The Millikins of Donaghadee and Ballyholme
A Short History
Interred at Bangor Abbey, lies the body of Robert Millikin of Ballyholme in the parish of Bangor, County Down. He was born about the year 1638, and was almost certainly the son of Quintin Millikin who served in the regiment of Hugh Montgomery, Viscount of Ards, in 1642. Quintin and John Millikin, spelt Mullikin in the muster roll of Montgomery�s trooper of Horse, served under the command of the viscount of Ards during the civil war in Ireland. Most of the seventeenth estate belonging to the Viscount Montgomery�s were destroyed in a fire in Newtownards and with the exception of a number of leases, all the rent rolls covering the estate have not survived. Another important source of information that has not survived for Co. Down, are the tax hearth rolls. There are several other references to the Millikins in Co. Down, which appear in other sources. The first, Thomas Millikin, merchant in Ballywalter, Co. Down, was admitted a guild brother and burgess of Ayr in 1665. Next, there is a letter of James Millikin, customs officer of Donaghadee in 1672. He later moved to the burgh of Irvine in Scotland. In 1675, John Millikin, merchant, obtained a lease from Hugh Montgomery, earl of Mount Alexander, for a half tenement in the village of Donaghadee. In the customs records of Portpatrick, the accounts show a Robert Millikin was transporting horses from Donaghadee to Portpatrick between 1682 and 1685, presumably for sale in Scotland.
Robert Millikin may have been the same Robert Millikin, merchant in Donaghadee, who was granted a leasehold of land and the Tuck Mill of Ballyholme near Bangor on 17 January, 1694. In the Calendar-Nicholson Collection there is a memorandum of lease between Henry Maxwell, jun., of Finebrogue in the parish of Downpatrick and �Robert Millikine of Ballyholme� for 21 years from the 1st November 1693 for the Tuck Mill of Ballyholme with all the water rights and 23 acres of land in the townland of Ballyholme, the property already being in his possession and "belonging" thereto for a yearly rent of �7. 10s. Henry Maxwell was the son of Robert Maxwell of Finebrogue, who �son of Henry Maxwell and Jane Ecklin of Finnebrogue. Ballyholme was part of the Groomsport Estate, which became a Maxwell possession c.1692, when Robert Maxwell, son of the first Henry, purchased the land from Henry Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil.It is unclear if Robert was a brother of John Millikin, merchant in Donaghadee, who leased a tenement from the earl of Mount Alexander in 1675. On the back of the lease there is a note to say, John was actually put in full possession of the leasehold on 23 September 1699, after he had paid the last of the dues liable on the property. He appears to have held the property until about 1719, when it passed into the hands of John Russell of Donaghadee. Currently, I am working on the theory that he is the same 'John Milligin', who died in Carrickfergus c.1719.
Bangor Abbey Graveyard
[Worn altar-tomb of read limestone]
Here lyeth the body of Jannet REE,
Leat wife of Robert Milikin, of Ballyholem,
With whom she lived 40 years in married state,
And bore him 8 children, three of which lyeth here,
Viz:- John Milikin aged 9 years,
Hennry aged 10 years,
John aged one year.
She departed this life the 22 Febr. 1706,
In the 61 year of her age.
Here lyeth the body of Mrs. Marion Millikin, also Crgmbell,
Who departed this life ye 4th of July 1729 aged 54 years.
Epitaphs on tombs are praises vainly spent
Their own good name was their best monument
[Rather worn altar-tomb of red limestone beside the above]
Here lyeth the body Robert MILIKIN,
cloathier of Belieholem in the parish of Bangor,
Who departed this life the 28 of April 1712 aged 74 years.
Job 14 Chap, vers 11 & 12.
�As the waters feal from the sea & the flouds decayeth & drayeth up,
So man lyeth doun & riseth not until the Havens be no more.
They shall not awake nor be raised out of there sleep�.
Also ye body of Kuintin Millikin who died May ye 1, 1734, aged 70 years.
Robert Millikin married Jannet Rea c.1667 and by this marriage had eight children, five of whom survived childhood, Quintin, Mary, Robert, Jane and probably another unnamed daughter. Jannet predeceased her husband and died on 22nd February 1706 aged 61 years. Inscribed on her alter-tomb is the following epitaph, "Here lyth the body Iannet Ree, leat wife of Robert Milikin, of Belyholem, with whom she lived 40 years in maried state and bore his 8 children, three of which lyith here, viz:- Iohn Milikin aged 9 yers, Hennry aged 10 years & Iohn aged one year". Robert died on 28th April, 1712 aged 74 years, and was buried in a separate alter-tomb along side his late wife. He was a farmer and "cloathier of Balieholem", and evidently, a man of spiritual character as the following scripture is inscribed on his headstone and is taken from Job chapter 14, verses 11-12: "As the waters feal from the sea and the flouds decayeth and drayeth up, so man lyeth doun and riseth not until the Havens be no more. They shall not avake nor be raised out of there sleep".
