I could just as easily have titled this piece Soup To Nuts but Cows To Crypto came to mind as I reflected on the shifts in what owning land meant in early 1600s Ireland compared to now, especially when it came to the use of land as capital. Long before banks handled mortgages and lines of credit, relatives and close friends were usually the ones who bankrolled short term cash needs by using leases as collateral. These close relationships made it totally unlike today’s version of capitalism.
But first, I want to start with Margaret. Without her, this piece could not have been written.
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Margaret CONNOR: Page 158 in Coleraine in Georgian Times (by Rev. T.H. Mullin, published in 1977) – now available online. |
Monday February 19th, 2024. I was outside Killowen’s St. John’s Church photographing graves, hoping for connections to JACKSONs and fully expecting that church to be locked, but Margaret Connor and a fellow parishioner – who were subbing in for the regular cleaners - had left a side door slightly ajar. Of course, I peeked in. A year later, I uploaded a post - JACKSONs and St. John Killowen – which included what I had learned from the fluke of that open door.
While I was inside Killowen church, taking pictures, I mentioned to Margaret that I planned to visit St. Paul’s Church at Articlave the next day and had found how to get a bus to get there. Immediately, Margaret volunteered as my driver. No ifs ands or buts. Two years and change have passed since then, but it has taken me that long to absorb and internalize what I needed to learn.
Like many of my blog pieces, this piece is neither logical nor linear. Consider its form to be more like that of a ghazal, a form of poetry where sentences are linked by intuition and mood. It is also an exploration of what I am in the process of learning, which means that parts of the story may shift, sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in ways of more consequence. Doing it this way it allows me to put a pin in facts that I want to be able to recall (aging brain!) as well as to be able to readily reference.
ARTICLAVE CHURCH AND LAND & JACKSONs.
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With Andrew Kane’s Townland Atlas of Ulster one can visualize the context of neighbouring and/or nearby townlands. I have circled townlands that were always grouped together when they were leased by JACKSONs. Articlave, the townland in the middle, was where JACKSONs donated an acre of land in 1670 for what became St. Paul’s Church. The entire area in the Barony of Coleraine west of Killowen was part of the Clothworkers grants in the early 1600s, and those leases likely involved earlier JACKSONs in the initial leases. |
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These townlands were often leased as a group by generations of JACKSONs: · Ballymadigan [aka Ballymadigan, Parish Dunboe, Barony Coleraine] is the uppermost of the circled townlands. On its northern border is the townland of Downhill - home of HERVYs of Downhill Estate. On its eastern border is Liffolk, home of the HAZLETTs. Both the HERVYs & HAZLETTS were connected to JACKSONs. · Drumnequill [aka Drumaquill, Parish Killowen, Barony Coleraine,], This circled townland is north-east of Ringrash More. · Donballycarn [it may be Drumballyhagan Clark. Parish Kilcronaghan, Barony of Loughinsholin – NOTE: this is not near Articlave, but is where the JACKSONs of Tobermore – who are likely related - settled], · Ringrashbeg [aka Ringrash Beg, Parish Macosquin, Barony Coleraine] This circled townland is southeast of Articlave. · Ringrashmore [aka Ringrash More, Parish Macosquin, Barony Coleraine,] This circled townland is southeast of Articlave. · Ardaclave [Articlave Lower (most likely) and Articlave Upper, Parish Dunboe, Barony Coleraine] These two townlands are slightly south-east of Ballymadigan. These two circled townlands are in the upper middle of the map. · Upper and Lower Altibrian [Altibrian, Parish Formoyle, Barony Coleraine], Co. Londonderry. This circled townland is southwest of Articlave. |
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In 1611, the Clothworkers began the construction of a new settlement in the village of Articlave, likely because of the proximity of the river which led to the mill which would be built there. In the Griffith Map of 1859 - Note the Corn Mill slightly south-east of the Church. |
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THE BACKSTORY of JACKSONs and DUNBOE PARISH
In the early 1600s, the Guilds of London had carved up Londonderry into parcels of land - referred to as Plantations - land which had previously been owned by Gaelic Irish chieftains and/or Churches and farmed for generations by Irish families. New maps were made, and these newly formed lots were then leased to merchants belonging to the London Guilds (see JACKSONs in the London Rolls). Mercantile-based capital had begun to supplant the power of the historic land-based capital and power had begun to be wielded within the structures of pseudo-governmental bodies such as the London Guilds, the East India Corporation, and the Hudson’s Bay Corporation. It was this new phenomenon of the power of mercantile capital, backed by the military might of British armies and navies, which laid the ground for the evolution into our current version of capitalism. In Ireland, for various reasons, land continued to be the main way to access ready capital much longer than it did in England.
