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Douglas families in Ireland

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Douglas families in Ireland

Researching members of the Douglas family in Ireland is notoriously difficult.  So many records have been destroyed, and the families often moved on to America, or elsewhere.

This group is for those tracing their ancestors in Ireland.

Members: 46
Latest Activity: Nov 4

Why did Scots use Ireland as a stepping stone to emigrate to America?

Scots emigrated to America from Ireland primarily due to a combination of factors:

1. Economic Hardships: Many Scots faced poverty and limited economic opportunities in Ireland, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries. The decline of traditional industries and agricultural challenges pushed them to seek better prospects in America.

2. Religious Persecution: Some Scots, especially Presbyterians, faced discrimination and persecution in Ireland. Seeking religious freedom, they migrated to America where they hoped to practice their faith without oppression.

3. Land Displacement: The Highland Clearances in Scotland led to many Scots being displaced from their lands. This forced migration contributed to their movement to Ireland and subsequently to America.

4. Famine: The Great Famine in the mid-19th century prompted many to leave Ireland altogether in search of food and stability, leading some Scots to migrate to America.

5. Family and Community Ties: Established Scottish communities in America often encouraged relatives and friends to join them, creating a network of support for new immigrants.

6. Adventure and Opportunity: The promise of land, work, and a new life attracted many Scots, who were drawn by the idea of the American Dream.

These factors combined to create a significant wave of Scottish emigration from Ireland to America, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Discussion Forum

Tulach Dubhghlaise, Mound of the Dark Stream

Started by William Douglas Apr 19, 2022. 0 Replies

Here, in Scotland, we have been enjoying a celebrity pilgrimage (You…Continue

Tags: Columba, St, Iona, Donegal, Dubhghlaise

A history of the Douglas family whose Ulster roots are from Lurgan, Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland and surrounding Townlands

Started by William Douglas. Last reply by William Douglas Apr 17, 2022. 15 Replies

Two or three years ago, I was given a folder of files made up of the…Continue

Tags: Armagh, Lurgan, Ireland

william douglas 1804 1874

Started by mary ethelwood Oct 7, 2021. 0 Replies

lived in carrick on shannon prison turnkey lived 90 main street married ann tolen//chjldren william/ elen robert ann ester/ann married polceman 1869 michael deerans from galwayContinue

Charles Douglas of Dervock

Started by Richard William Maginis Douglas. Last reply by Richard William Maginis Douglas Feb 5, 2021. 11 Replies

At a dead end despite 20 years research on my 3rd G-Grandfather Rev. Charles Douglas (1743-1833) of Dervock, Co. Antrim, whose father is indicated to be a James Douglas of Dervock by the University…Continue

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Comment by William Douglas on November 4, 2024 at 12:45

It is hard work searching here, but it might prove useful.

Let us know of any successes!

Catholic Parish registers:

https://registers.nli.ie/?locale=en 

Comment by William Douglas on August 3, 2024 at 10:04
Comment by William Douglas on May 13, 2022 at 21:24

I know a couple of researchers are looking for family connections in Ballynahinch.

Several are listed here:  
http://www.douglashistory.co.uk/history/Lists/Douglas_Co_Down.htm 

Comment by William Douglas on March 31, 2021 at 12:11

Does anyone connect to this family?  In particular, Samuel?

There are several places called Lissan in Co Tyrone. One is a townland in Drumragh parish. There are no Douglas households in it in Griffiths Valuation (1859) or in the 1901 census, so perhaps it's not the one your family came from. Then there is a parish called Lissan which also has a townland of Lissan within it. The only Douglas household in Lissan parish in Griffiths is that of a Samuel Douglas who, in 1858 was renting a house, offices (outbuildings), a garden and 5 acres of land (plot 39 on Griffiths) in Dunmore townland. The property today is to the east of the B162 Feegarron Rd, just north of Dunmore Lane. No Douglas household in Dunmore in 1901, so presumably the family had gone by then.
 
There’s a birth for a John Charles Douglas registered Apr – Jun 1886 Cookstown, Volume 1, page 489, which is the only John Douglas b in the 1880s in the Lissan parish area that I can see in the Irish civil registration indexes.

Comment by William Douglas on January 10, 2021 at 11:10

George Edward Douglas, born in Ireland, was the Master of St Marylebone Workhouse, Northumberland St, St Marylebone, London in 1881. He died 24th June 1900 (possibly aged 68).

His wife Ann Elizabeth, bc 1838 in Oxford, was Matron Of The Workhouse. She died April 21st 1898, aged 58 years.

There were 1532 residents in the workhouse at the time of the 1881 census. George and Ann were Master and Matron for 32 years. During this period, and particularly following the Metropolitan Houseless Poor Acts of 1864 and 1865, significant improvements were made to the workhouse.

It is perhaps significant that, unlike many masters of the time who were recruited from the harsh worlds of the army or the prisons, Douglas had worked his way up through the posts of storekeeper and master’s clerk in the institution before this promotion. With the appointment of an enlightened master, Marylebone workhouse began to lose a longstanding reputation for harsh discipline and even savagery.

I have several men named George Edward Douglas, all about this time.  Indeed, George had a son also named George Edward Douglas.

Does anyone have him in their tree?

Comment by William Douglas on November 16, 2020 at 19:18

This portrait is held in the National Gallery of Ireland where it is cataloged as 'Reverend Archibald Douglas, Father of Emily Douglas, Viscountess Russborough'.

