Killymallaght is a townland of 571 acres in county Londonderry, in what is now Northern Ireland. It is about seven miles south-east of the city of Londonderry, on the eastern side of the River Foyle, and falls within the parish of Glendermott, although it is on the border with the parish of Donagheady in county Tyrone. In the 1831 Census, no fewer than 9 out of 31 homes were listed as Mitchell. Killymallaght is also the name of a hill, height 802 feet above sea level. In 1831 there were 5 more families of Mitchell in adjacent townlands on the slopes of Killymallaght Hill.

As one Mrs Martha Salyer wrote in the 1860's or thereabouts ..

"We lived on the slope up the hill from the county road, about a half mile: and just above us lived James Mitchell of the "Hill", and below us lived James Mitchell of the Lowertown. My grandfather's name was James Mitchell too: so that when he was alive there was a whole tier of Mitchells. Along past the school house towards Derry was what was called the "Old Town", where Mitchells and McKinlays were as thick as bees.

Most of the inhabitants of Killymallaugh that counted for anything were either Mitchells or McKinlays. . By the time I came along, the McKinlays and the Mitchells were so pretty well mixed that it was really necessary when time came for one of them to marry, to go outside for them to select a partner, "just from among the folks" if he didn't want to marry his second or thirty-second cousin....... "

In the 19th century, there were 5 Irish-born Mitchells who studied medicine at Glasgow University in Scotland. All five were Killymallaght men.

Of particular relevance to North American genealogists is the fact that there were no fewer than 9 separate migrations of Killymallaght Mitchells to the United States of America and Canada. These families were all closely related, and I would very much appreciate your help in tracking this diaspora of relatives and in putting them in contact with one another.

These families were:

CANADA

1. Dr Samuel Mitchell, general medical practitioner of Wallace and Amherst, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada, who arrived in Canada in 1819. Dr Samuel Mitchell was the son of John Mitchell, farmer of Killymallaght, and he died at Wallace on 5 May 1862. His children included (by his first marriage) twin sons, Rufus Freeman Mitchell and William Mitchell, and also (by his second marriage) Dr Robert Mitchell, Superintendent at the Dorchester Penitentiary Hospital, New Brunswick, and Alexander Mitchell, the famous Pennsylvanian railroad locomotive engineer who designed the "Consolidation".

2. David Mitchell and his wife, Margaret Mitchell (who was herself born Mitchell), farmers at Linden and Goose River, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada. This couple arrived in Canada in September 1829, with their family of 9 children. One of their sons, Robert J. Mitchell, later recorded that he had been born at Killymallaght on 2 November 1820.

3. Dr John Mitchell, medical practitioner and provincial coroner at Merigomish, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, who was the son of James Mitchell, farmer of Killymallaght. Dr John Mitchell (who died in 1877 and was the father of James Mitchell, apothecary of Merigomish) had emigrated to Canada in 1829 with his widowed mother and sister Jane Mitchell. He was also either accompanied or followed by his brother, David Mitchell (died 30 December 1889), farmer of West Merigomish, married to Elizabeth Buchanan.

4. The two brothers, Samuel Mitchell and Hamilton Mitchell, sons of Robert Mitchell of Killymallaght, also at Drumnagore and Ballymagorry, who emigrated to Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada, in about 1825 - 1829, with their sister Isabella Mitchell. Isabella later lived at Wallace, County Cumberland, with "her cousin", Dr Samuel Mitchell. Their youngest brother (who remained in Ireland) was (probably) Rev. Robert Mitchell, Presbyterian Minister at Leckpatrick, near Strabane, county Tyrone, who died on 13 January 1901.

5. The two brothers, Robert Mitchell and James Mitchell of Killymallaght, who were described as emigrating to Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1825, with their sister, Rachel Mitchell. They (or yet another group) may have settled at Truro, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, or otherwise near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

6. Dr William James Mitchell (born ca. 1842/43), son of Robert Mitchell of Cloghore (otherwise known as Greerstown, a townland adjacent to Killymallaght) and whose family held lands at Curryfree, on the slopes of Killymallaght Hill. Dr William James Mitchell served on the steamships of the Anchor Lines and died in 1887 at his home in Unionville (near Toronto), Ontario, Canada.

