JACKSONs and St. Johns Killowen

 

St. Johns - on the western shore of the River Bann.

 Because most churches tend to be locked mid-week, I had not expected to gain access to St. John’s Killowen in Coleraine on a Monday in February, but even so I tested the door and my Irish luck prevailed. Since the cleaning staff had the week off, a handful of parishioners had subbed in for them. They let me in and could not have been more welcoming. In the following quote, I have highlighted the date of the construction of this version of St. John’s. In the paragraph which follows, you will see why this matters. 

The original parish church, which was part of a priory founded in 1080, was, in 1830, converted into a school-house; and a small neat church, without either tower or spire, was built at an expense of £1000, towards which £300 was given by the Clothworkers' Company, £100 by Bishop Knox, £50 by the Irish Society, and £170 as a gift and £380 as a loan by the late Board of First Fruits. SOURCE: Genuki.

Inside the church is a memorial which had been erected by Richard JACKSON (abt 1730-1789) in memory of his 2^nd wife Anne O’NEILL (1737-1781). Obviously, he had died decades before the current St. John’s was completed, so it is likely that this plaque had first been installed in the earlier church and then reinstalled in the new one after the original church was converted into a school. Lesson to self: keep an open mind about where one might find things. UPDATE: April 27, 2025: A plaque in praise of William KINKEAD was installed by Richard JACKSON at St. Patrick's, Coleraine and was similarly effusive. 

SACRED to the memory of ANNE, the Wife of the Right Honourable RICHARD JACKSON of Jackson Hall in this Parish. She was the only Daughter of CHARLES O'NEILL Esq. of Shane's Castle in the County of Antrim. Her Virtues cannot worthily be celebrated by the most exalted monumental Panegyric Or by the Strongest Testimony of Approbation Which a frail Mortal can bestow. Yet justice to her Memory demands That her Name be transmitted to Posterity As an illustrious Example of eminent natured Endowments improved by a Variety of most valuable Accomplishments. In her Acts of Piety whether public or private She was uniform, constant, unwearied. In her observance of the Sabbath scrupulously exact. Steering equally between Luke warmness and Enthusiasm In her relative duties. Domestic, Conjugal, Parental. She was tender, steady, condescending, faithful. She was with MARTHA studious of Oeconomy. (Frugal without Parsimony and liberal without Profusion.) But with MARY, She chose that one good Part Which she considered as the ONE THING NEEDFUL. In her Charity to the Poor. She was judiciously diffusive. In her Conversation, affable, obliging, & instructive. In her whole Deportment, humble, upright, conscientious. Her example shewed Truth embodied. And, while it displayed the Excellency of Virtue, demonstrated its Practicability. She exchanged the Frailties of this mortal State for the Blessings of a glorious Immortality And her hopes of glory were perfected in Fruition. Through the old sufficient Merits of that SAVIOR In whom she trusted On the anniversary of her Father's Death, August the 6th 1781 In the 44th year of her Age, Blessed Saint for thee to die is gain.

 Anne O’NEILL’s obit can be seen in the mid-August edition of the Belfast Newsletter:

Early on Monday morning, the 6th inst, died, at Coleraine, Mrs. Ann Jackson, lady to the Right Hon. Richard Jackson; and most deservedly and deeply lamented by rich and poor; but chiefly by a fond and affectionate husband, whose grief and affliction is beyond description, further than by saying that it is in a measure proportioned to his loss, which is immense and irreparable.  14-17 Aug 1781. Belfast Newsletter

Although Richard’s tribute to Anne aligned with the usual list of virtues commonly attributed to women of her class in that era, several aspects of it puzzled me. For example, what did he mean by: judiciously diffusive?  Did it mean that she was possessed of diverse and wide ranging (i.e. diffusive) thoughts, but then restrained herself when (judiciously)? expressing her opinions? Also, itseems a bit odd to have a wife praised as both Mary and Martha. Finally, why was ONE THING NEEDFUL capitalized (because it was a biblical reference?)?

