from the Parish Records and was surprised that he could find any.  I have also found very early records from the start of Ulster but they never seemed to connect with much of anything.  Again, thank you and as always, ANY information is always appreciated.  Michelle

Hi dustyrebel,

I recommend that you contact Monreagh Ulster Scots -Scots Irish Heritage & Education Centre as we may have some information for you.

You can call direct 00353 74 91 40708.

Or e-mail office@monreagh.net

You can also make contact via facebook. facebook.monreagh.net

I have a Catherine Motherwell daughter of Caldwell Motherwell. She married in Burt on 16th Aug 1855 to Robert Edwards. His address was Drumgowan Burt and hers is Monglass. Maybe there is a connection here?