Author Topic: McConnell in County Donegal  (Read 3071 times)

Offline ncarmb

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McConnell in County Donegal
« on: Saturday 24 October 15 03:38 BST (UK) »
I've been looking for information on my great great Grandfather Duncan McConnell who lived in County Donegal (born 1797) and his wife Catherine McDouglass (born 1809), also of Co. Donegal.  Duncan's parents were Bryan and Hannah.  The family were Roman Catholic and perhaps were farmers.  They left Ireland between 1833 and 1842 to join relatives in Boston but were shipwrecked off Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada and settled in Port Medway.  They came with several children and more were born in NS.  The only one I know for sure was born in Ireland was Bernard (Barney) in 1833. I haven't been able to find the name of the ship, the location they left from or where they lived in Co. Donegal.  I would like to know if there was family left behind.  I would also like to know the names of the children born in Ireland. By eliminating the children I know were born in NS, they could have been Hannah, John, Thomas, Bernard.  Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Just in case it's helpful, there has been an unsubstantiated family rumor that the family originated in Aberdeen, Scotland although Duncan and Catherine were born in Co. Donegal.

Offline heath

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 24 October 15 04:12 BST (UK) »
roots Ireland great  research
http://www.rootsireland.ie/

Offline aghadowey

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 24 October 15 10:44 BST (UK) »
Welcome to Rootschat  :) To start with-

Duncan McConnell m.1 Catherine (c1809-11 May 1863)
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22090-24624-13?cc=1918186&wc=M6G1-KTL:206520801,206541001
Duncan’s death registration gives parents as Bryan & Katie but his 2nd marriage says Bryan & Hannah www.novascotiagenealogy.com

Son Capt. Bernard McConnell (1833 Donegal-7 July 1885 “Brig Clinton, Connecticut”)
Son Capt. Charles McConnell (c1840 NS?-13 May 1886 Port Medway)
Son Hugh (c1843 NS-1873)
Son John m.(1866) Arabella Randall

Is Sarah related?
Sarah (McConnell) Dexter’s (c1830-1899) page gives an account of coming to N.S. and mentions relatives in Ontario.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22090-24579-63?cc=1918186&wc=M6G1-KTL:206520801,206541001

Now, a question to see if this ties in with a story told by my great-grandfather (born in Liverpool). Capt. Charles Barney McConnell died 7 July 1885 “Brig Clinton, Connecticut” according to several online trees. Do you know if this means on a brig at Clinton, Connecticut or a brig named Clinton in Connecticut?
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline ncarmb

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 24 October 15 17:37 BST (UK) »
Thanks for this great reply.  It answers a few questions and adds a lot more  :-D   First of all, I do know a few things to add to this.  My aunt, Etta,  went to the archives in Halifax and there she got information that the family was taken off a shipwreck with a few children. I haven't been able to find the ship but perhaps that's because it wasn't an actual wreck.  There were two sisters with them, Sarah and Jane McConnell.  She thought they might be sisters of Duncan.  The account my aunt left said that Sarah and Jane were with their aunt and uncle and were bound for USA to join relatives.  Jane married a Jacob Ulhman from Chelsea, son of Mr. Ulhman and Mary Baker (I am also related to the Baker's).
Sarah McConnell married a William Dexter. Sarah was born near Donegal in 1830 and died June 14, 1899.  Your account says Londonderry so that is something to check out. She married William Dexter on October 11, 1855.  My aunt was from Chelsea and knew these families.  She played for the funeral of Letitia Dexter, aged 102 who was the daughter of Sarah. Your account says granddaughter so perhaps she had that wrong.

Duncan's second wife was probably the one who filled out his death certificate.  She gave his birth date wrong and I believe the Katie referred to as his mother was probably the nickname of his first wife Catherine. I do have other information that gives his birthdate as 1797 and his parents as Bryan and Hannah.

The information about Bernard (Barney) and Charles is a little mixed up.  Charles was my great grandfather.  He was a master mariner and lived in Port Medway with his family.  He died in the Port Medway family house (which we later owned) of pneumonia.  An interesting story quoted in Helen Creighton's book and well known to the family is that two weeks before he passed he was walking home when he saw his ghost walking beside him.  When they got to the old cemetery the ghost turned and walked into the cemetery.  When he got home he told his wife Mary "I am not long for this world".  Two weeks later he died at home of pneumonia. My grandfather was his son James Arthur.

Barney is the one who died of a heart attack on the Brig Arthur off Clinton, Conn. USA.

Hugh McConnell died on the Bonnie Jean off PEI during one of the infamous August Gales.  The ship was lost with all hands.  He was 30.  That would make him born in 1843 and so I assume he was one of the children born in Canada.

No information whatever on Thomas except that he is buried in the cemetery at Sodger's Brook, where the old Catholic church used to be.

I have the family bible.  In it there is mention of John who was said to have been made to walk the plank by pirates off Table Bay, South Africa at age 14.  I have never been sure whether this means he died there or if it was just an unfortunate incidence in his life  :-D  I did know about a John who married Arabella Randall and have always wondered if it could have been the same person. do you know?

Back to Sarah and Jane.  I have a record of an Emma Jane McConnell who was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Anne McConnell who married Jacob Ulhman. She was his second wife.  If I could find the connection to Duncan perhaps that information would be useful.  I am going to see if I can find any trace of these people in Ontario. That information was really interesting because perhaps I have been looking in the wrong places for them.