King James Version: Gospel of Luke 10:42 38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 9 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Right after the phrase, ONE THING NEEDFUL, Richard follows up with a mention of Anne’s commitment to Charity. This would imply that she led a life of action not a passive life of adoration. Of course, the meanings of words are shaped by the way that they are used, and the contextual shadings of meanings shape-shift over time. Three hundred years ago diffusive was a common word to use in conjunction with morality and virtue. Initially, I had felt that Richard’s use of diffusive, was weird and possibly pretentious. That probably wasn’t fair. SEE: OED:

So how might Anne have felt about her husband’s effusive panegyric? We don’t know, nor do we know much else about her. An engraving of Shane’s Castle, her parental home, was done about 1780 and it gives us some understanding of the level of financial privilege which would have shaped her view of the world. After her marriage, she probably lived at Jackson Hall in Coleraine for the most part. Richard had taken on the rebuilding of the older Hall, and it was now a significant heap (as my Irish friends often refer to such buildings). They also would have spent considerable time in Dublin. Their youngest son was born there when Richard was serving as M.P. for Coleraine.

NOTE: The ruins of Shane’s Castle were used as the setting in the TV series “Game of Thrones”. Much of its narrative describes wars for succession among noble families. This seems appropriate.

As the mother of three sons and three daughters, Anne was described by Richard as: Steering equally between Luke warmness [Luke warmness:  a puzzling word choice] and Enthusiasm In her relative duties. Domestic, Conjugal, Parental. She was tender, steady, condescending [condescending: another puzzling – to me - word choice], faithful. 

We know little about most of her children, but a catalogue from Adams features a painting of daughter Mary Jane (1773-1802), wife of  John Hamilton O’HARA (abt 1756-1822). She has the longish face and a cleft chin commonly seen in many JACKSONs of Coleraine descent:

IRISH SCHOOL (18TH CENTURY) Portrait of Mary Jane O’Hara Oil on canvas, 67cm x 55cm Indistinctly signed and dated 1792 Mary Jane O’Hara was the second daughter of the Right Hon. Richard Jackson of Jackson Hall, Coleraine and his wife, the Hon. Anne O'Neill, only daughter of Charles and Catherine O’Neill of Shane's Castle and sister of John O’Neill, 1st Viscount O’Neill.

 As Richard’s wife, did Anne tend to agree with what we know of his political and business decisions? He was known to have managed his land-based wealth such that the value of it all grew during his lifetime, and so it is not surprising when he praises Anne for being studious of Oeconomy (Frugal without Parsimony and liberal without Profusion.). Unfortunately, these virtues were clearly not passed on to all of their children. George, their last surviving son and the final inheritor of the family baronetcy, was twenty-three years old when his father died. PRONI has dozens of letters in their collection revealing how often young George keeps on trying to weasel more money to fund his lifestyle from the agent managing the estate. It was thanks to his improvident actions that Jackson Hall had to be sold.

Unfortunately, Sir George was not a financially prudent man. Before he married Anne Woodville, he was spending money faster than he was earning it. This may be why in their married life they kept separate accounts. It wasn’t that Sir George was poor. There were significant incomes from the various family properties that he had inherited, but by 1801 when he was a bachelor living in Beach Hill, Surrey, England, he was short £30,000, and had to borrow from friends in order to pay the interest on his debts.

In 1838, the original Coleraine lease was still connected to him by a slender thread. Leases in Ireland were often given for the term of three lives, which meant that they could be renewed until the last of three named lives died. In the instance of Jackson Hall, which was the main Jackson family residence in Coleraine, George’s was the last life on the lease, the final legal toehold. When he died, all connection of the Jacksons to this land was broken. SOURCE: George JACKSON and email Serendipity.

A couple of weeks after I had stumbled across Richard's panegyric to Anne, I had an appointment booked at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin so I could access Edith Johnson-Lijk’s six-volume masterpiece, History of the Irish Parliament. This book includes the political record of Richard and many of his kinsmen. When I'd booked my time in Dublin, I hadn’t known that these books were (supposedly) stored off site and I was told it would take another week for them to arrive. By then, I would have left Dublin so  I wandered aimlessly and somewhat dazedly in the Reading Room, glancing at the bookshelves while wondering how best to use my time, when I spotted them on an uppermost shelf. Although the set I had requested was definitely off-site, this set was obviously not.

