The Regarde Bien
Issue No. 4
In his book, The Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, Frank Adams defines a Clan whether Highland or other, as a social group consisting of an aggregate of distinct erected families actually descended, or accepting themselves as descendants of a common ancestor. This group must be received by the Sovereign through his supreme Officer of Honour, the Lord Lyon, as an honourable community with its family seal of arms held by its chief or representative, whereof all members, on establishing right to, or receiving fresh grants of, personal hereditary nobility, will be awarded arms as determinate or indeterminate cadets, both as may be of the chief family of the clan. If such community comprises only families of one surname i.e. that of the chief family, then the community is or may be termed a Name.
In this issue, the status of the arms of Milliken is considered in relation to the definition of what is meant by a clan or as may be inferred from the definition given above, a family group derived from a single Name. In its widest sense a clan can consist of a number of family groups such as the Clan Chattan which comprises the Macphersons, MacGillivrays, Farquharsons, McQuins, Macphails, MacBains and others, all of whom acknowledge the representative of the Chattan family as their Chief. The arms of Major James Milliken of Milliken to my knowledge only every comprised a single Name, depicted in heraldry as three demi-lyons rampant issuing out of two bars waving, two out of the uppermost and one of the undermost. As indicated in the last issue, these arms are identical to the arms of Mullikine depicted in an old medieval armorial dated 1566 and almost certainly borne by John Mullikine, alias Amuligane, third laird of Blackmyre.
It is generally assumed by most Surname and Heraldic scholars (and commercial opportunists) that the arms of Milliken comprise the surnames Millikin, Mulliken, Milligan, Millican and in certain cases Mulligan. In so far as these are all variant forms of the same surname, it may come as a surprise to some, they can all be defined as variants of the old Brythonic-Gaelic name of Amuligane in Nithsdale, Scotland. Like the Irish prefix O in the name O Mulligan, the prefix A is usually applied to the name of a grandfather or earlier ancestor, in this case - Molegan. As a family group then, Molegans descendants only begin to appear as a recognisable group towards the end of the fourteenth century, and were already established as a family group by the time the Name received honorary status at the end of fifteenth century, when we find its first known Chief, Fergus Amuligane, being distinguished as the laird of Blackmyre.
Scottish heraldry is the product of Gaelic traditions of clanship merged with feudalism, sometimes called feudo-clanship. In essence the clan or family group and the land they occupy, take their name from the chief who in practice actually owned the land occupied by group, an hereditary possession conferred by the Crown. The old Scots law (Acts of Parliament, 21 Feb. 1400, Vol. I, p. 575) required every landowner to possess a coat of arms, which included minor landowners commonly known as lairds. Fergus Amuligane appears to have attained honorary status, as a laird, not by right to any claims of chiefship, but by his military exploits and other services rendered to King James IV of Scotland.
Fergus Amuligane first appears as laird of Blackmyre in 1492, and is mentioned in a number of documents down until the year 1505. Like his kinsman (or brother), Cuthbert Amuligane, laird of Crogo, Fergus probably fell at the battle of Flodden fought in 1513. In keeping with the old feudal laws of hereditary succession, Fergus was succeeded by John called son of the deceased Fergus Amuligane of Blackmyre in 1538. John, the second laird came to possess the lands of Crogo and Dalquhairn, respectively, in the parishes of Balmaclellan and Dalry in Galloway by 1524, which were held directly from the Crown in return for the feudal obligation of knight service. As a vassal of the crown and a tenant in knight service, John's coat of arms would have been depict above the door way of Blackmyre House in the parish of Penpont in Nithsdale.
John, the second laird, died at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. We can be absolutely certain about this as the record of his death is preserved in the Exchequer of Rolls of Scotland which record a grant made by the Queen Regent to his son, called John, which states his father died at the battle of Pinkie (fought against the English). John, the third laird, lived to be an old man and died in the year 1594-5, having lived a fairly full life. He was succeeded by his eldest son James Mullikin, alias Amuligane, fourth laird of Blackmyre. James had four brothers, Thomas Mullikin merchant burgess of Edinburgh, Abraham Mullikin merchant of Holm of Dalquhairn, and John and Robert Mullikin in Holm of Dalquhairn.