I was interested to read that your GGrandfather mentioned Charles and lived in Liverpool.  Is he related to the McConnells, I wonder? 

Thanks so much for your reply.  I really appreciate it.

Nancy


Offline aghadowey

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 24 October 15 20:19 BST (UK) »
Most of the families around Liverpool were connected either by blood or marriage (and sometimes both)  ;)

After reading through your post there are a few more things I want to check.

Gramps' account of his seafaring days was written in 1932 but I probably wouldn't be here now if he hadn't taken over command of the Arthur when Barney McConnell died (I've fixed my earlier typo.

"Captain Barney McConnell, master of the Arthur, had died as she lay at anchor at Clinton, Conn. Her New York owners sent me there to take command. They had known me since I was a boy. The body was still on board and we buried it at Clinton."
"We were off Tortugas, at the lower end of Florida, with a load of yellow pine, when the Arthur turned over in a hurricane. She was not old but she was a weak built thing. She didn't turn completely over but just enough so that we had to cling to the hull until we could cut the rigging away. When we did that, the Arthur gradually came back on bottom. But the Arthur was done for. I knew she would go to pieces that night so all hands set to work building a raft. We had it partly built when along came the steamer Morgan City and picked us off."
"The Arthur was bound for the Canary Islands. The Morgan City brought us to New York. It was the only time I ever failed to reach a port I set out for."
His only possessions when reaching New York (2 Aug.1887) were a nightshirt, trousers, oil coat and rubber boots. Upon arrival he went to the home of a Nova Scotia family he knew living there and one week later married the daughter (he'd met her in New Brunswick previously).
His one regret was losing the Arthur's sextant. On taking command in 1885 it seemed quite ancient but by the time he got to sea he'd changed his mind and said it was the best he ever had.

I remember hearing the graveyard storybut wouldn't have remembered the details.
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline aghadowey

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 24 October 15 20:38 BST (UK) »
I have a record of an Emma Jane McConnell who was the daughter of Samuel and Mary Anne McConnell who married Jacob Ulhman. She was his second wife.
Thomas Benton Smith's notes give Jane McConnell as the wife of Jacob William Uhlman. My Uhlman connection is not by blood but through marriage of a district relation-

Cornelius Uhlman m. ___ Lohnes.
1) Cornelius (1812) m. Lydia Dean Annis
2) Martin (1819) m. Mary Baker
     1) Jacob William (1839)
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-22081-42015-32?cc=1918186&wc=M6G1-J3D:206518901,206518902
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline ncarmb

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 24 October 15 22:56 BST (UK) »
thanks so much for that really wonderful story about the Arthur.  I had Barney's sea chest for a long time until some vandals burned the house in Port Medway and it was lost in the fire.  I also have the book "Port" written by Marguerite Letson that tells a bit about Barney and some of his exploits.  I really appreciate getting this great story and it was wonderful to add some information.  Barney has always been one of my heroes  :-).  there is a family story about him being chased in the Mediterranean by pirates and outrunning them.

I think you are right about  most people from that area being related one way or another.  I was born in Port Medway and love that area.  Thanks for taking the time to send me this information.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Offline aghadowey

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #7 on: Sunday 25 October 15 09:31 GMT (UK) »
I may have more about the Arthur but at the moment my computer isn't communicating with me, most of my files are either packed in boxes or will be very shortly and the future's a bit uncertain.

Marguerite Letson was a relative of mine  ;)

Unfortunately none of this has helped trace the McConnells back further. I don't think the Liverpool papers go back far enough to find a mention of the ship. I remember a series of books on N.S. shipwrecks in bookshops in the late 1970s but if it wasn't an actual shipwreck then won't be listed.

TBS says Sarah McConnell 'born near Londonderry Ireland" which could mean Donegal. She and husband William B. Dexter buried Baptist Cemetery in Liverpool (and I think married there) so it's probably unlikely that the family were Catholic.

Think there should be a question mark bnext to John McConnell for now. I did find him later in Maine.
1870 Census- Portland, Cumberland, Maine
John McConnell, 29, N.S.
Arabella McConnell, 25, N.S.
William McConnell,3, N.S.

Arabella McConnell travelled from Yarmouth, N.S. to Boston, Mass. in 1868 (possibly with son William). William John Mcconnell born 21 May 1867 N.S. died 27 Dec.1957 Ventura, California.
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline ncarmb

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Re: McConnell in County Donegal
« Reply #8 on: Sunday 25 October 15 14:40 GMT (UK) »
The information about John is very helpful.  I'll check all that out on Ancestry, maybe something will show up there.  I went back to the family bible and looked him up.  It says he was drowned in Table Bay, Cape Town, S. Africa.  It doesn't give an age so I don't know where my father got the idea that he was 14.  My aunt has him listed as Captain John so that would indicate he was older if its true.  I know there are a bunch of McConnell's in Yarmouth.  I wonder if that John was one of them.  I don't seem to be able to connect him to my branch yet.  Re-reading  my aunt's account, she says the family was travelling to meet relatives in Portland, Maine, not Boston.

No, it doesn't help me at all with the Irish end.  But, any information about them is interesting and helpful and I appreciate it all.  thank you so much. 

Nancy