Thank you so much for all the responses. I will go through them in detail in the next 24 hours. But for now, just a quick response:
My lineage goes back to a William Marlin who emigrated from Maghera in 1845 or 1846. As best I can tell, he was born there in 1804. He and his wife (whose name was Jane Keitly (sp?) had at least three sons (James, George and Richardson) and one daughter (Sarah). There is some evidence that a fourth son, Henry, died en route to North America. Richardson *my great great grandfather) was likely ohly about 3 years old when they made the trip and told his grandson that he remembered "dancing on the walls of Derry" just before they left. One James McClelland, who seems to have been the landlord for some of the Marlins, paid their passage over. Not surprisingly, the Marlins came from a line of weavers.
You are right that there were at one time many Marlins in youir area but I understand there aren't many there now.
Again, thank you for the information already provided. I will compare it to the notes I already have (such as they are!) and see where I can go from there. We are having a Marlin "cousins reunion" at the end of the month and I want to be able to share our ancestors' story.
One general question for you: once in Upper Canada, the Marlins became heavily involved in making cheese (five generations). I am wondering if weaving and cheesmaking co-exsisted in Maghera or if the Marlins picked up their skill once they got here. If any of you have any insights on that, it would be of great interest to us. Thank you again!
