Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690 Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland d. 24 Mar 1776 Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine: Genealogy at Pitard.net

Abt 1690 - 1776 (86 years)

Name	Bryce McLellan [1, 2]
Birth	Abt 1690	Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Gender	Male
Immigration	Abt 1718	Maine [3]
Occupation	weaver; ship's carpenter
Religion	Presbyterian; Congregationalist
Death	24 Mar 1776	Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine
Notes	Nothing for sure is known of these McLellans before they immigrated from Ireland. Presumably the family had migrated from Scotland to northern Ireland about a century before, with many Scots, because of incentives provided by James I to populate Ireland with protestants. This group then suffered persecution after the Restoration, after 1660, since Charles II was a closet Catholic, sympathetic to Catholics. In the 1670s the Test Act was passed that insisted on membership in the Church of England for many offices and privileges; “non-conformists” were, in this case, just as suspect as catholics. Bryce immigrated to Maine from Ballymoney, Country Antrim, Ireland. He was a weaver and a ship's carpenter. He was part of a wave of migrants that started in 1718 with group brought over by the Rev. James McGregor of Aghadowey Presbyterian Church. This was the first wave of the Scots-irish "Great Migration," which was actually a series of five waves of migrants, culminating in the last and greatest wave during the early 1770s. Aghadowey is just across the Bann River from Balleymoney, only 3 or 4 miles away. Most narratives, such as Bourne's, say he arrived in Wells about 1720. Bryce was for sure there in the summer of 1720 when he received a grant of land in Wells. After he arrived he joined Wells Congregational Church. He appears on a list of inhabitants in wells in Spring of 1726; a series of conflicts with native indians had taken place over the previous few years. According to the New England Historical Society, “Two ships, the Robert and the William, brought Scots-Irish congregations to Boston Harbor on Aug. 4, 1718. Part of that group, which was led by McGregor, soon settled in Nutfield, New Hampshire, which later became Londonderry. Some went north to Casco Bay, where they had been given a land grant. They would have starved during the winter, but the Massachusetts General Court granted them 100 bushels of cornmeal. They later reunited with the rest of the group in Nutfield.” The group that went north to Casco apparently included Bryce. He had a hard time there. In 1729, he and his family moved to Falmouth (now Portland), and he built a house in 1731 on York/Fore St. Here the rest of his children were born, starting with Susannah. Judging by the dearth of records for several earlier children, some of the earlier ones had died young. According to Hugh McLellan's History of Gorham, The McLellans of Gorham are descended from Hugh and Elizabeth McLellan, whose children intermarried with those of Bryce McLellan of Portland, and James McLellan of Saco. James was a brother and Bryce a cousin to Hugh. Hugh and Elizabeth were born and married in County Antrim, in the north of Ireland. Bryce McLellan, the ancestor of the Portland branch of the family, came to this country several years before Hugh, and settled first in Wells, where he owned land July, 1720, and where several of his children were born and christened. He moved from that place to Cape Elizabeth, and about the year 1730 to Falmouth Neck. Hugh was the son of Hugh, and Elizabeth was the daughter of Cary McLellan. Their families were remotely connected, and were descended from Sir Hugh McLellan of Argyle, Scotland, who was knighted in 1515. This branch of the McLellans migrated from Scotland (probably the southern part of Ross, where the name is still numerous) to the north of Ireland, with a colony of Scotch, some seventy or a hundred years previous to the coming to America of Hugh and Elizabeth. (658) [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]
Person ID	I118
Last Modified	23 Nov 2024

Spouse / Partner 1 Jane
b. Abt 1695, Ireland
d. Between 1738-1741 (Age 46 years)

Marriage 24 Nov 1715

Children

+	1. Alexander McLellan b. Abt 1717, Ireland d. Abt 1782 (Age 65 years)
	2. John McLellan b. 1720, Wells, York Co., Maine
+	3. Margaret McLellan b. Bef 1720
	4. Jane McLellan b. 25 Feb 1722
	5. Samuel McLellan b. 3 May 1724
+	6. Capt. George McLellan, Sr. b. Nov 1725, Wells, York Co., Maine d. bet. 1767-1771, Lost at sea (Age 45 years)
	7. William McLellan b. 21 Nov 1725, Wells, York Co., Maine d. 1725
+	8. Susannah McLellan b. 9 Mar 1731, Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine d. Nov 1812 (Age 81 years)
+	9. Sarah McLellan b. 1727, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland Co., Maine d. 9 Jun 1807, Cushing, Knox Co., Maine (Age 80 years)
+	10. Capt. Joseph McLellan b. 20 Aug 1732, Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine d. 5 Jul 1820, Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine (Age 87 years)
+	11. Deacon James McLellan b. 1738, Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine d. 15 Jul 1792, Gorham, Cumberland Co., Maine (Age 54 years)
+	12. Capt. William McLellan b. 1736 d. 28 Jul 1815 (Age 79 years)
	13. Rachel McLellan b. 1738

