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Miller family

DonegalAughnish (Donegal)

Dear Ireland XO,

I was recently able to see a genealogy lady who had lived in Ireland for many years. She studied the hand written townland on the Parland ship passenger list and believed it to be 'Tulluaughnish' now called 'Tullyfern'.
There were more people from the Miller family living there in the 1830's.

I have also tracked down a distant relative, living just 50 klms away from me. (Amazingly).
This lady has shown me all the other members of Samuel Miller's family who came out on the 'Parland' and other ships at about the same time.

So my request now is for assistance in finding earlier generations of the Miller family. I am assuming they were Scotch Irish as they were Presbyterians. They may have been Covenanters who fled King Charles 1, during the 1600's persecution of those who refused to call him "Lord".

Samuel Miller's father was John Miller, born in Tullyahgnish, date unknown; and his mother was Mary Hunter, born 1778. Deaths unknown.
Samuel had a brother, John, born in December of 1814 at Londonderry and emigrated to N.S.W. with Samuel. He died in 1894 at Ulmarra, NSW

With warm regards and wishing you all a Merry Christmas,
Alana Cropper,
Queensland.

alanafae@live.com

6 replies

There was a Samuel Miller in the tithe applotments in 1834:

Surname Forename Townland/Street Parish County Year
Miller Samuel Croghan Aughnish Donegal 1834
glanvil3@aol.com

Alana,

Scots moved to Co Donegal and the rest of Ulster all through the 1600s. Some estimates reckon 200,000 Scots settled in Ireland during that century, representing something like 20% of the entire Scottish population. Some came as  part of the Plantation of Ireland (which started around 1610), others followed later for various reasons, including Covenanters fleeing persecution in Scotland (1679 - 1688) and then famine in Scotland in the 1690s.

Covenanters today are known as Reformed Presbyterians. However there were no Reformed Presbyterian Ministers in Ireland in the 1600s and early 1700s. (The first was ordained in 1757). So many or most Covenanters used the mainstream Presbyterian church in Ireland.

There are several Presbyterian churches in Tullyfern. Fannet has baptism & marriage records from 1827 onwards and Milford from 1839. 1st Ramelton has records from 1806 and 2nd Ramelton from 1808. There is also a Reformed Presbyterian church in Milford but its earliest records only start in 1870. (There are not many early RP records in Ireland generally). So the surviving Presbyterian records in that area probably start too late for your family.  Presbyterians rarely kept burial records, and not many people could afford gravestones so finding deaths pre 1864 can be difficult.

I note that there was a son born in Londonderry in 1814. Londonderry 1st Presbyterian church has baptism records from 1815 onwards. Might be worth checking them in case 1814 wasn’t quite right. (Few people celebrated birthdays in Ireland in the 1800s and most ages were just guesses). There’s a copy of all these Presbyterian records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.

The 1630 Muster Rolls list quite a few Millers in Co Donegal so the name was well established in the county by that period.

Research in Co Donegal in the 1700s is very hard going, primarily because so few records exist.

Some information on Tullyfern here:

http://donegalgenealogy.com/tullyfernproj.htm

There’s a Robert Miller of Carrowkeele listed in Tullyfern in the 1665 Hearth Money Roll:

http://donegalgenealogy.com/hmrkilmacrenan.htm#TULLYFERN

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

The 1796 Flax Growers List includes the following:

Miller John Tullyaughnish Donegal

 

glanvil3@aol.com

Alana,

 I wasn't sure if you had this record, found on Ancestry

Name Samuel Miller
Gender Male
Arrival Age 40
Birth Date abt 1798
Arrival Date 3 Oct 1838
Arrival Place New South Wales, Australia
Origin Location Tullyatnesh-"Ireland"
Alternate Origin Location Tullyatnish, Ireland
Vessel Parland
Can Read and Write Both
Religion Presbyterian
Father John Miller
Mother Mary Hunter

 

Regards- Mary

mtvrdk@gmail.com

Alana,

Tullyaughnish is the combination of the two parishes Aughnish and Tullyfern which surround the town of Ramelton.

A link to Aughnish parish:

http://donegalgenealogy.com/aughnishproj.htm

Patricia listed for you the extract -Samuel  Miller, from the townland of Croghan in Aughnish on the Tithe Applotments of 1834, the tax was payable on agricultural land and had a minimum threshold.

https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587400/0…

The town of Ramelton has two more entries for other Millers:

https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587400/0…

https://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587400/0…

While no Samuel or John birth was located a search on the transcription site; www.rootsireland.ie shows Miller baptisms in Ramelton Presbyterian and Church of Ireland/Anglican (Tullyaughnish) church from the commencement of their records. As the last baptism locally was in 1846 appears all families died out or moved away. You indicate Samuel had a brother, John, born in December of 1814 at Londonderry. As the nearest city people would move there for work. There were no families with this surname in Aughnish/Tullyfern Griffiths valuation of 1857.

Some information on Ramelton:

https://www.donegalculture.ie/media/fwihu20o/rameltonheritagetownbrochu…

Whelanmg, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘︎IrelandXO Volunteer

Thankyou so very much for your valuable information and input. 
yes, John Miller and Mary Hunter are my great x 3 grandparents.

 I had not known about Ramelton.

 I would love to come to Ireland and see all these places and do more research. Hopefully when the grandchildren grow a bit more and I’m not needed so much for “Nana duties”. 

Thanks so much for your prompt reply and assistance to where online I can look for further information.

You all do a wonderful job.

Merry Christmas from hot and humid Queensland.

Alana.

alanafae@live.com

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