I suggest that Rev. Archibald Douglas is the brother of Emily, Countess of Milltown and not as described.  They were the children of Archibald Douglas, of Darnock, by his wife Mary Crosbie, dau. of Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th Bt., of Crosbie Park, co. Wicklow.
Archibald married Mary Elizabeth Crosbie, daughter of Sir Paul Crosbie (4th Bt),  who died in November 1773
Rev. Archibald Edward (Archy) Douglas, of Carnalloway and Outragh, was:Rector at Castle Coote, County Cavan, Ireland, Rector of Drumgoon, Ireland and Chaplain to HE Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Sir Paul Crosbie, 4th Bart, was the man whose mechanical mind is credited with inspiring his younger son Richard to become Ireland's first baloonist. On 21st December 1750, he married Mary Daniel, daughter of Edward Daniell (1687 - 1746) of Freadsom, Cheshire, and sister of John Daniell, last owner of Daresbury Hall. Mary died in Bath. Sir Paul died in November 1773, leaving two sons, Sir Edward Crosbie, 5th Bart, and Richard [the balloonist], and three daughters, Mary who married Archibald Douglas of Darnock [a cousin of the Marquess of Queensbury], Dorothea who married M. Bossier and Henrietta who married John Walsh Esq and died, aged 70, on 14th March 1828. (She left a son, Henry Walsh, who died aged 60 on Sep 27 1847).


Writing 44 years after infamous duel in 1798 between Sir Edward Crosbie and ‘Young Burton’, son of William Henry Burton of Burton Hall, MP for Carlow from 1769-1800 and the most influential man in the county. Sir Edward Crosbie’s nephew, the Rev Archibald Douglas gave an account of the duel’s immediate aftermath which some hold to be ‘unlikely and, in part, manifestly untrue’. His version read: ‘After an exchange of shots, Mr Burton came forward and said: ‘Sir Edward, I was in the wrong and ask your pardon’. When Mr Burton [later] heard that Sir Edward had been hung during the night before by Irish Light [?] at Carlow, he said, well you have murdered the best and most honourable man in the county, he became quickly excited and took up a small pistol, went to the back of the house to a small plantation and shot himself. His duel with Sir Edward Crosbie was not political as both were moderate and high [?] of the school of Flood and Grattan’.

Comment by William Douglas on October 4, 2020 at 19:55

Re the Odin:

The Crimean War was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856, as you will know. The war started in the Balkans in July 1853, when Russian troops occupied Wallachia and Moldavia (modern Romania) which led to Turkey declaring war supported by Britain and France. The Ottoman and Russian armies first faced each other across the Danube and British and French forces joined them at the Black Sea port of Varna. The Russian siege of Silistra formed the focus of the campaign until the Russians withdrew in the face of mounting pressure from other European states including Austria and Prussia. The campaign then shifted to the Crimea. 

I think that the supply chain for the troops on the Crimean peninsular involved shipping war provisions from Varna and other ports, presumable escorted by the Royal Navy.

Varna was the main base for the British and French Army on the western side of the Black Sea. The conditions were bad and many died from cholera and dysentery.

Comment by Richard William Maginis Douglas on October 4, 2020 at 19:12

Think there is a mistake on HMS Odin in the Med for the Crimean War; RN references to it in the War place it in the Balkans 1854-55. By the way, Bessie Henrietta Douglas was born 12 Oct 1852, William Sholto Douglas was born 18 Dec 1854 (d. Jul 1855), Adalaide Charlotte Douglas was born 30 Jan 1856, Mary Louisa Douglas was born 1858, Margaret Caroline Douglas was born 1860 all in Co Antrim, Ireland. Maud Isabel Gore Douglas was born 1869, daughter of 2nd marriage. First wife died 1865. Firm birth dates are from the church records in Bushmills.

Comment by William Douglas on October 4, 2020 at 10:32

Not answering your question, Richard, but I note:

Lieutenant William Grant Douglas, 'on the books' from 1st August 1853, served as a Lieutenant on Odin, a 16 gun Paddle-Wheel Steam Frigate in the Mediterreanean at the time of the Crimean War.

I assume this is the same William Grant Douglas as was on Victoria and Albert steam-yacht, Capt Lord Adolphus FitzClarence. The V&A was the Royal Yacht, and FitzClarence was the illegitimate child of Prince William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV) and his mistress, Dorothy Jordan.

His cousin, Rear Admiral Hon George Henry Douglas, son of George Sholto (17th Earl of Morton) Douglas was also on the V&A, in 1844. I think he might have been a lowly Lieutenant at the time.

Comment by Richard William Maginis Douglas on October 3, 2020 at 19:47

His son, William Grant Douglas, RN, has always been a mystery to me in that many researchers mistake him as a son of my Rev. Charles Douglas due to the time in the Royal Navy that he lived in Portballintrae (based on all five of his children by his first wife being born there in 1852-1860) and went to the same Bushmills church as my family. For most of that time his father was in Co Tyrone and Portballintrae seems to me a backwater compared to his family. Just wondering.

 

Members (46)

 
 
 

Making conections

The more information you can give about the people you mention, the more chance there is of someone else connecting with your family.

Dates and places of births, deaths and marriages all help to place families.

Professions also help.

'My great-grandmother mother was a Douglas from Montrose' does not give many clues to follow up! But a bit of flesh on the bones makes further research possible. But if we are told who she married, what his profession was and where the children were baptised, then we can get to work.

Maybe it is time to update the information in your profile?


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