Thanks to my DNA - and also my father's - being shared publicly on both Ancestry, Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage UK, I recently came across another relation - James McCartney who descends like we do from Joseph Stewart of Crossnacreevy, Co. Down. My father and I descend directly from Joseph's son, also Joseph Stewart, while James McCartney descends directly from Joseph Stewart's daughter Lucinda Stewart.
https://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2019/03/lucinda-stewart-and-james-mcgowan.html
https://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-stewart-family-of-crossnacreevy.html
Both James McCartney and I share DNA relatives who have also shared their DNA on Ancestry. Our results show that we both share genetic material with a Thomas Cashion and a Linda Walker.
Both Thomas Cashion and Linda Walker descend, according to their respective family trees, from Thomas Walker of Belfast, the son of William Walker of Magheragall near Lisburn, Co. Antrim. Thomas Walker was the husband of Margery A. Stewart, which begs the question if she was a member of my own Stewart family of Crossnacreevy?
Some geneous soul has gone to the trouble of publishing the registers of Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church online, and these show up the marriage on 25th January 1831 of Thomas Walker, son of William Walker of Magheragall, to Margery A. Stewart, the daughter of James Stewart of Edenderry.
The same online marriage records for Rosemary Street reveal more of James Stewart's children. On 2nd October 1821, farmer John Stewart, son of James Stewart of Edenderry, married Agnes Wright, the daughter of William Wright of Shankill. They baptised a son, James Stewart, in Rosemary Street on 21st May 1825. William Stewart was baptised there on 1st February 1827 and John Stewart on 15th March 1829.
On 10th January 1822, Simon Clark, the son of Arthur Clark, married Lucy or Lucinda Stewart, also the daughter of James Stewart of Edenderry. The name 'Lucinda' is not common in Ireland, and makes me wonder if the Lucinda Stewart, daughter of Joseph Stewart of Crossnacreevy, who married James McCartney and who I am definitely related to, might have been named after this earlier Lucinda Stewart?
Simon Clark and Lucinda Stewart baptised a daughter, Margaret Clark, in Rosemary Street, on 1st February 1826 - the date might be the date of birth rather than the baptism. A Margaret Clark, daughter of Simon, married Robert McCrea, son of Robert McCrea, in Belfast on 27th August 1869. Earlier on 17th November 1866, Jane Clark, daughter of Simon, married Thomas Dwatt or Dwallt. A Simon Clarke lived at Ballymagarry near the Ardoyne - William Hugh Lynn, son of Robert Lynn, married Louisa Ellen Clark, youngest daughter of Simon Clark of Ballymagarry on 28th March 1866. An Arthur Clark died in Ballymagarry in 1907 - Simon Clarke's father had been named as Arthur Clark also.
On 25th December 1830, William Martin, son of Thomas Martin, married Anne Jane Stewart, daughter of the late James Stewart of Edenderry. This family emigrated to Iowa. Their son, who had been baptised in Rosemary Street as James Martin, on 15th November 1835, was later know as John C. Martin - he married Jane Brownlee of Ballymena, Co. Antrim, and both of them died in Iowa, leaving a son, Albert Clarence Martin who had been born in 1879. William Martin and Anne Jane Stewart also baptised a son, Thomas Martin, in Rosemary Street on 15th February 1835.
On 8th February 1825, also in Rosemary Street, linen merchant David Herd or Hurd, the son of William Hurd of Old Park, married Nancy Stewart, the daughter of the late James Stewart of Edenderry.
My father's DNA matches that of Isobel Houston who has shared her genetic material and her family tree publicly on Family Tree DNA. She confirms that she is a direct descendant of David Herd and Agnes Stewart of Belfast. Their daughter, according to her family tree, was Agnes Hurd who was Irish-born but who died on 14th January 1867 in Partick, Lanark, Scotland. Agnes married twice, first to a member of the Gilliland family and then to the Irish-born William Galbraith. Agnes and William married in Tradeston on 22nd February 1856, and the LDS records the birth of some of their children - Agnes Galbraith was born there on 22nd November 1857, David Galbraith on 10th December 1859, and Jane Galbraith on 4th October 1862.
A son, James Hurd, was born to the grocer, David Hurd and his wife, Nancy Stewart, in Belfast on 3rd March 1826.
The Herd family lived at Scotch View, Old Park, an area of west Belfast near Ballysillan. William Hurd or Herd of Old Park, the father of David Herd, gets no mention in the Irish newspapers (courtesy of Find My Past) but the later Herd family of Scotch View is frequently mentioned.
Where was Edenderry, the home of James Stewart? I used the maps on Griffiths Valuation to isolate an Edenderry close to Old Park, Belfast. The two places are about a mile apart. At the junction of the modern Ardoyne and Crumlin Road, and immediately south of Ballysillan and Ligoniel, the old maps show up Edenderry Turnpike, Edenderry Lodge and Edenderry Cottage. This area in the 1850s was a hotbed of mills, presumably all forming part of the thriving linen industry of the time.