Can we imagine what it might have
been like to live in the pre-modern-capitalism days of the Parish of Dunboe? To
gain a feel for how the land was valued one needs to begin with understanding of
the significance of cows, both culturally and economically. The etymology of
the word for the Parish Dunboe takes us back to the Irish words Dún:
meaning "fort," "fortress," or "stronghold",
and Bó: meaning cow. Hence: fort of the cow. Such names, and those
of other townlands such as Downhill, were linked to an understanding of
land-ownership which put the protection of cows, and hence the value(s) of the
land, first and foremost.
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The story goes that in the reign of King Art, when there was a great famine in the district, a cow named Glasgalvin, which was famed for the amount of milk she produced, was stolen from Ballynascreen and tethered to a rock at Downhill. The cow is said to have saved the lives of everyone in the area by the inexhaustible supply of milk she produced. SOURCE: Harry Caskey. Castlerock and its Anglican Church. |
The ghost of the cow-economy has lived
on in legends such as The Tain, aka The Cattle Raid of Cooley and survives to this day in
the word Ballyboe, the smallest unit of land. Balliboes aka
townlands are the smallest legal units within parishes. Parishes are grouped within
Baronies, Baronies within Counties, Counties within Provinces, and finally Provinces
within Country:
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The borders of Ballyboes [from the Irish Gaelic baile bó, meaning "cow-land], the unit of land which morphed into the currently known townland boundaries, were based on rent valuations equal to the cost of a cow. [SOURCE: Townland Atlas of Ulster]. p5. |
Even as late as
1836, in a lease held by the
last of the Coleraine JACKSONs who had owned lands in Articlave, there is mention of grazing
for two Cows:
| ROD: 1836-11-235 February 13, 1834 BTW James KANE of Cortgaven [Gortycavan, Parish Dunboe, Barony Coleraine] in the County of Londonderry farmer of the one part and Elizabeth MAIRS Sister of the said James KANE of GortyCavin aforesaid Widow of the other part whereby the said after renting as therein is rented to the said James KANE did Sell to said Elizabeth MAIRS in her actual possession then being by virtue of a lease for year therein rented and to her heirs and Assigns all that and those that farm in Gortycavin cout 42 1/2a as formerly in the possession of Edward KANE deed with grazing for two Cows on the [Islea?] Hill also all that farm in Fermoyle Contd 166a 1r 19p all that grazing farm in Bratwell [NOTE: Changed Parish Boundaries: Bratwell, Parish Formoyle, Barony Coleraine] 30a situate in the parish of Dunboe Half Barony of Colerain and County of Londonderry To Hold the said lands Tenements Hereditaments and premises with their appurts unto the said Elizabeth MAIRS her heirs and assigns for and during the rest residue and remainder of the term of lives yet to come and unexpired in the original Lease of said premises from Colonel George JACKSON to Francis KANE 22 Apr 1800 WITNESS: James MAIRS of Gorlycavin and Andrew McAFFEE of English Town [Englishtown, Parish Macosquin, Barony Coleraine] in the County of Londonderry farmers Elizabeth MAIRS [SEAL] NOTE: George JACKSON (1766-1840), a 2nd great-grandson of the first JACKSON |
The capitalism that followed in the late 1800s featured rapid industrialization, the rise of large-scale monopolies (backstopped by naval power), and a largely unregulated market (with laws that favoured merchants). This became known as industrial capitalism, monopoly capitalism, or Gilded Age capitalism. It was in this era that the head of HSBC for both Hong Kong and London was Thomas JACKSON (1839-1915), an Irishman who had been raised on a farm in Armagh, a son of tenant farmers, and he was also likely related to the Articlave–Coleraine JACKSONs. He and his family usually referred to the HSBC as The old cow. The ghost lived on.
