James McDowell (1745-1829)

Kristine,

There are very few churches in Ireland with records from the mid 1700s, so even if you knew where James originated, it might not be possible to confirm it. It’s also a very common name in Co. Down, which doesn’t help. In the 1901 census, there were 562 in the county. (Mostly Presbyterian or Church of Ireland, so they will have originated in Scotland in the 1600s.).

Here’s a link to a site which lists about 100 James McDowells who lived in in Co Down. Only about 4 entries date to the 1700s though. A couple can be eliminated because the events pre-date 1745 but one of the others could be your ancestor. Without further information about your James (other than his year of birth), there’s no real way of determining:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Erosdavies/SURNAMES/Mc/McDowellAJ.htm

Elwyn,

Can you tell me what you mean by your comment "( Presbyterian or Church of Ireland, so they will have originated in Scotland in the 1600s.)".

Do you mean that anyone that was from the Church of Ireland originally came from Scotland?

I've always wondered why by great grandfather always said he was Scotch when he was born and lived in Ireland until he was in his 40's.  His parents were born and died there, so why say you are Scotch?

Sandy

Thank you Elwyn, I knew it would be a huge task without further details. We just can't find this guy anywhere. There were no census done here prior to 1825 and no consistency with keeping track of immigrants prior to 1850-ish. 
One thing has always bugged me though, James senior would have been in his late 70's when his "son" was born here in 1819. I know men are capable at that age but I've always thought that there must be another generation in the middle somewhere. 

I find it hard to believe that he really is James (1819) father but rather his grandfather perhaps.

@Sandy, the English starting populating norhtern Ireland with Scots in the 1600's but they/we are proud of our heritage and though they live in Ireland, Scotland is where the heart is from. My own grandfather always told us he was of Scottish heritage by way of Ireland. LOL

Sandy, 

If it's any consolation to you, record keeping in Ireland was as bad as early record keeping in Canada.

Being Presbyterian more or less guarantees Scottish origins, Church of Ireland doesn’t guarantee Scottish origins to the same extent but it normally points to he person being an incomer, from England, Wales or Scotland. McDowell is not a native Irish name.  Nor is it English or Welsh, and so since it’s obviously Scottish, that’s where the family will have originated.

The broad background is that in the 1600s, some 100,000 Scots settled in Ireland, mostly in Ulster.  That represented something like 10% of the Scottish population of the time. In the early part of the 1600s they came as part of the Plantation of Ulster or in the case of Co Down the Hamilton & Montgomery settlement. In the 1640s a 10,000 strong Scottish army came to Carrickfergus under General Robert Munro. It was disbanded in Ireland and many of the soldiers decided to stay on (because land was easy to obtain), and then finally in the 1690s there was a serious famine in Scotland and that led to 50,000 Scots moving across. (It’s only 13 miles away at the closest point. Not a big journey even then).

The outcome of all this migration was that Co. Down in the early 1700s was 80% Scots. There were a few English & Welsh too. But mainly Scots. The area hadn’t been heavily populated by the native Irish and so they were massively outnumbered (and often pushed to one side, in  the same way as native Americans were pushed aside by European settlers too). Co Down was basically an extension of Scotland. The settlers brought their Scottish identity with them, as well as a Scottish accent (which is why to this day the accent is significantly different to the rest of Ireland, and why you’ll hear words spoken that would be familiar in Glasgow but unknown in Dublin).

The settlers also brought Presbyterianism with them. Presbyterianism was founded in Scotland by John Knox in the 1500s. The native Irish were Roman Catholic. To this day, Presbyterianism remains the most common denomination in Co Down.

So to summarise, with your family, what you have is someone with a Scottish surname, living in a part of Ireland dominated by Scots and whose religious denomination was an incomers. So without a shadow of a doubt, your family will be of Scottish origins. (As are three quarters of the population of Co Down).

McDowell is a variation of MacDougall. It means dark stranger. (Dubh being black or dark). This link suggests some McDowells may have arrived in Ireland from the Western Isles of Scotland as galloglass (mercenaries) to fight for Irish tribes. If so that’d be in the 1400s and 1500s.

https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=McDowell

Once the Scots came to Ireland they didn’t integrate with the native Irish. Of course there were some intermarriages, and some early Scots would have spoken gaelic which is just a slightly different dialect of Irish. (The Irish took gaelic to Scotland in the first place, when they invaded around 500 AD under Fergus Mor). But the Scots mostly kept themselves to themselves in Ireland. Intermarried and stuck to their Scottish traditions. The first Robert Burns club outside Scotland was established in Belfast in the mid 1800s, and you’ll find many a Burns Supper here every January.  (Belfast was built by Scots, and in 1770 there were only 300 Roman Catholics in the city. The rest of the population were Scots plus a few English gentry).

So your ancestors didn’t see themselves as Irish, even if they had lived here for several generations. The term they use to describe themselves today is Ulster-Scots (that’s Scotch-Irish in the US and Canada).

