William Miller's Ancestors From Ballindrait, County Donegal, Ireland!

In the last post we read that William Miller's grandfather (and Abraham's father) was David Miller who had studied under the tutelage of William Trail of Lifford, County Donegal, Ireland.


The following excerpt from an article entitled "From Lifford to Chesapeake; The Advent of the Scotch -Irish in America" by John F. Polk, Ph.D., Havre de Grace, Maryland, pinpoints exactly where Rev. Trail's first assignment was...just about 3 miles away in the little village where our Miller's no doubt lived:  "William Trail moved to Ireland and was finally ordained in 1673 at Lifford ["county seat" of County Donegal, Northern Ireland]. He served as minister in Ballindrait until his departure for America a decade later." (http://www.mdgenweb.org/somerset/history/scotch-irish.htm)

A lovely garden in Ballindrait
(Picture courtesy of: http://donegalcottageholidays.com/images/properties/janescottage-ballindrait)

Ballindrait is a small, peaceful village nestled in the rolling countryside. There are a handful of tiny villages all from 1 to 2 miles away, including Baile an Droichnid, Gortin, Rossgeir, Brownfield, Killindarragh and Ardnaglass, but an online search reveals that Ballindrait was home to the only Presbyterian Church in this area. As this is the church we know our Miller's attended, if they weren't from Ballindrait, they were no doubt from one of these surrounding villages.  

Wouldn't it be lovely to visit this beautiful countryside in Ireland and know we might be walking where they walked?! More on this wonderful story in our next post.