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EDWARD STANLEY MCKAY/McCay - Possibly a Duffy connection - Looking for my biological Grandfather's family

Hello. My mother's biological father was Edward Stanley McKay. I have a copy of his Canadian Military Attestation and Discharge records stating that he was born in County Tyrone Ireland on May 3rd, 1905. This is all the information I have. The military papers are dated January 10, 1940 and by this time, my grandfather had beenmarried for 4 year,to my grandmother, Violetta Mary Elizabeth Connolley (how it's spelt on their marraige certificate) born inWatertown NYand lived in and around Belleville Ontario Canada. Together they had a total of 6children, and all of them were placedinto Foster Care by October, 1945. My mother was legally adopted by a lovely family in 1949.

Edward was a short man, only 5' 2.5" tall, who apparently went by the name of Stanmore than he did Edward. My mother always referenced to her nose and to the families' as having 'the McKay nose' as a distinguishing trait of the lineage.I have heard through the grapevine that his mother and sister stayedin Ireland and that he wrote letters to them - but I only have a picture of his mother and there is no name attached to it. My mother estranged herself from her biological father and mother, despite the biolgical siblings finding each other in their early 20's, so shenever persued looking for any further information herself. I believe my Aunt Mary did her own research, but we grew up rather estranged from them as well. The information I have is that from my biological Uncle Joe who was so kind to share what has been gathered through the years with me.

I myself, would love to piece together our family roots and have been trying to for many years on own - I want to learn my biolgoical grandfathers story - and perhaps one day go to Ireland myself and see where it all began.

There must be emmigration records somewhere - but I don't know where to look. Some lovely people from a FB group sent me some Cenus information - 1911 that suggests there was a John and Mary McKay RC who were residents of a house 15 in Beltany (Gortgranagh, Tyrone) I have tried to look this location up but am having no luck. This census mentions a boy named Edward, age 5.

Another record from rootsie from a member who reported there is a birth record of an Edward McCay (sp?) DOB May 12, 1905 Parish: Drumquin Omagh - Father is John McCay and Mother is Mary Duffy. The liklihood sounds might that this is the same family - but why is the spelling of the last name different?

And there is a marriage record of John McKay - father Joseph Edd (sp?) McKay and Mary Duffy - father David Duffy May 13th, 1901 in the RC chapel of Knockmoyle.

Now to just somehow figure out if the Edward here on record is actually my Grandfather and if his parents John and Mary are my Great Grandparents!

If anyone has ever heard of any stories or recall this family in and around County Tyrone, please don't hesitate to share with me.

I have added the 2 pics I have of my Grandfather and Great Grandmother just hoping that someone will recognize them!

Thanks so much.

Nichole

IrelandXO member

5 replies

Nichole,

I had a look at the statutory birth records for what is now Northern Ireland, on the GRONI website, and there was no-one born on 3rd May 1905 anywhere in Northern Ireland with the surname McKay or McCay. So the date of birth you have may not be right.

With regard to the spelling of the surname, the idea of a single “correct” spelling is very much a 20th century concept, which our ancestors in Ireland would not have recognised. Spelling changed all the time according to whim. McKay, McCay, Mackie, Mackay, McKee etc are all the same surname. Expect the spelling to vary in the records as you search backwards. Our ancestors weren’t all very literate anyway, but even when they were, consistent spelling of their surname was not something that they cared about. If you think about words whose spelling still vary today eg gaol & jail, privilege & priviledge etc, it may help understand how spelling wasn’t important then. In recent years officialdom prefers a single consistent spelling but it wasn’t always like that.

As you know, there was a birth on 12.5.1905 of an Edward McCay in Gortanigan townland to John McCay & Mary Duff:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1905/01784/1700838.pdf

No middle name for that birth but they were not that common at that time. Some were acquired in later life, especially if people moved to the USA or Canada where middle names were more common.

