The Remarkable 1718 McKeens

In the summer of 1718 some 700 Ulster folk, mostly Presbyterians, arrived in Boston Harbour on five small ships from Coleraine and Londonderry. One extended family that came in the fleet was the McKeens of Ballymoney, County Antrim. The expedition was organised by James McKeen, his brother John McKeen and their in-law Rev James McGregor and these men were the motivating force behind the fleet of ships that came into Boston harbour in late summer of 1718. Many historians site the event as the actual ‘beginning’ of the Great Ulster Migration to the New World. This McKeen family established a migration paradigm, of many families coming together in a small fleet of ships and this pattern established the large Ulster presence in the New World.

James McKeen went on to become the first magistrate and leader of the Londonderry, New Hampshire Colony. His brother John passed away shortly before the ships left Ulster, but widow and children did also come with the fleet and they too become prominent and successful in Colonial America and Canada.

The descendants of John and James McKeen are still found in New England and Nova Scotia to this day. One of the McKeen men, Jack McKeen, of Massachusetts, participated in the McCain DNA Project which was one of the first and most successful Ulster family DNA Projects. The DNA test revealed that the New England and Nova Scotia McKeens were the same family and closely related to the McCains of Mississippi and New Brunswick. The family in Ireland had two branches, one in northwest Antrim and the other in east Donegal, in the Finn Valley.

left, is John Cargill “Jack” MacKeen who is a direct lineal descendant of settlers from the 1718 migration from Antrim to America, including both McKeen and Cargill lines. His immigrant ancestor, John McKeen, born 1700 in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, and son of the John McKeen above, arrived as a young man with his mother and siblings in Boston in August of 1718.

The picture left is the gravestone of John McKeen, immigrant ancestor and his wife, Martha Cargill, in the Robie Street Cemetery in Truro, Nova Scotia. Both died on the same day, December 30, 1767.

Barry R McCain © 2008

Ulster Heritage DNA Project Update, late April 2008

notes from the Ulster Heritage Y chromosome DNA testing



We have recently updated the results page so that now every participant has been placed into one of the categories either by haplogroup or by family or clan group. Some interesting cases coming in, an example would be the two McCown families. Both come from the Gaelic surname Mac Eogháin but the two groups not related. This is not unusual as any given Gaelic surname will have several non related families using that surname, even more than several with surnames taken from popular given names like Eáin, Eogháin, Dónaill, etc.

In the surname books you will find a name like McDonald and a one-size-fits-all explanation of its origins, usually to the Scottish clan for that particular surname; the reality is there were dozens of men named Dónail from south Cork to the north tip of Scotland, whose sons took his name and whose descendants now know carry the anglicised name of McDonald. With our McCowns one group appears to be native Irish, a sept of the MacGuire clan, and the other appears to be Argyll in origin and probably came to Ireland in the 1400s or 1500s as a Gallóglach family.

Jim McKane, our Ulster Heritage Lord of the Web, has returned to Canada from his wintering in Arizona. While away his basement flooded, so he’s been busy. Jim has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and has 13 grandchildren, so he’s not easily flustered. He has managed to keep our main website updated despite the flood and has even added another E-book. This is The Vital Records of the Scots-Irish from the Parish of Magilligan. In it you will find notes on Scots-Irish families and also many native Irish and Hebridean families from Magilligan Parish in County Derry. The E-books are available for a nominal price.

You can also find Rev George Hill’s classic, The Stewarts of Ballintoy in the E-book selection. This is one of my all time favourite little books about the history of north Antrim. The book has some of the views peculiar to Victorian Ulster sensibilities, but that really just adds to the colour of the book. It is an excellent read and has information on the Irish clans native to north Antrim, the Gallóglaigh clans that moved there in late medieval times, the Hebridean families that moved there to work of the McDonnells who controlled that part of Antrim, and the Ulster Scot settler families.

We now have the Ulster Heritage mtDNA project running, so all with Ulster maternal lines are welcomed to join. This is also a chance for our ladies to participate, as both male and females can do the mtDNA testing.

The link to the UH mtDNA Project is on our main web site: http://www.ulsterheritage.com/

All participant families that have a clan or family organisation are urged to send us a link so you can be listed. Visit the ‘Clan’ page of our main website to see how we do this. This is a new feature, but we already have the Clann Mhig Uidhir (the McGuires), Clann Mhic Eáin (the McCains), and Clann Uí Laithbheartaigh (the Lavertys) listed. The information presented on these Irish clan pages will be unique in that these groups have used Y-chromosome DNA testing to confirm kinship.

Barry R McCain
UHDP

Canadian Gaeilge Event

An Irish Language Weekend is being held in the Toronto area (Keswick)Dates: 30 May - 1 June 2008

The Facility is beautiful: http://www.lorettomaryholme.ca/contact.php

The price is low: $120 (including 2 night's accommodation, and all meals from Friday night to Sunday lunch).Application Form Attached as PDF. Tá fáilte is fiche roimh tosaitheoirí ag an deireadh seachtaine seo, ach is ócáid a óireann cainteoirí líofa agus cainteoirí dúchais fosta. Is deis dúinn bailiú le chéile le haghaidh comhluadar agus spraoí, ceol agus deoch a roinnt le chéile trí mheán ar dteanga, dílis féin.

