John Patrick and Bernard Mc Grane

Both John Patrick and Bernard Mc Grane, Ballinacarrick, Co Donegal, (sons of Charlie + Mary Anne Mc Grane) died quite young. John was 22 years old and Bernard was 20 years old.

Hugh Behan tells me that the family always said that both died from complications of Appendicitis while in actual fact they had died as a result of contracting Tuberculosis or TB. This was a common but lethal disease in those days. It carried a lot of stigma. TB was closely associated with poverty: although all ranks of society got the disease, the poor were at greatest risk, both because they were in greater contact with other sufferers (because of overcrowding at home, at work, travelling and socialising), and because their immune system was weakened due to poor nutrition.

This then is the reason for the family lie, the shame of TB must have been very hard for this proud family.

(c) Noeleen Leahy

Charlie Mc Grane and Mary Molloy

Charlie Mc Grane (son of Charlie + Mary Anne Mc Grane) moved to Strabane from Ballinacarrick with his brother Jim and both became business men. Jim had a pub and Charlie had a shop.

Family folklore tells that both brothers opened a shop and pub, the Bridge End Bar, on the Melmount side of Strabane bridge on Bridge Street. Charlie, though had a little too much liking for alcohol! Eventually Jim walked away from the partnership and openend his own bar on the Strabane side of the bridge in the town.

Charlie married Mary Molloy from Newry, who taught Home Economics in the Technical College in Strabane.

(c) Kenneth Allen

Mary turned Charlie's life around - he quit drinking and went on to be quite a respectable citizen even becoming a member of Strabane Town Council.

Rumour has it that Mary took all the Mc Grane money when Charlie died in 1963. Mary moved to Dublin where she met and married a Garda Mc Dermott. This marriage did not last long.

When Mary died in 1996 she was buried with Charlie in St Mary's graveyard, Melmount, Strabane. She bequeathed £1000 to Sean Mc Grane, Jim's son, in her will. Sean is at odds to understand why, perhaps, he thinks, it was to make up for the way Jim had been treated all those years ago?

Above as told to Noeleen by Sean Mc Grane and Hugh Behan.

Patrick Doran and Annie Mc Grane

The following information contributed by Desmond Doran....

Annabella Mc Grane was born in 1894 in Ballinacarrick, Ballintra, Co Donegal (daughter of Charles + Mary Anne Mc Grane)

Patrick Doran born January 17^th 1880 died November 12^th 1957 aged 77

Master baker and proprietor of Doran’s Bakery, Meetinghouse Street, Strabane

Patrick Doran married Annabella Mc Grane, at St Mary’s RC Church, Melmount, Strabane on July 31^st 1922. 

Patrick was 42 when he married, Annie was 27. They went on honeymoon to the Isle of Man where several formal portraits of the occasion were taken. Desmond and Patricia Doran have the individual portraits hanging in their dining room. These will one day pass to their son, Brendan Patrick Doran to hang in his dining room.

Source: Desmond Doran

Annie’s father was Charles Mc Grane and her mother was Mary Ann Travers. Charles was a farmer by profession, and as noted on Annie’s birth certificate, could not write. He registered her birth with a witnessed “x”

Patrick and Annie had seven children: Peter Joseph 1923, Patrick Gerald Harley 1925, Mary Monica 1926, John James Charles 1929, Daniel Brendan 1931, Bridget Patricia 1934, Hugh Desmond Joseph 1938.

Patrick’s sister, Bridget never married and lived with Patrick + Annie all her life until she died in 1961. Like her brother, Aunty Bee was well educated and well travelled. They both had travelled extensively in Europe prior to Patrick’s marriage to Annie. Bridget had a twin sister, Margaret Mary Doran. They were born on April 26^th 1882. Margaret  married Edward O Hagan in Murlog, Januray 8^th 1912.

Patrick’s father was Peter Doran and he was born in 1845 in Upper Alt, Castlefin, Co Donegal. He died July 7^th 1909 aged 64. 

