Alexander George Elliott (1683 - 1762)

His wife looks to be either Christian or Christine Montgomery. This at least puts one Elliott family in the town earlier than any other record we knew to, at the moment.

The statements the family were prosperous, had a Mill, Alexander left a Will, which was destroyed. No Alexander Elliott listed in the Irish Will index covering this period. Just how did they know there was a Will in the first place? The book was written 1961 & the fire mentioned was in 1922. So there appears there is nothing at all to back this up. Banbridge itself, the town, doesn't come into being until 1712, when the bridge is built across the river Bann. So there is going to be no record saying Alexander 'born Banbridge'. I cannot find him buried in the town as it states. Also if a prominent businessman then you would think his death would be recorded. There is a fine site listing extracts from the Newsletter newspaper. This covers Banbridge quite well even though a Belfast paper. Two or three Elliott's mentioned, over a wide timescale though. No mention of Alexander. Again you would think that being quite a decent size family there would be marriages or baptisms of children. But in the available records there is only one in the time period. Mrs Elliott marrying the Presbyterian minister Mr Sims 1758. So she would have been a widow. He was the Minister at Tullylish. This family do not appear to have come from Banbridge. There are only a handful of Elliott's recorded in Banbridge up until the mid 19th Century, indicating no Elliott family was particularly prominent.

The problem is my family are from Donegal & have been there a long time. So i was wondering what actually connects the USA family to the Banbridge family. What are the 'fire damaged records' ? There is mention of a Will. Does this just tie an Alexander to a George. Or does it say how William Elliott said to be of Londonderry connects to Alexander Because the names Alexander & George were common to many of the Elliott families as was William, James, Andrew, David....etc, they repeat regularly but at times a name is lost. It says here Alexander George was son of William John Elliott who died in the Siege of Londonderry. First thing at this period it was rare for ordinary folk to use middle names, so where does George & John come from. Has someone made an assumption having found a record for an Alexander tried to make it for a George. Is William on the records as having been one of the defenders of Londonderry. Londonderry is close to the area of Donegal my family came from. I descend from a marriage of James Elliott & Margaret Reagh 1844. Margaret's direct ancestor, Mathew Reagh, is recorded as a defender of Londonderry in the Siege. Mathew came from where my Elliott's came from, circa 1600's, so you can see how there is an interconnection between Donegal, Londonderry and the families. But to the best of my knowledge i am not aware of any County Down connections and have no other Y or autosomal dna matches there, yet can pick up Elliott's across the UK, USA, Canada & Australia. I am not saying that Alexander could not be from Donegal and end up in Banbridge, but i have posted on another site. In 1689 you would not think it a good idea to cross Ireland from Banbridge to be in Londonderry to fight in the Siege, even if you came from there. So its a question of what actually shows the Banbridge connection. Rob