Knockans Townland, Armoy Parish: Records, Families & DNA

Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, if you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

Hello, out of curiosity I compared my DNA(GED-Match A031705) to those listed. I did have a match with A561800. A MRCA of 7.5 and a small DNA match of 7.1 CM. I do have some Boyd matches on Ancestry.com and My Heritage. The only familiar surname is Murray. My great-grandmother was Olive Murray. I live in th USA and have had very little succes tracking my ancestors back to Ireland. So this is interesting. I will have to look into Murray Revd. Best regards Jeff Trainer

No match with me (DY8717406). My Kane/O'Kane ancestors were on Casement property west of Ballycastle, in Ballyvanaught. No use of Kain spelling until 1870 in US.

Correction, East of Ballycastle 

All-  I tried checking my GEDmatch with all these kit numbers to no avail.  However, I'm not giving up hope.  

I am writing specifically because my 3rd great grandmother was Jane KANE/KAIN daughter of Neal Kane.  She married William BOYD on 9 March 1846 in Ballymoney Ireland.  I have found DNA relations from Jane's children  (all female daughters of she and William Boyd), but I have no data nor records for the parent Neal KANE/KAIN.  I did find a (possible) sibling of Jane's listed as Patrick KANE/KAIN who married Jane McCullough 10 Dec 1856 in Ballymena.

Is it possible that any of these people may be in the two family's who have posted here? I'd love to learn more-

Happy New Year!

Susan Cicala  

Susan,

I notice that Jane Kain married in Carncullagh Presbyterian church.  It’s formal name is Dervock. Tradition was to marry in the bride’s church, so the inference is she that was her family church. Dervock Presbyterian’s records start in 1827, so that’s not early enough to find Jane’s baptism but you might find some siblings born later (eg Patrick who was apparently born c 1836).  There’s a copy of the records in PRONI in Belfast.

Jane was living in Glebe when she married. The only house in Glebe is the Church of Ireland Vicarage so I’d guess she was working there as a servant at that date. It’s probably about 10 miles from there to Drumnaglea which is where Patrick was living when he married.

I had a look for marriages in Co Antrim of Kanes with a father named Neal/ Neil, 1845 onwards, but did not see any other than the 2 you have found. Tracing labourers families is notoriously difficult as they often moved around to follow the available work.

There was a Neal Kane death registered in Coleraine in 1866 aged 60. So of the right age to be fathering children in the late 1820s and 1830s. Whether it’s your family or not I can’t say. You can view the original certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option: 

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate. 

If your Neal died before 1864 there will likely be no record of his death to find. Kane/Kain is a very common name in Co Antrim. The 1901 census of the county had over 1300 and it would have been just as common in the 1830s, so I would be cautious about assuming any connection with other Kane families without reliable evidence.

IRO Volunteer

Susan - No Jane or Neal Kane in my ancestry bback to 1808.

Thank you Elwyn and Pete for your responses.  Both are valuable in their own way.  

Elwyn thank you for your expert analysis of Jane's address and possible reasoning for being there.  I had tried many times to find out what Glebe meant and was always told it was 'Church land' but never put the work and living situation together.  Also, as a novice to the geography (and a native of the US)  its nice to have a distance mentioned between the two locations.  It helps me to put things into perspective.  

Happy New Year all-

Susan

Susan,

A glebe is/was land attached to a Church of Ireland parish to provide the Rector/Vicar additional income, and to grow his own food. Often the Rector/Vicar might sublet it to a local farmer or two, and get rental income that way. In this case it looks as though the Rev Thomas Hincks was actually farming it himself.

Thank you!  Do you know is this a place I could go visit?  If ever the world opens up I'd love to come and see the places where my ancestors lived/married/died.

Susan,

Yes, I am sure you could visit today. The building is certainly still there, though I don’t think it’s a Rectory any more. Derrykeighan & Billy parishes now seem to share the same Minister who lives in Dervock, so the Church of Ireland probably sold off Derrykeighan Rectory. Looking at the house on Google Earth, it looks to be a large impressive property with farm buildings to the rear. Its up a short entrance drive off Castlecat Rd, a mile or so north of Dervock village. Since it looks to be a farm, there’s usually always someone at home. You could just knock on the door.

Looking at the 1911 census, the house was still a Rectory then, with Rev Samuel Barnhill plus family, occupying it:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Benvardin/Glebe/128875/

The Belfast Telegraph of 20.2.1950 reports that a JRC Patrick of the Glebe, Derrykeighan won 3rd prize in a pig competition for his large white boar. I can’t find any newspaper reference to a more recent occupant.

Dervock Presbyterian church (where Jane married) is still there and very much a functioning church. It’s less than a mile from Derrykeighan Rectory.  If visiting and wanting to see inside, contact the Minister or the Kirk Session clerk in advance (to ask if it can be opened) or go on a Sunday when there is a service on. 

http://www.dervockpresbyterianchurch.org/contact-us/

https://www.facebook.com/Dervock-Presbyterian-Church-107086500930972/

The church’s address is:

"Mansefield" 32 Carncullagh Road Dervock Ballymoney BT53 8BT

Thank you all for your interesting replies! I will have to repeat this excercise with other ancestral townlands :)

I love the convergence of genealogy and maps and there is nothing more rewarding than visting the buildings and properties where ancestors once resided. I should have thought to include a link to a map for Knockans Townland:

http://www.townlands.ie/antrim/cary/armoy/knockans/

Near the bottom of this page are links to other sites. In particular, I like:

• Grifith's Valuation for comparing historical and current maps
• OpenStreetMap for browsing the current boundaries of townlands, parishes, etc.

Enjoy!

Thank you again for all of this wonderful information!!

Now I am more motivated than ever to get over there and walk were my ancestors walked!! 

Wishing you all a healthy and happy 2021!