Peter was married to Mary Mc Gillian September 27^th 1867 in Strabane. Mary could not write and her “x” is witnessed as are the “x’s” of the two witnesses Joseph Cassidy and Anne Doherty. On the marriage certificate Peter’s father is listed as Peter, “a dealer” and Mary’s father is listed as Daniel Mc Gillian, also a “dealer”. Both Peter and Mary were 23 when they married. Peter’s occupation is listed as baker and Mary as a dressmaker.

Peter and Mary had seven children, Patrick being one of them.

Mary Tulvan

The following information contributed by Lawrence Smyth.....

Mary Tulvan was a foundling, abandoned and found at the door of a house in August 1875. She was called Tully, probably after a hill in the area - Tulnavin. Lawrence thinks this is Tullynavin near Redcastle, Moville and not far from Drung. Patrick (Smyth) thinks the name came from a ship that left from Derry City within days.

Mary Tulvan's birth certificate registers her as Mary Tully, no father, no mother and found at door as place of birth. Catherine Barr is recorded as the informant "first having charge of the child Tulnavin" 24th September 1975.

Source: Lawrence Smyth

Lawrence believes Mary was reared by a Hamilton family and one of this family lived in Canada; he came home last when he was 94 - maybe 25 years ago (approx 1987). He always came to visit us when he was in Ireland. His name was Pat and he was tall and ramrod straight! Mary Tully was very friendly with Bridgid Hamilton.

Lawrence says,
"I knew Granny very well and was with her when she died. She was, in my opinion, a very intelligent woman of light stature and she always wore one of those calico aprons. She died in Paisley in 1960, as far as I can remember, at the age of 85. She was strict but kind. She taught Daniel to write a little. Dan was some operator: he was an imposing figure and could hold people's attention just by standing there; he worked mostly as a foreman but always had one of his sons with him to take care of the office work."

Mary married Daniel Smyth on 4th September 1903 in Ireland.

John Hargan

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.....

John Hargan, father of Mary Anne Watson,  was born about 1800. The Family Search of the Civil Registrations Index 1845 - 1958 shows a John Hargan recorded in 1865 as dying in Londonderry aged 65. Approx birth 1800. Londonderry city would not necessarily be the actual place of death. Londonderry, being the biggest city/town near Claudy, is where it was recorded.

He would have been 35 years old when Mary Anne was born.

Recorded as being a farmer in Lyng (now Ling), in the parish of Cumber Upper Co Derry (see map) at time of wedding of Mary Anne to James Watson 9th March 1853.

Married in Uniting church of England and Ireland.

William Watson

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.....

William Watson, father of James Watson, was born about 1803 in Lear, Claudy Co Derry? He died about 1873 at Londonderry.

William Watson was recorded in Freeholders Records held by PRONI as a freeholder of Lear. These records were not dated but are all pre 1840. It is presumed he is James's Father. His yearly value was 10 pounds sterling. He is confirmed as the father of James in the wedding certificate of James and Mary Anne of 9th March 1853.

Further correspondence on the net revealed that there was a description of a family the 'Watsons of Learmount'. They must have been in the area for some generations as they were, of course, planters from England or Scotland.
A John Watson of Canada, looking for his ancestry, uncovered a newspaper article about an Alex Watson, police Officer in Newfoundland Canada who had died in the early 1900s who was the longest serving PC. This Alexander was born in 1833. This article stated he had a brother called Robert. Perhaps James who was also born c 1833 was from the same family as he was from Lear which is in Learmount.

A death cert of a William Watson recorded in Civil Reg Indexes on the Family Search Website as follows:
Born c 1803, died 1873, recorded in Londonderry.

James Watson + Mary Ann Hargan

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.....

James Watson was born about 1831 in Lear, Claudy Co Derry. It is believed he died about 1886 in Strabane.

