Allen of Camus, Glenleary etc- Macoquin, Dunboe, Coleraine

[mcmichael]

thanks for your email

We have no reason to believe this is where they came from.  There are other Robert Allen's in Ireland and in fact Scotland that where farmers but without Margaret Anne's ( Peggy's) birth records we cannot confirm if she was the daughter of this family.

[aghadowey]

I'm not sure why you don't believe that Margaret Allen was part of the Glenleary family. Her children were all born & baptised in the vacinity of Glenleary. I'm not sure who registered all their births but that's certainly easy enough to check. Unfortunately it is unlikely that a baptism for Margaret survives.

It seems that Robert Allen & William Allen both came to Glenleary/Camus from Dunboe direction and there aren't other Allens in the immediate vicinity which makes it easier to check all possible existing records and figure out exactly who belongs to which family.

[mcmichael]

Thanks for this. We have copies of all the children's baptism records. However we can't find any trace of Margaret registered in Glenleary or for that matter Daniel her husband. We have no further information on Daniels parents lineage. We know daniel and Margaret Anne were married in that  area and she died there as her grave is there w ex also have her death certificate   but nothing else. It would be good to follow the evidence. She may have come to the area from Lancaster as there is a farmer called Allen listed in the census with a daughtersame name as Margaret. Who knows without confirmation it is difficult to assume?

[aghadowey]

Should also mention that when William McMichael of Belfast (son of Margaret Allen) married in 1918 in Aghadowey one of the witnesses was Wm. Jas. Kirkpatrick
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1919/09672/5507461.pdf

William James in 1911 Census-
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Londonderry/Drumcroon/Dromore/652396

William James Kirkpatrick's mother was, of course, Isabella Allen-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1895/02232/1841214.pdf

[aghadowey]

We have copies of all the children's baptism records.
I meant checking all the birth registrations to see who the informants were- in case a relative of Margaret's.

She may have come to the area from Lancaster as there is a farmer called Allen listed in the census with a daughtersame name as Margaret.
Do the census records for children in America not say mother was born in Ireland? U.S. marriage and death records usually list names and place s of birth for parents.

[mcmichael]

Excellent ideas thank you. I will research the registers to see who was present at Births.

[LindeL]

Hello Aghadowey and McMichael, Aghadwoey, I think the evidence that you have gathered is almost a casebook example of as good as it gets in Ulster genealogy! Speaking as a descendant of Sarah Jane Allen, I'm happy to accept descendants of Margaret Anne McMichael as kin....
thanks to both for bringing this up and working on it; I've been away from family history for months, so it's good to see people are still finding things

[mcmichael]

Great to hear from you. I am still trying to find birth records for  the elusive Margaret Ann Allen. Hope all well your end

[aghadowey]

There would only have been a baptism record (not birth record) for Margaret Ann Allen as she was born c1852 (probably just missed being in 1851 census with her parents).

Unfortunately the local Presbyterian churches do not have any record of her or her siblings. Aghadowey, Crossgar, Killaig and Macosquin have all been checked, Ballylintagh doesn't have any existing baptisms, Ballylaggan does have older baptisms but is Reformed Presbyterian. Ringsend and Dromore are too recent.

Therefore, unless an old Family Bible just happens to turn up somewhere then you will not get a nice tidy record showing Margaret's date of birth and her parents.