You can blame my great-great-grandmother Eliza Jackson
(1827-1903) for why I suspect that Handsome
James JACKSON of Drogheda might provide a clue when it comes to nailing
down bits of the ancestral story of Sir Thomas Jackson (1841-1915) of HSBC fame.
After all, she was the one who said that our Jackson ancestors were all clever, tall, good-looking people
with beautiful hands. She also claimed: We
have often been called mad, but never stupid.
Her son, Sir Thomas Jackson, went one step further on this
topic, at least according to his daughter, Amy. Apparently, his 2nd
great-grandfather and my g-g-g-great-grandfather, old George Jackson
(1718-1782), was not only known for his wonderful skin, but also his extra-marital
fondness for women. Whenever any girl living within a stone’s throw of Creggan
Parish had a particularly good complexion, the neighbours would comment, Ah. She must be one of George Jackson's.
The legacy of these stories made me sit up and pay attention
when I stumbled upon a description of John Jackson, son of Alderman Jackson of
Drogheda in The Dublin Scuffle. It
was printed in 1699, and written by John Dunton, an eccentric bookseller and even
more eccentric writer.
The Dublin Scuffleis a self-published gem. Dunton’s delight in describing himself and his
adventures knows no bounds. It is a self aggrandizing polemic with no apologies
for excess. It also offers up hundreds of vignettes of the times that make for
compelling reading. The title page itself comes across like a verbal jazz riff,
while the jumble of typefaces makes it looks as if the compositor had been
reduced to scooping up and using whatever bits of type were near at hand.
There are hundreds of snappy and brief portraits in this
book, James Jackson, being merely one of them. Before I share Dunton’s
description in this blog piece, let me back up a bit. In any detective work, it
helps to line up the known facts before plunging on.
This James, who was described so memorably by Dunton, was a
son of Alderman Richard Jackson, and also a grandson of an earlier Richard
Jackson who also served the Corporation of Drogheda. In fact, to keep us on our
toes, it seems as if the elected service of his father and grandfather may have
overlapped. The first Richard was mentioned in the Council Book of the
Corporation of Drogheda in 1657. He most likely settled there on the heels
of the Cromwellian victory in 1649 having gained title to some lands as an
“adventurer” rather than a soldier. “Adventurers” were men who had fronted
loans to the English Parliament to fund the war. They were then repaid in land
that had been seized from the residents and previous owners.
Where
James’ grandfather came from, goodness knows, but he was first described as a
carpenter. This does not mean that he himself went around with hammer and nails
at the ready. In all likelihood, he employed carpenters. My reason for
supposing this is that by 1658, he is described both as a sheriff and a mason
and is no longer referred to as “Mr.” but as: “Esq.”. He was doing well enough
to have a home with seven hearths in The Garr Warde. To give some sense of where he stood in the
economic pecking order of the day, only five people in Drogheda had more
hearths than he did – and they only had one or two more. I suspect his house was
on Lawrence Street.
So, back to Dunton’s description of his grandson, James:
Mr. Wilde told me what a
courteous person Mr. Jackson was; and when I came to his father's house, he
received me in such an obliging manner, that his favors did transcend report,
as much as they exceeded my dessert. Mdm., this gentleman resolves to live a
bachelor, which I could not but wonder at; for doubtless Nature meant him a
conqueror over all hearts, when she gave him such sense, and such beauty (for
he's a very handsome man). His wit sparkles as well as eyes; and his discourse
charms as well as his beauty; and I found by a little talking with him, that
his mind is none of those narrow ones, who know one thing, and are ignorant of
a thousand; but on the contrary, it is so very large, that although it cannot
be said Jackson knew everything equally well, it is most certain, he can give
an excellent account of all things; but though his soul is enriched with every
virtue, yet I thought the most remarkable thing in him was his great humility
and readiness to serve a stranger (for I might pass as such, never having seen
him, but a minute or two in London). p218
Dunton could almost be suspected of having a crush on James,
or at very least some ulterior motive best served by flattery. If all I had to go on was my great-great
grandmother’s description of previous generations of Jackson men, I would read Dunton’s
description and think no more about it - but there is one more thing which does
suggest a link between our Jacksons of south Armagh to those Jacksons of Drogheda:
I have been
told that the Corporation of Drogheda placed the Jackson coat of arms over the
town hall, in gratitude for the munificent gift old George gave them (I wish he
had been sleeping when he did it) but I never had time when passing through, to
see if it was the one. A letter from Eliza Jackson to her son Thomas in 1874.
Several questions arise from my great-great-grandmother’s
letter:
Was George Jackson ((1718-1782)
the donor of the crest or was it his lawyer son George, born mid-1700s and died
after 1820, or was it another unknown to me George?
Why was the money donated?
What did the crest look like?
Dunton’s
description also raises more questions:
Was handsome James Jackson related
to George of Urker, near Crossmaglen in Co. Armagh?
Did he ever marry? If so, are
there any known descendants?
In
the post that follows this, I will assemble some of my research bits and links
to more research that may further this line of enquiry. They will be guaranteed
to be boring to the casual readers of my blog, but absolutely riveting to those
who enjoy this kind of search.