Mary Anne Hargan was born in 1835 in Co Derry. She died in 1912 in Strabane. 

Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan) was she was recorded on the 1911 census when she was present at 16 Bridge St Strabane, living with Maria Millar and family, and described as ‘grandmother’. Maria’s father is recorded as being James Watson of Lear, a townland of the Learmount Parish near Claudy Co Derry, as recorded on the wedding certificate of Joseph and Maria in 1876. 

Alan and Tina wanted to know where Mary Anne was in the 1901 census.

Some research shows that there was a Mary Anne Watson, a widower, living on her own at 5 Derryraghan, The Sandholes, Cookstown ,Co Tyrone. She was 66 years old which fits in with the 1911 census age data. She is recorded as being born in Co Tyrone. The Mary Anne Watson in our family was born in Co Derry. However, when you study the actual 1901 record two things are noted - She could not write, only read. Furthermore the form was filled in by the Enumerator, a Constable John Flanagan. She signed it by making her mark. It is then possible that he had made an error of judgment and perhaps assumed and recorded her as being born in Co Tyrone. However whether this is her or not, there is no doubt that she was present at 16 Bridge St Strabane in 1911 and was 76 years old.

A ‘Mary Ann Watson’ is recorded as dying in Strabane in 1912 and registered between April - June 1912. (Source: Civil Registrations Indexes, dig folder 4201709 Family search website). It is assumed that this is the correct Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan).

We do not have an exact date of Maria’s death. 

Maria Watson’s father was recorded on the wedding certificate was James Watson, a farmer of Lear Co Derry.

A further search has revealed that a James Watson married a Mary Anne Hargan on the 9^th March 1853 at Cumber Upper Church of Ireland Co Derry. (source Emerald Ancestors ) Cumber Upper is a parish partly in barony of Strabane but chiefly in Tirkeeran, containing Claudy. 

(c) Kenneth Allen

It is believed that this ‘James Watson’ is Maria’s father and that Hargan is the maiden name of Mary Anne Watson. Note:- the marriage was conducted in the Uniting Church of England and Ireland. This subsequently, after the Irish Church Act of 1869, became the Church of Ireland. This marriage was recorded in the Civil Registrations Indexes (Source Family Search website, Ireland Marriages, index project M70208-7 Origin Ireland-VR film no 101348). 

There is another entry in the Indexes of the death of a James Watson recorded in Strabane between January and March 1886. He was recorded as 55 years old. His birth date would have been approximately 1831. Could this to be THE James Watson, married to Mary Anne Hargan?

However if Mary Anne Watson (nee Hargan) was living at Sandholes, Cookstown it would suggest that James Watson died there, prior to 1901. It could be that Mary Anne Watson was living in the Strabane to Claudy area in 1901 but not showing on the census as such - Reason unknown.

End note: The Millers, Watsons and Hargans may have originally been planted from England. Further genealogy research is required!!......

Robert James Millar and Home Rule

In September 1911 the people of Ireland were asked to sign the Ulster Covenant, which was a protest against a proposed Dublin and ‘home rule’. The signatories wanted a continued British rule from London. This was signed by most protestants.

Robert James Miller did sign it on September 28th 1912 as seen below and here:

Source

Just four years later Robert Millar would marry a Catholic girl, Bridget Mc Grane, and his relationship with his family and the Protestant community would be strained for many years.

Find more information about the Covenant here

Sarah Mc Grane and Jim Behan

The following information is contributed by Fr Hugh Behan.......

SARAH BEHAN, (daughter of Charles + Mary Anne Mc Grane) born October 31, 1906. Her birth was never registered so it was guessed from her baptismal record!. Married Garda  JAMES FRANCIS BEHAN of TINAHELY, Co Wicklow who was stationed in Raphoe, Co Donegal. 

Sarah took care of her mother, in Bridge End, Strabane when the family moved from the home farm in BALLINACARRICK, BALLINTRA Co Donegal when she was a teenager (1922 I am guessing). She was also the housekeeper and cook and worked in the bar.

