Mackey family Antrim

[jnomad]

From the topic McLorinan family burying-ground, Antrim, we have the three Mackey siblings active in Methodism in Antrim in and around 1805: Mary, who married William Johnson, Martha, who became the mother of the Rev. Thomas McLorinan, and Alexander, who became a Methodist minister.

A couple of trees on Ancestry give them a father, Thomas Mackey, born 1746, and mother, Elizabeth Moore; and they give Thomas a father, John Mackey, died 1803, and mother, Martha Hogg, died 1802; and they give John a father, another John, born 1716. (Also several siblings at each level.) The trees give each other as sources. I think I have found the origin, at least of the basic line; I haven't had a response from that tree's owner, but the owner of another tree says he has messages from the owner of the tree that I take to be the origin, saying he transcribed the information (in the 50s and 60s) from a family bible that's now lost.

Some other trees amplify the information about some of these ancestors, but with very sparse documentation, including a lot of citing other trees; I got lost trying to find where the information originally came from.

Surely family bibles are very important sources, especially before civil records started. But it would be good if some of this information could be independently verified. Any ideas?



 

[Sworddancer]

Not as good as a family bible but I do have a couple of pages from a prayer book with five Mackey Siblings and their birth dates.

Isabella 11th August 1811
Samuel 2nd November 1812
Alexander 18th November 1817
William 16th June 1826
Mary Jane 30th May 1828.

Marriage certificates for Alexander, William and Mary Jane all show that father was John Mackey. William's marriage certificate have John as a "Scotch Minister". Mary Jane's marriage docs show John as gentleman and from Antrim.

Alexander and William's Master Mariner certificates give their place of birth as Antrim, Antrim.

John is showing as the late John Mackey by 1853.

Might my John Mackey be connected to the Mackeys of Antrim?

Regards
Peter Mackey

[jnomad]

Thanks, Sworddancer.

What was transcribed from the family bible doesn't have that set of siblings. But it has 11 children of John Mackey (-1803) and Martha Hogg (-1802), most with unknown spouse and children, but two of whom have sons John who might be about the right age to be the father of those Mackeys; or he might be in the next generation, outside the scope of the transcription from the family bible. (And among the unknown children there might well be more Johns.) It sounds as if your Mackeys are Mackeys of Antrim, and they may well be part of the extended family of Mary, Martha, and the Rev. Alexander. The transcription from the family bible doesn't cover all the branches of the tree.

What is the 1853 document that shows your John as late?

Follow-up to my first post on this topic: I'm now in touch with the person who had the family bible.

[Sworddancer]

Lovely to hear from you and how exciting.

Alexander Mackey married in 1853 and Mary Jane Mackey married in 1852, both marriages were announced in the Belfast newsletter and both mention their father being the late Mr John Mackey, Antrim. I have loaded this information onto Ancestry.com and am happy to send you a link if it helps.

It is probably a coincidence but my Alexander Mackey (born 1817) married Alithea MBF Heron the daughter of Rev William Heron who was the Presbyterian Minister in Ballyclare and I understand that there was a Rev Alexander Mackey at the Methodist church in Ballyclare when it was built in 1828.

[jnomad]

Thanks again.

I found your Ancestry tree. The tree whose owner used to have the family bible and transcribed information from it a long time ago is Mackey Family Tree, owner tobyfarmer — that's his username, but he actually is Toby Farmer. We are probably all related; I don't know if either you or he has done a DNA test (I haven't).

I haven't found a way to link your Mackeys with Toby's, though it seems likely they are all related. I think the fact that your Alexander shares his name with the Methodist minister is a coincidence, except in that there is at least one earlier Alexander Mackey in Toby's line, perhaps a common ancestor.

I'm intrigued at the description of your John as a minister in the Scotch (i.e. presumably Presbyterian) church. Mary Mackey, who became a Methodist and brought her two siblings with her into Methodism, was described as a Unitarian before her conversion, i.e., I gather, Non Subscribing Presbyterian. There ought to be a list of Presbyterian ministers in Ireland (there is one of Methodist ministers), but I haven't found it.

[Sworddancer]

I suppose we are all related if we go far back enough!

As it happens I have had my autosomal DNA tested but it soon get so diluted over the generations that in our case it is unlikely to prove very much. I could do my Y chromosome DNA but that would require another individual with a Mackey surname do have done so. Is your surname Mackey? I have never met a Mackey cousin.

I am relatively new to genealogy having inherited the work done by my father's cousin in the 1950's. Without the internet she did all of her research the hard way with letters, postal orders and stamped addressed envelopes and was unaware of the name John Mackey. I am trying to extend her research while at the same time loading what evidence and history I have onto Ancestry.com to make it available to others. This comes back to your original post about family bibles where I think it would be useful to have transcriptions and photographs available on the internet through the various genealogical sites.

I was also intrigued about John Mackey's occupation showing as  "Scotch Minister"  on William Thomas Mackey's marriage certificate but have largely discounted it. I cannot find him being referred to as a Reverend anywhere and wondered if he was a lay preacher or perhaps it was just an error deliberate or otherwise.

My next step has to be to find birth or christening records for the  five siblings. Do you think there might be any records for Presbyterian/Unitarian churches in the town of Antrim covering the period 1811 to 1828? I am looking for an excuse to visit.

Best Regards
Peter

[Jon_ni]

Peter

Without touching the Mackey aspect. What church records exist is on a PRONI pdf available here https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/proni-guide-church-records

Further background on records https://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/our-services/family-history/ and https://www.presbyterianhistoryireland.com/collections/library/guide-to-congregational-records/

You could look at http://antrim.rootsireland.ie/ online source list and see what transcriptions they have. PRONI's church records are generally on microfilm which is very slow to go through (days).

[jnomad]

Hello Peter.

I have Mackey ancestry only in a female line. I've found out, only recently, that Martha née Mackey, who married Henry McLorinan, was a great-great-great-grandmother of mine. (See the separate topic on this board, McLorinan family burying-ground Antrim.) There wouldn't be any point, for your purpose, in my doing a Y chromosome DNA test.

From the PRONI records that Jon_ni gave you a link for, it looks as if the baptism records for First Antrim Presbyterian have a gap (between 1792 and 1820) that excludes all but the youngest two of your five. Second Presbyterian is too recent. There don't seem to be records from the now disused Unitarian/Non Subscribing Presbyterian church. Mary Mackey, sister of Martha, my ancestor, and of Rev. Alexander, was previously a Unitarian, probably a member of that church, so I hope it was her family's church — "hope" because I'm hoping to hear, either from Antrim and Newtownabbey council or from Elwyn Soutter, about informative gravestone inscriptions. (Again, see that other topic on this board.) If I could go to Antrim, I would want to explore that graveyard,, but Elwyn says he's willing.

Your Ancestry tree is excellent about posting sources. (Mine not so much, I'm afraid.) It's frustrating to get a hint from Ancestry about someone you're working on, and it takes you to another tree whose claims about that person are sourced only in yet another tree, and so on into a rabbit hole. But obviously many people use Ancestry just to store information for their own purposes, not thinking about help to others, and they are surely within their rights to do that.

Jon_ni, the Presbyterian history links you give in your second paragraph both induce my browser to warn me not to go to the sites; do you know what that's about?

[jnomad]

Hello Peter. I’ve sent you a message on Ancestry.com.