Is it McHenry or MacKenney, McKinny, Whatever?

There is considerable confusion about the origins and ancestry of Jane, Hugh Jameson's second wife. What little has been written about this does not always seem to add up. Indeed, we have written about this in depth elsewhere.[1]

One conclusion we feel has merit is that she was somehow connected, probably a daughter, of a Daniel McHenry. This is a theory of E.O. Jameson in "The Jameson's in America,"[2] and widely accepted, see here.[1]

Part of what makes this so persuasive is that Thomas Jameson, brother of Hugh, purchased a piece of property in Londonderry, NH that was bounded on the north by that of a Daniel Macheney. Hugh, who may have actually been living with his brother Thomas on his land, would likely have known this Daniel Macheney (McHenry?) and his family. It is thought that perhaps "Jane," Hugh's second wife was somehow related to this family because of this probable association and because they named their second son "Daniel," an uncommon name in these parts at this time, according to familiar cultural traditions.[3]

Close examination of the various early Londonderry, NH land deals involving the lands occupied by Daniel "Macheney" are however inconsistent and ambiguous as to the spelling of the name. They were different, pretty much all of them, on each of several different documents. It is quite possible any of these were actually phonetic interpretations of "Machenry" or "McKenney," or something similar. Thing is, the only reference we really have to the name "McHenry" is from E.O.Jameson.

Unfortunately, apart from E.O. Jameson's references and these unclear land records, we can find no other documents or references to any McHenry of any kind in this area at this time, although it was well known in the area of Ulster from which our Jameson family had emigrated.[4]

It is possible that E.O. Jameson got the surname all wrong and it was indeed McKenney (or some other variation of the spelling) and not McHenry. He may possibly have been influenced by old Ulster records of the name McHenry and unaware or unconcerned with these land records.

What make this possibility/theory so interesting and compelling, is that some descendants of this Hugh and Janet Jameson are DNA (Ancestry autosomal) matches with the Jamesons of Maine, specifically descendants of either Margaret  and or Sarah Jameson, both of whom married McKenney husbands. There does not seem to be any other DNA matches, atDNA or YDNA, with these two Jameson families. There does not seem to be any other possibilities for a DNA connection between these two families, McK?nney or Jameson.

There is however a Daniel McKinney family of nearby Bedford, in what is now Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, with ties to Londonderry, New Hampshire. He was born in Ulster Ireland and apparently immigrated to New England, before 1730, settling in Londonderry, where he raised his family and where at least two children, Jean and John, were born about 1730 and 1732. It is entirely possible that this Daniel McKinney is the person who owned the property next to Thomas Jameson in Londonderry and that he may have been the father of Jane (Jean?), who E.O. Jameson identified as Jane McHenry and the second wife of Hugh Jameson.