After the death of James, the fourth laird in 1633 was succeeded by his eldest son also called James, who was probably the last laird to live at Blackmyre. His son also called James died in his father's life time, leaving his son also called James to succeed to his grandfather's estate in 1656 by which time the families fortunes had been drained by almost 20 years of the civil war. This young and unfortunate laird either died or gave up his claim to the estate in favour of his uncle, John Milligan or Millikin, who by 1673 was living in County Cavan in Ireland. He sold the estate to his kinsman (or brother?) Thomas Millikin of the town of Ayr. The original title deed conveying the land of Blackmyre and Dalquhairn to Thomas Millikin survives and is preserved at the Carnagie Public Library in Ayr, Scotland. In this document John signed his name as John Milliken of County Cavan, Ireland.
In Samuel Millikin of Coleraine's account of his lineage, it said of his ancestor Robert Millikin that he was born in 1650 in Galloway where he was a sheep farmer and zealous Covenanter. It goes on to say that he had two brothers who took part at the battle of Bothwell Bridge fought in 1679. If his brothers had been at Bothwell Bridge, one would at the very least expect to find their names in the Proclamation Rolls of 1684 (printed in the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland) which list the names of those fugitives outlawed after the battle of Bothwell Bridge. The rolls for Galloway list the names of James Mulliken in Knocknoon and John Mulliken in Barscobe in the parish of Balmaclellan in Galloway. Both men were only charged for harbouring or conversing with declare rebels and later took the test act in 1684. There is no indication to suggest either men fled to Ireland, but continued to live in Scotland.
It is more than likely Robert's brothers took part in the Pentland Uprising of 1666, which began in the parish of Balmaclellan after several Covenanters lead by the laird of Barscobe confronted a party of the king's soldiers. Two years later in May, 1668, the Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation denouncing a number of Covenanters who had participated in the Uprising. It is surely significant, that in this proclamation we should find a Milliken listed as a rebel, Roger Milliken in Fell, which like the lands of Knocknoon and Barscobe, lies in the parish of Balmaclellan, the heartland of the 1666 Uprising. It is noteworthy that one of Roberts son James is said to have been born in Scotland in 1670, or at least, so we are lead to believe. It is worth observing that the register of Derry Cathedral records the baptism of a James son of Robert Mulikine on 28th June, 1668, two years before the projected birth date of James Milliken.
In his account, Samuel also narrates how Robert's father, when an aged man, made the long journey on foot to sign a copy of the Covenant, and died soon afterwards from the fatigue of his exertion. The signing of the National Covenant of Scotland took place in 1638, therefore, this man could not have been the father of Robert - if he was in fact born in 1650. Prior to the signing of the National Covenant, petitions were submit from different parts of Scotland to the Privy Council calling for the English Common Prayer Book to be with drawn from the Church of Scotland; amongst the noblemen, barons, burgesses, ministers and elders who signed the petition from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, are the names of Robert Milligane in Broigmark, Roger Milligane [in Craigengullan!], Robert Milligane in Holm of Dalquhairn, John Milligan in Cairnmonow, and James and Roger Milligane in Arndaroch all in the parish of Dalry.
In 1684, the Privy Council carried out an extensive survey, parish by parish, of all males and females above the ages of 12 years. By then most of the parish of Dalry had been annexed to form the new parish of Carsphairn for which a detailed survey survives. Compared with the 1638 petition not one of the families listed is mention in the 1684 survey. It takes no great leap of the imagination to work out what became of these families! For several generations they had lived in the uplands of Galloway, where it will be recalled the lairds of Blackmyre acquired part of the land of Dalquhairn in the parish of Dalry and part of the land of Crogo in the parish of Balmaclellen earlier in the sixteenth century. To find Millikins turning up in Co. Londonderry as refugees from these parishes, fleeing the scourge of religious persecution, and hear of the suffering of the Covenanters being narrated by their offspring for generations afterwards, should perhaps come of no great surprise to any of us.
