Armagh Ancestors

Linz,

Regarding the possible connection between Armagh and Mull, my first thought is a military one. Did Ann Mclean marry a soldier? Or was her father a soldier?

A few years back I did some volunteer work for a wildlife charity on a Scottish island called Handa, which is about 100 miles north of Mull. The islanders had all left for Nova Scotia around 1848 due to the potato famine, but they are listed in the 1841 Scottish census. One of the married women – Ann McLeod - was born in Ireland.  I always wondered how she got to Handa around 1810 or 1815 (she had a son born in Scotland c 1816 so it had to be early 1800s)  but the question was answered for me when a group of locals came to the island for the day. One of them was a descendant and was able to tell me straight away that her ancestor had joined the army, been posted to Ireland and married a local girl, whom he brought home when he left the army.

Census attached.

I see George & Hugh McLean farming in Crunagh in the tithe applotment records. 1834, which suggests the family had been in that area for some time.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/armagh/tithe-applotments/loughgilly-parish.php

PRONI has a document you might find helpful. T2305/20 dated 21.11.1818:

Sworn Statement of George McClean, Crunagh, Co. Armagh as to the next of kin of James Simpson, Planter in S. Carolina.

That document won’t be available on-line so you will either need to go in person to PRONI (or get a researcher to do that) or pay PRONI to copy it.

1 MacLean family in Crunagh in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Armagh/Markethill/Crunagh/1017607/

1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Armagh/Glenanne/Crunagh/328508/

The family were Presbyterian which together with their location in Armagh and religious denomination all point to Scottish origins, probably in the 1600s, at the time of the Plantation.

Thomas McClean b c  1836 in the 1901 & 1911 censuses seems to have married Margaret Gray on 30.4.1886

Probate abstract from the PRONI wills site:

Maclean Thomas Trew of Crunagh Glenanne county Armagh gentleman died 16 August 1931 Probate Belfast 3 January to Francis Hugh Maclean and Thomas Trew Maclean linen merchants. Effects £194.

The Frontier Sentinel of 10th April 1948 has an advert for the sale of the Crunagh “Shorthorn & Dairy Pig farm”. Accommodation for 1000 pigs etc. Advert mentions the farm had been in the McClean family for 300 years.

Linz,

Sorry I am not available 1st or 2nd August. Perhaps someone else may be available if they see this post.

I had a look for John Mclean Armstrong’s birth on Mull in 1832. I did not find it on the Scotlandspeople site. There was nobody named Armstrong born in the county (Argyll) in the period 1829 -1835 so far as I can see.

Armstrong is a Scottish Borders name. Co. Armagh was heavily settled by Armstrongs in the early 1600s[1], so I suspect the father may have been born in Armagh. My thinking now is that he joined the army in Ireland and was posted to Scotland c 1832. Could be wrong. It was fairly common for married soldiers to take their wives with them when the regiment moved. The thinking at that time was that having women about the place led to greater cleanliness and more moderate behaviour by the soldiers, so the authorities approved of that. There are information boards at Fort George military base near Inverness (now a museum though still a working barracks) that explains this in some detail. Perhaps slightly sexist in today’s thinking. Who knows?

I think you may be looking for a marriage between Ann McLean and her Armstrong husband in Armagh c 1819. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church. Loughgilly Church of Ireland has records from 1804; Kingsmills Presbyterian has records from 1842 (still held by the Minister);  Mountnorris Presbyterian has baptism & marriage records from 1810; Tullyallen Presbyterian has baptisms from 1792 (still held by the Minister). No marriages before 1845. Copies of some of these records are in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. but some are also still held by the local Minister. If you want to see them you will need to contact the church (well in advance of your visit). . (If going to PRONI take photo id to get your readers ticket). These records are not on-line and so old fashioned research is required.

I am sure the McLeans will have originated in Scotland (it's not an Irish name and they were Presbyterian), and I suspect the Armstrongs also originated there or in the north of England, in the early 1600s, where the name is also very common.

[1] They were called Border Reivers (reiver = thief) and were moved to Ireland to stop them fighting and stealing from people crossing the English – Scottish Border.  “The Border Reivers” by Godfrey Watson goes into considerable detail. The Armstrongs get extensive coverage. Mostly rascals, it seems.

One of the most famous songs in Ireland, after Danny Boy perhaps, is the Parting Glass. A lament performed here by Liam Clancy & Tommy Makem. However it started life as “Armstrong’s Goodnight” and was reportedly written by Sandy Armstrong, on the eve of his execution in Scotland in November 1600 for murdering the Warden of the Middle Marches (An important Government official in the Borders). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqcdTinjKvA

Until Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne,” the Parting Glass/Armstrong’s lament was reportedly the most popular song in Scotland.