Who are the parents of Robert Kernohan born 1815?

Question

Robert Kernohan, born 1815 in Dundee Scotland, moved to Antrim, Ireland at age 4; moved to New London area, Middlesex, Ontario Canada in 1848 with his wife Martha Barr and two children, the baby being buried at sea.  We know a lot about Robert but nothing of his parents while we know about Martha's parents and a grandparent.  Makes me think they died young or there was a problem.

I've searched Scotland's people and PRONI and Canada archives.  I do think I found them on the 1851 Canada census with the last name spelled KARNHON.  They might have been living with an Andrew KARNHON, age 61, born Ireland.  

What else can I do to find his parents? People have asked questions in Ireland to no avail.  This is my main brick wall.

Comments

Another surname variant to try might be Carnachan for instance https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JN7C-42H

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Could he have spent time in Michigan. This 1860 census record gives the correct initials for a R Kernohan, born scotland and his wife M Kernhan, born ireland. Children born in West Canada https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWDT-34V

Find a grave gives a birthdate for this guy of 03 Jun 1815 and death in 1890 in Michigan https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVKD-588B

and a wife Martha Barr https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3NX-2M8

A grave site record lists his children, his eldest being Elizabeth and James which might follow the scottish naming convention of being the first names of his parents https://peoplelegacy.com/robert_kernohan-4j5F0j

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Yes he was in Michigan. I have all of that information. Thank you.

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Ray, thank you for your information. Everything I have says that he was born in Scotland in 1815 and then moved to Ireland. The 1880 census says his parents were born in Scotland also. He married Martha Barr in Cullybackey so I might try the church but I think previous researchers have tried that. I just find it odd that his children didn’t pass on information about his family when they knew Martha’s information.

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A tough one. I couldn't find anything in the scottish records. There are a lot of Robert Kernohans in Ireland, mostly around Antrim and Ballymena. There is a tax record for a Robert Carnaghan in 1835 in Artnagullian, Antrim https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4LYB-93ZM but other than that nothing remotely close

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This is getting stranger. Such a puzzle.

I have found a Robert Carnochan's baptismal record of 18 Aug 1816 in Portpatrick, Scotland; definitely not Dundee.  He was the son of James Carnochan and Mary Spence.  Ancestry has the birth date also of 3 Jun 1816!  The exact day and month of my Robert but one year later and definitely not in Dundee.  I have searched everything with fuzzy searches including Scotland's People.  I don't have access to Find My Past.  This is the only thing that pops up.  And I can't find anything else on James and Mary in Scotland including baptismal records.

Could the birth year actually be 1815 and someone wrote it wrong?  I can't find an actual record to check.  Could they have baptized him in Portpatrick on the way to Antrim, Ireland?

I would appreciate any ideas.  I love puzzles but geez.

Answer 1

Hi Eleanor. I added about 500 Kernohans to WikiTree a couple of years ago based on research done by Kernohan descendants from multiple countries who had collaborated over several years. You can see the majority of these families by looking at the descendants of Andrew Kernohan (abt. 1730) https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Kernohan-Descendants-135
Kernohan with that spelling is very localised to area around the village of Ahoghill in County Antrim including Craigs and Cullybackey.
I suspect that your Robert may have actually been born in Ireland (or his parents were) and his family may have moved to Scotland for work or to avoid the famine. That was a common occurrance.
Unfortunately your Robert and the Andrew born about 1790 are not already in the tree and it is not clear exactly where they would connect but it seems likely they should.
Irish records before 1845 are very scarce and church records are generally not available online but it might be possible to find more information at PRONI or by contacting 1st Ahoghill Presbyterian Church or Cullybackey Presbyterian Church.