With one foot in the landlord-based agrarian society and one foot in the world of exports enabled by the power of Guilds and Britain’s gunboat capitalism, the early Londonderry JACKSONS of the 1600s would have felt at home connecting cows with economic wealth. What might have surprised them though, would have been the introduction of the separation of Church and State. For them, there was no question that landowners were to support the construction of churches. In turn, the Established churches collected tithes for road construction and such. They did not perceive any conflict of interest here. Even Bishops of the Established Church were landlords.
By the 1770s, change was in the wind, and many of the local landlords faced the reality that their rental income did not cover their operating costs as well as their personal needs for income for them and their relations (doweries for daughters often factored large in this burden which rested on eldest sons). The economic decline of the JACKSONs, and their loss of lands, came about partly because of factors like this, but it was also sped up in the end thanks to the improvident nature of George JACKSON (1766-1840), the last JACKSON to own Articlave. Although his diligent agent Rev. Robert HAZLETT (more on him later) did his best, he could not outpace the downward trajectory of the old land-based economy and young George’s lack of thrift.
ST.
PAUL’s – ARTICLAVE, CO. LONDONDERRY
Begun
as a bequest of the JACKSONs SEE: JACKSONs of Coleraine
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St. Paul’s church is about five miles east of
Coleraine. |
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The initial church was only one half to two thirds of its current height, and ended midway between the last of the two right-hand windows. It also had a thatched roof. |
The earliest record connecting the Coleraine JACKSON to St. Paul’s Church is a transcription of the original November 27th, 1670 lease to build a new church at the Parish of Dunboe. William JACKSON had granted an acre of land in Ardecleve [aka Articlave Lower (Ard an Chléibh) Parish Dunboe, Barony Coleraine], enough to include both a church and a rectory. This agreement was witnessed by William’s younger brother Samuel JACKSON (1641-1706), a merchant and land developer based in Dublin. Copies of this transcription can be seen at the RCB Library in Dublin or at PRONI in Belfast [D683/188].
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NOTE: bounded on the west with the street or highway in sd village of Articlave. |
PRONI D668/3 and T1075/8 Page 43. Nov. 27. 1670. Wm. Jackson,
Coleraine, |
William JACKSON (1628-1688) of Coleraine, as one of the twenty-three children of Rev. Richard JACKSON (1602-1681) of Westmorland, England, was well positioned to snag such a lease. After all, he and his siblings had belonged to several of the Guilds of London including the Clothworker’s Guild, the Guild whose land grants included land in both Killowen across the Bann river from Coleraine, as well as in Articlave in Dunboe. As early as June 1618, when Articlave became formed as a new village, it is quite possible that an earlier generation of this family already had a foothold there. A Francis JACKSON (one of William JACKSON’s uncles) is top of my short list of suspects, while a Joseph, a John and a Thomas JACKSON are other likely possibilities of relations who had already settled here earlier. More work needed.
MIND THE GAP – AND THANKS TO BRIAN SIMPSON
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As we toured the church, Brian
Simpson, the church organist at St. Paul’s Parish of Dunboe, was quick to
answer one of my first questions. Why was there a two-decade gap between the
granting of the land – 1670 - and the building of the church - 1691?
He had brought with him his copy of Alison
A. McCoughan’s: Heath Hearth and Heart: The Story of Dunboe, and had already bookmarked the parts
of the story which covered the impact of the grants by the Clothworkers Guild
(the guild that William JACKSON had been a member of).
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[The Clothworkers were] reluctant to embrace the scheme of colonization, but there was no turning back, and after their names had been drawn from a hat, they found that part of their allotted portion included land in the Parish of Dunboe. Not surprisingly the cloth workers were completely ignorant of the newly acquired territory and asked Thomas Raven, the City of London surveyor, to prepare a report. |
This early report described the leased site as:
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the two Ardacleanes (Articlaves) [as] small towns but are especiall good ground both for Arrable Meadows and pasture … it is a place very fit for building being seated upon a pretty river, where a Mill may be built and in the midst of a good soyle of land and a dry. … |
Subsequently, the Clothworkers built their village there and by 1622:
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it consisted of a water mill, 21 thatched houses and cabins, 2 houses with walls of clay and stone, 2 thatched houses with walls of clay and stone, 1 thatched cage-work house, and different scattered cabins. |
All in all, it was a modest start for a settlement. Harry Caskey, in his book: Castlerock and its Anglican Church, adds more detail:
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When the Clothworkers company built their plantation village at Articlave in 1618-21 the old church became more isolated and was no longer attended by the native Irish Catholics who gathered for the Latin mass wherever else they could. The majority of the earlier settlers were from Galloway and disapproved of the Episcopal system. When the Archdeacon died from wounds received during the 1641 Rising he was not replaced until 1661 and meantime the Presbyterians held the living there from at least 1656. |
It is worth taking a moment to reflect on the fluidity of faith during these tempestuous decades when the polarization of both faith and government had morphed into bitter conflicts. Some members of Churches of Ireland temporarily aligned as Presbyterian but then switched back to Church of Ireland after the political winds had once again shifted. For example, William JACKSONs father, Rev Richard JACKSON (1602-1681), the Anglican minister of Whittington, Westmorland preached first as an Anglican, then as a Presbyterian, and then went back to preaching and serving as a Church of England minister.
