Looking for information on my great grandfather George Little of Dungannon and my 3Xgrandfather, William Orr of Omagh area

Hi Betty Ann,

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I have information about your Little family.

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Robert.

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Betty Ann,

The second part of your query is about the Orr & McDole families. Firstly, I would say that McDole is an alternative for Madole and McDowell (which in Ireland is pronounced Madole). So bear those alternative spellings in mind in any research in the area.

You ask whether the names are common around Omagh. Omagh is a small town (Population 20,458 in the 2021 census). So yes the names will be common enough there, as they are across Ulster. Both are Scottish names brought here by Scots settlers. In the case of Orr that would be in the 1600s. In the case of McDowell/McDole etc, MacLysaght says it is a galloglass name, from the Hebrides but that additionally other McDowells arrived later. “It is now mainly found in north Ulster, largely due to more recent immigration.” Galloglass were Scots mercenaries hired by Irish chiefs to fight (whoever needed to be fought) in return for land in Ireland. They mostly arrived from Scotland in the period 1300 to 1500s. Their descendants today would usually be Roman Catholic. However the descendants of more recent arrivals from Scotland tend to be Protestant, either Presbyterian or Church of Ireland. Since your ancestors were apparently of one of those denominations, that suggests they arrived in the 1600s.

According to MacLysaght, MacDowell (and its variant spellings) is the Irish version of the Scottish MacDougall. In Irish and Scots Gaelic Mac Dubhghail means Black (dubh) Foreigner (gall). So, son of the black foreigner. Though it may sound surprising to someone unfamiliar with the language, MacDowell and MacDougall were originally both pronounced almost identically. Just spelled differently due to academics and others differing.

MacKenzie and McKinney were the same. McKinney is the Irish version of MacKenzie, and were originally both pronounced the same way (ie McKinney). Over the years the z in McKenzie has hardened. Gaelic has no Y and so scholars used the letter Z instead. That ultimately led to the pronunciation in Scotland changing, due to fewer speaking Gaelic, and so not understanding the correct pronunciation.

Omagh is in the parish of Drumragh. If you know your ancestors came from there, then there are 7 Protestant churches in the parish. None has any records for the 1700s. The Church of Ireland’s records start in 1801, Methodist in 1832, 1^st Ballynahatty Presbyterian 1843, 2^nd 1867, Gillygooley Presbyterian 1824, 1^st Omagh Presbyterian 1856 & 2^nd 1821. Copies of all those records are in PRONI in Belfast. There were plenty of churches operating in the Omagh area in the 1700s and earlier but they just don’t have any records for those times. No easy way round that.

You ask about information on where they left Ireland. There was generally no reason to record departure details in Ireland, and so there are no comprehensive records in Ireland that will help you. If they lived around Omagh and left around 1817/1818 then they may well have sailed from Londonderry/Derry. That was a popular departure port for folk from that area of Ulster but they might have sailed from other ports too. There were sailings from Sligo and some emigrants went across to Liverpool and sailed from there. There were many more sailings from England than from Ireland and competition for the business was fierce with agents often throwing the cost of the short passage to England in free as part of the package.

Hi Betty Ann,

William and Isabella Orr were my 3x Grandparents as well. I am Richard Orr, son of Charles, son of Foster, son of William, son of Guy, son of William and Isabella. My wife was recently in Omagh (May 2024) and tried to find some information for me but was unsuccessful. I have family information from William until now, but nothing prior. I would be very grateful if you were able to share anything you are able to find out.

Thank you! Rick.

Hello Rick,

I am unclear regarding which William you have information on.  Is it William, the son of Guy?  My information goes back to William and Isabella.  I too was in Omagh in April and tried to do some digging but was unsuccessful.  I still don't know where they lived, which parish they belonged to, why they left Ireland in 1817, where they departed from, and on which ship...so many unanswered questions.  I do have information about them once they arrived in the US.  Let me know if you already have this information or if you would like to compare notes.

Betty Ann

The William I am referring to is Guy's Father. There was a book written about the "Medonte Orrs" (Ontario Canada). It has a lot of information about the Orr family starting with William and Isabella and their children. I have copies from the book including family photographs. Kathie Orr who lives in Toronto Canada, formally a librarian and geneologist was the person who supplied much of the information for the book and I believe has the original photos. I would like to compare notes, perhaps email would be better?

Rick.