THE McNAUGHTONS OF IRELAND After a few pages of introduction you will find my 240 page database of all the references I have found to male McNaughtons/McNaghtens/McNattens etc who were alive pre c.1840 and had a stated link to Ireland. It is in alphabetical order - and approximate chronological order within that. However, scroll up and down through a name to check that an individual doesn’t reappear later. If anyone discovers any more, please use the comments section and I shall update the table over the years. Some females are found at the end. Notes: Mc implies Scottish roots, and is hence more prevalent in Ulster. This database is hence heavily skewed to families in Ulster, and particularly County Antrim. Marriage between Catholics and Protestants was always common. Catholics frequently ‘renounced Papism’ to further themselves in Society – particularly in order to inherit land. Note that when someone was married in an Anglican church, I erroneously put their religion down as C o I (Church of Ireland) when in fact they could have been any religion but were only allowed to marry in the Parish Church (which was the Anglican Established Church). I feel that, in the 18th C, “McNaghten” and particularly “McNatten” imply longer Irish domicile than McNaughton. However, some of the East Antrim coast McNaughtons had been resident there -possibly for hundreds of years – in what was basically a Scotch community, the Glyns. There is some evidence that McNaghton was pronounced McNaten/McNeighton. McNaughton was often recorded in England as MacNorton. Most McNaghten families had changed their name to McNaughton by 1860 (and the Clan chief ones to Macnaghten). The ones below are the Macs, Macks, Mcs, M’s and Ms : Naghtans, Naghtens, Naghtins, Naghtons, Nattans, Nattens, Nattons, Nautons, Nottens, Northens, Nortons, Naughtans, Naughtens, Naughtons, Naightons, Neightons, Naughtins, Knightons, Nuttons and Nachtans. (On many search engines [PRONI, UHF], only the precise spelling is searched for; and Ancestry won’t bring up Mc Norton in a search for McNorton!) Some are transcribed as McNangthon, McNutton and even just plain Nafton! Often, the best way to search is for M*cN**t*n. Don’t forget to check for M’Naghtens etc. (often by typing MNaghten). Adobe Acrobat requires exact spellings. Websites I have checked include: https://familysearch.org www.ancestry.co.uk www.findmypast.co.uk http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&Surname=McNaughton&UserID= http://www.proni.gov.uk/ (Public Records Office, Northern Ireland) http://www.irishgenealogy.ie https://rootsireland.ie http://www.ancestryireland.com (Ulster Historical Foundation) http://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/105 www.ballymoneyancestry.com www. colerainefhs.org.uk http://www.billmacafee.com/index.htm http://www.failteromhat.com/ http://www.eneclann.ie/acatalog/Archive_CD_Books_Ireland.html http://www.ballymoneyancestry.com/ [email protected] In the table below are basically the male McNaughtons known to have been born in Ireland pre 1840. (Sorry the numbering is so crazy) It won’t actually help you get any further back than the records you have (though it might have done!!) but it will alert you to just how many individuals with the same name were about at the same time. It will help avoid jumping to conclusions. There are evidently mistakes in here (and not all are my own.)The sources are rarely stated and you’ll have to use websites to find the actual record, but at least you can see what is and what isn’t out there. Any names of spouses and parents, linking of entries etc. etc. that anyone can add, would be very much appreciated. I am slowly building Family Trees for various McNaughton families on Ancestry.com: Davis/McNaughton/MacNorton/Tracy/Treacy/Stacey/Pain (My one- with several Napoleonic British soldiers in it if you click on Margaret McNaughton’s siblings) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/69604131/family McNaghten of Ballyreagh and Liverpool Family Tree (Minor gentry of the Cloghs area) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/79370546/family McNaghten of Coleraine, Ballyboggy and Beardiville Family Tree (A landed and influential family including the Clan Chiefs but ignore pre 1600 info since it is probably faulty. The Atticur/Kiltimurry branch is yet to be added) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/78153455/family McNaughtens of Ballyrashane Family Tree. (A humble Presbyterian family from the Coleraine and Ballymoney area with the same name as their landlords at Ballyboggy) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/79952754/family McNaughtons of Cloughs, Layde & Cushendall Family Tree (Predominantly Catholic farmers of the Glyns, but beware that some of the landed Ballyboggy family lived there too). http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/77849459/family