Gortanigan is more commonly spelled Gortinagin. It’s a townland of 586 acres, mostly hill pasture. The modern Castletown Rd runs through the middle of it. It’s just north of the Ulster-American Folk Park, which in turn is a couple of miles north of Omagh. In Griffiths Valuation in 1860 there were about 28 households there, so don’t expect too much when you google it. It’s not surprising if you don’t find anything. But you can see it on Griffiths maps:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Here’s a link to the family in the 1911 census in Beltany that someone has identified:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tyrone/Gortgranagh/Beltany/871114/

Beltany is just a mile from Gortanigin. There’s a couple of things to note there. One is that they have 4 children but had apparently only been married 2 years. That may not be correct. They may have married in 1901.

I found the birth of James McKay on 6.8.1909 in Beltony (note spelling variation). Parents were John McKay and Mary Duffy (note spelling variation again).

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1909/01602/1643572.pdf

Their son John was born in Gortanigan on 20.3.1907. Parents as above:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1907/01698/1673756.pdf

The son Joseph was born in Scotland c 1902/3. I looked for his birth there but there are about 15 possibles and so you would need to work though them to find the right one. (It was very common for people from Ulster to go and work in Scotland as the employment prospects were generally better). You have to pay to view Scottish births so I’ll leave that to you.

The Gortanigan birth of Edward in 1905 and the above John seems to tie the family together a bit.

Here’s John McKay & Mary Duffy’s marriage in 1901. John was from Beltany. The ages don’t match the later census information exactly but like the spelling that’s pretty common too. People didn’t celebrate birthdays in the 1800s and early 1900s and often just guessed their ages.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1901/10309/5752591.pdf

John in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Gortgranagh/Beltany/1742404/

Probably Mary in 1901, again being a bit economical with her age:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Mountjoy_Forest_East/Knockmoyle/1746209/

According to the Valuation Revision records on the PRONI site, John McCay (note spelling) had plot 4b in Beltany. That was a house and 1 acre of land, rented from the local council. His name remains against the property in 1929 when that series of records runs out. The property was near Beltany National School on Castletown Rd. Just a mile or so north of Gortinagin.

https://apps.proni.gov.uk

I looked for deaths for John and Mary McKay/McCay in the Omagh area. The nearest I could find was John McKay 8.12.1943 aged 65. Nil for Mary.

Unless you can find a document in Canada with Edward’s parents names or an address in Tyrone, it won’t be possible to say for certain whether this is the right set of parents but it is in the right county and the date of birth is as close as we can find to the information you have.

 

 

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Nichole, I might have some information that could be of use.

PWM

Hello Nicole.
My name is John Allen McKay.
Edward Stanley McKay, was my father's father. My father was William John McKay. In your post you mentioned Aunt Mary (Pym) and Uncle Joe (Whalen). Edward Stanley McKay, as I understand, had landed in Montreal, Quebec, then at some point moved and lived in Belleville Ontario. I never met him, my dad, who passed away several years ago , only mentioned him a couple of times. My father's mother, who I only met just a couple of months before her passing, was , if I remember right , Molly Sanford,( not sure if this name came from a 2nd marriage). The information you provided sounds very correct to me. I have never seen the two pics you put before. Also, when my dad and his siblings were fostered out and adopted, my dad was the only child to keep the family name McKay. I was just looking for McKay families in Northern Ireland out of personal interest, and came across your post, and I was very excited. So that makes you my aunt! Hope to hear from you!

cityrunner1967…

Hi John,

I'm sorry that I missed your message so long ago. I hope you get my reply now! I believe your dad was my Uncle and my Mom was your Aunt! We are 1st cousins!! 

Those 2 pictures I shared on here was from our Uncle Joe! 
 

I would love to get in touch and hear more of what meeting 'Molly' was like plus your memories of your Dad and anything else you might want to share with me.

Also, I had to change my email address because no matter what I did, the site wouldn't let me access it. So different email address but same person as the original poster!! 
 

Looking forward to connecting! 
Nichole 
 

 

 

Nikface@hotmail.com

If you're still on here PWM,

I would also love to connect and hear the information you think you might have. 

Nikface@hotmail.com

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