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McCormick - McGill

DerryArtrea (Derry)

My great great grandparents were a CHARLES McCORMICK (1810-1880) and his wife, MARY ANN McGill (Magill) (1813-1880).  They were married at the chapel of St. James Newbridge in April 1834 per RC parish records.   They resided in townland of Ballymaguigan.  They had an oldest child, my great grandfather, JAMES McCORMICK (FEB 1835-JUN 1932) and several other children including a CHARLES (born 1839), Ann (born 1844), a Patrick, a Catherine, and a John (born 1850).  CHARLES and MARY ANN (McGILL) McCORMICK emigrated from County Derry to Stevenston, Ayrshire Scotland in 1847.  They later lived around Kilmarnock.  In 1865, they emigrated from Scotland to western Pennsylvania where they eventually died. Let me know if you have any information on the McCormick (or McGill -  Magill) lines from the parish of Artrea.   I am advised that the 1766 religious census of County Derry shows an earlier CHARLES McCORMICK as a Roman Catholic head of household in Ballymacquigan.  I am advised a Henry McCormick was bapitized in the Church of Ireland in nearby Magaherafelt in 1720.  I am further advised that NO McCormick is shown on the landlords 1702 rentroll for Ballymaguigan.  My direct email is david.a.mccormick@gmail.com.   Thank you in  advance for any response. 

 

 

David McCormick

3 replies

David,

The RC records for Artrea start in 1832 and the Church of Ireland records in 1811.  Researching prior to that is very difficult due to the general lack of records.

The Henry McCormick baptism in Magherafelt in 1720 is in a different parish. One that happens to have much earlier records than Artrea (Magherafelt's start in 1718). I would hesitate to assume there’s any connection with your family. Plus he’s the wrong denomination. McCormick is a pretty common surname in Co. Derry – there were over 90 households in the 1831 census - and I doubt there’s any connection.

In the tithe applotment records for 1825 there were 2 McCormick farms in Ballymaguigan. One headed by Peter and the other by Charles. (That’s unlikely to be your Charles born in 1810, as he would only have been 15. He wouldn’t have owned a farm at that age).

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/tyrone/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-artrea.php

There were 2 John McCormick households in Ballymaguigan in the 1831 census. One had 3 males & 3 females and the other 2 males and 3 females. In addition there was a Peter McCormick with 2 males and 5 females. All were RC.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollin/Artrea/Ballymaguigan/60/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinshollin/Artrea/Ballymaguigan/147/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinsholin/Artrea/Ballymeguigan/148/

The last 2 were beside each other and so may well be closely related. Charles in the 1825 tithes had gone by 1831. Presumably he had either died or left. The third household was probably not a farm. A labourer’s family perhaps. (The tithes only listed people with land).

Griffiths Valuation for 1859 lists a John McCormack with a 3 acre farm (plot 35). There is also Anne (probably a widow) on plot 99 (just under 8 acres) and nearby Peter & John on plot 101, jointly farming 10 acres. William McCormack is on plot 141 which is 5.5 acres.

I can confirm that there is a Charles McCormick in Ballymaguigan in the 1766 religious census. He’s the only McCormick listed in the townland then. His occupation was cottier. A cottier is/was a very small farmer, typically with 2 to 5 acres. He is presumably either the same man who was in the 1825 tithes, or perhaps the father of one or more of the households in the tithes.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Than your for your kind reply. You added a lot to my known data.  I concede I was aware that Magaherafelt was in a different parish than Ballymaguigan. I mentioned that only because of geographic proximity. While the choices of "popular" given names of the 1700s and 1800s in my family do tend to be repetitive and fairly common, I also failed to that Henry was popular in generations born AFTER emigration to America.  The given name Peter was not popular in my tribe for unknown reasons.  I know of NO child of Charles McCormick (1810-1880) or any child of his six known offspring named Peter.   I agree anyone who was a head of household in the 1766 religious census would be very old by the entries in 1825 tithe books or 1831 Irish census.  I suspect that Charles might have been at least a grandfather (and maybe a great grandfather) relationship  - with little apparent likelihood for "filling in" intervening generations.  I suspect one of the John McCormicks mentioned in is the one mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs for Ballymaguigan.  Of course, my people were gone (initially to Scotland) by the time of the 1859 Griffith's Valuation -- but thank you for includng that information.  One never knows when a sibling or uncle or cousin of my kin remained in place.  Your reply gives me more about which to think.  THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR KIND REPLY. .     

David McCormick

One never knows how long an uncle, cousin, or sibling of my blood held sway.

 

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