Bankhead

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Bankhead Family Origins

Bankheads buried near Ballymena in Northern Ireland

Headstone inscriptions that were collected from across 42 historic graveyards in the Borough of Ballymena in Northern Ireland can be found via the web page at http://www.thebraid.com/genealogy.aspx . The results of a search for the name of Bankhead are shown in the table below.

Cemetery Name	Year	Full Transcript
1st Ahoghill	1929	Bankhead In loving memory of Mary died 27th Oct 1929 Margaret died 9th June 1940 Samuel died 10th Dec 1965
1st Ahoghill	1929	Erected by James Bankhead. Killane. In memory of his parents James Bankhead died 5th Dec 1929 aged 88 years Elizabeth died 13th Dec 1930 aged 82 years Also his brother James died 27th February 1890 aged 10 weeks And his dear wife Sarah (died result of an accident) 6th May 1967 aged 61 years Also the above named James Bankhead died 15th November 1971 aged 78 years 'The Master is come and calleth for thee' John II v. 28
1st Ahoghill	1874	Erected by Andr. Bankhead, Lismurnaghan in memory of his father Robert Bankhead who departed this life 10th Decr 1874 aged 69 years Also his mother Jane Bankhead depd this life Feby. 1883 aged 70 years Also his children Jane depd this life 12th July 1901 aged 25 years and Sarah Ann Depd this life 20th June 1892 aged 22 years
1st Ahoghill	1877	Erected by Robert Bankhead, Ahoghill, in memory of his son John born 8th February 1875 died 25th April 1877 'Of such is the kingdom of heaven' Also his daughter Jane Carson Bankhead born 31st August 1871 died 8th Aug 1883 Also his son Alexander born 15th Feby 1880, died 12th Feb 1884 And an infant son Also his wife Elizabeth Bankhead, died 19th May 1927, aged 77 years
1st Ahoghill	1929	Bankhead. In loving memory of Samuel Bankhead, Ballybollend, died 14th September 1929 aged 66 And his wife Jane died 27th May 1930 aged 60 And their sons John died 27th April 1968 aged 76 And Alexander died 11th October 1976 aged 79
1st Ahoghill	1867	Erected by Margaret Jane Bankhead of Ballyministra in memory of her husband John Bankhead who departed this life 7th Feby 1867 aged 60 years
1st Ahoghill	1871	Erected by John C Bankhead of Lismurnaghan in memory of his father Alexander Bankhead who died 4th Augt 1871 aged 60 years
Ballymena	not dated	Bankhead
Ballymena	1930	In memory of Elizabeth Ann Bankhead, died 28th Feb 1930, aged 76 years
Kirkhill Cemetery Connor	not dated	Bankhead
Old Churchyard, Ahoghill	1836	Erected in memory of Joseph Bankhead of Galgorm who departed this life 25th Septr 1836 aged 57 years Also of his son James who departed this life 10th Feby 1842 aged 26 years And Agnes his wife 3rd April 1861 aged 80 years Sarah Bankhead died Dec 1872 aged 70 yrs Her son James Bankhead died July 1893 aged 51 years And his father Robert Bankhead who was born A.D.1812 died 1896 Mary Bankhead died 25th Dec 1893 aged 72 years
Trinity Presbyterian Church, Ahoghill	1939	In loving memory of Sarah Bankhead died 9th Jany 1939 Also her husband Thomas Bankhead died 6th Jany 1944 and their daughter Alice May died 31st March 1959. And their son Robert McMaster died 20th Augt 1982 Peace Perfect Peace.

Theory about how American Bankheads are related to each other

Stewart copied Mr. Dennis R. LEE’s 02/24/2001 letter below from the web page at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jbstowe&id=I0519

Hello to xxxxx,

This will be a little long; but it will give you some background on how I come to believe the family structure I have is probably correct.

I got my information on the early Bankhead lines about 1987 from Mrs. Loudie Moffatt, a professional genealogist of Austin, TX.

Mrs. Moffatt became interested in the Bankhead history while doing research for a Bankhead family (from CA I think).

She became so interested in the family that she prepared a draft of a book which she tentatively entitled "Westward from South Carolina - A History of the Bankheads".

She tried to get financial backing to publish the book by contacting Bankhead families over the country. She was unable to amass enough money to publish... and returned all the money she had collected.

