Greetings!
I am looking on informaation about William J. Mcgauhey who was born in Antrim Co. in 1690-1695. He went to Scotland sometime before 1738 and married Margaret Boyd. They then went on to America. Most of the onformation I have is family stories passed down but all of them concur that there were 4 brothers. Two who remained in Ireland and two who migrated to Scotland, one of them being my William. I am mostly interested in finding out if he was an Antrim native or if he was part of the "Scotch-Irish" that were part of the Plantation of Ulster. It seems that all the McGaugheys of my family married Scottish women. I have done some Googling of the name McGaughey and find different variations of it being a native Antrim name but also a native Scottish name. I am guessing that he was maybe from Belfast Parish based on the fact that his sons and grandsons were Presbyterian, so I assume he was and I found Belfast Parish on a list of parishes as being Presbyterian. Any input and or information is greatly appreciated.
Nicole
Wednesday 10th Aug 2016, 01:24AM
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Nicole,
Belfast was a small town of about 2000 people in 1695 (with Carrickfergus being the main town in the area). Your ancestor may not have originated there. Most of Antrim was rural farming land and statistically he probably lived somewhere there.
If your ancestor was Presbyterian then the chances are that he was descended from Scots who settled in the area from around 1606 onwards. Strictly speaking County Antrim wasn’t included in the Plantation of Ulster as it had already been heavily settled under the Hamilton – Montgomery settlement of 1606 and also, in the north, by tenants of the McDonald’s of Islay. Many of the Hamilton – Montgomery settlers came from estates in Scotland in Ayrshire and surrounding counties.
Very few Presbyterian churches in Co Antrim have records back to the 1600s. I only know of 2 – Antrim 1st (1675) and Lisburn (1689). There’s an outside chance you might find the baptism in one of those. They are not on-line anywhere but there are copies in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. A personal visit there is required to view them.
Probably William’s family had only been living in Ireland for a couple of generations when he moved back to Scotland.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Wednesday 10th Aug 2016, 07:38AM