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Stewarts of Granny

DerryKilcronaghan (Derry)

Mygreat grandfather, Thomas Proctor Stewart, born January 1855, Granny, and baptized at Kilcronaghan Church of Ireland - son of Mathew Stewart and Ellen Proctor. His brothers, William, Matthew, Charles and Donald emigrated to Queensland, Australia. His brother, Henry, homesteaded in Iowa, USA, and Thomas emigrated to NYC about 1875 working his way up from waiter, restaurantmanager and finally restaurant owner. His brother, John Stewart, married Rebecca Kerr, and stayed on the home place and they are buried in the Old Kilcronaghan graveyard within the walls of the old church. Most of John's children emigrated to either Iowa or Philadelphia in the USA.

I am wondering whether the family of Mathew and Ellen Proctor Stewart was related to the other Stewart families in both Granny, Mormeal and Tullyroan. I have had both my Y marker and autosomal DNA tested (as have a number of Mathew's other descendants) so should any of the descendants of those Stewarts be interested in testing there already exists test results against which to compare.

Cheers,

Ed Stewart,

NYC

Edward

5 replies

Ed,

Kilcronaghan Church of Ireland baptism records start in 1790, marriages in 1748 and burials in 1828. So scope for researching those. There’s a copy in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. A personal visit is required to view them.

Looking at the 1901 census for Co Derry there are well over 1000 Stewarts/Stuarts. So a very common name in the county. DNA is probably the most likely way of checking for matches with current families in the general area. But of course given the fact that most of them will be of Scottish origins (arriving in the 1600s), you can expect matches with people from Scotland, or Scottish origins, too.

But be aware that not everyone in Ireland today will be all that willing to give their DNA. Some just aren’t that interested (they know where their ancestors come from), some feel it’s intrusive and others just don’t want pay. Some tact will be required to gain their agreement.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Many thanks for the timely response, Elwyn. In fact I have the existing baptismal and marriage records for Kilcronaghan Chruch of Ireland for my Stewart family or at least most of them - I commissioned the Ulster Historical Foundation to do a search back in the 1970s. Likewise have visited Kilcronaghan a couple of times most recently in 2001 when Lilian Stewart (a Stewart by marriage but who was a native of Granny with a paternal grandmother named Stewart) kindly showed me around.

Interesting your observations about DNA testing - those were precisely my thoughts when i had my Y marker tested over 7 years ago, figuring that with a Scottish surname and a Church of Ireland affiliation that my Stewarts would trace to Scotland, and I thought if I matched with other Stewarts from a particular Scottish locale, it would suggest where my Stewarts might have originated. Alas however that was not to be for until a 3rd cousin of mine (a great grandson of the Stewart brother who homesteaded in Iowa) tested a couple of years ago, I had no Stewart matches. However I match him exactly kind of guaranteeing us to our mutual great great grandfather, Mathew Stewart of Granny (c1805-1891). But the great bulk of matches for the both of us are men with the O'Neill surname - with the arithmetic probability provided between one's own kit and the kits we match, it suggests that the O'Neill men and my cousin and I share a driect male paternal ancestor most probably between 300-400 years ago, which would be the time of the Plantation of Ulster. Quite amazing and interesting to me.

My interest in the other Stewarts very local to Granny townland was simply curiosity as to whether most of the local Stewarts shared a recent common ancestor.

Understand some folks relcutance about DNA but more and more folls are testing. Interestingly enough I match albeit going back 4-5 generations to both Maurice Gleeson and Paddy Waldron, two of the leading speakers and advocates of the use of DNA in genealogy in the Republic of Ireland.

Better sign off now and please know your insights are much appreciated.

Best,

Ed

Edward

Hello Ed,

My name is Matthew Stewart and I am the great grandson son of Henry Stewart. I am wanting to learn more about our family and also want to plan a trip to Ireland to see where our family came from. If the is any information that you could share with me I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you,

Matt

Stewy1505

Matt - if you post an email address I will send you an invite to my tree on Ancestry.

 

Edward

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