McQuillan's trace their Gaelic ancestry back to County Antrim in northern Ireland where they occupied Dunluce Castle during the 1500's. My paternal grandfather's ancestors, a McQuillan family, emigrated from County Derry during the Irish potato famine. They sailed from Glasgow on the Barque H.M.S. Junior. The four masted vessel arrived in New York City on November 15, 1851, after a 55-day voyage. Thomas, their youngest son, fought in the American Civil War on the Union side. In 1862, he was wounded during the Battle of Seven Pines in Virginia and never fully recovered due to the malaria he contracted.
My paternal grandmother, Bridget
McNulty, was born in Swinford, County
Mayo, Ireland. At the age of
16, during the Irish
Civil War in 1922, she immigrated
through Ellis
Island in New York City. She
changed her name to Elizabeth, married
Lawrence McQuillan, and raised a family in Norwalk, Connecticut, where
my father, Paul, and his sister, Mary, grew up. Paul married
Charlotte
Nelson, a Texas Belle who he met while serving in the U.S. Air Force,
and
sired three
red-haired boys: Dennis,
Mike
and Jim. Paul and all of his three sons have toured Ireland at
least
once, met their McNulty
relatives in Swinford,
and visited
Dunluce
Castle (more images here).