Jim,
Regarding sailings from Larne to Scotland there are no passenger lists. It was (and still is) a short domestic journey and no-one has ever kept records for that. And folk went back and forth all the time, so they may well have crossed and recrossed many times, for weddings, holidays and funerals. Kate O’Hara’s presence at the Randalstown death is an example of that as her usual address was given as Bathgate. She obviously came over to look after her dying mother and sister.
You ask for a link for Kate/Catherine’s first marriage. Here it is in 1890 at Moneyglass chapel (near Toomebridge).
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1890/10689/5895636.pdf
It’s under McLernon in the Irish indexes. That’s likely to be the local version of the name. I live in the area (half a mile from Greenan) and McLernon remains a common local name to this day.
You’ll notice that Daniel was already living in Broxburn when he married. So clearly several people from the Greenan area all moved to the same area of Scotland for work. So there could perhaps be others from these families resident in the Bathgate area in the 1890s onwards.
Here’s the birth of their son Patrick in March 1891. The father was in Scotland at the time:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1891/02402/1895601.pdf
When people moved to Scotland (or elsewhere) they often just went with the flow as regards spelling their names (especially if not literate). So McDonnell in Ireland often became MacDonald in Scotland; Rainey became Rennie and so on. Not surprised to learn Darragh became Darroch. A big lake in Scotland is called Loch Lomond. The big lake near Randalstown is Lough Neagh. Same word, same meaning, same pronunciation - just a different spelling. So it was with peoples’ names.
Yes the O & Mc prefixes are detachable and most Irish search engines automatically search all options. So searching Loughlin will throw up all the Loughlins, Lauchlans but also O’Loughlin and McLoughlin etc.
Re spelling of names in Ireland, in 1899, the Rev Smith reviewed the early records of Antrim 1st Presbyterian church (covering the years 1674 to c 1736). He noted: “Even the same word is not always spelled alike by the same hand. Indeed spelling with most of the recording officials (and they must have been fairly numerous) was a matter of the most sublime indifference. The name William, for instance, is spelled 3 different ways in as many lines; while Donegore, a neighbouring parish, is spelled 10 different ways; but these extend over a good number of years. Many families names are spelled phonetically, while others are given in the most round-about fashion.”
So expect spelling to vary. That was the norm.
In Irish (gaelic) the spelling and prefixes vary depending firstly on what case is used (eg genitive usually requires the insertion of an extra “i”), and secondly with a woman’s name, it changed according to her marital status. It is a further factor in explaining why no-one in Ireland worried about the “correct” spelling. There wasn’t one. This bilingual nature of many Irish names is an important factor in the variations in spellings.
Here are 2 examples of spelling varying within the same family in the same census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Sharvogues/Drumsough/920148/http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1851/Antrim/Upper_Glenarm/Carncastle/Four_Score_Acre/5/
I forgot to mention that I found Pat & Sarah’s marriage. It was in the parish of Duneane (either at Cargin or Moneyglass. It’s not clear which chapel). On 26th Feb 1851. He’s indexed as McRudden on the Ancestry site.
https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000633174?locale=en#page/80/mode/1up
So they married 2 weeks after the baptism of daughter Sarah. I didn’t find son Hugh’s birth or baptism but I am sure he was born locally, and probably before 1.1.1864. All the records for McRudden I have found so far have been in the same parish in Co Antrim., They were clearly there in 1851 and all through the years after that until 1916, always living on the same property. The likelihood of one child being born in Donegal 90 miles away seems most remote to me. There may be other McRudden siblings yet to be found. Most families had a child every 2 years or so. Not sure I have found as many as I would have expected.
