Trying to find a connection between two McMichaels

rmacmich

Short version: I'm trying to figure out how two McMichaels that were living together in Philadelphia in 1850 are related, but am having trouble. I'm looking to Ireland for help.

Details:

* In 1850, Walter McMichael and his family were living in the same house in Philadelphia as William McMichael and his family. (To make things nice and confusing, both also had sons named William, both born in 1844.)

* I was able to find William in the 1851 Irish census - much of his family (as "McMichall") was still in Ireland at this point, but based on the people that were listed as having left the country matched the members of his family in the 1850 census, I feel comfortable that this is him. He came from County Antrim, Kilconway Barony, Ahoghill (or maybe Craigs?) Parish, Craigs Townland. Here's a cut-and-paste of what's there since I'm not allowed to post URLs:

93. SARAH McMICHALL, 23 (Head) [Unmarried] - LINEN WEAVER (Antrim) (R/W)
ISABELLA McMICHALL, 17 (Sister) [Unmarried] - LINEN WEAVER (Antrim) (R/W)
MARTHA McMICHALL, 13 (Sister) [Unmarried] - NONE (Antrim) (R)
JOHN McMICHALL, 12 (Brother) [Unmarried] - NONE (Antrim) (R)
JANE McMICHALL, 10 (Sister) [Unmarried] - NONE (Antrim) (R)
MARY McMICHALL, 8 (Sister) [Unmarried] - NONE (Antrim) (R)
Absent from Household 30th March 1851:
WM. McMICHALL, 40 (Father) - RAILWAY LABOURER {America}
MARTHA McMICHALL, 35 (Mother) - NOT GIVEN {America}
MARGARET McMICHAEL, 24 (Sister) - NOT GIVEN {America}
ROBERT McMICHALL, 23 (Brother) - NOT GIVEN {America}
HENRY McMICHALL, 20 (Brother) - NOY GIVEN {America}
ANNE McMICHALL, 14 (Sister - NOT GIVEN {America}
WILLIAM McMICHALL, 6 (Brother) - NOT GIVEN {America}
ELIZA McMICHALL, 4 (Sister) - NOT GIVEN {America}
HUNTER McMICHALL, 2 (Brother_ - NOT GIVEN {America}

* William moved to Iowa, while Walter stayed in Philadelphia.

* In 1850, Walter was married to Catherine "Kate" (maiden name, unknown). However, his first child (my great-great grandfather) William's birth certificate lists his mother as a "Rebecca Robinson." So -- Walter may have been married to a Rebecca Robinson before he came over.

* It's not 100% clear when either Walter or William went to the US. It was likely in the late 1840s or early 1850. (There are several records of folks that may be them, but none that I can definitively assign to them.)

* I have found no sign of Walter in Ireland in any of the standard Irish record locations (searching McMichael, McMichall, and a couple of other variants).

* I have no leads on the names of the parents of either Walter or William.

* William was likely born between 1805 and 1811. Walter was born anywhere from 1815 to 1835, though most records seem to settle on about 1825.

* William and Walter seem to have been Presbyterian.

Where do I go from here? At the very least, I'd like to try and determine how William and Walter were related (I'm leaning towards brothers), but I obviously would be pleased with any additional possible leads.

My dad and I have both done autosomal DNA tests and my dad's also done a Y-DNA test with FTDNA, if that helps.

I've been at this for a while, so any pointers anyone can offer would be appreciated! I'm still very much a beginner in my research in Ireland.



... Ryan

pinkypinky

Here's the link to the family on the 1851 census. OP: as you're a beginner in Irish research, you might not realise how incredibly lucky it is to find your family on a fragment of that census.

Because of this, I ask: are you totally confident this is your family in Antrim?

What age is Walter on the 1850 US census? If you want to PM me a link, I'll post that too.

Records for the first half of the 19th century are scarcer. Presbyterians were subject to Penal Laws which only beginning to relax by 1820s/30s, so you should look for the family in Church of Ireland records too.

I took a quick look at a website called rootsireland.ie which is a subscription site that has good records for Northern Ireland. There a few McMichael records in Antrim in the 1840s/1850s so it may be worth getting a €10 24 hour subscription to that site and go through them.

rmacmich

Thanks, Pinkypinky!

I am quite sure that the family on the 1851 census is William's -- the folks listed as being in America match his family in the 1850 census and onward. However, the connection between William and Walter is unclear.

In the 1850 census, Walter is 25 in the 1850 census. By this point, he's married to Catherine, but they married in America in December 1847. It looks like the young William (not the William referenced above) was born in 1844 in Ireland. You'll see Walter and his family and then William and his family living in the same house. (It doesn't help that each of them have a William born in the same year!)

Thanks for the additional info...

pinkypinky

Do you have Walter and Catherine's marriage record - not just the index? Does it record their parents' names?

rmacmich

At this point I've only found the index from the church books. On Ancestry the collection (and specific book) is:

U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970
Pennsylvania > Philadelphia > Ninth Presbyterian > Church Register 1821 - 1911

which lists only Walter and Catherine's names, the date (Dec 30, 1847), and the administrator.

rmacmich

One other interesting piece of info -- this weekend, I found my first connection with one of William's descendants (from Iowa) and my dad (a descendant of Walter). So I am even more convinced there's a connection there. Perhaps they're brothers, but there's no paper trail confirmation there at this point.

pinkypinky

Well, you'll have to get hold of the original church record to see what it contains. Ancestry usually gives details at the bottom of a collection's main page showing where it came from. Often it's the LDS.