The gap between
the 1670 bequest of land and the 1691 church was partly as a consequence of the
swings in people’s loyalties, and the impact of such shifts when it came to both faith and governance:
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An Act of 1661 allowed all churches to be relocated and a site of 1 Irish acre was granted in Articlave by the Company's agent, Captain Jackson, in 1663, but the poverty of the people and the suppression of Protestant worship under James II in 1685-88 prevented anything being done. On their retreat from Derry after the siege in 1689, part of James’ army, under the Earl of Antrim, set fire to and destroyed St. Adanmnan’s church at Downhill. The new Bishop, William King, then pressed ahead with the building of the new church, the present St. Paul’s at Articlave, and it was consecrated on the 2nd June 1691. Two years later a new archdeaconry was built at Liffock (Hazlett House) now owned by the National Trust. Bishop king of Derry was providing houses to encourage the clergy to reside in their parishes and the house was probably built for this purpose. Carbon dating tests on the roof Timbers have shown that the wood was cut in 1691. SOURCE A Seventeenth Century Farmhouse at Liffock, County Londonderry. Desmond McCourt, David Evans and Michael Baillie. Ulster Journal of Archaeology. Third Series, Vol. 35 (1972), pp. 48-56 (11 pages). Published By: Ulster Archaeological Society. |
St. Paul’s was finally completed in 1691, three years after the death of William JACKSON (1628-1688), the original donor of the land. The presence of the church has outlasted the presence of the JACKSONs. It seems that their holdings in Articlave were valued more for the revenue stream they produced – a cash cow - not for any real attachment to land and community. They had done their expected duty, until their financial needs had shifted, and then they had decamped.
THE JACKSON-DUNBOE LEASES
As part of my research for this piece, I needed to assemble some lists of deeds to help me to better see both the forest and the trees. Without this, the deluge of detail had obscured too much.
· A Compilation of notes on Londonderry Co Deeds. This list includes Books 1-899, and includes more than 350 pages of my notes as well as hyperlinks to most townlands. My main focus was on the agreements involving JACKSONs of Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland and Coleraine, Londonderry as well as some of their extended family and business partners, and it reveals the scope and the context of the JACKSON intergeneration holdings in Dunboe. NOTE: In a word-search, the word Dunboe cropped up 113 times while the word Articlave was repeated 30 times.
· Articlave & the JACKSON leases, I have merged deeds research with several PRONI documents including 1780-1802 Correspondence between George JACKSON and Rev Robert HEZLETT. George JACKSON (1766-1840). MP & Businessman was the last of the Coleraine JACKSONs to hold leases to Articlave, Parish Dunboe Reading his correspondence in the context of the family lease reveals the extent of the JACKSON’s practice of leasing and releasing several of their holdings – in effect using the land as their cash cow. In the centuries before banks were like the banks of our times, this was how landowners and tenants often raised capital to meet their short and medium cash flow needs. Financial trust was both local and familial, and the leases were often between members of extended families.
Even with lists like this, it isn’t easy to tease out the multiple names of fathers, sons and cousins who shared the same forenames - William and Richard being the most epidemic of the forenames used in this family. Because of this, I have kept on repeating their birth and death dates throughout, even though this does become quite cumbersome and repetitive.
The first lease
that caught my attention was entered into in 1682 – a decade after the church
grant, but a decade before St. Paul’s Church was built. William JACKSON (1628-1688)
of Coleraine granted (for 21 years), to Abraham ROWAN of Articlave,
yeoman, a lease to lands which included: mills in manor of Clothworkers, Co.
