Stewart Family Ballymena,Antrim,Northern Ireland

I know it's nice to see the family pictures and view the family tree growing. But wouldn't it be even better to actually see the places where our ancestors lived? For the first stop on our family tour, we'll be stopping in Antrim, Northern Ireland and spending time with the Stewart Family.  So, sit back and grab your favorite beverage, and in this case a Guinness or Bushmill Whiskey would be best.

First, a little history about Antrim:

Antrim is one of the nine counties of Ulster. Antrim, a county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster  is bounded on the E and N by the sea, W by Londonderry  and Lough Neagh, and S by Down. In it is situated an amazing geographical feature called the Giant’s Causeway, consisting of lofty pillars of basalts, all of angular shapes. Antrim was affected by the Industrial Revolution and it became a county of linen production. Bushmill’s whiskey distillery in Antrim is the world’s oldest legal distillery. The distillery was founded in 1608 and licensed by King James I. By the time Guinness started producing beer in 1725, the Stewarts had immigrated to Connecticut.   The principal rivers are the Bann and Lagan. In the period before the 17th century, when the county was part of the territory of the O’Neills, there was much migration from Scotland. The process accelerated after 1600, with the collapse of the old Irish aristocracy, and in addition to
the
Scots, many English settlers were given confiscated land.

The Common surnames in Antrim are Smith, Johnston, Thompson, Wilson, Campbell, Hamilton, Stewart, Robinson, Bell, Brown, McDonnell, McCracken and Boyd. The main towns of Antrim are Belfast, Carrickfergus, Antrim, Lisburn, Ballymena, and Ballymoney.

Antrim Civil Records are unlike other parts of Ireland. This area has a tradition of emigration, in the main to North America, which stretches back to the 17th century. This steady stream of Ulstermen and women were largely Presbyterians. 

The Stewarts were only living in Ulster, primarily Ballymena, for a couple of generations.  After the Revolution of 1688, Scotch migration was generally concentrated to Ulster. Land was offered on long lease at low rents and for several years a steady stream of Scotch Presbyterians settled into the counties of Ulster.  

Conditions in Ulster began to disintegrate in the early 1700’s with the failed Jacobite rebellion and religious constraints put upon the Presbyterians.  The penal act of 1704 against the Roman Catholics had a test clause which excluded Presbyterians from all civil and military office.  Presbyterian ministers were legally liable to penalties for celebrating marriages. To escape from such conditions the people began to flee the country in great numbers, often accompanied by ministers. This emigration started to drastically increase in the years between 1710-1720. 

Since some of the Presbyterian ministers had located in New England prior to 1710, many of the ships leaving Ulster headed first to New England for settlement. In fact one of the minister’s sons, Robert Holmes, became captain of a ship engaged in transporting emigrants to America.  Robert Holmes married Mary Franklin of Boston, sister of Benjamin Franklin.  Other areas of concentrations of Scotch-Irish are Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and the Carolinas.  

So, now starts our part of the family history.  We’re going to concentrate on Alexander Stewart and his family.  Alexander Stewart is the son of Robert Stewart and Jannett Rogers. Robert Stewart was born in 1660 and mentioned in The American Immigration Collection, the Scotch-Irish in America by Henry Jones Ford, “This Robert Stewart received a grant of 1,000 acres in County Tyrone”.  County Tyron is the adjacent county to Antrim. Robert and his wife died sometime around 1700 in Antrim.  Their son Alexander was born between 1675-1680 in Ballymena. Alexander married Margaret Dixson (Dixon) in 1698 in Ballymena.  Margaret parents are Robert Dixson and Priscilla Kennedy.  Neither of Margaret’s parents immigrates with the Stewarts to America but there is mention of “her brothers traveling with the Stewarts to New England”. 

The children of Alexander and Margaret are:

Alexander II, b. 1700, Ballymena (our 7x grandfather)
John b. 1702, Ballymena
Margaret b. 1704, Ballymena
William A. b. 1706, Ballymena
Thomas b. 1710, Ballymena
James b. 1715, Ballymena
Samuel b. 1719, aboard ship in the Atlantic
Nathaniel b. 1724, New London, CT


The Scot-Irish were welcome in New England due to their high percentage of literacy and wealth.  Most Scot
-Irish paid their passage in Sterling and purchased property soon after arrival.  I can’t locate any land records in Ulster for the Stewarts. In fact, most records prior to 1800 were destroyed in a fire in the courthouse in Belfast. 

What we do know is that a minister in Ulster recommended Alexander and Margaret for admission to the First Church of Christ on June 26, 1720 in New London CT.   There are a few notes and articles about the family attached to Alexander Stewart’s person document on Ancestry.Com. Since there are several Alexander Stewarts in family tree, this Alexander has been denoted with the family crest.

Our Stewart Family leaves Ulster sometime in 1719 and lands in Boston shortly after the birth of their son Samuel.  We’ll pick-up the family in New London/East Haddam in the next e-mail. We’ll be exploring each child of Alexander and Margaret separately partially due to number of children each child has and also the complexity of the families they marry into in America. You’re going to be surprised at who we uncover.

Antrim docks

Antrim Glens