Getting Help

Barry McCain, administrator of the UHG, www.ulsterheritage.com, has been consulting with Dr. William Roulston, Head of Research at the Ulster Historical Society, in regards to how adequate our data is to proceed in researching my line of McCowns in Fermanagh. Dr. Roulston is very interested in seeing how much can be done using DNA with high quality matches and then traditional primary source material. This would be sort of a test case. Mary Becker, administrator of the Oriel Septs of Ireland Group, suggested contacting Dr. Roulston because of some help he provided to her in researching a family from Ulster. It turned out that in her project, it was necessary for him to use records in Scotland. Mary said that the effort paid off.

With both Barry and Mary having had acquaintance with Dr. Roulston and his work and sharing that information with me, there is an outside chance that a seemingly impossible mission could come to fruition. On the surface, it looks like trying to connect unidentified ancestors in Fermanagh with unidentified ancestors in South Carolina, I know,lots of luck! It does seem like trying to connect a suspension bridge between a couple of unsupported sky hooks.

Wrong William or Sloppy Genealogy

In the previous post, I mentioned looking into the possibility that this William was one of my ancestors. He is now claimed as an ancestor by an unrelated McCown line in many different family trees of various surnames. Claiming is one thing, but proving is the color of another horse. The rest of the non-related line of McCowns had relocated to the American colonies by 1740,some in PA and some in VA. There are brothers shown is some family trees not shown in others who are known to be related by DNA. Why would this William alone move from Antrim to Fermanagh while the rest of the family moved from Antrim to the Ameriacan Colonies? On the surface, it looks as if it is all grasping at straws. The nearest name in Fermanagh for the location of this William's death is Knockmakegan, not Knockmaoleigan. So far, the closest match for McCown in knockmakegan is McCue,not McCown so to get to the truth of the matter some on serious research will have to be done, probably in Ulster.

William McCown of Knockmaoleigan, Fermanagh

The Person in the title is the current potential ancestor that I am trying to find some info about. He was born in 1708 and died in 1747 in the village mentioned in the title. He was located in the Ancestry Genealogy of the Walter Family. Two others are shown, one in 1809 in Knoxville, Tenn. and another in 1908 in Iowa. Presumably they are in the same line, but that is to be determined. The subject has the right name and lived at the right place and could fit nicely in our timeline.

So far, there is no evidence of another male in the line using any of the above names as his earliest known ancestor or being tested by FTDNA. I am trying to determine whether or not someone in that line has been DNA tested.

Welcome Scott

Patrick Hermann MacAuley is visiting Fermanagh and Cavan Counties this month and said that if he gets the opportunity he would see if he could get information on McCowns. PLease don't hesitate to write to me directly: bill77mccown@gmail.com or wmccown@throckwisp.com.

Two new matches showed up this week, one 62/67 and one at 63/67 and both are Maguire Clan family names, MacAuley and McGuire, as you may imagine, this is very good news.