For years, John McMullan's descendents have been told that he was born in 1740 in Tralee, Kerry County, Ireland. Around 2018, I found some information showing that John may have been born in 1743 which would fit better with his age at the time of his service to the Continental Army and his marriage to Theodosia Beasley. Some records show that he was born in Dublin instead of Tralee and if he was born in Tralee, the family moved to Dublin very shortly after his birth. We have also been told that John and his brothers worked in the shipyards in Dublin and that is where John eventually got on a boat to come to America.

None of this is probably true. Why? Most McMullan's immigrated from Scotland to what is now Northern Ireland, mostly in Counties, Antrim, Londberry and Tyrone. There is no evidence that any McMullan's ever lived as far south as Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. Tralee in County Londberry is not a town. It is an area of farmland where families lived and worked. This makes much more sense. The graveyards of the Catholic parishes in that area have many graves of McMullan's.

We have also been told that John and his brothers worked in the port near Tralee, County Kerry. This is most certainly not true. The story continues that when John came to the New World as an indentured servant that he sailed out of Dublin when he was approximately 18-20 years old. This also is more than likely not true. Most likely, John would have more likely left from Belfast or County Derry where there were busy ports. Dublin was over 100 miles away it was not likely he would travel so far just to get on a ship. I have wanted to go to the LDS Church's Family History Library in Salt Lake City to see if I can find the ship that John sailed over on. For the past several years, I have been unable to get to Salt Lake City to look for this information.

Gale Fuller, one of our McMullan cousins, contacted the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C inquiring about the story that John was a tailor. They wrote her back and told her that Martha Washington made all of George's uniforms. So the story of John McMullan being a tailor who made all of General Washington's uniforms is not true. John was a private in the Revolutioinary army and there is no mention of him ever being a tailor. In fact, after the war, he never worked as a tailor. He was ceded land in Virginia for fighting in the war but sold the land about three years later and moved to Georgia where he and his children continued in the occupation of farming.

While searching genealogical records for John's father, Patrick McMullan, I came across the birth record for a John McMullan. It is from St. Cathernine's Parish in Dublin and John McMullan's's baptism is recorded as August 13, 1743. I believe this year actually fits better than 1740 which has been passed down. This baptism record is from a Catholic church in Dublin and most likely NOT our John's even though, like most McMullan's who immigrated to Northern Ireland, his family was probably Catholic.

As I began to look into this, I found a St. Catherine's Church which is an Anglican Church in Dublin and thought that is where this record came from. I sent it to an official at the church and found out that this record is from St. Catherine's Parish in Dublin, a Catholic Parish, which is just around the corner. The building that is at that location now is not the same building where this John McMullan was baptized. More information can be found below:

Parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria

St. Catherine's Church, Dublin (Roman Catholic)

St. Catherine's Church - Dublin, Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Catherine%27s_Church,_Dublin_(Church_of_Ireland)

St. Catherine's church is affiliated with the Church of Ireland which is an Anglican church. We have always felt that John was not Catholic but as it looks, his family may well have been, as most McMullan's were. We don't have any records of his church affiliation after coming to British Colonial America, at least not that I have found. It appears now that he was Catholic but, he had children and other descendents who were protestant.

No birth records have been found as of yet for John but he surely would have been born shortly before his baptsim date of August 13, 1743. This is not uncommon. Baptism records were recorded and birth records were not kept. I inquired of the Church of Ireland as to when a child would have typically been baptized after birth in the mid 18th century. This is the letter I received back:

After sending Dr. Hood a copy of John's baptism record, she told me it was not a record from the Church of Ireland but was more probably Catholic. It seems that she is correct and John was baptized at the St. Catherine's Parish in Dublin instead if this was him and it probably is not. There is no reason the family would travel over 100 miles, especially that close to his birth, for him to be baptized. He was much more likely baptized in or around Tralee in Londonberry.

Unfortunately, family stories get lost or changed in time or are just wrong to begin with. There is absolutely no evidence that John was ever a tailor or that he or any other McMullan's lived as far south as Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland. When Tralee was mentioned as the place John was born and lived, people just automatically thought of this city and had no idea there was the farming area of Tralee in County Londonberry.