The strength of feeling about the Scottish identity is partially why Northern Ireland remains part of the UK today, and is not part of the Republic of Ireland. The majority of the population don’t see themselves as Irish, and instead identify with Britain as a whole and for many, Scotland at a sentimental and cultural level. And they mostly hold British passports, not Irish ones (though they can have both).

There’s Highland Games across Ulster every summer and a lot of connections with Scotland to this day. Have a look at the Ulster Scots Agency website for further information:

http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com

It doesn’t surprise me at all to hear that your grandfather perceived himself as Scotch, because he obviously knew that was where his family originated. His upbringing in Co. Down would have been as Scottish as that in Glasgow or Nova Scotia. 

In 1843, the famous Irish patriot, Daniel O’Connell was reminded that the Duke of Wellington (who opposed Irish Home Rule) was born in Ireland and was therefore Irish. He responded: "The poor old Duke! What shall I say of him? To be sure he was born in Ireland, but being born in a stable does not make a man a horse." That apt analogy probably sums up the feeling of many an Ulster Scot.

If you are interested in reading a bit more about your grandfather’s background, I can recommend “Eagles Wings – The journey of the Ulster Scots & Scotch-Irish” by Dr David Hume. It takes you through the history of the move to Ireland and then explains why in the mid 1700s so many of those Scots settlers were dis-satisfied with life in Ireland and moved again to North America or elsewhere.

Incidentally that’s another indicator as to your family’s origins. The majority of settlers in North America, from Ireland in the 1700s were Scots. The native Irish didn’t really start emigrating in big numbers until the 1800s due then to a combination of a population explosion, partial and full famines and some other factors. Regarding the mystery over whether there's amissing generation, JAmes b 1745 could have fathered the child, but he'd surely need to have remarried to a younger woman. (His first wife would have bene too old). Have you looked for a second marriage for him?

Elwyn,

I haven't even been able to find a first marriage yet. I have one possible for the father of the 1819 James. (assuming that there are missing generations) I'm digging my way backwards to see what I can find. Really hoping we can solve this, it was a pet project of my grandpa's and I would really love to complete the puzzle. 
Even on this side of the ocean it's been a head banger, the 1819 James gave his birthdate as November 8 in New Brunswick but there are zero birth records for a James McDowell. I can't even find his marriage to Jane Smith in the Ontario records. I will figure it out one way or another, I have kicked down a few walls on my dad's tree, this one will fall eventually too. 

Grandpa was proud to be on clan MacDougall, even more so if he knew I found his mothers ancestors were also from Fraser and Ross clans deep in the highlands.

I just had a thought, seeing how close Ulster is to Scotland do you think they might have married there. If he married a Scottish woman? Or is that too wild an idea?

K

Elwyn,

I'm not related to this family you are talking about I'm just interested in what you say about research.  My family (Stewart) is from Down Donaghadee (Ballyhay) and were Church of Ireland.  They lived in Ireland until about 1868 then went to Scotland.  Didn't come to the US until 1922.

Thanks for your information.

Sandy

K,

Yes he could have married in Scotland. As well as the possibility of meeting a Scottish girl, you also had couples who eloped to get married in Scotland. Under Scottish law, to get married you just have to be 16 . (That’s still the law there today). No parental consent is required. So this has always made it very popular with couples marrying without parental consent or who had other reasons for not wanting to marry where they normally resided. Portpatrick was the nearest place in Scotland to Co. Down, and there was a regular ferry crossing from Donaghadee to Portpatrick then, so it got a lot of business. Here’s an extract from the Portpatrick records of people from all over Ireland who married there:

http://ulsterancestry.com/ShowFreePage.php?id=277

Sandy,

Yes, Stewart is not a native Irish name either. So if your family were Church of Ireland, and came from Donaghadee, then they are almost certainly of Scottish origins too. There had been Scots settling in Ireland all through the 1300s, 1400s & 1500s, but when the big migration started, Donaghadee was one of the first places they came in big numbers.  If you want a bit more background, here’s a link:

https://ulsterscot.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/scottish-beginnings-the-hamilton-and-montgomery-settlement-1606/

Not all Scots were Presbyterians. The majority who came from the lowland counties were, but there were some RC (notably from the Highlands which at that time had not converted to Presbyterianism), some Episcopalians (ie Church of Ireland) also there were some with no religion notably from the lawless Scottish Borders. (Border Reivers as they were known).  When they settled down and acquired a religious denomination, some of the Border Reivers in particular seem to have favoured the Church of Ireland.

The 1630 Muster Rolls for Co Down list plenty of Stuart/Stewart/Stewards in the area so they were well established by then.

Thanks Elwyn,

I will see what I can dig up on that front then. I spent a good amount of time today pouring through census records in Canada to see if I could possibly identify any other relatives. Mind numbing for sure. I've read through every ship list that I could find for anyone with the last name of McDowell originating in the UK with zero results... :/