It has already been observed that by 1740 most of the Millikins living in Co. Londonderry had settled on the east side of the county and west of the river Bann. Samuels great grandfather, Robert Millikin, is almost certainly the same Robert Milikin living in the parish of Aghadowey in 1740. There have been Millikens living in this parish for generations and their descendants are still prominent farmers in the district. It was from this area in the Bann valley that emigration to north America began in earnest in 1718, when eleven Presbyterian ministers, under the leadership of the Rev. James McGregor of Aghadowey, and nearly three hundred members of their Congregations emigrated to Boston and later founded the settlement of Londonderry on the frontier north of the Merrimac river in what is now New Hampshire.
The cause of such large scale emigration to north America was due primarily to the heavy fines imposed by landlords after a lease fell-in, many of which were due for renewal by 1719 with some having run for upwards of 51 years as in the case of one farmer on the Clothworkers estate whose lease had commenced in 1669. It is know from later records, that the Millikins who settled in the Aghadowey area were farm-weavers and bleachers. It is not certain where exactly they lived in the parish in 1740, thought, they probably lived in the townland of Ardreagh. From here, we can catch a glimpse of Samuels great grandfather, Robert Millikin, a man of peculiar and unalterable habits, described as being small of stature, a weaver of the hand-loom by occupation and very stooping, who always wore, indoors and out-of-doors, a blue, knitted Kilmarnock bonnet. He would have only been a child when his father, James, was forced to abandon their small holding and flee to Derry in 1689.
In the August issue, James Millikin and Martha Hemphill were identified as living in the little hamlet of Dromore in the townland of Drumraighland. In his book, Ridlons also mistakenly confuses the birth place of James and Martha's children, for example, he asserts the couples eldest son called James was born in Antrim. Several years ago, Paul Millikin of Columbus, USA, a direct descendant of James Millikin, sent me a copy of the note Book of James Millikin eldest son of James Millikin and Martha Hemphill in which he states - I was born Jany 5th 1752. Paul also possessed the family bible of his great great grandfather, Samuel Millikin (son of the above James son of James Millikin and Martha Hemphill), which on the inside cover is inscribed the following words - my father James Millikin came from the county Derry Parish of Ballykelly, Born in the town of Drumralune (Drumraighland) in Ireland.
Of their remaining children, Ridlon notes that William, John, Mary, David, Martha, Samuel and Nancy Millikin were born either in Co. Antrim or Down, and their youngest son, Robert Millikin, was born in the town of Dromore in Co. Down. This assumption typically follows the mistake already mentioned, but of course, it could be argued Ridlon should have realised this as all the farms mentioned in the letter given in his book (addressed from James Millikin in Dromore and dated 1786) are located in the parish of Tamlagh-Finlagan, namely, Calmore now Culmore, Claggon now Clagan, Lartnally now Lisnakilly, Macremore now Magheramore, and Drumraigkellan now Drumraighland. By all accounts, if James Millikin of 1752 was born in Drumraighland and his father was still living there when he wrote his letter in 1786, it seems reasonable to assert, that all the other children were born in little hamlet of Dromore in Drumraighland.
Before concluding my comments on Ridlon's notes on this family, it may be worth observing that Martha Hemphill and her brother, James Hemphill of Culmore, were descended from Robert Hemphill, a tenant of George Canning, who acquired the Agivey estate near Aghadowey, at the plantation of Ulster. The head of the Hemphill family in Agivey is traced later through a James Hemphill who built a house at Camus near Coleraine in 1685. The arms of this family are similar to those of Baron Hemphill of Tipperary descended from an Ayrshire family. In his book, Aghadowey A Parish and its Linen Industry, the Rev. T. H. Mullin notes the Hemphill family were leading linen drapers in the area. By the turn of the 19th century, we find them in partnership with the firm of Hunter, Hemphill and McFarland, who owned three bleach greens, Greenfield, Aghadowey and Ballybrittain, all the parish of Aghadowey.
