JAMES DUNLOP & MARY ANN MCFADDEN

James Dunlop & Mary Ann McFadden are another end of the line for my Pittsburgh area family. As they were both born in Ireland, I am okay with this since my goal was to find out everyone born on the North American continent. So far they are the only family lines from Ireland and it will be awhile before I get to Ireland to find out more about them. From what I hear, good Irish records are hard to locate for a number of different reasons.

Chances area good since his last name is Dunlop and their religion is Presbyterian his ancestors originally came from Scotland but in the meantime, this is what I know.

James Dunlop was born in Antrim, Ireland about 1793 and Mary Ann McFadden was born in Ireland about 1797. They could have been married in Ireland and then come to Canada before starting their family. I have not found a marriage record for them in the Pittsburgh area.

From what I've read in the early 1820's the English were desperate to get Canada settled and protect it from the Americans. They were paying the Irish with free land if they would move to Canada. Whether my people were part of this I don't know, but I'm inclined to believe that they were. From what I understand, things in Ireland were not ideal politically or economically and people were ready to get out. If the promise of free land was that attractive, I wonder what they thought when they got to Pittsburgh and all they had around them was brush, trees, and rocky soil which took years to make into a decent farming operation.

As for their children, James & Mary Ann had eight all of which they had baptized at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Kingston. The great thing about the St. Andrew's Records are they had their birth date and christening date. The first date is their birth and the second is their christening date.

3 Feb 1820 7 Jun 1820 James McFadden Dunlop

4 Jul 1822 11 Aug 1822 Nancy Jane Dunlop
1 Feb 1824 14 Mar 1824 Robert John Dunlop
2 Apr 1826 12 Jun 1826 Mary Dunlop
22 Jan 1828 18 Feb 1828 Elizabeth Dunlop
25 Oct 1829 1 Dec 1829 Alexander Dunlop
30 Jun 1831 14 Aug 1831 Andrew Dunlop
27 Mar 1834 15 Apr 18134 Anne Dunlop

I don't have as many details of this family as I do of the other families. I suppose that's only natural the father the generations are as the records become less reliable.

I have no further record of James McFadden Dunlop. It's possible that he had a son also named James Dunlop, and his son James died in 1883. If it's the same person, he calls himself James Maxwell Dunlop not James McFadden Dunlop. James Maxwell Dunlop used Robert John Dunlop of the Township of Pittsburgh as a witness for the transactions in the will of James Dunlop.

There is also no further record of Nancy Jane Dunlop. There is an Agnes Jane Dunlop that married Andrew McAdoo at St. Andrew's church on 24 Sep 1844. Agnes Jane's age on subsequent census' matches the age of Nancy Jane; on the 1901 census, Agnes says her birthday was 24 Jul 1822 which is awfully close to Nancy Jane's age. I would like to know who Agnes' parents were to see if maybe between her christening and marriage they changed her name from Nancy to Agnes.

It would appear that Robert John never married but he seems very connected with his family. He was the informant for his mother's death in in 1876 and his brother Alexander in 1880. On the 1881 and 1901 census, he's living with his unmarried sister, Elizabeth. I can't find a death record for Robert John.

Mary Dunlop married Samuel Chestnut 10 May 1842 at St. Andrew's church. She was only 16 years old. They had five children who were also christened at St. Andrew's church:

• 1844 Anne Jane
• 1846 Samuel George
• 1847 Robert John
• 1849 Mary
• 1850 William Alexander

I'm told that Mary and Samuel are buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.

Elizabeth Dunlop died a spinster on 15 Oct 1909. She was 81 years old and what she died of is not clear, but it looks like some sort of decay. Her brother, Andrew Dunlop was the informant for her death. She's buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery as well.

Alexander Dunlop died 8 Oct 1880. He was probably a bachelor. It doesn't say on his death record if he was married. On the 1861 census he lived with his mother. His brother, Robert John was the informant for his death and he is buried in the Milton Cemetery.

Andrew Dunlop did get married and his descendants have put together an excellent website about their Dunlop family ancestors. I have enjoyed talking with the host of the website. She knows a lot about the Kingston area that she was more than willing to share her family information with me.

Their last child, Anne is my direct line and she has her own post with John Wilmot. Of interest to me about her name is on her christening record it's only recorded as Anne Dunlop, but on her death record Ross was added as a second name.

Father James Dunlop died on 3 Mar 1852 and is buried beside his wife, Mary McFadden Dunlop in the Milton Cemetery. Mary died on 22 May 1876. Their tombstones are very worn. Luckily the Pittsburgh Historical Society transcribed the cemetery in the late 1970's, and from James Dunlop's tombstone we learn that he was born in the county Antrim, Ireland. That, at least, narrows the Irish search when it comes time.

About 1998 my grandfather (Clifford Roy's son) hired a genealogist to find his Pittsburgh area ancestors. She mostly used Canadian census' to find the records and did a good job. Using the 1851 census she found James & Mary Ann Dunlop's family.

Name, occupation, born, religion, age, gender

Family #1, page 43 (22a) Lines 9-13

<1794> James Dunlop, farmer, Ireland, Presbyterian, 58, male

<1798> Mary Ann Dunlop, wife, Ireland, Presbyterian, 54, female

<1826> Robert John Dunlop, farmer, Canada West, Presbyterian, 26, male

<1831> Alex Dunlop, farmer, Canada West, Presbyterian, 21, male

<1835> Anne Dunlop, Canada West, Presbyterian, 17, female

She also used the 1901 census to determine that Robert John had a sister, Elizabeth so we thought there were 4 children in this family.

When I started looking at this family in 2006, it was strange to me that someone submitted the children of James Dunlop & Mary Ann McFadden to the LDS IGI using christening dates

7 Jun 1822 James McFadden
11 Aug 1822 Nancy Jane
12 Jun 1826 Mary
18 Feb 1828 Elizabeth

Unfortunately the submitter of this information did not include a contact name. Being that he or she used christening dates for the information I knew there must be a record of christening information somewhere. A kind man from the Frontenac mailing list did a look up for me at his local LDS FHL where they have a copy of the St. Andrew's church transcriptions. Sure enough, that's where the information came from. I ordered the film 1307512 from the Salt Lake Library, and not only found the eight children of James and Mary Ann, but marriage dates of three couples from the family tree not previously known.

Other Dunlop's in the Frontenac area from the 1851 census are as follows. I don't think I will follow up on any of them until I know they are related:

Family #2, Pittsburgh Township, page 43 (22a) Lines 41-42 were Lucy & Nancy Dunlop (mother & daughter?) who were visiting from the USA.

The other Dunlop family in Frontenac county lived in Kingston Township but I don't know how they fit in, and they're also Catholic, not Presbyterian, so unless proven otherwise, I don't think they were related.

There were a number of McFadden's in the Pittsburgh area in 1851 as well. Some of them could be brothers of Mary as they also came from Ireland. I do believe that Margaret McFadden who married Michael Graves (Henry's brother) was the daughter of Hugh and Rose McFadden and that she is possibly Mary Ann McFadden Dunlop's niece.