My great-grandmother was born in Dundee, Scotland to parents who were born in Scotland, and grandparents who were born in Ulster, Ireland. In the Scotland of her day, that made her Irish – not Scottish.
There are very few parish and civil records from the time before partition – most have been destroyed – so when I visited my grandfather’s birthplace, I documented all the gravestones in his churchyard. 797 souls.
As a kid, I remember thinking that my grandfather’s family owned a farm called ‘Moyaver’ in a place called ‘Armoy’ – – but none of that turns out to be true. Here’s what’s true…
On January 4, 1907, my grandfather, John Patrick O’Mullan was born to Daniel William Mullan and Elizabeth Gallagher in Moyaver, County Antrim, Ireland. They christened him at St. Olcan’s church – where his father was christened and his family is buried.
My 2nd great-grandfather, Daniel O’Mullan, moved to Moyaver from Mount Hamilton around the time he married Isabella Scally. They lived in a cottage on the Limepark Estate.