I am seeking information concerning John McMeekan(e). He had a son James in 1889, so was probably born in Ulster aroung 1960
He was a journeyman blacksmith When living in Ulster he is reputed to have killed a man in a fight, which led to the family moving to Egremont in Cumberland, England for a time where James was born. He seems not to have been charged with any criminal offence, They lived at 17 North Road, Egremont. The family seems to have moved back to Ulster because James qualified as a mechanical engineer at the Harland & Woolfe shipyards.
John is reputed (unconfirmed) to have operated a horse-drawn coaching service between Belfast and Larne, from where ferries left for Stranraer and Cairnryan. This business seems to have fallen on hard times with the advent of the internal combustion engine and buses. The family moved to the Witswatersrand in about 1906