Londonderry but significantly the same list of townlands in Dunboe Parish which
show up repeatedly. SOURCE: PRONI D1550/147. The ROWAN and JACKSON
families had other dealings, so
more is to be learned here.
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NOTE: Abraham ROWAN b. 1655 in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland is included in a WIKI tree. He married a Margaret COCHRANE (1658-) b. Londonderry, and she died in New Hampshire America in 1679. SEE also History of Octorara Church 1720-1870. p45. NOTE: The COCHRAN-JACKSON connection is echoed in future JACKSON leases: · ROD: 734-156-500491 Image 357 April 22, 1800. George JACKSON to William COCHRAN … for lives of Anne ALEXANDER sister of George JACKSON & George Jackson COCHRAN [??] son to William COCHRAN aged 2 years · ROD: 1834-2-92; Image 179 1834 mentions a George COCHRAN, farmer, and lease for life of Anne ALEXANDER for the townland of Artikeeragh It is likely that the George COCKRAN in the 1834 lease was the 2 year old George Jackson COCHRAN mentioned as a life in the 1800s lease. I have more to learn about both the ROWAN and the COCKRAN family. |
It is likely that the shortened lifespan of many JACKSON males sped up the JACKSONs’ loss of these lands. More than once, fathers died before their sons reached maturity.
· When the 1st William JACKSON (1628-1688) died at age 60, his eldest son, William JACKSON (1669-1712) was 19 years old. A younger brother, Richard JACKSON (1673-1730) was only 15 years old. NOTE: This brother Richard is also included in leases with another Richard JACKSON which makes discerning one from another even more complicated. I am now reduced to tracking signatures, wherever they exist. The clues in penmanship.
· When the 2nd William JACKSON (1669-1712) died at age 43, his son, William JACKSON (1695-1744) was 17 years old.
· When the 3rd William JACKSON (1695-1744) died at age 49, his son, Richard JACKSON (btw 1729/31-1789) was only about 14 years old.
· When this Richard JACKSON (btw 1729/31-1789) died, at about age 60, his last surviving son, George JACKSON (1766-1844), was about 23 years old and could have benefitted from more guidance than he was prepared to accept.
DNA: It may be more than coincidence that there are other branches of JACKSON families which share this reality of male premature death.. For example, many of my Urker JACKSON ancestors died either in their mid-50s or younger. Several years ago, when one of my brothers ended up in intensive care in his early 50s because of a very serious cardiac event, I told him about our genetic history. His surgeon then suggested that DNA was likely a contributing factor. This connection to heart vulnerabilities and DNA may provide another clue to connect the Coleraine JACKSONs to other family lines where a reliable paper trail does not exist.
JACKSONs as Non-resident
Landlords: Most of the JACKSONs leasing townlands in Dunboe Parish did not
reside in the parish, except possibly temporarily – and even then only in the
very early years. Instead, they resided either in Coleraine and/or Dublin. Many
of them served multiple terms as MPs to the Irish Parliament. Edith
Mary Johnston-Liik’s History of the Irish Parliament, 1692-1800.
Commons, Constituencies and Statutes mentions some of the systemic causes
of their financial challenges. The first JACKSON MP was Samuel JACKSON (1641-1706),
the witness to the lease for the Articlave church lands.
·
1077
JACKSON, Samuel (1641-1706) NOTE: My birth date info. ·
1078
JACKSON, Thomas (1680-1751)
Son of William JACKSON NOTE: and
Susan BERESFORD ·
1079 William
JACKSON, (1669-1712). ·
1076. Rt
Hon Richard JACKSON, MP (c.1729-1789) for Coleraine ·
1074 JACKSON, Sir George (1766-1840):
MP for Coleraine (more detail
beneath) |
SEE also: JACKSON representatives in the Irish House of Commons.
