Ellis/Denison

[crkkh]

Hi there...new to the board  and thought I'd take a shot in the dark, as I really know nothing of Irish genealogy, or what's available...
My interest is according to family legend...it's the story of 3 brothers and a sister who went to the New World (Canada)...
Specifically I am looking for any information available on the family of a John Ellis (b.  cir. 1730 Ballymena) Northern Ireland and his wife, Elizabeth Denison (b. cir. 1741).
He came to Canada with his 2 brothers, James Ellis (b. cir. 1725 Ballymena) with his wife Sarah Curry (b. cir. 1729), and Thomas Ellis (b. cir. 1728 Ballymena) with his wife Jane Russell (b. cir. 1740), and their sister Jane Ellis and her husband Joseph Boggs.
Story goes they came to the New World in 1770, heading for the US, when they became shipwrecked off the Nova Scotia coast, where they wintered and eventually settled.
I have no other information other than the dates and that they came from Ballymena, Antrim.
If anyone either has some direct information, or would have idea's about how to go about finding some, I would be eternally grateful

Thanking you all in advance...
Craig Hall

[Kate Bell]

Hi Craig,

I'm a Denison, but don't think we're connected, alas.  I've been trying to find the birth/baptismal records of my ancestor, James T. Denison/Dennison/Dinneson, etc., who was born c. 1790 in Ireland, possibly Belfast.  He emigrated to America c. 1805 and ended up settling in West Virginia. 

I was always told by my late father that our Denisons were related to the ones who first came to Irelandfrom Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, England in the 1600s serving under Cromwell (for which I'm not proud, if that the case!).  Trying to make the link now and have just commissioned the Ulster Historical Society to locate any record of James T. Denison.

Wishing you the best of luck in your search!

Kate (nee Denison) Bell

[Tanner57]

Hello Craig Hall,

My name is Jill Ellis, Truro Nova Scotia, Canada
I am the 8th generation of Thomas Ellis of Ballymena, NI
My grandfather was Thomas Earle Ellis, Shubenacadie NS, originally Stewiacke
My father is George Ellis, Truro NS
John, James, Thomas, and Jane (Joseph Boggs) arrived in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia Canada in 1770
We are cousins😊
I went to the Truro Museum and upstairs is the genealogical society.
It was there that I found and paid for a copy of the Ellis Family of Stewiacke NS
Now there were two separate Ellis families that landed in Stewiacke. Cpt. James Ellis, not our family, but is wehere our family settled for a brief period of time, before they were granted there own land.
There were 8 children born to Thomas Earle Ellis and Sadie Myrtle Whidden: Muriel, George, Laurie, Arthur, Lorna, Alice, Gordon, and David. Those who have not passed on live in or near Truro, NS which is 15 minutes drive from Stewiacke.

One brother, James or John moved to Nebraska.

If you have any additional questions don't hesitate to contact me at Removed

Respectfully, Jill Ellis
 

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[Elwyn Soutter]

As far as Irish records are concerned, there are not many records for the 1700s at all. You don’t say what denomination the Ellis and Denison families were but I’ll assume either Church of Ireland or Presbyterian.  The earliest Church of Ireland records for Ballymena (Kirkinriola parish) start in 1789. The earliest Presbyterian records don’t start till 1812. Both denominations had churches there from the 1600s but if baptism and marriage records were kept then they have long been lost. It’s unlikely that there will be any detailed records of either the Ellis or Dennison families from Ballymena. DNA testing might be the only way of linking in to any families in Ireland today, and to families in Scotland or England (which is where they are likely to have originated).

[Tanner57]

They would have been Presbyterian. Webelive that they may have come Scotland to Ballymena.

[Elwyn Soutter]

They would have been Presbyterian. Webelive that they may have come Scotland to Ballymena.

If they were Presbyterian & lived in Co Antrim then there’s a high likelihood that their ancestors originated in Scotland. They probably arrived in the 1600s when some 100,000 Scots moved to Ireland (representing something like 10% of the entire Scottish population at the time).

Ballymena was largely established by the Adair family from Kinhilt, Wigtownshire (near Stranraer) around the 1620s. Many of their Scottish tenants accompanied them to the Ballymena area. However there was obviously much additional migration later and so without knowing how long your family lived around Ballymena there’s no guarantee that’s exactly where yours originated.

[heathgirl]

very interesting thread, we also descended from Jane Ellis and Joseph Boggs, through Jane Boggs b 1822 in "Antigonish" Nova Scotia (this place might be incorrect, it was from a short write up in a local history book in Western Canada). Thank you for the tip re the genealogical society. I wonder if anyone has a suggestion for a query. I cannot find the marriage of Jane Boggs to William (James?) Fisher abt 1845. The first three or four children were born Nova Scotia 1845 on according to later censuses so the marriage should be 1843 to 1846 range. The couple were in Ontario about 1857 (haven't got 1861 census) and to Manitoba abt 1873. She and husband have headstone there. The family was Presbyterian originally. searching ancestry didn't find marriage. The Fishers seem to have come directly from Ireland a generation or so back; I haven't found as much yet re them. Thanx

[heathgirl]

postnote: I also have become aware some of the Boggs were back and forth to the states a bit around 1817 to 1825. An initial search by me did not turn up the marriage in U.S. either.