A Mess with the McCune, McEwen, McQuown Family

Question

I have run into a conundrum with this part of my family, I think because there are so many people with similar names throughout the British Isles and in Colonial America. The profiles have different managers but link (incorrectly) to those in my line. McCune-523 is not the father of McCune-667 who is my 5th great-grandfather. My William McEwen/McQuown was born in, Ballybay, Monaghan, Ireland (not Scotland) and was the son of James and Isabella Stewart McEwen who came to America in 1737 with their family, including William, and they settled in Peapack, Somerset Co., NJ. This is confirmed by a letter from their Pastor in Tulley Corbet, Monaghan Co., Ireland in 1737. 

I have the bible record of his son John's (McCune-667) birth and marriage. It has also been proven by Marjory McEwen Gerold through DNA that John b.1745 was the son of William and Sarah Helm McEwen. William died in captivity in Quebec in 1759 and Sarah died in Somerset County in 1760. I've added a bunch of sources on McCune-667 (it was spelled McQuown) in the bible record. He married Margaret Herron they had a daughter Jane, who married Curtis Sisty who is my 3rd great grandfather, they had a son James Herron Sisty whose photo I posted some time ago. There is still another McEwen-795, to which I have added a load of sources, but I have no clue how to unravel the rest.

 I have the information correctly done on my Ancestry tree, with sources (as few as they are). Much of the information came from the Flansburg Graybeal genealogical report. I have my mother's portion, but the McEwen bit is lost to me. A distant McEwen cousin has filled in many of the blanks, as we started working together with several other distant cousins on the Sisty line in 2009. Most of that research can be found here: https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=lrmcg-sisty. 

A good starting point is the source I recreated from a Google book "Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania: Vol. II" I'm attaching the pdf to McEwen-667, because the attached father is incorrect, and his grandfather and Great grandfather about whom it's written are not yet on the tree.

Bottom line, I need some serious help figuring out what needs to be merged, changed, and fixed!

Comments

My research tells me I am a descendant of William McEwen born in 1726 in Ballybay, assuming he was the father of James McEwen, born 1944 in NJ (married in 1765 to Mary Ann Dennison) and brother to your ancestor, John McEwen. I agree with your info that "our" Wm died in Quebec in 1757 and is not linked correctly on Wikitree.

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I believe you're right Donna. I've just been in touch with another McEwen via a DNA match on Ancestry. We have quite the brick-wall with William in Ballybay. Also, the record of "our" William dying in Quebec, incorrectly implies that he died in that war. Newer evidence indicates he died in the French orison there.

Answer 1

There is a major erroneous link on Ancestry between Elizabeth Whitney and John McQuown of Mount Bethel Twp., Northampton Co., PA. I have tried notifying people of the long distance between CT and PA and the total impracticality of their assertion. At one time there were 45 or so similar links, so I gave up on this.

Your William McCune was born in Scotland while James McQuown was born in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan Ireland. James father, William was also most likely born there as there is a ling back to the 1665 Hearth Tax to a John McEouighan (sp?). This John had to be about 30 and was most likely a soldier that fought the Irish and was paid with Irish property by the English Parliament.

I have not done any research in your area, but our line is well documented.

Cordially yours,

Bruce McEwen

Comments

Hi Bruce,

I'm looking at my Ancestry and I have it correct. So is the William (McCune-523) correctly linked to Elizabeth Whitney? I don't have her or him in my tree at all! What needs to be done to fix this? Take away some relationships? Merge some people? Let me know and I'll try to fix it!

Here's what I have on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/9715759/person/312118255695/facts