USA

7. William John Mitchell, farmer of Hamilton County and Cincinnati, Ohio, and later at Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, USA, who was married to Martha Mitchell (herself born Mitchell). William John Mitchell was the son of James Mitchell of Drumcorrin, a townland adjacent to Killymallaght (who was described in the 1830 Rent Rolls as "having gone to America" and who was possibly the "James Mitchell of the Lowertown" referred to in the article quoted above), while his wife Martha Mitchell was the daughter of the James Mitchell of Killymallaght who was described in the article as the "middle James" (i.e. the author's grandfather). William John Mitchell died in Douglas County, Kansas, on 7 Aug. 1912, and was the father inter alia of Senator Alexander Clark Mitchell and Judge James Hamilton Mitchell.

8. Robert Mitchell, the eldest son of James Mitchell of Killymallaght - the one who is described as the "James Mitchell of the Hill" in the article. This Robert Mitchell died in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 11 April 1903, leaving an only daughter Isabella Mitchell (Bella) who was unmarried at the time of his death.

9. David H. Mitchell of 241 Shawmut Avenue, New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, who is thought to be this Robert Mitchell's youngest brother, and thus the youngest son of James Mitchell of Killymallaght ("James of the Hill"). David H. Mitchell was the father of Walter Ricketson Mitchell of New Bedford, formerly Clerk of the Third District Court, Bristol County, Ma., who died on 27 or 28 March 1963, leaving his widow Mattie Hogaboom (O'Hart) of 10 Arch Street, New Bedford, and his younger son, David H. Mitchell of New Canaan, Connecticut.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

10. William Mitchell, who emigrated to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, ca. 1816, and later moved to Pennsylvania, USA, ca. 1819 where he died in about 1858. He was the son of John Mitchell and was born ca. 1810 at St. Johnston, county Donegal, Ireland, which is just across the River Foyle from Killymallaght.

11. John Mitchell, a ship's captain who emigrated to the USA in 1794, where he married and settled in southern Virginia. This John Mitchell was the son of James Mitchell of Inishowen, co. Donegal, (which is just on the western side of the River Foyle and not far from county Donegal lands held by Killymallaght Mitchell families) and his wife, Sarah Bromwell.

12. Dr. Jacob A. Mitchell, medical practitioner at Washington, Rappahannock County, Virginia, USA, who also practised for a while in West Virginia and Ohio, and who died at his home in Cherry Grove, Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1876. Dr Jacob A. Mitchell was born ca. 1807 in co. Londonderry, Ireland, and (according to family tradition) "ran away from home at a young age". Dr. Jacob A. Mitchell was the father of Dr Jacob B. Mitchell, of Manhattan, Kansas, USA., later President of the Union National Bank, Manhattan, Kansas, where he died in 1903; also of Dr Paul Stafford Mitchell (born ca. 1875), of Hammond, Illinois, and later, of Iola, Kansas.

13. John Mitchell, born in or near Londonderry on 31 March 1800, married in 1829 to Isabella McKinney, daughter (probably) of Robert McKinney and Ann McCloskey (both of county Antrim) who emigrated to New Brunswick, Canada, (probably) sometime between 1829 and 1847. Their youngest child was William Rufus Mitchell, who was born at Pleasant Ridge, New Brunswick, on 6 July 1847. ("Rufus" is a name that is seldom encountered, yet was also the name given to the firstborn son of Dr Samuel Mitchell of Wallace - see 1. above.)

My own interest in these families arises because my grandfather, Dr James Alexander Mitchell, was himself a Killymallaght man. He was born on 1 April 1876 at Little Drumenny in the parish of Donagheady, county Tyrone, where his father Thomas Mitchell of Killymallaght was farming at the time. This Thomas Mitchell was the middle son of the "James Mitchell of the Hill" referred to in the article quoted above. In 1899, Dr James Alexander Mitchell emigrated to South Africa where he was instrumental in establishing public health in South Africa, becoming the first-ever Secretary for Health for the Union of South Africa, in 1910.

I am making a special study of families of Mitchell in the north-west of Ireland generally, and also of Mitchells who were (or are!) members of the medical profession. By and large, these Mitchells were Presbyterian in their religion, or Covenanters or Unitarians, and several were Freemasons. It is quite possible that they were connected to John Mitchel, the famous 19th century Irish patriot who founded the newspaper "The United Irishman" and who later spent about twenty years in a Tasmanian prison for his convictions.

If anyone has an interest in any of these families or has any knowledge of them, or would like further information, please will you contact me on:

David Mitchell.

or by ordinary mail to:

Advocate David Mitchell P. O. Box 276 Rondebosch 7701 Cape Town South Africa