Jim Behan was helping his own mother out financially as she was on her own physically. 

Jim and Sarah married JUNE 21, 1938 in Melmount, the family parish in Strabane. They moved to Culdaff, co Donegal where Jim was the local Garda. 

Culdaff beach - Source

Hugh Francis was born OCTOBER 3, 1939, James Patrick ( Seamus)  was born MARCH 6, 1941. Jim was promoted to Sergeant and they moved to Cappawhite, Co Tipperary on  JANUARY 8, 1952. Hugh Francis and Seamus went to school in Rockwell College that September.

Jim  took early retirement when Sarah's brother, Hugh, had a heart attack and they moved back to Lifford in 1963. They lived over the shop (The Tyrconnell Stores) but built a home beside the shop in 1969 as it was not healthy for them living in such cramped space.The shop today acts as the Ulster Bank.

(c) Kenneth Allen

Hugh Francis was ordained on June 6, 1964 for the diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri. Seamus became an accountant ( Articled Clerk) after graduating from UCD with a BA in Business. 

SARAH died October 4, 1994. JIM died  February 9, 1995. 

Jim's Garda reg no was 7171 and he wore a cap size 7 and 1/8th

Robert James Millar + Bridget Mc Grane

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.......

Robert James Millar (born 1886, Strabane) was married to Bridget McGrane (daughter of Charles + Mary Anne Mc Grane, born c 1888 in Ballinacarrick, Ballintra, Co Donegal).

Bridget was from Ballintra in Co Donegal. She had moved to Strabane to work in her brother's, Jim and Charles, shop. Family lore says that Bridget went to America where she met a man. On a visit back home to tell her parents, she met Robert Millar.

Robert married Bridget McGrane at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Melmount, Strabane in 1915. Robert James Millar was a Presbyterian but became a Roman Catholic to marry Bridget.

They lived at 16 Bridge St Strabane, the house that his father Joseph and mother Maria had moved to between 1901 and 1911.

In 1938 a fire destroyed the First Presbyterian church in Townsend Street. Robert volunteered himself to help fight the fire. The Presbyterians told him he was not needed!

The act of marrying a Catholic meant Robert's relationsip with the rest of his family would be strained for years to come.

Joseph Millar + Maria Watson

The following information contributed by Alan + Tina Bennet.......

Joseph Millar was born c 1854 and died between 1901 and 1911 (Source-Ireland Censuses).

It should be noted that Millar was often spelt Miller.

Joseph and Maria were married in Banagher Presbyterian church on the 8^th August 1876. (Source Emerald Ancestors record 453318). 

Banagher church is situated west of Feeny at the corner of Ballyhanedin and Learmouth Rd (B74). The church still stands. An  photograph can be seen at:  http://www.geograph.ie/photo/595314

(c) Kenneth Allen

 

Joseph and Maria were both Presbyterians and on their marriage certificate they were recorded as follows:

Joseph Miller, a bachelor, a farmer of Lettermuck. His father was also Joseph and recorded as a farmer, presumably also at Lettermuck.Lettermuck is a townland of Claudy, Upper Cumber. 

(This townland is most famous at this time for a papermill, on the River Faughan, owned by the Mathews family. The fame came not from making paper but rather the disappearance of an excise man, James Lampen, sent to obtain the paper excise tax in 1833. His body was not found and the Mathews brothers were imprisoned for the suspected murder. They were released some months later as the main witness had also disappeared and no body was discovered. Their business soon collapsed and their off spring ended up in New South Wales Australia.

Post script: A body was uncovered in the bog of Lettermuck in 1903 ‘dressed in 70 year old clothes’. This was accepted as being James Lampen’s body.)

In Maria’s wedding certificate her address was given as Lear. This is a townland of Learmount. This townland was also near Claudy. Learmount Rd, both old and new, exists to this day. Marias’s father was James Watson of Lear. He was a farmer.

