Our Miller's of Lifford, County Donegal, Ireland

RIVER COTTAGES, LIFFORD
(Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
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Below is a copy of an actual 1706 document held at the Public Records Office of Ireland (PRONI) and graciously made available through the Ulster Ancestry organization.  

This letter actually lists David Miller, the grandfather of our William Miller and father of Abraham Miller. David was living in Newcastle County, Pennsylvania [later Delaware], and apparently he, his family and friends were appealing to Presbytery in Scotland, their "mother church," for aid in building their congregation there in America.

This is a critical document because it contains the "motherlode" of all genealogical research--the identification of where our immigrant ancestors came from! We read that "...the greatest number of us [were] born and educated in (sic) Irland under the ministry of one William Traill, a (sic) presbiterian minister formerly of Lifford, Co. Donegal [Ireland]..." We not only learn that the Miller's were from Northern Ireland, thus being part of the Scots-Irish Ulster plantations, but we can actually pinpoint the town they hailed from in Ireland! Jackpot!

As you examine the signers of this letter, you find not only the name of our ancestor, David Miller, but also his brother, Alexander Miller, as well as Abraham Emott (a brother-in-law of David and Alexander, having married their sister, Jane), and Abraham's brother, John Emott.

So our Miller ancestors came from Lifford in County Donegal, Northern Ireland! For more information about their connection to the Reverend Traill, enter "Traill" in the search box of this blog.

Here is a youtube video that will give you a taste of what this village looks like now! Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to visit there in person? Someday... (it might not come through as a hot link, so you''ll have to cut and paste this website address into your server's address box):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0OjxxnID8

More on the Covenanters in Ireland

Ballindrait, County Donegal, Ireland

I am still working on the third post about our Miller ancestors, who were Presbyterian Covenanters living in Ulster (Northern Ireland), and whether or not they fled to Holland because of religious persecution. Remember, the Allen Family Records says that Abraham Miller, William's father, was born in Holland.

Till that post is ready, here is part of an interesting article (though not particularly good news genealogically-speaking) about the Covenanters in Ireland.

It contains a link to a map showing where the current day congregations live. Two congregations are close to where our Millers lived in the Ballindrait area between Strabane and Letterkenny.

"Of the early history of the Covenanters in Ireland very little is known, save that the denomination was small and scattered. It was not until the latter part of the eighteenth century that congregations began to be organised and ministers were ordained. Very few Reformed Presbyterian records have survived from the eighteenth century. This can be partly explained by the paucity of ministers at this time; many baptisms and marriages were performed by visiting ministers from Scotland and there is little evidence of proper records being kept of these events. Congregations were divided into societies, composed of several families living within a short distance of each other.

For background information on this denomination see The Covenanters in Ireland: A History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland by Adam Loughridge (Belfast, 1984). For information on ministers in the Reformed Presbyterian Church see Fasti of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland compiled and edited by Adam Loughridge (Belfast, 1970). A recent article on researching Covenanter ancestors is ‘The Origins of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland with some comments on its records’ by William Roulston, published in Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review (2008), pages 86-110. The website of this denomination is..{ http://rpc.org/directory/ ]. This includes a map showing the location of [current] congregations." (source:  http://www.ancestryireland.com/irish-presbyterianism/presbyterian-ancestors/seceders-non-subscribers-and-covenanters/ )