Alexander Mitchell

Kells is in the parish of Connor. None of the churches in that area have any records for December 1818. The Church of Ireland’s early records were destroyed in the 1922 fire. Connor Presbyterian is the closest with records starting in 1819. (Copy held in PRONI in Belfast). Kells Presbyterian didn’t open till 1873.

Possibly the information about his date of birth came from some other source eg military records, or a Canadian death certificate?

The Kells area was heavily settled by Scots in the 1600s. Some 200,000 Scots settled in Ireland – mostly in the counties of Ulster – in the 1600s. That’s when the Mitchell family probably arrived. Few arrived in the 1700s. But there are no comprehensive records of who the original settlers were or where they came from.

MacLysaght’s “the Surnames of Ireland” says of Mitchell: “This well known English name is long established and very numerous in all provinces except Munster.” Given the location in Co Antrim, I’d expect yours to have come from Scotland.