A source which
fleshes out the personal aspects of the increasing financial vulnerability of George
JACKSON (1766-1840) is revealed in letters held at PRONI D668/R/32
1790-1821. Estate papers - Hezlett and Jackson families Co. Derry
NOTE: I have included more
transcriptions in Articlave JACKSON deeds merged with Rev Robert HAZLETT letters):
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· Feb 9, 1785 D668/H/2/5. George JACKSON, Carrickmacross to Rev. Robert HEZLETT, Coleraine. NOTE: In 1785, George’s father, Richard JACKSON (d. 1789) was still alive, as was George’s younger brother Richard JACKSON (1768-1797). At the time, he was staying in Carrickmacross – with whom, I do not know. “… I am necessitated to write to you on a disagreeable subject. I have got myself into a little scrape here by getting some time ago in debt. A person or two to whom I am indebted threaten to tell Carpendale of it. You sir, are the only friend I have to apply to and if you don't relieve me, am undone. 'I want a guinea. No less will do and hardly that. You may get a card and split it and slip the guinea and seal it up and it will come safe.'.'I never can enough thank you by letter but will thank you by word of mouth ...'. PS. 'For God's sake send it or I shall be ruined. Answer this by post and say nothing. · April 19, 1785 D668/H/2/7. George JACKSON, Carrickmacross to Rev. Robert HEZLETT, Coleraine. 'I direct this with a feigned hand lest it should be known. Do not, my dear sir, say anything about it. I hoped it was not talked of at Jackson Hall. If it was you are my friend I know ...' · July 3, 1799 D668/H/2/41 George is now based in Bristol and writes to the Rev. Robert HEZLETT, Coleraine proposing a way out of his financial mess: the establishment of a private tontine whereby participants contribute to a common fund and receive dividends. As members die, their shares are redistributed among the survivors, increasing the income for remaining participants until the last survivor takes the entire remaining pool.He was hoping to raise £5,000 approx. 'Each subscriber to receive 6% in the first instance with benefit of survivorship so that the last liver would have all the interest though only perhaps a subscriber of £100. No lower sum than £50 to be taken. Thus should I realise a sum to pay off pressing demands, and only pay the same interest. To secure the payment of the annual interest I would lay off so much land, and the subscribers shall have their own receiver appointed, I giving up the lands, by deed. Pray consider this plan for me and you may consult with Mr Knox the attorney about it. In addition to this I think I would sell a townland or two at the extremity of the estate by which means a sum would be procured that would pay off all very urgent creditors · November 23, 1801 D668/H/2/163 George is writing from Hamilton Palace Scotland: the last year (which has been a year of continual vexation to me in money matters). NOTE: Hamilton Palace was [possibly] the residence of Mary Jane JACKSON ((abt 1773-1802) a sister of George JACKSON (1766-1840). In 1791 she had married John HAMILTON (O’HARA), son of Charles HAMILTON. SOURCE: Irish Pedigrees or The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation Vol 1 1915 p.126. |
A 1798 document
in this PRONI: D668/H/2 collection
(photographed
on May 4,2018), includes a seal that George used on one of these letters and
the motto is psychologically revealing.
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Innocentiae secures: Safe from innocence |
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SOURCE: PRONI
D668/H/2 from my 2018 May 4th files. |
The more usual
family motto, for example the one used by his cousins the Forkhill JACKSONs was
Malo mori quam feodori or "I would rather die than be
dishonored", a motto which clearly expresses a preference for death
over disgrace or compromise. Instead, George chose Innocentiae. About a century later, when Sir Thomas
JACKSON (1837-1915) – who was likely a relation of George’s - was made a
baronet, he chose a variant of the Forkhill motto: Aut mors aut Victoria - which
translates as: Death or victory.
It
was thanks to an email query from a young girl living in Belgium which led me
to unearthing – literally - more about George
JACKSON’s later life than would otherwise have been possible. He had died at home
at Ezelstraat, Brugge, Belgium, where he lived with his wife Anne Day WOODVILLE
(he married into money), but he had also lived in Paris some years earlier and
had applied to set up a factory in Antwerp to manufacture glazed pottery. SEE: Email
Serendipity.
Going by the records in History of the Irish Parliament 1692–1800: Commons, Constituencies and Statutes it seems that George’s politics were somewhat middle of the road – at least for his times and class. In 1791, he voted with Grattan to reduce the influence of the Crown, then in 1793 he voted in favour of the Roman Catholic Relief Act, (that Act only went part of the way towards granting Roman Catholics more rights. It abolished many of the restrictions of the Popery Act 1704 (2 Anne c. 6 (I)) and replaced other restrictions with less onerous ones.) In 1800, in one of his last votes, he voted for Union in the United Kingdom. This vote allowed for free trade and set out financial and judicial structures which favoured the landowner and mercantile class. The importance of cows was probably not even in his rear-view mirror.
