Hello Mike, Thanks for the information below. Your explanation in the earlier reply has been a great help. I followed your advice and carried out a search for births on 1834 (+ or - 5 years - 1829 to 1839) in County Tyrone on a William McGachan. No results found on the Roots Ireland website. I then tried both Gahan and McGahan (and variants). Only 2 people in the County of Tyrone were baptised in that 10 year period with the same name. So in my (rough) opinion - he would be one of those 2 entries. Unfortunately for me, one of the entries is dated 1834, and one is dated 1835. Previous searches for other family members I've conducted have been a year or so out (in my experience of searching my past) Using my first definite record of him (1851 Scotland census) - he is 17 years old and a coalminer from County Tyrone. But he could be either entry I suppose? In the 1861 Scotland census, he's listed as being 29 (to confuse matters more?). He's then listed as 47 on the Scotland 1881 census (which ties in with his age on the 1851 census of being born in 1834). The 1834 baptism entry is of a William McGahan born on 12 Aug 1834 in Dungannon, County Tyrone. His father is marked as Jas McGahan, and the mother as Ellen Hughes. The 1835 baptism entry is of a William McGahan born on 27 Nov 1835 in Crookstown, County Tyrone. His Father is listed as William McGahan, and the mother as Jane Kerney. On the Scotland's People site, there are 7 families across Scotland who are listed with the surname McGachan in the late 1800's. There is a family with a similar set up as mine (A William & Mary McGachan born in County Tyrone in the mid 1830's), who went to the Dundee area, whereas mine settled just outside Glasgow, Scotland. The surname of McGachan is not very common in Scotland though. On another note - I managed to find 4 generations of my Fathers' family (my own surname of Ryan) in Doonane in County Laois. The Ryans came over to Scotland on 2 occasions & eventually settled around 1905. All through Roots Ireland website. So thanks a lot for your pointers - it's been much appreciated and helpful in various ways. Thanks. Craig. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Kelly" <[email protected]> To: "Craig Ryan" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 16, 2013 11:54 AM Subject: Re: [CoTyIre] McGachans of Gargadis, County Tyrone > Craig, > > My first thought was Cunnigan was actually Cunningham. > So for you to mention it later documented as Cunningham seems to solidify > for me this was the correct spelling. > There were no spelling rules back then and most people were illiterate. > When you put McGachan in the the search field on www.rootsireland.ie > (IFHF) you get the name McGaughan and not McGahan which also exists. > There is only one Michael McGaughan left in Tyrone living in Drumkee > Killyman Parish during the Griffiths, interestingly enough there are also > many McGahans in the same parish. > I would say McGachan is the way your family adopted the spelling from > early Scotch recordings of the name. > A pretty common happening for many families. > > McGaughan and or McGahan would be alternate spellings in Ireland. > > Have you ever checked Scotland's people to see how many people have their > surname spelled this way? It just many be the Scottish way of spelling it. > > Maybe you can find the 1871 census using one of these alternate spellings > or by searching for just the first name William in the particular area, > which may take some extra work, but will possibly help you locate the > record. > > Thanks for sharing. > > Regards, > > Michael Kelly > > Emporium, > Cameron County, > Pennsylvania, > United States of America > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Craig Ryan > Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 6:17 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [CoTyIre] McGachans of Gargadis, County Tyrone > > Thanks to Ray & Rob for the information they have provided to help my > search. It's gave me more info to look into. > > I'm wondering if the change in surname spelling (coming from Ireland) has > been the issue and the surname originally was McGahan? > > The records I have found of the family have shown various forms of the > surname. They are as follows: > > My Grandmother (born in Glasgow in 1923) is listed on all documents > (birth, > marriage, & death) as Margaret McGachan. > > My great Grandfather (born in Dalziel, Lanarkshire in 1888) is listed in > his > birth certificate as John McGahaen. His marriage certificate (1919) & > death > certificate in 1941 lists the name as John McGachan. > > My great great Grandfather (the first one of the family born in Scotland > in > late 1853 in Newarthill, Lanarkshire) does not have a birth certificate > (as > it was before records began in 1855 in Scotland) but his baptism in St > Margaret's RC church in Airdrie, Lanarkshire on Scotland's People website > as > McGlashon. But when you read the document itself it definitely says > McGachan. His Dad is listed as William McGachan, and the mother as Mary > Cunnigan. > His surname on his wedding certificate from 1883 is spelt as McGechan, and > on his death certificate in 1920 it is spelt McGachan. > > My great, great, great, Grandfather - William McGachan (born around 1834) > is > on census records for Lanarkshire, Scotland for the years of 1851, 1861, > & > 1881. I can't find anything else on him directly (apart from his > children's > birth certificates). No birth, marriage, or death records on either him, > or > his wife Mary Cunnigan. The birth certificate of their first daughter > (Bridget - who died soon after) from 1855 in Scotland is the only document > that lists them as from Gargadis, County Tyrone. All census records state > only - County Tyrone. > > Another weird coincidence is that his wife is listed on the latter > children's birth certificates as a maiden name of Cunningham. Is this an > attempt to make both her maiden name and married name sound "Scottish"? > > Thanks again for the help folks. > > Craig. > > > > > > > > > ======= > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > (Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.21450) > http://www.pctools.com/ > ======= > ------------- > Our community web-site: http://cotyroneireland.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > > ======= > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. > (Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.21450) > http://www.pctools.com/ > ======= ======= Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found. (Email Guard: 9.0.0.2308, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.21450) http://www.pctools.com/ =======

Craig, I am glad you found it helpful. Keep in mind there is a possibility William's baptism record was lost through time. Maybe trying to locate a death record for William stating an age on it would give you a better distinction between those two records as to whether or not one does belong to him. Have you tried finding this on Scotland's people? Mike