Notes on Alexander Crommelin and Madeleine Lavalade

Just some notes on Alexander Crommelin and his wife Madeleine Lavalade...

Rev. Charles Lavalade of Lisburn had a younger sister, Madeleine, who had accompanied him to London and Holland, married Alexander Crommelin in either Haarlem or Lisburn.
The couple had three children, Charles Crommelin, who died unmarried, Madeline who married Archdeacon Hutchinson, and Martha Crommelin, aka Matty, who was married to Balthazar Cramer.
Madeline Crommelin and Archdeacon Hutchinson had Samuel Hill Hutchinson who was baptised in Lisburn on 14th February 1736/7,Sophia who died and was buried in Lisburn on 11th March 1736/7,  Frances was baptised in Lisburn on 15 August 1733 and who married Rev. William.Browne and Matilda or Martha, who married Robert Smythe Esq., of Drumcree, Co. Westmeath in St.Anne's, Dublin, on 10th March 1764.

Some notes on Archdeacon Hutchinson -
According to The Clergy of Down and Dromore, Archdeacon Hutchinson was born in England in 1704, educated at Bury St. Edmunds and entered Trinity College, Dublin, June 27, 1721, aged seventeen. He married Magdalene Crommelin (daughter of Alexander Crommelin and his wife Mademoiselle Lavalade) in November 1728.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2013/01/more-on-madeleine-crommelin-and-francis.html
Francis Hutchinson was Archdeacon of Down from 1733 to 1768 (from the ages of twenty nine to sixty four). He was buried in the Chancel Vault, St. Ann’s Church, Dublin, June 14, 1768. His daughter Martha (but called Matilda Hutchinson elsewhere) had married Thomas Smyth, of Drumcree, Westmeath, in the same church four years previously. The Archdeacon’s wife Magdalene Crommelin died suddenly, ten years after his death, in Cuffe Street, Dublin in March 1778.
Archdeacon Francis Hutchinson was the son of Samuel Hutchinson, an ensign who fought at the Battle of the Boyne. His brother was Samuel Hutchinson, junior, Bishop of Killala, and his uncle was his namesake, Francis Hutchinson, Bishop of Down (1660 - 1739) who had been born to Edward Hitchinson at Carsington, Derbyshire.   This earlier Francis Hutchinson was buried in Portglenone Chapel of Ease, Ahoghill, Co. Antrim, and his tombstone there was transcribed by the Irish Memorials Association in 1907:
   "In a vault under the communion table/ lye the remains/ of Dr. Francis Hutchinson/ Late Bishop of Down and Connor/ At whose expense chiefly/ this church was erected/ He was born at Carson in Derbyshire/ and was minister of St. James in St. Edmundsbury/ He was a careful diligent charitable pastor/ A learned prelate and an honest good man/ He departed this life June 23rd 1739/ aged about 80 years/ In the same place is interred/  Anne his widow/  who survived him 19 years"      The great-grandson of the above Dr. Francis Hutchinson of Portglenone was also buried in the same church - he was John Hamilton O'Hara Esq., of Portglenone and Crebilly, Co. Antrim, who had been born in 1757, and who died in 1822.  His memorial tablet was erected by his only daughter, Mary, the widow of a General Wardlan C.B.

The original will of Alexander Crommelin was published in 'Huguenot Wills and Administrations of England and Ireland, 1617 - 1849':
  'Alexander Crommelin, of Lisburn, wife Magdalen, daughter Matty, son Charles Crommelin, annuity for sisters-in-law, Anne, Martha, Catherine and Judith Levallade, to daughter Magdalen and her husband Rev. Francis Hutchinson 65/- and no more, nephew Paul Mangin £20. Executrixes wife and daughter. Dated 19 April 1735. Probate 15th December 1737.'


Alexander's nephew, Paul Mangin, was the son of Alexander's older sister, Jeanne Crommelin, who had been born on June 4th 1667 in St.Quentin to their parents, Samuel Crommelin and Madeleine Testart. Jeanne Crommelin married a banker, Louis Mangin, who had settled in Lisburn in 1715.  Their son, the soldier Paul Mangin who would settle later in Dublin, married Anne Henrietta d'Aulis de la Lande in Lisburn, and two of their children were baptised by the minister Charles Lavalade.  Paul Mangin's daughter, Harriet Mangin, married another member of the Crommelin family, Samuel Louis Crommelin, whose father was Samuel Crommelin, the brother of Louis Crommelin who founded the Lisburn linen industry. (The Crommelins are the closest thing to a maths equation.)

