Thomas McGinnis

According to Wikipedia there is considerable doubt about where Arthur Guinness was born.

?Arthur Guinness (1724 or 1725 ? 23 January 1803) was an Irish brewer and the founder of the Guinness brewery business and family. He was also an entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist.

At 27, in 1752, Guinness's godfather Arthur Price, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel, bequeathed him ?100 in his will. Guinness invested the money and in 1755 had a brewery at Leixlip, just 17 km from Dublin. In 1759, Guinness went to the city and set up his own business. He took a 10,000 year lease on the 4-acre (16,000 m2) brewery at St. James's Gate from the descendants of Sir Mark Rainsford for an annual rent of ?45.

Arthur Guinness was born into the Irish Protestant Guinness family, claimed to descend from the Gaelic Magennis clan of County Down.[1] Recent DNA evidence however suggests descent from the McCartans, another County Down clan, whose spiritual home lay in the townland of Guinness near Ballynahinch, County Down.[2]

Guinness's place and date of birth are the subject of speculation. His gravestone in Oughterard, County Kildare says he died on 23 January 1803, at age 78, indicating that he was born some time in 1724 or very early in 1725. This contradicts the date of 28 September 1725 chosen by the Guinness company in 1991, apparently to end speculation about his birthdate.[3] The place of birth was perhaps his mother's home at Read homestead at Ardclough County Kildare.[4]

In 2009 it was claimed he was born in nearby Celbridge[5] where his parents lived in 1725 and where his father later became land steward for the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr. Arthur Price, and may have brewed beer for the other workers on the estate. In his will, Dr. Price left ?100 each to Arthur and his father in 1752.

In 1761 he married Olivia Whitmore in St. Mary's Church, Dublin, and they had 21 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood. From 1764 they lived at Beaumont House, which he had built on a 51-acre (21 ha) farm, which is now a part of Beaumont Convalescent Home, behind the main part of Beaumont Hospital, between Santry and Raheny in north County Dublin. Beaumont (meaning beautiful hill) was named by him and the later Beaumont parish copied his original name. In his latter years he lived at Mountjoy Square in Dublin, which was then in the process of being built in the style of elegant Georgian architecture. Three of his sons were also brewers, and his other descendants eventually included missionaries, politicians, and authors, including Os Guinness.

He was buried in his mother's family plot at Oughterard, County Kildare in January 1803.?

Arthur Guinness, the founder, doesn?t appear to have had any title at all. Later members of the family did have titles. One was a baronet for example. The first Earl was Edward Cecil Guinness (1847 ? 1925), so 130 years after your Thomas was born. It doesn?t look like the story about your ancestor abandoning his claim to a title can be correct. No-one in the Guinness family seems to have had a title in the 1700s, Earl or otherwise. Arthur?s background seems to have been fairly humble.

Elwyn

Hello Elwyn,

Thank you for your reply. My question was actually more about the old Lords of Iveagh than the brewing family. The old McGinnis/McGuinness/Magennis Lords of Iveagh did historically gain a peerage in exchange for bowing the knee after the defeat of Hugh O'Neill and the Flight of the Earls. 

However, I think together we have answered my question. I just saw, in some other sources, that the old Lords of Iveagh lost their lands and their peerage in 1641. The Thomas McGinnis the cousins say came to America (and started our McGinnis line) was born more than half a century after that - and obviously before the ascendence of the new brewing family.

I personally never assumed that we were descended - anytime recently - from the old Lords of Iveagh. I thought it more likely that we were more humble (and very, very distant) distant relations. Maybe I can get my McGinnis second cousin to take a Y-DNA test and see if we do have any general relation to the  McGinnis sept of County Down. Judging from what you say about the brewers' DNA, I would guess that authentic Magennis/McGinnis DNA is pretty well documented.

Thanks!

Cindy

Actually the Thomas McGinnis you are talking about born circa 1710 is Thomas II. His father was Thomas also born around 1690. He married Margaret Kilpatrick and I believe they were from Down area. I’m also a descendant of this McGinnis line. I’m visiting Ireland in August 2018 and hope to find out more of my familes’ History. I’ve McCarty blood on the other side of the family and believe they were from Dublin area.

Eric Hibler - I will be very interested in hearing if you found any further infomation on Thomas McGinnis.  I believe my lineage traces back to him through  his son William.  I've seen conflicting records of four children and six children attributed to Thomas and Polly Ann McGinnis but I have not found any solid records to support the births of any of these.  I am particularly interested in the history of Thomas II and is passage to America.

Hi.
I too am a descendant of Edward McGinnis, in fact, I have been tracing the family line for several years now, and if you are from Edward, that would mean that we are family. We currently line in Missouri USA. I have a great deal of history on the McGinnis Clan, and how we got from Israel through Spain, to Ireland, to the States. 

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pt/RSVP.aspx?dat=NDgwMzA1MzU7OzAwZ…

You can also go here to follow from 1200AD on up until we migrated to the States;

http://www.angelfire.com/ab9/mcginnis/

The Name "McGinnis" actually has several roots, one of which is "Hebrew." When Israel was sacked by Rome in 70AD, the remaining tribes of Israel fled to Spain to survive. From Spain begins the story of Ir, and their flight to Ireland. The Name "McGinnis" is from two words, 'Magness' and 'Anghusa.' Magness comes from the Hebrew word "Magan" which means "The Shield." Several families of the Judean Tribe adopted "Magan" as their Surname, and while in Spain, this became "Magness." Feel free to message me for more details.

mcginnis360@gmail.com

Hello everyone, 

My name is John McGinnis and I have my family ancestry document that list the Thomas McGinnis that is mentioned in the forst few posts being born in 1710 in county Downs Ireland as one of my relatives. I am going to attach a copy of the McGinnis family ancestry that I have for anyone that would likeo to take a look at it. 

Hello again all - this is David McGinnis (dmcginnis above). I descend from Thomas through his son William (1750-1786).  I thank Ed for posting the updated family history - it is very helpful.  BTW, in my line, Susanna Cleland, the spouse of William (1750-1786) remarried after William's death to Soloman Dill (a minister) in 1791 (Kentucky Ancestors Volume 3, No. 4  April, 1968 ).  

My main reason for posting is to ask any and all direct McGinnis males to do a BigY DNA test with Family Tree DNA (FTDNA).  We have four of us now who descend from Thomas McGinnis who are on two different branches of the tree.  But, we are closely connected to several other McGinnis lines through the DNA test - and one of those lines includes a McGinnis in the Faughanvale parish of Derry whose family has always lived in that area.  I will be visiting him in a month and we will explore the local Derry resources to see if we can find any connections.  The DNA connection data suggests a common ancestor in the 1500-1600s, so it may be difficult to find the link.  Bur, the Y-DNA test can take our McGinnis lineage information further back in time than we currently have in paper records.

If I find anything of interest I will share it with you here.  If you want to contact me directly, my email is david.mcginnis1969@gmail.com.

Cheers,

Dave