Thomas and Elizabeth Mawhinney

Cliff,

You have put Ballymore/Ballymyre parish. For the sake of clarity there are 2 separate parishes (with these confusingly similar names). Both are in Co. Armagh.

Research in Ireland in the 1700s is notoriously hard going due to the lack of records. One source is church records. You haven’t said what denomination your ancestors were. Do you know?

Mawhinney is a common surname in the area. Pillar is less so. Only 4 households in the county in Griffiths Valuation (c 1860).

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS…

Ballymyre Church of Ireland has records from 1820 onwards. Ballymore Church of Ireland has records from 1783. If the family was Presbyterian then churches in the Ballymore area are Clare (records from 1824), Cremore (1831) Tandragee (1835), Tyrone’s Ditches (1793) plus the RC records start in 1843.

There are copies of all the above records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast plus the RC records are on-line on the nli site.

Thanks so much Elwyn.

Looks like it might be tricky to find out more in the short term. Will get back to you if I have any other questions/requests.

Hannah Pillar was born in 1799 according to my information but I will need to find out where they were married to maybe find out their denomination. Thomas who married Hannah in 1820 was born in 1796 apparently. They had at least 7 children (William, Elizabeth, Thomas, Elleanor, Samuel, Agnes and Marion (Mary).

I am ordering a book on tracing Irish ancestry which might give me more options.

We loved our recent trip to Ireland and hope to return someday.

Kind regards

Cliff

Thomas and Hannah's daughter Elizabeth married John McBURNEY on 25 Dec 1847 at Ballymoyer. See the register entry at: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_re…

Elizabeth is shown as being age 22 and resident in Ballymoyer at the time of marriage. Her father is Thos. Mawhinney. One of the witnesses was a John PILLAR (perhaps an uncle or cousin).

John McBurney is shown as being resident at Taymore, parish of Mullabrack. Earlier his parents lived at Maymacullen, parish of Ballymore, and his grandparents at Ballysheilmore and Mullaghglass.

The baptisms of John's siblings are recorded in the Clare Presbyterian church register.

John and Eliza emigrated to New South Wales in 1848 and lived at Rushcutters Bay. The shipping register records Eliza's native place as Newtown Hamilton, Co. Armagh. They had at least 9 children.

In 1855, John paid £50 for his parents, James and Sarah and 5 siblings, including my great grandfather, Nicholas McBurney to emigrate to Australia.

Eliza died on 25 Dec 1877, aged 52. Her NSW death register entry records her parents as Thomas Mawhinney, farmer and Hannah Pillar.

I hope this is helpful. It seems to point to the Newtown Hamilton area for the MAWHINNEY and PILLAR families.

I'm happy to assist further if I can.

Regards,

Colin McBurney

Hi Cliff,

Revision of my previous post. The Griffith's Valuation link provided by Elwyn shows only 2 MAWHINNEYs in Co. Armagh, one is a Thomas MAWHINNEY in Market Street, Tanderagee in 1863. Could this Thomas be a relative? Also, a John and Peter PILLAR on adjoining farms in Dinnahorra townland, parish of Mullaghbrack, close to parish of Ballymore, not too far from Clare.

Colin McBurney