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Mallen Family in County Tyrone

Tyrone

Mallen Family in Dungannon, County Tyrone:

John Mallen B1805 in Dungannon and Elizabeth White B1800 not sure place of birth - they moved to County Kildare.

John's Siblings (could also be cousins?) that we know of:

Bridget B1803 m John McCallum and moved to Ontario, Canada

Owen B1806 m Margaret Southern and moved to New York

Hugh B1810 no information

My 2x great grandfather was John's son Denis Mallen born in 1828 in Dungannon, Ireland he married Jane Elizabeth Smyth in 1858 in County Meath.  They settled in Edenderry, County Offaly. I have marriage and death records for Denis and know my family in Kildare/Offaly.  

We are looking for records or information about John and his family in Dungannon.  Our family is Roman Catholic.  Birth/marriage records, additional siblings, parents - any information would be appreciated.  I've experienced difficulties with the variations in our last name, so research has been a very tedious exercise:  Mallen has also been documented as Mallon, Malen, Mellen, etc.  Would also love to have information about John's wife Elizabeth White, my 3x great grandmother.  The common surname has been a challenge.  Family lore 1) That we are somehow related to typhoid Mary Mallon. 2) That our family were "the keepers of St. Patrick's Bell". 

Side note, I had the opportunity to visit with family in 2019 in Kildare/Offaly.  While in Ireland, my husband and I made a pilgrimmage to Northern Ireland to visit where both of our families were from.  Tyrone is a beautiful county!  We would love to have more information so that the next time we visit (hopefully not to distant future??) we can explore a little more.

 Many thanks for any info provided!

kmcconnell16@o…

5 replies

Dungannon's RC parish records cover 1783 to 1790 and then 1821 so there's a gap around the time John & Elizabeth were born, so you porbably aren't going to find any record of their baptisms. You might find their marriage (if that's where they married). The records from 1821 onwards are on the national library site. (Free to view).

There are no comprehensive records covering Dungannon around 1800, to tell you anyhting about the family background. No censuses or similar sources. Unless they were infamous and made it into the newspapers, they probably lived their lives largely below officialdom's radar. RC churches didn't normally keep burial records and only wealthier folk could afford a gravestone, so the Mallen & White families may well be buried in unmarked graves.

For a general description of life in Dungannon in the mid 1830s you could read the Ordnance Survey memoirs for the parish (civil parish of Drumglass). There's a copy in the local studies section of Omagh Library or you could buy a copy from the Ulster Historical Foundation. I think they cost around £7.50 or £10 depending on whether it's a reprint. You can order them from the UHF website.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Karen,

1) That we are somehow related to typhoid Mary Mallon. The Mallens that I have contacted in New York say that she is not related to us, but as you note the spelling of Mallen has various spellings. To get an idea about how this came about please read Biran Friel's Translations. 

 

2) That our family were "the keepers of St. Patrick's Bell" - Yes, we were. It is the National Museum of Ireland. i have also been told that Mallens were a prominent Ecclesiastical family too.  Mallen - means "Fair Chief". We are related to Niall Noígíallach - who was an Irish king, the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated the northern half of Ireland from the 6th to the 10th century.

 

I have researched our family name and found that the earliest mention of the name is of an Irish couple who ran a business near St Paul's in London around 1620.  

The Great Famine saw a lot of Mallens emigrate to the UK (Birmingham, Liverpool, and Newcastle), and a lot went further USA (East Coast - Boston and New York, Mid-West, and West Coast). I don't know if you watch TED talks, but do a search on there for Mallen.

Also, I don't know if you are a dog lover, but the Staffordshire Pit Bull bred was founded by a Mallen.

I have also found that in Australlia a Mallen developed a model of the Moon's movement, which is regularly quoted in scientific research on lunar movement.

Good luck with your research.

Chris

cjcmallen@gmail.com

Thank you Elwyn.  I will look into the Ordnance Survey you mention.  

kmcconnell16@o…

Hi Chris,

Thank you for responding.  I had done extensive research several years ago on the Irish spelling of our name Ó'Mealláin and came up with nothing.  I researched some of the info you provided and found some information, including a FB group for Clann Ó'Mealláin.  I am always a bit of a skeptic but the fact that our family in Ireland mentioned this family lore and based on what I found, this info is intriguing.  I did not see anything on Ted Talks with Mallen search.  Is there a link you can provide?

kmcconnell16@o…

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