I bought some of the material from her...and started my Bankhead research from those roots. She has since died, as has her husband, and I have been unable to contact any of the family. I really would like to have all those files and photos.

Mrs. Moffatt's story followed the history of four James Bankheads here in America. She numbered them #1 on through #4...so keep that in mind as I give you some quotes from her records. #4 was the son of her original James, and 1, 2 and 3 were his (#4's) nephews, sons of his brothers.

The following are excerpts from her records:

'The earliest mention of the name BANKHEAD in America was a 1718 petition to Governor Shute "of Boston New England" by a group of Scotch-Irish requesting permission to settle in his colony, among them was a JAMES BANKHEAD. Extensive research on my part, as well as by a number of prominent New England genealogists since 1920, have failed to show that this man remained in America.

Matt Bankhead of Edinburgh, who was born in Northern Ireland, has developed a theory through his research that this JAMES BANKHEAD may have been the son of HUGH BANKHEAD of Ireland, both of whom left wills in 1718, thus suggesting to him the possibility of a hazardous trip or some such that year. The father's (Hugh) will was proved in 1719. ...

Now I know that James Bankhead #1's father was the man I call "HUGH 1" for he, his son James (1742-1798), and James' father-in-law Robert Black, all paid their annual stipend to the Presbyterian Minister in Hartford County, MD in December 1769. But we do know that JAMES #1 and his wife, Elizabeth Black, were back in Scotland by 1772 when their son HUGH was born. Elizabeth Black Bankhead's grandfather was a prominent merchant in NC and VA. The family traditions of several branches of the family say that William Black, a noted "Scottish Merchant of Edinburgh", had left Scotland with a fleet of ships for Ireland, carrying his family, other relatives, his slaves and household goods, cattle, etc, where he sojourned for a number of years before continuing on to America".

....In searching out the four contemporaneous American Bankheads, I have the (unproved) theory that the JAMES BANKHEAD of the 1718 petition and will just may have had sons:
JAMES, who in 1735 married Elinor Monroe of Virginia (my JAMES #4);
HUGH I of Hartford County, MD who died in December 1769; [JAMES #1]<1742-1798>
JOHN "of Scotland", whose son JAMES #2 died in Union County, SC in 1805;
and ROBERT, whose son JAMES #3 left Belfast, Ireland in November 1767 aboard the "Betty Gregg", also called the "Snow", bound for Charles Town, SC.'

Stewart's note: a snow is a kind of ship.

Posted by Matt BANKHEAD September 16, 1999:
Re: WEIR: Ahoghill Ballymena area, Co Antrim.
The Bankheads and Weirs in Ahoghill were neighbours and intermarriage often took place (many of my uncles had Weir as a middle name)....

Did the James BANKHEAD who married Mary HATFIELD emigrate from Ahoghill, Ireland?

War for Independence

By Stewart

The monument shown on the right in the photograph of the church below displays the names of John (d. 1806) and James BANKHEAD (d. 1821) and other rebels who fought for Independence from England's Empire. Catholic PRESBYTERIAN Church was established in Chester County, South Carolina about 1770. It's Scotch-Irish preachers helped incite hatred against king George III.

On July 4, 2000, Mr. Dennis LEE wrote to me that:
1) his wife Margie is a descendant of Mary HATFIELD and James BANKHEAD. James and his first cousin John Bankhead are named on the aforesaid monument.
2) John lived in Chester County but the rest of his family lived on the other side of Broad River in Union County.
3) John's brother James BANKHEAD married Mary McGarity.

Jane, the daughter of Mary HATFIELD and James BANKHEAD married Robert, the son of SC militiaman James STEWART and his wife Rosannah (WHITE?). The Stewarts and Whites are said to have come from near the small village of Broughshane, about six miles to the east of the aforesaid Bankheads of Ahoghill, Ireland. In 1767 Rose and James received a 150-acre royal land grant a few miles south of Old Catholic and about 200 meters northwest of where Stover Creek and the Chester and Fairfield County boundaries now intersect. Descendants of Elizabeth BLACK and James BANKHEAD still live in the Stover community.

Since none of these Presbyterians owned a slave, they and their children had to work like slaves in order to compete with slave owners like William Ellison in the market place.