Family ID F82 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Last Modified 23 Nov 2024

Spouse / Partner 2	Elizabeth Miller b. Abt 1692 d. 1 Sep 1770 (Age 78 years)
Marriage	Abt 1741
Family ID	F83	Group Sheet \| Family Chart
Last Modified	23 Nov 2024

Event Map

	Birth - Abt 1690 - Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
	Immigration - Abt 1718 - Maine
	Death - 24 Mar 1776 - Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine

= Link to Google Earth

Pin Legend

Documents		"Hugh McLellan's Family Line" This is S235; it cites no sources, but describes the line from Bryce through Capt. Joseph McLellan to Maj. Hugh McLellan. Because there are no sources I regard it as less authoritative, but I believe that the author, William Barry, is associated with the McLellan-Sweat house.
		"Portland--Old and New" This is the text of an article on Bryce McLellan's house in Portland, Maine, which he built in 1731. It also includes information about his family and the area.
		Bryce McLellan's house in Portland This newspaper article describes Bryce McLellan's house, which is apparently the oldest house in Portland, Maine.
		Nathan Goold, "Falmouth Neck in the Revolution" Collections and Proceedings of the Maine Historical Society, Second Series, vol. 8 (1897), 66-95.

Sources

[S37] John A. McLellan, Bryce McLellan . . . His Children and Grandchildren, (n/a; privately distributed).
[S240] Hugh Davis McLellan, History of Gorham, Maine, (Portland: Smith and Sale; rpt. Picton Press), 658.
[S916] Charles Knowles Bolton, Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, (Boston: Bacon and Brown), on pages 211-214. https://books.google.com/books?id=PSJCAAAAIAAJ&dq=ulster%20immigration%20boston%201718%20mcgregor&pg=PA214#v=twopage&q&f=false.
[S916] Charles Knowles Bolton, Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, (Boston: Bacon and Brown), 100; 254-57.
[S631] Balleymoney Ancestry.
[S632] The 1718 Migration.
[S740] David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America, (New York: Oxford Univ. Press).
[S916] Charles Knowles Bolton, Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, (Boston: Bacon and Brown), 211, 14; the book focuses on the migration of 1718-22 or so.
[S633] Edward E. Bourne, The History of Wells and Kennebunk from the Earliest Settlement to the Year 1820, (Portland: B. Thurston), 313.
[S917] New England Historical Society, New England Historical Society.
[S240] Hugh Davis McLellan, History of Gorham, Maine, (Portland: Smith and Sale; rpt. Picton Press).

Birth	1720	Wells, York Co., Maine

Father	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Mother	Jane b. Abt 1695, Ireland
Married	24 Nov 1715

Birth	25 Feb 1722

Father	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Mother	Jane b. Abt 1695, Ireland
Married	24 Nov 1715

Birth	3 May 1724

Father	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Mother	Jane b. Abt 1695, Ireland
Married	24 Nov 1715

Birth	21 Nov 1725	Wells, York Co., Maine
Died	1725

Father	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Mother	Jane b. Abt 1695, Ireland
Married	24 Nov 1715

Birth	1738

Father	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Mother	Jane b. Abt 1695, Ireland
Married	24 Nov 1715

Birth	Abt 1692
Died	1 Sep 1770

Family	Bryce McLellan b. Abt 1690, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Married	Abt 1741

Bryce McLellan

Jane

Alexander McLellan

John McLellan

Margaret McLellan

Jane McLellan

Samuel McLellan

Capt. George McLellan, Sr.

William McLellan

Susannah McLellan

Sarah McLellan

Capt. Joseph McLellan

Deacon James McLellan

Capt. William McLellan

Rachel McLellan

Elizabeth Miller