The Millikins of Ardreagh were also established bleachers and by 1832, we find William Milliken of Bovagh and partners, John Lynn and John Martin, running a bleach green over at Gorton in the same parish. It does not take any great leap of the imagination to realise that there is link between the Millikins of Drumraighland and the Millikins of Aghadowey, a link traced through the Hemphills of Culmore who were a branch of the Hemphills of Camus and of Greenfield near Aghadowey. In Samuel's account of his lineage, the first Robert Milliken is said to have had four sons of which only the name of one is known - James. He was evidently still alive in 1740, and although his name does not appear in the 1740 survey of Aghadowey, he was probably an old man by then living in the home of his son - Robert. It is plausible that the Millikins of Drumraighland are descend through one of the other three brothers not mentioned, or perhaps the direct line outlined by Samuel Milliken of Coleraine.
Three families emigrated to New Hampshire from this town or at least its vicinity, sometime between 1744 and 1750. They are known as the Millikens of Washington and Millikens of Sharon Counties. The heads of the first two, Alexander and William Milliken are said to have been the sons of Alexander Milliken of Castledawson, and the third, James Milliken, the son of the first emigrant - Alexander son of Alexander Milliken of Castledawson in parish of Magherafelt. I am not convinced that this family came originally from Castledawson as the religious surveys of 1740 and 1766 both survive for the parish of Magherafelt. The name of Thomas Miliken appears in 1740 and presumably his son James Milliken in 1766. These two men are more likely to have been the ancestors of another old family who lived in the townland of Glenmaquill and whose descendants are found to bear the names of Thomas, James and John Milliken.
To this, it must be added that there is no mention of an Alexander Milliken in the 1740 survey of all Co. Londonderry. There is however mention of one in the parish of Duneane, which lies across the river Bann in Co. Antrim.
1740 Religious Survey
Duneane --- James Miliken, John Milikin, James Miliken and Alexander Miliken.
The Tithe Applotment books of c.1830, list no Millikens in this parish leaving us to wonder what had become of all the families that once lived there in 1740. In the Tithe Applotment book of Magherafelt, the name of Alexander Milligan appears in Castledawson, and he is probably the same man whose sons, John and Alexander, were baptised at Castledawson Presbyterian Church:
John son of Alexander Milligan of Ballymoghan baptised December 1, 1810.
Alexander son of Alexander Milliken of Ballymoghan baptised January 31, 1826.
[Castledawson Presbyterian Church (PRONI: MIC.1P90), baptisms 1805-1865]
This man evidently represents the link between the Millikens of Castledawson and those who had settled in Washington and Sharon Counties in New Hampshire. He must have been known to James Milliken of Sharon County who died in 1830, and judging from the similarity of Christian names, been a near relative. It may be safely assumed then that not all of the first Alexanders children emigrated to North America! In his book, Ridlon mistakenly states Castledawson is located on the river Boyne. It is, in fact situated by the river Moyola and on the main highway that runs between the Cities of Derry and Belfast.
It is recorded by Ridlon that William Milliken of Washington County emigrated from Belfast and not Derry or Coleraine, the later ports being situated in Co. Londonderry. If my suggestion is accepted, that the Millikens of Castledawson are a branch of the Millikens of Duneane, then it will become apparent Belfast would have been the more convenient of the tree ports mentioned and would explain why William Milliken sailed from this port and not Derry or Coleraine, the usual ports of emigration to the north America for those living Co. Londonderry.
