William Lynn born in Donagh Parish circa 1781-84

Hi Ann

Unfortunately we don't get too many responses from relatives on the site but I hope you do.

I'm not a relative but I had a look on www.rootsireland.ie/ (subscription site) for William 1781-4 in Monaghan but there wasn't any record so I tried all counties and got this one in Westmeath:

http://William Lyn Date of Birth: Date of Baptism: 17-Nov-1781 Address: Not Recorded Parish/District: MILLTOWN Gender: Male County Co. Westmeath Denomination: Roman Catholic Father: Thomas Lyn Mother: Mary Not Recorded Occupation: Not Recorded Sponsor 1 / Informant 1: Michael Nugent Sponsor 2 / Informant 2: Anne Nugent

I then looked for John 1778 and found this one:

http://Name: John Lyn Date of Birth: Date of Baptism: 31-Dec-1781 Address: Not Recorded Parish/District: MILLTOWN Gender: Male County Co. Westmeath Denomination: Roman Catholic Father: James Lyn Mother: Mary Not Recorded Occupation: Not Recorded Sponsor 1 / Informant 1: Thomas Tuite Sponsor 2 / Informant 2: Elizabeth Mulvanny

Donagh & Milltown are 63 miles apart

I could only find 1 Lyn in the Irish phone in Monaghan or nearby.

On ancestry there are several trees which have John's b'day as 18 Mar 1788 Emyvale Monaghan & parents Hugh Lyn & Sarah Widney; the sources of this are US find a grave grave index but the record doesn't have a birth place other than Ireland and I couldn't find any John Lyn births on that date or near it on rootsireland apart from the Westmeath ones.

The Tithe Applotments (free site) have two John Lyns in Donagh Monaghan in 1826:

Surname Forename Townland/Street Parish County Year

Lynn John Knocknagrave Donagh Monaghan 1826

Lynn John Knocknagrave Donagh Monaghan 1826

There are very few in the Irish Censuses (free) and none in Monaghan

There is only 1 in Monaghan in Griffiths Valuation but not in Donagh.

A few ancestry trees have William Lyn; do you have his wife's name so I can check those.

Col

Thank you so much for all the help. Here's the story on William, as handed down by another brother in the family and published in 1905 in "A History of a Fragment of the Clan Linn" by Dr. George Wilds Linn ...

William was born in 1780 and was in poor health when his parents, Hugh Linn and Sarah Widney, decided to leave for the U.S. in 1788, taking three other children with them. William was left in the care of an aunt, Rebecca Lee, survived to adulthood, and had at least two children who came to the U.S. in the 1840s - Hugh William b. 1818 and Margaret b. 1820.  The name of their mother, William's wife, was not given.

While the book reports that Hugh and Sarah lived near Newry, County Down in 1788, Sarah's family had lived in Killymurry, Monaghan for several generations up to and including her brother James Widney, as evidenced by deeds and will indices. James sold the property in 1784 and left Ireland four years ahead of Hugh and Sarah. In 1713, Sarah's great-grandfather James Widney represented certain members of the congregation of Kinaird, Presbytery of Monaghan petitioning for a new, separate congregation, which was in fact established in Glaslough, Monaghan. In addition to all that, Sarah's mother, Mary Wilson, was reported by Dr. Linn to be from Emyvale.

After decades of fruitless searching by numerous descendants of Hugh and Sarah, I found William's army service record when the Royal Hospital Kilmainham pensioner records went online. William's record gives two different ages, rendering a range of 1781-84 for his birth. It seems to me no coincidence that Glaslough is listed as his place of birth. I'd love to know when he died, where he was buried, whether there were additional children, and anything else anyone might know. Thank you again for your kindness.