7. The Mullens - More Irish Than Scottish

 

Irish Flag

I know that Grandpa Mullen thought that the Mullens were Scottish, but Mullen isn’t really a Scottish surname. It’s an Irish surname and a very ancient name too. It is derived from the Irish word “Maol,” which means bald one. 

I doubt that my grandfather even knew about his Irish heritage on his father’s side. Both his father John and grandfather Peter were born in Scotland.  I discovered that Peter’s parents, Ben and Agnes (Donnelly) Mullan, were born in Ireland and had emigrated to Scotland from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland around 1840, presumably to find work.  They left before the Great Famine in Ireland started in 1845, so that was not the reason they left. Ben found work as a coal miner and died at age 41 of lung disease in Scotland, leaving his wife Agnes and six children to survive him. 

I haven’t been able to pinpoint where the Mullens came from in County Tyrone, but Peter’s older sister Mary listed her birthplace as Aghaginduff townland, which is near Dungannon. Even though Ben and Agnes were from Northern Ireland, a mostly Protestant part of Ireland, they were Catholic. I am almost positive that they were native Irish, given their Catholic faith and their ancient Irish surnames of Mullan and Donnelly (O'Maolain and O'Donnghaile).  Both surnames have their origins in Tyrone County.

Northern Ireland Map (arrow points to area near Dungannon)

I don’t know what happened to all of Peter’s siblings, but he had one sister, Ann (McIntee), and one brother, Joseph, who also immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Youngstown.  It's possible that his brother John also immigrated to Ohio, but it's not proven.  I think James and Mary stayed in Scotland, but I’m not sure. His mother, Agnes Donnelly Mullan, remarried several years after Ben died. She worked as a dressmaker and was living in Glasgow, Scotland at the time of her death. 

Irish records are very scarce, so I was not able to trace the Mullan or Donnelly families back to prior generations before Ben and Agnes.  The Scottish death records show that Ben's father was named John Mullan, a farm laborer, and Agnes's father was named Peter Donnelly, a cattle dealer.  

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Benjamin Mullan

Born c. 1814 in Ireland (likely Co. Tyrone)

Married c. 1834 to Agnes Donnelly in Ireland (likely Co. Tyrone)

Immigrated c.1840 to Ayrshire County, Scotland

Died 1855 in Auchinleck, Scotland

Father: John Mullan, Ireland

Agnes Donnelly

Born c. 1818 in Ireland (likely Co. Tyrone)

Married c. 1834 to Benjamin Mullan in Ireland (likely Co. Tyrone)

2nd Marriage 1864 to James McBride in Scotland

Died 1889 in Glasgow, Scotland

Father: Peter Donnelly, Ireland

 

Children of Ben and Agnes Mullan:

1. Mary, born 1835 in Ireland, married Stephen McDuff, remained in Scotland

2. Sarah Ann, born 1837 in Ireland, died at age 3

3. John, born 1839 in Ireland, married in Scotland. Possibly immigrated to Stark County, Ohio.

4. Peter, born 1841, died as a baby

5. Peter, born 1842 in Scotland, married Hannah Arthur in Scotland, immigrated to Youngstown.*

6. Ann, born 1845 in Scotland, married Philip McIntee, immigrated to Youngstown.

7. James, born 1848 in Scotland. 

8. Joseph, born 1850 in Scotland, immigrated to Youngstown, married Sarah Denny in U.S.

*My Great-Great Grandfather