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McCrory family

Antrim

Does anyone know anything about a McCrory family that lived in Ahoghill Parish or elsewhere in County Antrim in the 1700s?

The PRONI 1766 Religious Census index has Hugh McCrory, John McCrory, Robert McCrory, Thomas McCrory and William McCrory in the Ahoghill Parish, County Antrim, but the index provides no other detail other than their Religion being Dissenter..

The reason I ask is because my great grandmother was Emily Ann McCrory, born March 6, 1843 in Whiteville, Louisiana, and died May 21, 1924 in Whiteville. She is thought (though not yet absolutely confirmed) to be a descendant of James McCrory.

According to an article published in the Tuscaloosa Flag of the Union newspaper in December 1840, "James McCrory was born May 15, 1758, at Larga [Largy?], on the river Bann, in the County of Antrim, Ireland. He  sailed from Belfast in 1775 when he was 17 years old and landed at Baltimore July 1st, in the same year." (https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3DVV_James_McCrory_George_Washing… )

Coming with James to Colonial America were his brothers Hugh, John, and Thomas McCrory.
(https://www.alabamaheritage.com/from-the-vault/james-mccrory-alabamas-r… )

Any info about the McCrory family in County Antrim would be appreciated!

Thank you, John Sandefur

 

mirrapi@gmail.com

3 replies

John,

There’s a Largy Bog in the townland of Carmagrim. That’s not too far from the River Bann. Likewise there’s a Largy Burn in the townlands of Killygarn & Kilcurry.  Again both near the Bann. (A burn is a small river. A Scottish word probably brought by the Scots settlers in the 1600s).  These 3 townlands are all in the modern parish of Portglenone but in the 1700s that was part of Ahoghill, which was split into 3 parishes due to population changes.

Sadly none of the churches in the Portglenone/Ahoghill area has any records for the 1700s. There is nothing more to the 1766 census other than the names of the heads of household and their denomination. Dissenter in that census means Presbyterian, so folk of Scots origins.

McCrory is a fairly common name in Co. Antrim. 296 of them in the county in the 1901 census. None in the immediate Portglenone area.

Researching in Ireland in the 1700s is very hard going due to the general lack of records. If you don’t know where they lived it’s a needle in a haystack. Ideally you need to know the person’s exact denomination and the townland or parish they lived in to have any chance of finding them, and even then there may not be any records for that location.

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. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Elwyn. I'll follow your suggestion and look at doing a DNA test. Much appreciated. John

mirrapi@gmail.com

I got back to 1840 in Ireland McCrory from county antrim Hugh was my great grandas name and John about 3rd or 4th great granda .Antrim to Scotland in the late 1800s we imigrated ,

mccroreyalan

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