Mullins Immigrant Origin

The Mullins Family in the British Isles and Europe

Did our Mullins immigrant originate in France? 

Did our Mullins immigrant originate in England?

Or did our Mullins immigrant originate in Ireland?

My personal opinion - shared with other genealogists - is that he came from France.  I will offer here the information that I gathered over several years from documents in France and that our name never had an “O” attached to it.  However, I cannot be adamant in my opinion.  Mullins is an anglicized name at best, and the Mullins family in Virginia, from which my father descended, came on an English ship, probably from a port in England. 

In France, the name Mullins is variously known as (a) its original form: de Moulins-la-Marche; in Normandy, it became shortened to de Moulins (b) in the Poitou-Charente region a few hundred years later it became des Moulins, often writtien Desmoulins; (c) in Central France and in the Paris regions: du Moulin, sometimes written Dumoulin; (d) in the Lower Pyrenees and the Midi: Molines; (e) in the Huguenot era in the Auvergne: Desmoulins and in the Ardeche was often spelled Desmoullins - doubling the "el." Then in places of refuge such as the Low Countries and England, the prefix was dropped and the Molin, Molines, Mullins pronunciation and written forms became dominant.

A glance at the map of France shows how close Isere Department is to Geneva, the capital city of Calvinism in that period. From there, Protestants fleeing France could make their way to the Rhine with perhaps a short stay in Mannheim, Germany, another city open to various Protestant sects, and on to Amsterdam and a short boat ride to London, a city of refuge for the Huguenots and Walloons, even providing them a church on Threadneedle Street in the Middlesex area of London. By 1598, our family name shows up on the marriage records of that church. The French prefix has been dropped and it is spelled both as Moulin and Moline(s).

In addition to that church's records, there are some other Middlesex Parish and Probate records where our name is found:

1. England; Middlesex; St. Margaret Westminster; Burials: 13 November, 1667, William Mullins; 08 September, 1668, Richard Mullins; 07 March, 1671, William Mullins; 19 July, 1673, George Mullins. Baptisms: 30 December, 1677: Elizabeth Mullins, daughter to William by Elizabeth; 18 December 1642, Wynifred, daughter of Willm Mullins.

      2. England; Middlesex; St. Katherine by the Tower; Baptisms: 01 January, 1639,      Thomas, son of Thomas and Judith Mullins; 13 November, 1642, Phillip, son of Thomas Mullins; 29 December, 1644, Marie, daughter of Thomas Mullins; 19 June, 1650, Martha, daughter of Michael and Martha Mullins.

     3. England; St. Giles outside Crepulgate (should read Cripplegate) in London; Christening 21 September, 1678, Matthew Mullins, son of Jno and Jane Mullins.

Was the Mullins immigrant to Virginia ever truly Irish?

Those in opposition to my opinion above suggest that my Mullins family came from Ireland, based on the fact that the old name Moling was changed to Mullins as the Saxons migrated (invaded?) the island. I have to admit that there is a Saint Moling (now called by the English St. Mullins) whose shrine is in Carlow County, Ireland. The saint was born there or came there in the 600s.  I believe it is not likely that the name Moling became Mullins.  It is more probable that the name desMoulins was anglicized as early as 1066 when the desMoulins invader from Normandy (France) settled in England.  Huguenot (Protestant) Mullins families took flight from France in the 1600s and many spent time in Middlesex, England where their names were anglicized. The French name could have been changed in the English ship passenger records as they boarded it for their voyage to Virginia.

Sources:

Dozens of searches in the records of the Provinces of France. 

Huguenot Society family statistics.

Hundreds of Virginia records.  

Data from the St. John the Baptist Hospitallers records.

Information supplied by genealogist friends.