Magheralin - Our Irish Hometown

I've been asked many times how far back I've been able to trace the McCourt family.  This post is intended to take the reader back to Magheralin in County Down where the earliest records I've been able to find, so far, list the McCourts as being members of the parish church.

Magheralin (or Maralin) is a village and a Church of Ireland parish located about 2-1/2 miles East of Lurgan in Northern Ireland.  While the majority of the parish boundaries places it in County Down, it's location on the map allows the parish to take in a small part of County Armagh.  This creates some confusion when researching family history since some of the historical records are parish-specific while others are county-specific. It is located on the river Lagan at the junction of the roads from Armagh to Belfast, Lurgan to Moira and from Bainbridge to Antrim.

The parish church pictured here was rebuilt in the 17th century on the site of the original parish church which was constructed in medieval times.  This church, which would have been in use during the time the McCourts lived in the parish, was abandoned in the mid 1800's when a newer church was built across the street.

In the earliest parish records where the McCourt family is mentioned, the parish priest spelled the family name phonetically as McQuort.   One of the earliest records lists the christening record of Moses McQuort the son of John who was christened on 9 Jul 1783.

The available marriage records for the parish are sparse so I haven't been able to locate the marriage information for Moses, but later christening records list the baptisms of his children.  The records also list the name of his wife as Jemima and it's noteworthy to mention that the names Moses and Jemima are used extensively by later generations of the family.

According to the parish registers, the children of Moses and Jemima and their christening dates were as follows:

Ruins of the old parish church

James     -     21 Nov 1812
Eleanor     -     25 Oct 1813
Margaret     -     25 Oct 1813
Joshua     -     26 Aug 1816
John     -     14 Dec 1818
Eliza     -     9 Jan 1820
John     -     16 June 1827

It would appear from the information above that Eleanor and Margaret were twins, but since the dates given in the record were christening dates rather than birth dates, we can only assume they were twins.  The second son, Joshua is the future husband of Elizabeth Cave and the ancestor responsible for bringing our family to Canada and the United States.

You will also notice that there were two sons named John who were born about nine years apart.  I would assume that the eldest of the two died in infancy and the later son was named John to carry on the name of his paternal grandfather.

Irish parishes were further divided into Townlands and the available records indicate that Moses McCourt and his family lived in the Townland of Donagreagh.  I'll share some records and photos of this Townland in a future post.

There is an old loyalist song called "The Ducks of Magheralin."  A well known version of the song was made famous by the group Barley Bree.  In a prelude to that version, one singer indicates that this song addresses the "myth" that Dublin is the capital of Ireland.  The lyrics are shown below or you can hear it sung by Barley Bree by clicking here.

The Ducks of Magheralin

Oh it's just about a year ago today I went to see the Queen
She decked me out with medals and the trimmings they were green
She decked me out in medals but they were made of tin
Ah go home sez she you rascal yer the mayor of Magheralin

Chorus:
Oh it is the grand old city in the fine old country style
A credit to the County Down the pride of the Emerald Isle
It has the finest harbour for the bread carts to sail in
And if ever you sail to Ireland you'll sail by Magheralin

You've heard of Cleopatra the treasure of the Nile
And how she conquered Tony with one alluring smile
She tried to conquer Ireland but they would not give in
And they beat her out with cabbage leaves in the town of Magheralin

Chorus

You've heard of good King William, that boy who crossed the Boyne
With a hundred balls of sealing wax and a thousand yards of twine
And then he gave the orders for the cobblers to begin
For to make a thousand pair of boots for the ducks of Magheralin

Chorus 

You've heard of great Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte
He conquered half of Europe and tried the other part
He tried to conquer Ireland but we would not give in
And he died in St. Helena when he thought of Magheralin

Chorus