For details contact:

Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh, Dr, Capt, PPCLI, kenny-h@rmc.ca

The Ulster Heritage mtDNA Project Up and Running

The Ulster Heritage mtDNA Project is now up and running. This project uses mitochondrial DNA that is passed in one’s maternal line. It is open to both male and female participation. The website from the project is located at:

http://uhmtdna.ulsterheritage.com/

Mitochondrial testing can be used for genealogical research, but it is also reveals the deep ancestry and ethnicity of one’s maternal lines.

Anyone that has maternal Ulster ancestry may participate in the project.


Barry R McCain

Importance of a Healthy Native Tongue

15ú Aibreán 2008

right, the Donegal Gaeltacht

Medical Matters: Gaeilge may be now seen as sexy and fun, but for many fluency is vital for their health, writes Dr Muiris Houston...

The Irish language received a major boost as part of Brian Cowen's election as the new leader of Fianna Fáil. By going beyond the obligatory 'cúpla focail' he impressed many with his fluency and, in particular, his ability to take "live" questions from journalists in our native tongue. Comedian Des Bishop has also made an impact with his TV series In the name of the Fada. The US native now includes an Irish language stand-up routine as part of his repertoire and also performs a rap song as Gaeilge. Suddenly, Irish is part of the zeitgeist.

Anything that acknowledges and modernises our attitudes to our native tongue is good for doctors and patients. If you are not feeling well, and your thoughts and feelings come naturally to you as Gaeilge, then it is important that you can express these in a spontaneous way. I am lucky enough to have been brought up speaking Irish and have retained some fluency in the language. The first opportunity to use it in a clinical setting came when I worked as a surgical intern in St James's Hospital, Dublin.

At the time, the urologists at the hospital received regular referrals from Donegal, with the result that every Friday afternoon, a half-dozen or so men in their 60s and 70s were transported to Dublin by the North Western Health Board. All had developed symptoms suggesting problems with their bladders or prostate glands and arrived on a Friday to be ready for surgery first thing on Monday morning.

The job of the lowly intern was to 'admit' these patients - a task that went well as long as their minibus arrived around lunchtime, but could lead to unwelcome additional work for the Friday night on-call doctor if the patients' transport was delayed.

On one of these Friday afternoons I met a gentleman from Gaoth Dobhair in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht. While taking a history from him, his speech was hesitant and stilted. The thought that he may have had a mild intellectual disability crossed my mind. However, once the initial ice was broken, I asked: 'An bhfuil Gaeilge líofa agat?'

Suddenly he smiled and visibly relaxed and began to chat animatedly in the most beautiful Donegal blas.

The purest Donegal Irish sounds closer to Scots Gaelic than it does to the Munster or Connaught versions of our native tongue. Suddenly the shoe was on the other foot: the patient was in full expressive flow about his symptoms leaving the doctor floundering in an effort to catch up. Which, it must be said, if there is going to be an imbalance in the doctor-patient relationship, is no bad thing.

The memory that has stayed with me since that day is the transformation of a man from a halting, hesitant storyteller to an animated, expressive raconteur of his personal medical history. I like to think that the extra effort I made in communicating with my patient that day gave him a sense of empowerment he may not otherwise have experienced.

Now I practise in an area with a high percentage of native Irish speakers. Many consultations are bilingual affairs, which naturally drift from Gaeilge to Bearla. However, I am conscious that my grasp of technological terms as Gaeilge is weak, so when discussing the finer details of investigations or treatments, I veer towards English.

But when it comes to the patient's own story and their concerns, some prefer to tell it in their native tongue. And I enjoy listening to them.

In 2006, the HSE West published a book by Dr Nicola De Faoite, a Galway GP, titled: Leaganacha Leighis: An English-Irish Phrasebook for Medical Personnel. Its stated aim is to 'enhance the ability of medical professionals to speak Irish to patients from the Gaeltacht'.

Acadamh na Lianna is the organisation of Irish-speaking doctors. It celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with a conference in the Ardilaun Hotel in Galway from May 23rd to May 25th. Chaired by Harry McGee of The Irish Times political staff, the contributors will include Rosmuc GP, John McCormack, who will speak on the importance of the Irish language for GPs working in Gaeltacht areas.

It's good to see Irish portrayed as sexy and fun in the media. But for a significant percentage of the population, it is actually important for their health that they can express a personal narrative in their native tongue.

Dr Houston is pleased to hear from readers at mhouston@irish-times.ie but regrets he is unable to reply to individual queries. The Ulster Heritage Magazine thanks the Irish Times and Dr Muiris Houston for their kind permission to use this article. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

© 2008 The Irish Times
Irish Times - Lthch: Muiris Houston