The following legal documents concern the family of Alexander Crommelin -
From ‘The Pedigree Register, Vol.2’:
‘Cramer V. Steward:  1790, July 5th.  Marmaduke CRAMER only child and heir at law of Balthazer CRAMER v. Poyntz STEWARD and Ann, his wife,  late wife of Abraham CROMMELIN.
WILL OF ALEXANDER CROMMELIN OF LISBURN, Co.Antrim in Ireland, dated 19th April 1735, his wife Magdalen and daughter Martha executrixes. Testator died 2nd December 1737.
Marriages articles 29 July 1741 between late plaintiff Balthazar CRAMER and said Martha CROMELIN, who died and adm’on of her effects was granted 9 March 1741 (sic for 1741/2) to the said Balthazer. His marriage in 1743 with Elizabeth STEPHENS, marriage articles 22 Sept. 1743, between him, Ambrose CRAMER, William STEPHENS Doctor in Physick, and the said Elizabeth his daughter,  trustees Brewster LAUGHLIN and  Walter STEPHENS.
Annuities left by testator Alexander CROMMELIN to Magdalen CROMMELIN, Charles CROMMELIN, and Ann Martha Catherine, and Judith LAVALADE.
That by the affidavid of Anne Maria STEPHENS, sworn 28 April 1790 at New Ross in Ireland it appears that the said late Balthazar CRAMER and Elizabeth had three children born of their marriage, viz., two daughters who died in their infancy and one son, the present plaintiff. That the late plaintiff, Elizabeth CRAMER died in January 1783 and was buried at St.Mary’s, Ross, Co. Wexford, leaving the said Balthazer her surviving, who also died 22 December 1783, intestate, leaving the present plaintiff Marmaduke, the only child of the said marriage, in whom the remainder in fee of the estate to be purchased is vested.’

So Balthazar Cramer married Martha/Matty Crommelin, the daughter of Alexander Crommelin and Madeleine Lavalade, in 1741, four years after the death of her father. She died shortly afterwards - the above document seems to suggest oddly that she died four months before her marriage. Whatever the date of their marriage, following Martha’s early death - presumably there were no children - Balthazar remarried,  his second wife being Elizabeth Stephens, the daughter of Dr. William Stephens of New Ross, Wexford and of Dublin city. Elizabeth died in 1783, leaving one surviving son, Marmaduke Cramer who was involved in the legal action above, against Poyntz Steward and his wife, Ann Carden, who had previously been married to Abraham Crommelin of Lisburn.

From the LDS site:
Abraham Crommelin was born in Lisburn in about 1737, and married Catherine Laurent in St.Michan’s Church, Dublin, on 1st March 1762.  Catherine Laurent had been born in Dublin and baptised in St. Michan’s circa 1747.
The LDS records a 2nd Abraham Crommelin born in Lisburn circa 1743, who married Ann Carden in 1768 in St.Ann’s, Dublin.  They get the date of birth wrong but this is the same man who married twice and who died without issue.

‘A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland’ gives genealogical details for Abraham Crommelin - he was the son of Samuel-Louis Crommelin and his second wife, Harriet Mangin (his first had been Mademoiselle Gilliotte).    Samuel-Louis Crommelin’s parents were Samuel Crommelin and Mary Belcastle;  Samuel was the brother of Louis Crommelin of Lisburn.

(The will of Frances de Belcastle of London was published in ‘Huguenot Wills and Administrations’.  She mentions her nephews and nieces - Peter Raymond de Belcastle, Stephen Beaufort de Belcastle, Anne Charlotte de Belcastle;  she also leaves £100 to her sister, Mary, who was married to Samuel Crommelin. Dated 1718.)

