Just joined-Stevensons of Letterbin, Tyrone

[joannej]

Hi
I dont know how I have missed this site after so many years of researching. I am looking for any information on the Stevensons- sometimes called Stinsons who farmed land leased from the Duke Of Abercorn at Mullagh near Letterbin in the parish of Ardstraw. I have tried to find the birth details for William Stevenson born in 1862. I found one for Donagheady, but I am now fairly sure it is incorrect. Williams mother was Ann (Nancy) Fyffe and father was George Stevenson(son of David) married in 1853 in Newtownstewart. I am fairly sure there is a connection with Renfrewshire, perhaps Neilston, in Scotland but cannot establish the link. The family always worked for, or on, Abercorn lands and lived at Cloony and Letterbin townlands. I have gathered loads of information post 1900 but would dearly love to get firmer details on David and his son George (born abt 1816).( From Proni Records they were not on the land at Mullagh after 1858.)
iI would be really grateful for any information or even where to look further...many thanks Jo

[kingskerswell]

Hi,
   1862 is two years before civil registration of births started so you will have to depend on Church records. George and Ann married in Ardstraw Church of Ireland, Strabane District and they had at least three other children, all registered in Newtownstewart, John 1864, James 1866 and Andrew 1867.

Regards

[joannej]

  Thank you so much for the swift reply. Unfortunately all the local church records only date from 1870 ish. I really want to establish firmly the Scottish connection- whch seems almost impossible if I can't get further information about George and David.
Are there any records pre 1825 that may be useful?
I have the family at Mullagh farming 1830s-1850s(Griffiths) and then working on the estate as labourers until 1950's.

[Elwyn Soutter]

The big movement of Scottish settlers to Tyrone and surrounding counties was in the 1600s. (One estimate says that in the period 1606 – 1690, 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland, representing 10 per cent of the whole population of Scotland at that time). However it is very rare to be able trace your ancestry back to the 1600s and back to Scotland, unless you family were very big landowners or infamous in some way or other. The records just don’t exist.

[joannej]

Thank you.
 I will just have to keep on searching leases, which do tend to go back quite a while, as do the Scottish records. I have connected the families who married into the Stevensons to Renfrewshire and the area of Neilston that Robert Louis Stevenson came from. There are lots of Stevensons in that area- i just need to make a firm connection... and theres the challenge!

Any information re possible record sources for the late 1700's gratefully received . Does anyone have any information, or know how to source information on David Stevenson/ Stinson born before 1795?

many thanks
Jo

[Pam Smith]

Hello

I too would be interested in the Letterbin branch of the Stephenson/Stevenson/Stinson/Steeson families.

I am searching for a Samuel Stinson/Stephenson who may have been born around the 1780s in Ireland.

I have noticed a Samuel, Charles and Edward Stephenson/Steenson in the Letterbin area in the late 1700s. The name seems to be still in the Letterbin in the early to mid 1800s.

I note from the CoTyrone site the name Stinson and Carlin at Mullaghcroy 1770-1780s, then a George Stephenson at Mullagh for Griffiths Valuation.

Tithe books for 1833 and 1834 show
David and John Stevenson at Mullaghcroy/Mullagh
E and Samuel at Letterbin
William at Urblereagh

Is anyone able to help me establish whether a connection to these people exists, when the names are so common in other areas of Ireland?

Thanks in advance 
Pam

[rathmore]

family search

http://www.familysearch.org

George Stevesons birth 1830 age 23
Anne Fyffe birth 1830 age 23
marriage 21.11.1853
Anne father was called Robert Fyffe

cannot find William 1862
found a Andrew on this site born 26.3.1867

[rathmore]

Stevensons mentioned on this site

http://www.cotyroneireland.com/tithe/ardstraw.html

they must have been flax seed growers for the linen industry?

[Pam Smith]

Many thanks for the prompt reply...

Have been trawling the CoTyrone site. Just fabulous, and so easy to use. You have prompted me to do a hunt through FamilySearch as so much information is being added all the time.

Really just chasing the Samuel Stevenson's (+variants) at this point. Process of elimination. The name become so commonly used over time.

Common names that repeat over time, both in the US and Australia, associated with the Tyrone branch of my family are Steele, Black, Nolan, Johnston, Irwin, Glass, Houston, Hadden, Caldwell, McGirr/Short, Holland. These names so common throughout Tyrone, Scotland and Northern England.

Further research required. Onward I go...
Pam