Mawhinney/McWhinnie, Mawhony: Ballywalter, Down, Ireland
My gg grandfather, Hugh McHarry (1807-1891), corresponded with his cousin, Nancy Mawhinney, who lived near Ballywalter on the Ards Penninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the mid-1800's.
I recently received a copy of a record stating that Hugh's father, Alexander McHarry (1771-1850) married Margaret Mawhony at the Ballywalter Presbyterian Church on July 14, 1804.Spellings in records at that time and place were VERY strange.Ma = Me = Mc = Mac = M'.I assume she was in fact a Mawhinney.McHarry is also a very rare surname, and both it and Mawhinney also appear in Wigtonshire in SE Scotland, which is just 20 miles across the Irish Channel from the Ards Penninsula.
Any information about Ballywalter Mawhinneys would be very much appreciated.