The wedding was ‘licenced’ by W Rogers, and witnessed by John and William Galbraith. 

Joseph and Maria had 6 children (source: Censuses of 1901 and 1911):

(Ma)Tilda Miller born c 1884

Robert James Miller born c 1886

Joseph Miller born c 1888

William John Miller born c 1892

Margaret Miller born c 1895

Alexander Miller born c 1898

In the 1901 census, the family lived at 10 Townsend St Strabane. This was close to the original 1^St Presbyterian church situated on Townsend St which backed onto the River Mourne. Joseph (47) was recorded as a ’Carter’ born in Co Tyrone. Maria (44) was a ‘housekeeper’ born in Co Derry. Tilda (Matilda) aged 17, was a flax spinner, and Robert James was a ‘general labourer’. He was 15 years old. The younger off spring were recorded as ‘scholars’ except 3 year old Alexander. All children were recorded as being born in Co Tyrone. 

In the 1911 census the Miller family, now recorded as Millar in both censuses, had moved to 16 Bridge St., Strabane (the Bridgend). Joseph died in 1907 in Strabane, registered between January and March in the Civil Registration Indexes. (source: Family Search website)

In the 1911 census Robert James, now 24, is recorded as a ‘general labourer’, and William Millar, his brother, now 20 years old, is a ‘shop assistant’. Maria was now, of course, the head of the family. Maria’s mother Mary Anne Watson is present in the house. She is 76 years old. They have 5 boarders in the house. It was common in those days to let out rooms.

Interestingly (Ma)Tilda , Robert’s older sister, wasn’t present in the house at the time of the 1911 census. She may have been in another house? There was no trace of a Matilda Millar found in Ireland at this time. Alternatively she could have moved out of Ireland, died or married and be in another surname? She would have been approximately 27 years old. 

Mary Catherine Mc Grane + Hugh Shine, Boston

The following information via Fr Hugh Behan........

Mary Catherine Mc Grane was a daughter of Charles + Mary Anne Mc Grane, born 1886. As a young woman she went to America and married Hugh Shine. They had eight children (Charles,Hugh,John / Jack,Francis William (Bill), Mary, Dorothy, Eileen, and Virginia) and lived in the Boston area.

Sarah Mc Grane (Behan) stayed in touch with Mary Catherine Shine. Sarah never told her mother that Mary died, so they kept up a pretense about that. Her mother, Mary (Travers) had pined for her as she had a sense of loss and found it very difficult to see Mary Catherine head off to America.

Many years later in 1964, Sarah had the same difficulties as she saw her son Hugh (Behan) head off to his ministry in America.

Charles Mc Grane and Mary Ann Travers, Ballinacarrick

The following information via Desmond Doran and Elizabeth Mc Grane.....

Charles Mc Grane, b1865, married Mary Ann Travers, b1869,  from Laghey Barr, Co Donegal.

Grandad Mc Grane Source: Desmond Doran

Granny Mc Grane Source: Desmond Doran

They built a two roomed thatched cottage at Ballinacarrick, Ballintra, Co Donegal. The cottage cost £4 and 10 shillings to build. The cottage had one room, a kitchen, and a loft. The children all slept in the loft, accessed via a ladder.

The 1911 census returns that the farm had four outbuildings - one stable, one cow house, onefowl house and a barn.

The roof was slated about 1960 and a small scullery added. Electricity was installed in 1964 retiring the oil lamps and candles.

Potatoes, onion, carrot, cabbage and lettuce along with dairy cows were the mainstay of the farm.

Charles' great grandson, Edward Mc Grane still farms the land at Ballinacarrick. Edward's mother Eilish, still lives at Ballinacarrick.

There are still many Mc Granes and Travers in Ballintra.

Ballinacarrick means Rock Town. Laghey Barr is a mountain (?)