McNaughton's of Dungannon Family Tree (farmers at Mullycrunnet especially) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/81501815/family Also look at the Glenravel Historical Society Tree for all the poor Catholic McNaughtons of the Clogh and Skerry area http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/19522790/family Any information on the ones in bold would be very much appreciated. (The reason the whole table came about is that I was trying to find the ancestry of my 5 X Gt grandmother Margaret McNaughton (ref no.85 – now listed immediately after her brother Bartholomew)) born Nr BallyCastle, Antrim c.1783. Even after all of this, I still can’t decide whether she was the daughter of a visiting soldier, from an Antrim blacksmith’s family or from an illegitimate line of the local gentry !! I can however now presume that she was the sister of a soldier Bartholomew McNaughton/McNaghten (ref no.76) born in BallyMoney in 1785. He married Ann in Ealing (London) in 1807 and had Sarah in 1808 and George in 1818 BUT, in June 1809 the regiment says his wife was Mary who had three children with her at the time!! I have found no trace of Bartholomew after his discharge in 1821 and I think he may have started another family elsewhere (probably Ireland – but possibly Scotland or even Canada [he’s on a ship there in 1827]!) Hence any information on early 19thC Bartholomew McNaughton’s round the world would be fantastic. Also, any Mcnaughtons etc spotted in the newly released Roman Catholic registers, which are not transcribed, would be much appreciated. http://registers.nli.ie/ Many Thanks Jon Jon.lee63 AT googlemail.com WHEN A MCNAUGHTON FAMILY MIGHT HAVE ARRIVED IN IRELAND The following is basically a series of paragraphs about Scots Irish migration cut and pasted from articles and books as I tought myself about Irish History and when McNaughtons might have come to certain areas. It was an aide-memoir and never intended for publication. Hence it is plagerised and references are often not given. I do apologise to the authors and hope that they forgive its use in this document which is purely for family research. You may be lucky and find information that points to when your McNaughtons are likely to have first arrived in Ireland – but don’t get your hopes up! The Norman invasion of the late 12th century marked the beginning of more than 700 years of direct English and, later, British involvement in Ireland. In 1177, Prince John Lackland was made Lord of Ireland by his father Henry II of England at the Council of Oxford.[Wiki] From these early times, Scotts were regularly employed as mercenaries (Gallowglass service) in Ireland and some may have settled there. “The first 160 Gallowglass, who appear to have been from Clan MacDoughall arrived in Ireland in 1259AD as part of Dougall MacSorley’s (King of the Hebrides) daughters dowry in her marriage to Aedh O’Connor, the then King of Connaught. The Gallowglass fought like the Normans protected in mail coats and iron helmets. But they were notable with their characteristic two handed axes and Claymores (a large 2 handed sword). This trickle of warriors became a flood as many mercenary Gallowglass Clans either sought new lords after backing the losing side in the Scottish wars of Independence or just somewhere to ply their trade, and given the battle against the encroaching Normans or the constant inter-Clan warfare there was always a demand for the services in Ireland. Many Clans like the McCabe’s and MacSweeney’s transplanted completely to Ireland. The MacSweeney’s vacated their homeland around Castle Swin on the Argyll peninsula in Scotland for life in the service of the O’Donnell’s in Donegal. Others remained seasonal travellers appearing in the spring and summer offering their services to the highest bidder (everybody appears to have decided that making war in autumn and winter in Ireland was a bad idea). While others like the MacDonald’s/MacDonnell’s’ and MacNeill’s established territories in County Antrim in the northeast of Ireland to complement their lands in Scotland (the MacNeill’s appear to have been the new occupants of Swin Castle vacated by the MacSweeney’s). County Antrim provided the shortest crossing point between Scotland and Ireland and the presence of Scottish Clans there may have been an attempt to monopolise this lucrative trade”. (http://www.irishorigenes.com/content/gallowglass-do-you-belong-warrior-clan) John Mor MacDonnell, Lord of the Isles (an idependant principality of Scotland - its domain including the islands of Islay, Jura, and Rathlin, and part or all of the peninsula of Kintyre), settled in the Glens of Antrim in 1399 and formed a huge estate from Coleraine to Larne. This was headed by the Earl of Antrim. In about 1500, MacDonalds of the Isles found their rebelliousness against the Scottish government had made Scotland too hot for them.