On my trip to Ireland in August I drove via county Armagh to Raphoe, county Donegal from Belfast airport. I wanted to see the countryside that the McFaddens came from. Peter Patrick McFadden (son of Thomas) was born in Lower Grange, Oneilland West co Armagh around 1831. He married Mary Reid (daughter of Septimar Watson and James Reid) in Armagh at the registry office on July 17, 1852.
I found the general area that they lived. Again such pretty countryside.
Vinecash church was probably where the McFadden family attended church as parts of the family can be found in the records there. Unfortunately even the gate to the grounds around the church were locked so we were unable to look at the gravestones. I was able to obtain some copies of baptisms and church marriages of the extended family when I visited PRONI later that week.
We drove into Armagh, parked the car in the large supermarket car park and walked around. I visited the Armagh Visitor Information centre where the woman on duty was very informative. I hadn’t gone there with the intention of doing any research as the focus this trip had been on my ancestors from Raphoe in county Donegal. This was to have a look around. Next time I will be visiting the library to do some research.
Peter (Patrick) and Mary went to Scotland where at least one of their children was born before they emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1857. They were following Mary’s mother who had migrated in 1852 with her second husband, John Bennett on board the London. Also with her were her two daughters, Esther who married Andrew Goold and Anne, as well as her step-sons Edward who married Rebecca Oliver Harrison, Thomas and John. Esther was employed by Mrs Thomas in Geelong for 3 years while the rest of the family were joining Robert Bennett of the Globe Inn, Melbourne. Although Anne is registered on the shipping list as Anne Bennett her mother’s death certificate states that she was her daughter from her previous marriage. This still may not be correct but seems plausible. Septima’s third daughter Mary was not mentioned on her mother’s death certificate but she had predeceased her.
The Bennett family inter-connects with a number of families on my father’s side of the family. John’s brother George was married to Ann Gould. Two of their children married children of John Collier and Ann Scholfield. Ann Gould’s brother was Andrew who married Esther Reid, daughter of Septimar Watson (second wife of John Bennett). Then one of Mary Reid and Peter McFadden’s daughters, also Mary, married Leberecht John Gottlieb (George) Fiedler. Their granddaughter, Lottie married Horace Collier, great-grandson of John Collier and Ann Scholfield.
Then there is the Stothers family from Loughgall, County Armagh. John married Magdalena Erhardt in 1867, her eldest sister was the mother of the above George Fiedler. Loughgall is in the same general area (between Armagh and Portadown) that the McFaddens, the Bennetts, the Goulds and Reids came from in county Armagh. This post began to introduce the area that the McFadden’s came from and has evolved into how inter-twined these families were. There are more connections than mentioned here. I think I will need to do a more detailed post on these families.
If you are related or know anything about these or related families I’d love to hear from you. Do you have any photos or letters of these families? Or any other information about them? As always I have full sources for all that I have written.
mccollierheritage 