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MCDOWELL - Townland BALLYWILLAN and CARRICKFERGUS

AntrimRaloo (Antrim)

MCDOWELL - CARRICKFERGUS and BALLYWILLAN

JAMES MCDOWELL and MARY BARRON MCDOWELL married at Raloo Church, Co. Antrim Jan 21 1876.

Mary Barron was a Governess in Carrickfergus, James was a Farmer.

Their children: ROBERT SAMUEL MCDOWELL, JAMES MCDOWELL, ALEXANDER (SANDY) MCDOWELL, ISABELLA (BELLA) MCDOWELL.

ROBERT SAMUEL MCDOWELL married JANE MCDOWELL Feb 26 1842. Her Father: JOHN MCDOWELL her Mother JANE MCMURTRY, her brother EPHRAIM MCDOWELL. Jane McDowell ran a Grocery store from their home, and Robert was a Farmer.

They had a son ROBERT MCDOWELL - his grave is in the RALOO Graveyard.

Any news, clues or information on any of my forebears would be wonderful!

Karen McDowell

ccthom

4 replies

Karen,

This looks to be your family in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywill…

That gives you another child to the family (ie Mary Jane b c 1880).

In 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Raloo/Ballywillin/189854/

You?ll see from the 1911 census that in that year the couple had had 5 children, all of whom were still alive.

I see that there were 6 other McDowell households in Ballywillan at that time. You would expect most of them to be related:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991399/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991400/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991386/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991384/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991387/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Raboo/Ballywillan/991388/

Some of your family clearly attended Raloo Presbyterian church. Their baptisms start in 1842, marriages in 1841. There?s a copy of those records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. Some of the other families were Non Subscribing Presbyterians (also known as Unitarians). Raloo NSP church has baptisms from 1859 and marriages from 1846, but the only copy is still held by the church. So neither church?s records are on-line anywhere. So some local research will be required to access them.

The 1876 marriage cert should give you James McDowell?s father?s name.

The PRONI wills site has 10 probate files for McDowells from Ballywillan. 5 of the wills are on line, 4 pre 1900 files have been destroyed and only the abstract survives (the summary). One will from 1949 is in paper format and so you would need to get a copy from PRONI.

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearchResults.aspx

In addition, in their other paper records, PRONI has the following document:

Administration bond executed by Sarah McDowell and others administrators of the personal estate of Robert McDowell, Ballywillan, Co. Antrim. Dated 12th Oct 1880. PRONI ref: D300/1/5/784

James McDowell of Ballywillan signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912. You can see his signature on the Covenant site:

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/ulster_covenant.htm

You probably need to have a look at the tithe applotment records for Ballywillan to see who was on the various McDowell farms around 1830. The records for Co Antrim are not on-line, but there is a copy in PRONI.

Elwyn

 

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi karen, can you contact me, i've been trying to get in touch, we share great grandparents, James dunlop mcmaster  married to ellen jane mcmaster, i believe william john mcmaster and rosy brown were her parents. i would love to hear from you, my grandfather was george mcmaster..  stephenmcmaster@rocketmail.com

 

IrelandXO member

Hi Karen if you are still on this post

I can give you a few names to look into you will need to check the information below 

There was a James McDowell b abt 1788 who married Marry Moore b abt 1792 (I think this came from a website a few years back on the McDowell family tree). 

James and Mary had children as follows 

Ephraim d. 20/8/1880 Ballywillan Raloo he married Jenny ? she is named on his will their marriage date is abt 1848

wills can be found by typing in PRONI wills into google search

Mary also a daughter (I dont know anything about her)

Ephraim d. 20/8/1880 married to Jenny had the following childred

Ephraim and Jane

Ephraim is not a common name so it is likely these families are connected

Suggest you try the census and the wills if you havent done so. There are over 200 wills for McDowell and you can break it down by putting in a Parish in the abstract field with a surname. Suggest you try Raloo, Gleno, Carrickfergus, Larne and maybe Kilwaughter 

I dont have McDowell but I do have Raloo family

 

htimeline@gmail.com

Thank you. I will follow up these leads.

Karen McDowell

ccthom

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