Dimond / McLister (McAlister?)

Hi Bill

Can you provide anymore information about William, if he had any siblings? Children's names? If he left Ireland, where did he go? Etc.

Regards

Paul 

Bill,

You can use this link to establish where the surnames were most common in Ireland in the mid 1800s. Dimond/Diamond was common in Derry & Antrim. McAllister (and variants) was very common in Antrim & Down.

https://www.johngrenham.com/surnames/

So the main place where both were found together was Co. Antrim, but without some more information it will be very hard to trace them.

McAllister is the second most common surname in the Glens of Antrim. (They were originally Scots from Kintyre who settled there in the early 1600s).

Hi Paul and Elwyn,

Thanks for the helpful info on surnames, Antrim etc.--as we all know every clue helps!

Depending on my documentation, William was born between 1822 and 1830 in Ireland, and came to the US around 1847. He may have already known the tailor's trade, as he did that the rest of his life, living and working in Manhattan, NYC. I haven't found him in any passenger lists, so I don't know if he traveled with family, and unfortunately do not know of any relatives other than his parents John and Catherine (McAllister) Dimond.

William apparently married before 1851, as he had children in 1851, 1853 and 1856. This wife must have died before 1861, as he had 3 or 4 more children with his 2nd wife, Ellen Reynolds, also of Ireland. I have been able to document the later births, but neither of the marriages or the 1st wife's death (name unknown).

I have been trying to obtain various birth/marriage and/or death certs to zero in on the parentage of William and his 2 wives. I am hoping to get a photo of his gravestone, which is in the huge Calvary Cemetery in Queens, NY--both he and Ellen are interred there, along with one of his daughters and 2 grandchildren. Hopefully there is some information on the headstone(s), assuming the graves are marked.

Sláinte,

Bill