1074 JACKSON, Sir
George: MP for Coleraine |
OTHER FAMILY CONNECTIONS TO ARTICLAVE
1) Rev. William ALEXANDER (1824-1911) was a son of the Venerable Robert ALEXANDER (1788-1840), and a grandson of Anne JACKSON (1766-1837) the wife of Rev Nathaniel ALEXANDER (1760-1840), Bishop of Clontfort. Anne JACKSON, a sister of Sir George JACKSON (1766-1840), was born a mere nine months after George (which adds the impact of birth order as a possible trigger of his insecurities), was – like George - a great-great grand-daughter of William JACKSON (1628-1688), the original donor of the church. As a result, she was mentioned as a life in a number of JACKSON deeds relating to Articlave.
Another notable day in the
history of St. Paul’s is June 24th, 1848. On that day within these walls five
young men stood before the Bishop to be admitted to the Order of the
Priesthood. One of the five was destined to occupy in later years, the
highest position in the Church of Ireland. Here William Alexander received his sacred commission as Priest.
William Alexander was then a curate attached to Derry Cathedral. In 1867 he
was consecrated Bishop of Derry and Raphoe and in 1896 became Primate of all
Ireland. In 1850 he married the talented Miss Cecil Frances Humphreys in the
old Parish Church of Strabane. Mrs Alexander was a hymn writer of world wide
reputation and her hymn (one of many) “There is a green hill far away” is
amongst the best known hymns in the Christian world today. |
For more on Rev.
William ALEXANDER see the well-written DIB bio of Rev.
William ALEXANDER by Linde Lunney (my friend and mentor for more than two
decades).
The bust
of Rev. William ALEXANDER (1824-1911) in the Armagh Library. |
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2) HERVEYs of the nearby Downhill Estate. My interest in
the HERVEYs connects to some of my long-held interests in the JACKSONs -
specifically Rev William JACKSON (1737-1795). I mentioned him for the first
time in my blog near the end of a quite unrelated post: Crash
Test Dummy.
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Reverend William JACKSON (1737-1795), the United Irishman who took poison in the dock after he was convicted of treason but before he was sentenced. Was he related in any way to the Henry JACKSON of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan who had fled for his life to America after he was also convicted of his involvement with the United Irishmen? Or was he related to the JACKSONs of Coleraine? Or Antrim? Or Down? Or ….? Would he have met Barbara DONALDSON (1783-1865), the widow of William DONALDSON (1768-1815), a leader of the United Irishman in South Armagh? She was both an aunt and a significant mentor of the young Thomas JACKSON, right up till her death at the age of 82. We have some of their letters. |
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Rev. William JACKSON - United Irishman. NOTE: I need to find my misplaced source. |
Since proximity matters, and since the
estate of Bishop HERVEY was close to lands leased by the JACKSONs of Coleraine, it seems very likely that the HERVEYs of the nearby Downhill Estate may very well have had connections
– business and/or family and/or church - to the JACKSON who was the father of
the United Irishman Rev. William JACKSON (1737-1795). This father was probably
one of the many Richard JACKSONs born in the right time frame, and his
professional life as a proctor (an agent, valuator, and debt collector
for the Established Church of Ireland) would have been a close fit with the JACKSONs of Coleraine.
It was thanks to the patronage of
George HERVEY, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-1755), that the future
Irishman Rev. William JACKSON (1737-1795) went to Ireland to serve as HERVEY’s
chaplain and private secretary at the time when the earl held the office of Lord
Lieutenant (October 1766 to August 1767). I plan to include more detail in a future post, but for now, it helps to
know about a variant spelling: HERVEY aka HERVY aka HARVEY:
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SOURCE: The lives and trials of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, the Rev. William Jackson, the Defenders, William Orr, Peter Finnerty, and other eminent Irishmen. Thomas MacNevin,: p.177-8. NOTE: Harvey family aka HERVY. MacNevin’s source was Walker’s Hiberian Magazine, May, 1795. NLI has a copy. |
As a start, a family tree for the HERVEY family tree is included in Downhill: A scrapbook of people and place (a copy is in the Coleraine library in the reference section):
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When Margaret drove us up to the Downhill HERVEY Estate, I got out and did a quick power walk around the part open to the public. The ruins of their original demesne can be seen in the distance.
