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.
In the 1980s, my parents were directed by locals to the O’Mullan homestead. They didn’t realize it at the time but they photographed a cottage that was occupied by my great-grandfather’s siblings – Pat, Elizabeth and Mary Anne. My direct ancestors never lived there.
My great-grandfather and his siblings are buried together under one stone with their parents at St. Olcan’s Cemetery in Armoy, Antrim, Northern Ireland. When I visited my grandfather’s birthplace, I took the opportunity to document all the gravestones in his churchyard – 797 souls – and 39 of them were born before 1830, the earliest…