Transcript of the Will of Robert Millikine, Ballyholm, 1712.
"I Robert Millikine of Belicoholem in the parish of Bangor cloathier ... do make my last Will and Testament" �
I order:-
"that the Covenant & condition of my part in the contract of marriage between my son Quintin and Marion Crymble be duly performed" �
I bequeath:-
to may said son Quintin �5.
to Robert the son of my son Quintin �50 & failing Robert to the other sons of my son Quintin, & failing them to his eldest daughter.
to my daughter Mary Clark �50.
to her son Robert �15 or failing this son Robert to her eldest daughter.
to my son-in-law Alexander Dunlop �3.
to Robert his son �12.
to my son-in-law John Ringland �12.
to Robert son of said John Ringland �12.
to my daughter-in-law wife of my son Robert Millikin of Belfast merchant �5 to by her mourning.
to my grandson son of said Robert Millikin merchant of Belfast at age of 21 years & failing him to his sister Jean Millikin.
All residue to son Robert Millikin of Belfast merchant.
Excutor:- son Robert Millikin of Belfast merchant.
Will dated 9 April, 1712.
Witnesses:- John Steele, George Ross, and John Clealand.
Probate to Exor. 28 May, 1712.
My Exor. Is to pay to Wm. Biggar & John Lucke 40/- for poor of Bangor, to my Landlady Margaret McMeechan in Donaghdea on guinea.
[Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: T.681/334]
Inventory of Wills
"Robert Millikine of Ballyholme, 9 April 1712, his son-in-law Alexander Dunlop & his son Robert witness. "John Steel" George Ross".
[Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: T828/8]
Up to the nineteenth century, witnesses were normally related to the person making the will. It can be assumed, therefore, that John Steele, George Ross and John Cleland were relatives of Robert Millikin, and perhaps even business partners. Like Robert, they probably rented either a shop or house in Donaghadee from where they ran their business. John Steel of Donaghadee appears witnessing several wills at the turn of eighteenth century, whilst George Ross may be the same George Ross styled of Carney or Carney hill in the parish of Donaghadee. During the 1600s, the port of Donaghadee was an important crossing point between Ulster and Scotland, and usually the first point of disembarkation for thousands of Scots wishing to establish a new life in Ulster.
The old marriage register of First Killyleagh Presbyterian Church records the marriage of Mary Milliken and John Ringland by the Rev. Jas Bruce on 5th March, 1702. If this is the same John Ringland, described as Robert�s son-in-law, it is likely the church clerk may have mistaken his spouse�s Christian name. The Tuck Mill and 20 acres land of Ballyholm passed to Robert�s son, Quintin Millikin, born about 1664. He married Marion Crymble, daughter of Charles and Catherine Crymble of Donaghadee and the grand-daughter of Waterhouse Crymble of Donaghadee, custom officer of that town between 1625 and 1649. Quintin was one of three creditors who in 1711 lodged an "Assignment of Mortgage" made by Patrick Savage of Portaferry for a loan of �500 received from John Montgomery, William Smith and Quintin Millikin of Ballyholm. He died on 1st May 1734 at the age of 70 years.
Quintin�s wife, Marion, "departed this life ye 4th of July 1729 aged 54 years" and was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother-in-law Jannet Rea. By his marriage to Marion, Quintin had several children, however, only the name of one has survived, namely Robert Millikin, who in 1729 paid the sum of �25.0.0. in rent for land in Ballyholme to the Henry Maxwell of Finebrogue[4]. By 1738, Robert Millikin had lost the Tuck Mill of Ballyholm to James Blackwood of Bangor, who according to an indenture of lease dated 12th March, 1738, held the Tuck Mill along with 23 acres of land from Robert Maxwell of Finebrogue[5]. It is evident, though, Robert continued to lease property in Ballyholm as he was still living there in 1739, when his name appears in a "Surrender of lease" between Robert Maxwell and William Nicholson of Ballow for certain lands in Ballyholm[6]; in this document Robert is listed as being a neighbouring farmer along with James Ward and James Nicolson.
Robert, second son of Robert Millikin of Ballyholm, became an established merchant in Belfast and one of a number of Commissioners who attended the General Synod of Ulster in 1708 to present a supplication for the erection of the Second Presbyterian Church in Belfast. He married first, Elizabeth, daughter of William Rainey of Belfast and Whitehouse, in 1702. It is possible Robert had served his apprenticeship under William Rainey[7]. Elizabeth evidently bore Robert children and was probably the mother of Robert and Jean mentioned in their grandfather�s will in 1712. The burial register of Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church in Belfast records the deaths of three unnamed children, a daughter buried 3rd January, 1713, a child on 9th February, 1715, and another on 24th April, 1717[8]. After Elizabeth�s death, he married secondly, Abigail, the daughter of John Young, another Belfast merchant.