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3) HAZLETT. Margaret Connor insisted that we also make a stop at Hazlett House aka
Hezlett House, but it wasn’t until long after that I recognized the importance
of knowing about them and the ties that connected HAZLETTs, JACKSONs and
Alticlave.
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Hezlett House – dating back to about 1690. |
Earlier in this post, I included
above some of the correspondence between Rev. Robert HEZLETT (1740-1821) and George
JACKSON (1766-1840) from The Hezlett Papers [PRONI D668]. I have also
posted more of the letters on my website: 1780-1802 Correspondence between George JACKSON and Rev
Robert HEZLETT. George’s wheeling and dealing with his agent Rev
Robert HEZLETT can be even better understood when seen in the context of his
many leases. SEE: Articlave JACKSON deeds merged with Rev Robert HAZLETT letters.
Rev. Robert HEZLETT (1740-1821) was a son of Samuel HEZLETT (d before 1747 – of Dunboe) and brother of Isaac HEZLETT (d. Liffock House aka Hazlett House) and George JACKSON (1766-1840). I have also uploaded a draft family tree of the HAZLETTs of Articlave, and have included bits from documents such as those written by Maxwell GIVEN. SEE: PRONI D2096. c.600 documents. These consist mainly of notes and articles prepared by Maxwell Given, the Coleraine antiquarian and genealogist, between c.1900-1914, which relate to his work on the history of the Town and Liberties of Coleraine. NOTE: I also benefitted from several email suggestions from Linde Lunney when assembling this draft tree.
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The early HEZLETT family can be placed in Dunboe parish at the same time as the earliest of the JACKSONs, thanks to information about dates which were included in A Seventeenth Century Farmhouse at Liffock, Co. Londonderry by Desmond McCourt, David Evans and Michael Baillie. Ulster Journal of Archaeology vol 35, 1972:
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FINALLY - GRATITUDE
Thanks to Margaret, by whom so many doors were opened – not only that first door which was left ajar at Killowen. The generosity of her time and attention is what has made this blog post even possible. I recommend visiting St. Paul’s Church. ‘Tis a lovely church.
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St. Paul’s Church, Articlave, Co. Londonderry |
Although this story began with me visiting a church because it was connected to some JACKSONs, it grew to encompass how the prospects, and the opportunities afforded to their ancestors, had been shaped (and are still being shaped) by a mix of culture, politics, religion and economics. They had transitioned from surviving by leveraging capital based on cows and land to needing the kinds of capital that became available after international trade reshaped local economies. By following just this one family, we can track how over the span of several centuries, how we got to where capital now rests on markets shaped by the impacts of crypto, AI, and such - forces beyond the ken of most of us (at least me). To me, this means that we could be seen more like our ancestors, powerless and just along for the ride.
Next on my Research Bucket List is to learn about two more Bishops connected to St. Paul’s:
· Bishop William KING (1650–1729), son of Presbyterian parents in Co. Antrim – appointed to the see of Derry in 1691, and he was the one to consecrate St. Paul’s Church in 1691. It also intrigues me that Bishop KING As Bishop of Derry, Hervey quickly developed a reputation for being "the most worldly, most eccentric, most talked-about priest in the Church of Ireland. SOURCE: Akenson, Donald Harman (2005). An Irish History of Civilization: Volume I. Granta Book.
· Bishop Frederick Augustus Hervey (1730-1803), 4th Earl of Bristol and who was appointed Bishop of Londonderry in 1768 (see HERVEY above). What kinds of interactions might these two Bishops have had with JACKSONs in the 1700s? Is it possibly relevant that Jane KING, a daughter of Rev William KING, married Oliver JACKSON (d. 1691), one of the JACKSONs of Sneyd Park, Bristol and then of Enniscoe, Co. Mayo.
Clearly, there is still more to learn.
When Margaret dropped me off after our
long day – our very long day - of exploring, she refused to receive any money for
gas, nor would she accept being taken out for a meal. I told her that she had
been my angel that day - totally. No, she said, not an angel, but
then she said that she did have faith that she would be in the company of
angels once she departed this life. Fair play to that, I say. I hope to get
back to Ireland, and to be able to thank her in person.
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Margaret Connor at Downhill Rock |
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Downhill Rock – is this where the mythical cow was supposedly tethered? |
