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MCDOWELL

DownDrumbo (Down)

GORDON MCDOWELL born in Raloo?

Looking for my ancestors MCDOWELL

GORDON MCDOWELL was my g,g,grandfather born 1851. I think his parents are ROBERT MCDOWELL

died 21/04/1892. He married JANE MCDOWELL (this was her maiden name), they married 26/02/1842,

she died 5/05/1898.

GORDON MCDOWELL emigrated to New ZelandIN 1870 along with his sister MARGARET MCDOWELL (who married ALEXANDER TOWNSEND IN 1870).

Any links or information you may have, would be welcome.

KAREN MCDOWELL

ccthom

2 replies

The GRONI death index shows a death for Robert McDowell registered in Larne on 20th April 1892. That pretty well fits with the date you have given.

For his wife Jane, there is a death registered on 5.5.1898 (the date you have given) in Larne. However that woman was only 56, ie born c 1842. Since that?s the year she supposedly married, I don?t think it can be the right person. There is another death for a Jane McDowell registered in Larne on 21.10.1898. She was 70, so that looks a bit more promising. You can view both death certs on-line for ?2 each on the GRONI website. Use the search death registrations option.

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

I found this probate abstract:

The Will of Robert M'Dowell late of Gleno Raloo County Antrim Farmer who died 20 April 1892 at same place was proved at Belfast by Alexander M'Dowell of Ballywillan and Robert John M'Dowell of Ballyhone both in said County Farmers the Executors. Effects ?858 16s. 9d.

You can read the full will on-line on the PRONI wills site:

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

The will mentions wife Jane and his son Robert (evidently unmarried in 1892). Should he die without issue then the estate was to pass to a nephew Robert John McDowell. Robert?s brother Alexander was appointed executor.

He evidently had property in Ballywillan and Corneal as well as Glenoe. I think this is might be the son Robert farming on his own in 1901:

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

There?s other McDowell families in Ballyhone you may want to look at. They look like possible relatives. (Half the townland was occupied by McDowells. There?s probably about 10 of them there). Robert seems to have plot 7 which passed to a John Gardner around 1890.

http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_Val12b/RelatedVolume.aspx?5…

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

I have just come across this enquiry about McDowell family ( from 2014)  . 
my Great Grandfather Daniel McDowell married Grace Nelson McMinn in 1869 ( 17 Feb) in Drumbo . Marriage shows Daniel’s father was Robert McDowell. 
I have been trying to find out more about Daniel’s birth and his family . 
Think he was born about 1826 as his death cert gives his age as 70 . He died in Waterford in 1897. He had a career in railway locomotive engineering  : was in Jamaica with his first wife Susan Curry (from Northumberland ) and daughter Margaret Jane , born in 1861 in Jamaica . He returned to Ireland in 1866 but wife died on passage home and I think young daughter Margaret may have gone to live with her mothers relatives in England as she lived and married in Staffordshire. His second marriage to Grace shows him as a widower. Daniel and Grace moved to Waterford and he worked for Waterford - Kilkenny railway and became the Superintendent. They had several more daughters and one son , Daniel ( my grandfather) who had a career with the Royal Navy in England. 

Any information on Daniel’s links to Drumbo would be welcome . We have found out very little except he was from a Presbyterian family and father was Robert. 

Also on Grace McMinn (1840-1922) . Her father was Joseph McMinn and from Drumbo. Mother ? Magill. 

andyfirosie@bt…

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