Abigail�s mother, Mary Hutcheson, was the youngest daughter of Alexander Hutcheson, minister of Saintfield Presbyterian Church and son of George Hutcheson of Monkton in Ayrshire. Alexander�s eldest daughter, Beatrice, married Hugh Wallace of Ballyobikin and Ravara, whilst his only son John Hutcheson was minister of Downpatrick 1690-7 and Armagh 1697-1729. Sometime between 1706-9, Abigail�s father, John Young, purchased the lands of Listooder and Ballydian in the parish of Kilmore, County Down, from the trustees for the estate of Sir Hans Hamilton of Monella in county Armagh. Beside Abigail, her father had another daughter, called Jane, who married Gilbert McTeer, and five sons Alexander, Hugh, Charles, Robert, and James Young; the latter married Jane Millikin, daughter of Quintin Millikin of Ballyholme. By a deed dated 16th October, 1728, James Young of Belfast merchant and Jane Young alias Milliken his wife, sold to the Rev. Samuel Hutchinson of Ballygraffan in the parish of Ballyhalbert, county of Down, the lands of Fishers Quarter lying in the barony of Ards, together with the parsonage and rectoral of the said lands of Fisher Quarter[10].
By an Indenture of Lease dated 9th April, 1706, granted by George and Thomas Mankin, Robert Millikin, junior, came to possess a tenement situated on the High street in Belfast, which he later sold for �60 to Isaac McCartney, merchant of Belfast, in 1716. By a deed conveying this property, Robert signed himself "Robert Milikin" and had as his witnesses William Rainey, jun., and James Hamilton both merchants of Belfast. He was still living in Belfast five years later, when as "Robert Milikin of Belfast" he confirmed this grant to Isaac McCartney by a memorial of deed poll dated 21st March, 1721. Off his business, only one receipt is known to exist and is found in the Earl of Donegal�s account book, which notes a payment to Robert Milikin for �27. 12 s. 10d. "as per his account" in 1710. He appears to have had several children, however, only the names of three are known, Robert and Jean already mentioned, and William, who was bequeathed a certain sum of money in the will of his maternal grandfather John Young dated 29th August, 1722.
It is evident from the earliest records relating to the Millikins of Ballyholme, they were a respectable family of farming stock, who ran a clothier�s (tailors) business in Donaghadee. There is a gap in the records relating to them, which covers most of the mid 1700s. By the time they re-emerge from obscurity towards the end of the century, we find them using the variant forms of Millican/Milligan, a pattern fairly typical of other families. Within the first few decades of the 1800s, the last of the "Ms" of Ballyholme and Donaghadee had emigrated, presumably, to North America or Britain. It is probably fair to say that were it not for the records of their names found in the local church registers and estate papers, we would almost certainly never have known of their existence. I have often wondered if perhaps, Charles Milliken styled of Orange Co., North Carolina, in G. T. Ridlon�s book, belonged to a branch of this family. This man named his children: Robert, James, Charles, George, Quintin and Jenny, all names peculiar to the Millikins of Ballyholme.
Charles Milliken of North Carolina
In his Biographical Note on the family of Charles Milliken of North Carolina, the Rev. G. T. Ridlon narrates that Charles appears to have been amongst the first of many Scotch-Irish settlers who were to make North America their home. He is said to have emigrated with his maiden sister Jennie from the province of Connaught, Ireland and settled near the present town of Stanford (Staunton) in Virginia about the middle of the 17th century. Research has since revealed that Charles first settled in Derry Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as early as 1745 were an indenture bearing his name was found by one of his descendants called Joseph Milliken [1984]. From here he moved to Staunton, were his name is recorded in a sue for performance in 1748. There is also evidence to show his sister Jennie, is the same Jane, a niece and one of the beneficiaries of Mary Hannyngton, widow of Thomas Hannynton of Comber in Co. Down. Her will was written on 15 February 1734, and made probate on 8 May 1734. Mary Hannyngton was related to Quintin Millikin of Ballyholme by marriage to his wife Marion Crymble.
Between, 1748 and 1760, Charles Milliken's name is mentioned among those who worked on the great Philadelphia and North Carolina Wagon Road, which passed through the property he occupied. Sometime during this period, he married Ann Harbison. and in or about the year 1769, he moved to Orange County, North Carolina, where obtain a tract of land on Little Caney Creek. Later in 1769, he purchased a tract of land at Robertson Creek. Here he built his home and became a wealthy planter and slaveholder and raised his family of six children. He published his last will and testament on May 12, 1785, in which he appointed his two sons Robert and George executors.
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