The townland of Teeshan lies in the parish of Craigs and Poor Law Union of Ballymena in Co. Antrim, where David Milliken, born about 1794, was a weaver and married Peggy Huston (the daughter of Huston and Kyle). In Griffith's Valuation of 1862, he occupied a house rented from Matthew Kyle. David died on Feb. 3, 1874, at Galgorm Park in the parish of Ahoghill, a widower aged 80 years: the registrar's informant was Mary A. Barr, present at his death. By his wife, he had the following children:
1. Robert Milliken born about 1827 and died in battle about 1850.
2. Mary Anne Milliken born about 1829 and married a Barr.
3. Jeannie Milliken born about 1830.
4. Matthew Kyle Milliken born about 1832.
Matthew Kyle Milliken, a weaver in Teeshan, married his first wife Nancy Wilson (daughter of William Wilson of Galgorm Park) on Sept. 24, 1859, at the Third Presbyterian Church of Ballymena. His first wife is buried in the old Cemetery at Galgorm Park. They had the following children:
1. Robert M. Milliken was born Jan. 1, 1860, at Galgorm Park and married Ida Lewis.
2. Samuel Wilson Milliken was born Mar. 17 1861 at Galgorm Park and died in 1944 in London, Ontario, Canada. He married Margaret Fleming and had four children.
Matthew married secondly, Elizabeth Courtney of Teeshan (the daughter of Robert Courtney, a weaver, and Ellen Elliot) on Aug. 19, 1865, at the Third Presbyterian Church of Ballymena. They had the following children:
3. Margaret Milliken was born at Teeshan on Feb. 11, 1866, and married Joseph Milliken in 1886. She had six children, and died on Oct. 20, 1946, at Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada.
4. Jane Milliken was born on Aug. 12, 1867, at Limnharry in the parish of Ahoghill and baptised Dec. 17, 1867, in the First Ahoghill Presbyterian Church.
5. Jean Milliken was born Jun. 1, 1869, at Ahoghill, and died at Arrowwood, Alberta, Canada, in 1945. She married Albert Howard Tharle and had one child.
6. Matthew Eugene Milliken was born Aug. 19, 1870, at Ahoghill, and emigrated in 1886, settling with family in London, Ontario. He died Apr. 1, 1938 at Bluff Nook Farm, Glenbrae, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Matthew Milliken was overseer of a linen mill in Ahoghill, where he gave material to the workers that were poor, and inconsequence, he lost his job and emigrated to London, Ontario, in Aug. 1887. His sons Samuel and Robert had already emigrated to London in 1882 and worked at Dysons Spice Mill. Their daughter Margaret emigrated in 1884, but returned in 1886 for the birth of her first child, Elizabeth Milliken. She later returned to London, Ontario, in 1886 with her sister Jeannie and brother Matthew Eugene, who also got employment in the spice mill and then later at McCormicks Biscuit Co. Matthew Kyle Milliken died March 24, 1900, at London, Ontario, Canada.
Richard Milliken of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, is the grandson of Matthew Eugene Milliken, who moved his family to a homesteaded in Saskatchewan in 1903.
From Alma M. Mullin (alma@chesco.com):
I've been trying to find a William Milliken, born 1848 in Ireland and died in Philadelphia, PA. Wm. married Isabel (Bella) Rohrer and lived and raised their family in Philadelphia. I found them in the 1880 census with 6 of their children: William H (1864), Martha P (2/1867), George W. (1868), Hattie P. (1870), John A. (1871), Charles (7/1976). Martha is my great grandmother. I hope to eventually get back into the city to check the 1870 and 1900 census as my father believes there were as many as 19 children in all.
From Scott Gabrielson, Rocky Mt. VA (gcs@neocom.net)
I am researching an ancestor, Capt. Jacob Milligan of Charleston SC. born. abt. 1730, died abt. 1797, married to Margaret Bennett c.1774. I don't know whether he was an immigrant from Ireland or born in the US, but I understand most Milligans/Millikens were from the same area. Any info you have would be appreciated greatly.
From Erik Milligan (erik.milligan@adtran.com)
I am trying to find the father of my G-G-G grandfather (Houston Milligan). According to a particular census, Houston was born in North Carolina in 1805, but I don't know where or to whom. I would greatly appreciate any information you might have on this.
Queries To
October 1999.