Alexander McNulty

I assume your family was Catholic.

RC parishes in Co. Donegal were very late in starting to record baptisms and marriages and so if some of the family were born there in the 1840s (as seems to be the case) there may be no record to find. Few RC parishes kept burial records so if Alexander died pre 1864, and doesn’t have a gravestone (as was often the case) then again there may be no record to find.

I doubt the 1821 census in Fermanagh is your ancestor. That Alex was a weaver and farmer. Farmers tended to stay put if they could and so were unlikely to have children born in Co Donegal and Co. Derry.

I don’t think the 2 Elizabeth McNultys you have found in Tyrone are your ancestor. Both are shown in the Valuation Revision records (on the PRONI website) as continuing to live in those 2 townlands for many years after 1860.

You say that Robert McNulty was born in Magilligan in 1844 but no parents are given. How do you know that that is your ancestor without parents names? The various records you have provided are spread all over Ulster. Farmers generally stayed put in the one place all their lives. Others, especially labourers, did move around a bit, but rarely all over the country.

If you know that your Joseph was baptised in St Johnston in 1846, then that’s the search area I would focus on. (The parish records for All Saints & Taughboyne start in 1843 by the way).

The 2 McNulty court appearances for drunkenness were in the Dunfanaghy area, some 35 miles away on the other side of Co. Donegal from St Johnston. Both court appearances probably relate to the same man but whether it’s your ancestor, if he came from the St Johnston area, is debatable.

The lack of records for this period makes Irish research challenging at times, as you have discovered. Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. If you have already tested your DNA with Ancestry, My Heritage or 23&Me you can upload your DNA results to Family Tree DNA for free and then join the North of Ireland Family History Society DNA Project. Simple instructions on how to do this can be found here:

https://www.nifhs.org/dna/uploading-your-dna/

Patricia,

Though in general there are no emigrant departure records in Ireland, there are a few exceptions. In particular J & J Cooke operated ships from Londonderry to Philadelphia, Quebec & St John NB all through the 1800s. They kept quite good records for their own commercial purposes and these cover 1847 to 1871. They often contain townland of origin for example. I think they are on some databases, JSTOR and PRONI also have copies. Worth checking for your McNulty family on them.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/616310?availability=Family+History+Library

Patricia

It is unlikely that you will find earlier for the family, Donegal is regarded as one of the poorest areas for record holdings, unfortunately, many churches did not commence their record keeping until the mid -1800s. Similar to Elwyn, I feel that a number of the records you have found are unlikely to be connected given distances, many people left no footprint. The Irish 1821 census was destroyed except for small extracts. Apart from Joseph, I note that the family members listed for James were also baptised in St Johnston, I have not found any latter records for them. As Londonderry on departure record for Robert the family may have first moved to the city. While McNulty or Shaw are not common Donegal surnames found both in St Johnston. It may be co-incidence, there was an Elizabeth Shaw listed on the Abercorn estate rentals of 1835 for St Johnston as a widow: https://www.cotyroneireland.com/estates/stjohnston.html

Below is a site about this area of Donegal:

https://www.stjohnstonandcarrigans.com/index.html

Best Regards,

Marion - IrelandXO - Ireland Reaching Out Volunteer.