From ‘Historical Collections Relative to the Town of Belfast’, 1817,  published ‘...a list of Volunteer Companies and Militia that marched to Belfast to oppose the French...from Friday the 22d to Tuesday the 26th of February 1760. -
     Lisburn Volunteers - Edward Smith, Esq., captain, (who being at Parliament,) Lieutenant Abraham Crommelin, commandant, received the French prisoners on Thursday evening (being then under arms ready to march to Belfast,) guarded them all night, went off with them on Friday morning to Moira and Dromore, and came to Belfast about five the same evening, after a march of 21 miles.’

   This was an attempted invasion of Ireland by the Catholic French under Thurot; it consisted of only 600 men and three frigates who landed at Carrickfergus on February 21st 1760, but all rapidly surrendered.

The Cramers:  The Cramers or Kramers were a German family who settled in Ireland during the reign of James I.  The first to arrive here was Tobias Cramer who was made a free denizen in 1639.   His grandson, another Tobias, was granted land in Ballyfoile following service with Cromwell;  he was the sheriff of Dublin in 1653 and high sheriff of Kilkenny in 1669.  He was succeeded by his son, Balthazar Cramer (sounds like a Dickens character) of Ballyfoile, Kilkenny, whose grandson, another Balthazar Cramer of Kinsale, Cork, married, firstly Martha Crommelin and, secondly, Elizabeth Stephens of Dublin.  Their son was Marmaduke Cramer of Rathmore, Cork, who was a canon of Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin; he died in 1801.

Poyntz Steward:
Capt. Poyntz Stewart, born 1736 in Lisburn, died 1837.  He was the son of Captain Charles Stewart and his wife Rose Hall. He was of the 3rd Regiment, married Madeleine Gayer, daughter of Rev. P. Gayer, granddaughter of Sir H. Echlin, Bart., Baron of the exchequer.  Obviously Poyntz Stewart married twice, his second wife being Ann, the widow of Abraham Crommelin.
Poyntz Stewart was a captain in the Lisburn volunteers, who had been formed to protect the country from French invasion and from Catholic revolution in the 1780’s and 1790’s.   Poyntz Stewart was a Lisburn landowner, Orangeman and yeomanry captain.
On March 6st 1781, the Lisburn volunteers/fusiliers met to receive the resignation of Poyntz Stewart who was leaving Lisburn.

Obituary of a descendant in 1851 - At Greenwich, aged 24, Poyntz Mill Stewart, esq. son of the late Poyntz Stewart, esq. MD of the Bengal Est. and grandson of the late William Stewart, esq. MD Lisburn, Antrim.   The father of this Poyntz Mill Stewart was Poyntz Stewart MD, assistant surgeon in Bengal where he died in 1827, three months after the birth of his son there.

Brewster Laughlin, mentioned in one of the legal documents above - Brewster Laughlin was the collector of the port of Dublin and married Catherine Percival in 1737, the daughter of William Percival, who was the Rector of St. Michans, Dublin.

Update:  During a visit to the Registry of Deeds in Henrietta Street, Dublin,  I accessed a deed involving the above people.  This was '128-204-86605;  Cramer and Others to Raynor.'    The deed, dated 11th August 1747,  only mentioned the various parties to the deed, and gave a resolution at the end. No properties or business deals were discussed.  I didn't transcribe it verbatim, but merely listed the various parties involved and the outcome.
    Date:  11th August 1747.
    1st Part - Balthazar Cramer of Dublin, and Martha Cramer, his late wife, and .....Stephens, his present wife of Dublin.
    2nd Part - Mr. Stephens of Dublin, Dr. in Physick and Ambrose Cramer of Lisburn.
    3rd Part - Brewster Loughlin.
    4th Part - Magdalen Cromelin, widow, relict of Alexander Cromelin, late of Lisburn. Charles Cromelin, son of the said Alexander Cromelin, Ann Lavalade, Martha Lavalade, Catherine Lavalade, Judith Lavalade, all of Lisburn, spinsters.
    5th Part - John Raynor of Tubbertinan,  Co. Meath, and Abraham Cromelin of Lisburn.
     The deed was witnessed by the Lavalade sisters, which shows that they were still alive in Lisburn in 1747.
    'Assigned unto Robert Raynor and Abraham Cromelin the sum of £500 due from the pike road leading from Belfast to Bannbridge  (due to them from the late Alexander Crommelin) and money due to them from the East India Company.'