KNOX-Kilkeel

[sarah.negus84]

I am looking for information on the KNOX family who resided in Kilkeel up until about 1826 when they moved to Saint John,New Brunswick,Canada.I am specifically looking for a James KNOX born about 1780;his brother was George KNOX(1779-1846 Saint John). When arriving in Saint John,his wife Ellen(nee IRVING/IRVINE)was listed as widowed;according to the Cedar Hill Cemetery Extension book,five children were listed(William,Elizabeth,James,Ellen and Charles)but only William and Elizabeth came ashore with her. Could it be that the other three died during the crossing?

I believe James' parents were William KNOX and Sarah Jane IRVING but I have not been able to confirm this. It's possible as well that there could be a connection between Sarah and Ellen(aunt and niece,maybe?).

Where Knox is a Scottish surname,I'd like to find out when the family came to Ireland as well.

[Elwyn Soutter]

Looking at the 1901 census of Co Down the majority of Knox households were Presbyterian, which is strongly indicative of Scottish ancestry. Regarding when your own family came to Ireland, I have no specific information but the main wave of Scots migration was in the 1600s with a big surge in the 1690s due to the Scottish famine. So many of those arrivals were famine refugees. All in all, some 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland in the 1600s, representing about 10% of the entire Scottish population of the time.

There aren’t any records of most individual settlers nor exactly when and where they came from, though it is known most came from the Forth Clyde belt and southern parts of Scotland. . DNA testing might find you some matches in Scotland which might give clues but you are very unlikely to find any documentary records. Looking at the 1841 Scottish census, the surname is found pretty widely across Scotland. No clues there.

There are 3 Presbyterian churches in the Kilkeel area (Kilkeel, Mourne and Annalong). None has any records earlier than 1839.

Several Knox households in Kilkeel mentioned in this link, though most seem to be later than the period you are interested in:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Erosdavies/SURNAMES/K/KnKy.htm

[sarah.negus84]

Elwyn I actually have looked through that site before but couldn't find anything relevant to my search. Thanks for your reply,however. Maybe someday I'll get around to having my DNA tested but it won't be anytime soon.

-Sarah

[aghadowey]

No need to start a new topic- there were several replies to your Knox topic from last April-
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=718789.msg5625295#msg5625295

[EmilyScott]

Hi Sarah,
I have actually just found William Knox and Sarah Jane on my family tree. It seems they had 3 sons; George, James and John. I found a record showing that John's son, Charles was married in Kilkeel I believe. It would be very interesting to find out more!