In the middle of the top shelf – 6 vols.

Richard JACKSON’s entry is three pages long and he was only one of many JACKSONs who had served as MPs. His tenure had been preceded by his great-grand-uncle Samuel JACKSON (1641-1706) who had settled in Coleraine in the mid-1600s, then his grandfather William JACKSON (1669-1712), and then by his grand-uncle, Thomas JACKSON. Even his wife’s father, Charles O’NEILL (1702-1769) of Shane’s Castle Randalstown had also served as an MP.

Johnson-Lijk researches more diffusively than many historians. In her History of the Irish Parliament, she often includes telling details of squabbles between members, and tracks how agreements and disagreements played out inter-generationally amongst the various political families. They were not all cut from the same ideological cloth, nor were they all alike when it came to character. 

Richard’s father-in-law, Charles O’NEILL, was described as violent by nature and by disposition an enemy of Government, while Richard was described as the opposite: a most worthy and religious man and very timorous in his disposition. He was described as wanting the courage that is necessary for a minister and that he could benefit from support from Chief Secretary Sir George Macartney - to help him bottle up his terrors. He was respected as a quiet decent man and a sensible man of very strict integrity. He never speaks in the House, and (unlike his father-in-law) was reliably supportive of the government.(Lord Harcourt has given his recommendation.) He was known to be detail oriented: Jackson’s most important duty was probably the calculation of the interests and inclinations of MPs and the preparation of the Parliamentary Lists and numbers which the government used to calculate its own strength and that of the opposition.

Although Anne was praised for her Charity to the Poor, Richard’s sense of charity seemed to have been constrained by the biases of his class. He voted against Catholic relief in 1774 and then in 1780 voted against Grattan’s declaration of the rights of Ireland. In this, he was typical of many of the Protestant landowners of his time. Since his kind of Christian charity had its faith-based and class-based limits, it is not surprising that it did include donations to Coleraine’s St. Patrick’s Church:

in 1771 the rector of St. Patrick’s Church, Coleraine, wrote to him about the state of the church building and that the parishioners – many of whom were probably Presbyterian – could not, or would not, raise sufficient sums for its restoration. Jackson expressed a willingness to subscribe £200 personally and persuaded the Irish Society to subscribe a further £200.

This is the same church where I got locked into the graveyard (while photographing graves) and had to climb over this fence to get out.

A devoted family man, Richard spent the last years of his life at Holywell, Oxford, to be near his youngest son Richard JACKSON (1768-1797), who like all of his sons (and unlike his daughters), died without issue. His son George JACKSON (1766-1840) would be the final one to inherit the family baronetcy, but the political influence of this branch of the family had already diminished when Richard came to the end of his last elected term in 1783 after serving for decades as the Rt. Hon Richard JACKSON MP firstly for Coleraine, and later for Lisburn and Randlestown.

POSTSCRIPT: Another JACKSON

A final surprise find at St. John’s was the grave marker of Mary GIVEEN née JACKSON. Mary's parents were John JACKSON (1744-1824) & Sarah BRUNKER (1751-1820). Her uncle, Henry JACKSON, (1750-1817) was a United Irishman - one of those in his family who had to flee Ireland for America because of their politics. SEE: JACKSONs of Lisnaboe, Co. Meath.

Here lieth the body of Mary third Daughter of John Jackson of Crieve County of Monaghan Esq. And wife to J. Stephenson Giveen of Cabin Hill. She departed this life on the 10^th of June 1813 in the 28^th year of her Age. As a Child she was Dutiful. As a Wife and Mother Affectionate and tender. And as a Christian Obedient and Resigned. This stone was placed here by her husband as a token of his attachment and esteem.

OTHER SOURCES:

• Dictionary of Irish Biography. as well as   
• An historical account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, ancient and modern NOTE: Some of the JACKSON history here, particularly attributing the marriage of Samuel JACKSON to Susannah BERESFORD, is inaccurate.
•  Mentions of JACKSONs in rootsweb.