James O'Neil (Neill) - Born in Drummaull circa 1800

M Neill,

Regarding the O’ prefix to Irish names, that’s detachable and was often omitted. (It only means “of” anyway). Likewise the Mc/Mac/M’ prefix was also often detached. Neither was regarded as an integral part of the name.

O’Neill/Neill is a very common surname in the Drummaul (Randalstown area). 2772 of them in the county in the 1901 census. They may share the surname with the Shane’s Castle O’Neills but few would be related to them. (Their direct ancestry is fairly well documented in Burke’s Peerage. The Shane’s Castle O’Neills were originally Roman Catholic but switched to Presbyterian for a while due to marriage, and then later became Church of Ireland. They currently attend Drummaul Church of Ireland).

I assume James was born in the late 1700s. Drummaul Church of Ireland’s records only start in 1823 (and the RC records start in 1825). So neither set will be early enough for you.  There aren’t really any other records for the 1700s that might identify James from the information that you have at present. 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 are running an Ulster DNA project and can offer FTDNA testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

 

 

 

Neill81,

Glad to have helped a bit.

The idea of a single or correct spelling for a surname or a place name is very much a recent phenomenon designed to meet the needs of modern officialdom. Before that, especially in Ireland, there was no consistency. Names were spelled phonetically and each variation was down to the whim of the particular person recording the information. You will often see the spelling change as the records go back. This rarely indicates a deliberate decision to alter the name, nor even a mistake. Not everyone was literate, but even when they were, exact spelling simply wasn’t something they bothered about.

In Gaelic (Irish & Scottish) the spelling of a name 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.  Here’s an example of the spelling varying within the same family in the same census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Sharvogues/Drumsough/920148/

Expect the spelling to vary. It was the norm.

If you make any progress in your research let me know. I live in Randalstown (ie Drummaul) and if you need any photos or a graveyard searched, l may be able to help.

 

 

 

Cremation is a very recent thing in Ireland. There’s only been a crematorium in Belfast since about the 1950s. Prior to that everyone was buried. Even today a high percentage still go for earth burials.

The 1798 event was the United Irishmen rebellion. Rebels in the Randalstown area took the small local army garrison in Randalstown prisoner. They held them in the courthouse (now Randalstown library) and kept them there for 24 hours or so. Then the army sent reinforcements. The soldiers were freed and the town burned, by setting fire to the thatched roofs. A number of locals involved in the uprising were killed. Most wisely fled into the countryside and kept their heads down for a while. The United Irishmen were effectively routed and ceased to be any threat to the Crown after that uprising.

Regarding joining the army, you could join pretty anywhere. Regiments moved around the country so people might join any regiment that was in their area. There was a garrison in Ballymena at one time. The main military headquarters would have been Carrickfergus Castle. Not sure where else he might have joined. But people form this part of Antrim often went to work in Scotland for the summer (gathering potatoes and fruit) and so it’s quite common to find them joining Scottish regiments too.

If James was in the army and died in service, he would almost certainly have been buried where he died. Returning him to Ireland was just not feasible in those days due to cost and the fact that the body would have been decomposing by the time it arrived. (They did bring Nelson’s body back from Trafalgar as you may recall but to do that they pickled him in a barrel of brandy. That was the only way to preserve the body. A rather expensive one I would have thought. For most sailors and others  who died at sea it was over the side in a canvas bag with a cannon ball to weight you down, and for soldiers who died ashore burial in a local cemetery was the likeliest outcome).

Dromore is some considerable distance from Drummaul (probably 50 miles) and O’Neill is a very common name so my guess is that the 1837 event in Dromore is a different man.

Michael,

I would say that James was buried in Kinsale, probably in a Church of Ireland graveyard. The military are most unlikely to have sent a body back to Scotland in 1832. That would have taken at least a week or more and it would have been decomposing. Not something you would do. There was also a question of cost. Soldiers died all the time, it was not routine to send their bodies home. That would cost a fortune. The norm was to bury them where they died. I think you can disregard cremation as that was unknown at that time.