|
|
VAN ESSEN Genealogy - Irish Ancestors |
 |
My Irish great-great-grandparents emigrated to the township of Sunnidale, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada around 1857. They had seven children, all sons. In May of 1881, they emigrated to the United States, settling in Aitkin, Minnesota. |
|
Married January 25, 1856 |
 |
 Samuel (1856 - 1936) |
 James (1859 - 1930) |
 Robert J. (1861 - 1949) |
 George A. (1863 - 1947) |
 W. Thomas (1865 - 1903) |
 Frederick A. (1868? - 1940) |
 Alfred C. (1873 - 1896) |
|
Here's a timeline of what we know so far about the Maghan family.
Sources: {B/R} = Birth Record; {M/R} = Marriage Record; {D/R} = Death Record
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This is a copy of the marriage record for William Maghan and Margaret Toner registered January 25th, 1856, in the civil parish of Ardstraw in the Registrar's District of Strabane in County Tyrone, Ireland (now Northern Ireland).
William was the son of James Maghan, laborer, and was residing in the townland of Coolaghy (west of Newtownstewart) and worked as a weaver. Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Toner, laborer, of the townland of Meaghy (further west of Newtownstewart). Margaret signed with "her mark". They were married in the Church at Crew Bridge (in Meaghy townland) in a ceremony officiated by minister Edward Bowen and witnessed by William Carson and Samuel A. Carson.
Here is a link to a full-size version of the Marriage Certificate (8 MB, 600 dpi, 13.5" x 9") suitable for printing. If you view the image at full resolution (1 dot per pixel) you can see the security code that is in what appears to be white stripes on the right side of the image: MARRIAGESBIRTHSANDDEATHSREGISTRYFORNORTHERNIRELAND.
In the fall of 2001, I happened across this book by Brian Mitchell, published in 1988:
Pages 135-136 have the passenger list for the Argentinus, of
the J. & J. Cooke Line, sailing in 1857 (no specific date given)
from Londonderry to Quebec.
(Transcription of this list at TheShipsList.Com).
Within this list are these two entries:
Passenger Name Age Last Place of Residence
Mahon, Margaret 22 District of Omagh, Tyrone
Samuel 6m
Although the surname is spelled Mahon instead of Maghan, this is definitely our Margaret and her first-born son. Samuel was born 22 Dec 1856, so this ship must have sailed in June of 1857 (the online transcription says sailed May 6 and arrived June 6). There is no William traveling with them - so this is the proof of the family legend that William came over first and sent for Margaret later. |
 Click here for MapQuest link |
In the map at the right, Omagh is in Drumragh and Newtownstewart is in Ardstraw. The Church at Crew Bridge is about on the edge of the map, due west of Newtownstewart.
Note the town of Gillygooley just west of Omagh.
An Isabella Maghan was married in Gillygooly on 15 Dec 1854, so that shows that there was a Maghan family in the area at the time. Here is the FamilySearch IGI entry for Isabella, showing her estimated birth and her marriage to James Graham.
She was born about 1836 (probably age of 18 assumed from the marriage record) and her birthplace was Kilmore (probably assumed from her current residence at the time of her marriage). Kilmore is a townland in Drumragh about a mile northwest of Gillygooly (i.e. between Omagh and Newtownstewart).
Her father's name is Samuel Maghan. So there was a Samuel Maghan family living near Gillygooley, only a mile from Omagh, which puts it in the district of Omagh.
Perhaps this Samuel is a younger brother of William's father, James, and would be William's uncle. My tantalizing theory is that after William left to go to Canada, perhaps in the summer of 1856, a pregnant Margaret could have been staying with this Maghan family. When her son was born that December, she gratefully named him after her generous host. And that would explain why the name Samuel was used before the name of William's own father, James, in the birth order of their children.
Like I say - this is speculative. No proof yet, whatsoever.
To make things more interesting, here is a FamilySearch IGI entry for a William Maghan with the same parents as Isabella. My theory is that this is connected with the LDS-member-submitted marriage for Isabella, and William is one of the witnesses to the marriage, and the submitter presumed William was Isabella's brother. But that cannot be since William's father is James (per his marriage record).
I'd love to find Isabella Graham's death record to see what it says about her birthpace and parents. A Graham researcher has more information on the family of James Graham (search for Maghan).
But I'll bet the Presbyterian Church in Gillygooley
(picture) has
Samuel's baptismal record, and possibly some other Maghan records as well.
This list of
Church Records By Parish at section 25 "Civil Parish of Drumragh" says
the PRONI microfilm of the records of the Presbyterian church at Gillygooley
has Baptisms (1848-66 and 1869-1984) and marriages (1845-1934). No deaths
or burials.
Above is the 1871 census entry for the Willim Mahon(sic) family in Sunnidale Township, Simcoe County in the Province of Ontario, Canada (click to see a 2x resolution image of the full two pages).
The birthplaces for William, Margaret, and Samuel is Ireland, and "O" (for Ontario) for the rest of the children (Alfred was not born yet). William was Presbyterian, and being of that religion in Ulster (northern counties of Ireland) implies a Scottish heritage (although how far back is unknown).
The next 12 months' archives were searched for news of finding a body, but no luck. Since there is no Aitkin county record of his death, and no cemetery has a record of his burial, his body apparently was never recovered.
I have no idea where Duntroon (or Duntrune), Ireland is or was. A book listing all the placenames in the 1851 Ireland census does not have either Duntroon or Duntrune.
There is a Duntroon in Simcoe County, Ontario, in what was Nottawasaga Township, just west of what was Sunnidale Township (the two were later combined to form Clearview Township), but he would not be a native of this Duntroon.
 |
And finally, there is a Duntrune, near Dundee, Angus, Scotland.
This seems to be the best bet for the home town of William (or more likely, his parents). The map on the right shows its location near Dundee.
A Catharine Maghan was married in Dundee on 19 Aug 1833, so that shows
that there was a Maghan family in the area at the time. Here is the
FamilySearch entry for this marriage.
 Go Back to My Genealogy Home Page Menu
| ||
 |
John S. Van Essen Contact Information |
  |
William MAGHAN
