Mike first contacted Ireland Reaching Out in July 2023. He wanted to connect with a volunteer in Raphoe, County Donegal. He is descended from the Dills of Springfield with ties to the Campbells, Presbyterians.
Connection story written by local volunteer, Marion in County Donegal
Mike Kinghan is based in UK-West Midlands. While researching Dill family connection our volunteer Marion was pleased to discover this was a family which has a wealth of historical detail recorded. Contact was made with Jim Dill a local descendant of the Dill line. We relaxed over tea while he showed us family documentation and charts. He had historic detail on the Dills, including links to American emigrants, here viewing detail on Field Marshall Sir John Greer Dill, an intermediary between Roosevelt and Churchill and who was given the honour of an equestrian memorial in Arlington Cemetery.
Mike with Jim and Margaret Dill and with Marion
Studying the in-depth Dill family chart
The Dill family had moved around, Marion and Mike spent time day exploring family locations in the area. We started our day in Glenalla, the exact location name of Dills Byre where recorded living has survived but it is now a forest:
The family were strongly associated with Springfield House in Fanad where after living in various locations they moved to in 1795, a substantive dwelling which no longer exists. Our daytrip took us to the bottom of Fanad, in the locality of the lighthouse. the family who came from Scotland at the time of the Plantation of Ulster and were initially recorded in Ireland at living in Tullynadall (Tullindale) in the 1663 Hearth Tax Rolls. They also had history of living around Magheradrumman Lake, a beautiful location near Fanad lighthouse.
We also visited the Fanad, Ballymagowan location where Campbell relations had lived in the past, beautifully situated, unfortunately not able to verify the family story of sheltering a priest. Mike hopes to return next year.