William Anderson (12th January 1804 -
28th January 1892) and Sarah Fay (1804 - 1887)
Our
paternal great-grandparents were Edward Leviolett Wilson (1872 – 1953) and
Agnes Jane Anderson (1881 – 1961) of Belfast – Agnes Jane Anderson’s family
descended from a schoolteacher, William Anderson (1804 – 1892) who originated
in Lower Tanneybrake townland, Kells,
Co. Antrim, and who married Sarah Fay (1804 – 1887) in 1824.
Lower Tanneybrake (a variety of spellings for this) is immediately north of Kells and neighbours Kilgad townland.
I gleaned much of William Anderson’s biographical material from his 1892 obituary which was published in the ‘Ballymena Observer’ of 5th February 1892.
We regret to have to chronicle this week the death
of this gentleman, which took place at his residence, Limestone Road, Belfast,
on Thursday last, 26th ult.
The deceased was born in Lower Tannybrake, on 12th January,
1804, and had consequently passed the allotted span of three score and ten, so
beautifully described by the Psalmist, and had come to be regarded as an
octogenarian, he being at the time of his decease eighty years of age. He was married in 1824, when twenty years of
age, but his wife was called away in 1887.
He had an early taste for school teaching, a profession which he was
well qualified to discharge, and his first start in this sphere was at
Clatteryknowes, a year or two after the establishment of the National School
Board. From this he went to Whappstown,
in the same neighbourhood. His next school was at Tildarg, where he went to
teach in 1850, and five years later he transferred his labours to Gortfad, near
Portglenone, when after twenty five years of earnest duty, he retired into
private life in 1880, on a well-merited pension. The deceased was brother to Mr. Robert
Anderson, of Cross, near Moorefields, and father to Mr. Joseph Anderson, the
well-known auctioneer in Belfast, and John Anderson, also of Belfast, who
having adopted the profession of school teacher, has also retired on a
well-merited pension only a few months ago, after 39 year’s service of
scholastic life. The deceased
gentleman, as we have shown, fulfilled the duties of schoolmaster in a number
of important centres in the division of mid-Antrim, and by his kind and genial
good nature was universally respected by young and old with whom he came in
contact. He was in every way upright,
honourable and straightforward in his dealings, and always took a lively
interest in the promotion and welfare of the pupils committed to his charge,
many of whom, now grown up to manhood and womanhood, who had the privilege of
receiving his wise counsels, will today mourn his demise. The Rev. Hugh Hanna, D.D., and L.L.D., and
Rev. John Waddel, Moderator of the Belfast Presbytery, conducted a short
service at the house of the deceased prior to the remains being removed to
their last resting-place in the family burying-ground in Connor Presbyterian
Church. The chief mourners were – Joseph
Anderson and John Anderson (sons); Robert Anderson (brother); William Anderson (nephew); William John Anderson, William Anderson and
Joseph Symington (grandsons); Robert
Syminton, John Blair and William McMurtry (sons-in-law). The Rev. A.H. Beatty, Portglenone, a former
pastor of the deceased, officiated at the grave, around which there were a
large number of sorrowing and sympathetic friends, who will deeply mourn his
loss.”
'1887 - Erected by Joseph Anderson, Belfast, in affectionate remembrance of his mother, Sarah Fay, born 1804, died 1887. And of his father, William Anderson, born 1804, died 1892. Also five brothers and one sister who died young.'
Some speculation: also in St. Saviours was the following headstone commemorating a James and Grizel Anderson of Gilgad (modern name 'Kilgad') which is found just outside Connor. I've no idea if this couple were related to our Andersons but I'll include them here anyway in case they turn out to significant in this search.
'Here
lieth the body of Grizel Anderson, the wife of Jas.Anderson of Gilgad who died
17th Octr. 1818 agd. 58 yrs. Also the above named Jas.Anderson her
husband who died 4th Feby. 1835 agd. 80 yrs.'
I
scoured the Tithe Applotment Books in the National Library for this area,
which were compiled in the 1830's and came across few, if any Andersons. In 1835 a Henry Anderson was farming land in
Tannybrake while, in neighbouring
Kilgad, Ferniskey. James Anderson, Senior, was leasing 20 acres, as was
his son, James Anderson Junior. There is no evidence to point to
these two being related to my own Anderson family.
Robert Anderson (1807 – 1901) of Cross:
As stated in his 1892
obituary, our immediate ancestor, William Anderson, had a brother, Robert
Anderson, who lived at Cross near Moorfields which is a neighbouring townland
to Lower Tannybrake where William was known to have been born in 1804.
In 1901 Robert Anderson was still alive aged 93 and was
living in Cross with his daughter, Rachel Anderson, and his son William
Thompson Anderson. Robert’s wife, Agnes
Anderson, had died at Cross aged 91 on 5th June 1900. Robert Anderson of Cross died on 29rd
September 1901, leaving his farm to his son William.
Son William Thompson Anderson of Cross, Ballyclug, married
Rachel Gault of neighbouring Gilgad/Kilgad, Connor, in Kellswater Church on 16th
August 1877. She was the daughter of
John Gault and the wedding was witnessed by the groom’s sister, Rachel
Anderson, and by Samuel Barry.
On the night of the 1901 census, William Thompson Anderson
was staying with his father and sister at Cross, Ballyclug – his wife, Sarah
Anderson (née Gault), was captured at the home of her uncle, Patrick Gault,
along with her unmarried aunt, Mary Gault, and her children, Hugh Gault
Anderson, 22, Robert Anderson, 20, Joseph Gault Anderson, 18, and William
Anderson, 8. Hugh Gault Anderson would
come before the courts in February 1933 charged with non-payment of a debt – he
gave evidence that he had been reared by his uncle in Gilgad until 1908 when he
married Ellenor Jane Wotherspoon and moved to Ballyclare; he returned to Gilgad
in 1917 when his uncle died and lived there with his aunt who died in 1923.
Patrick Gault died aged 70 at Gilgad on 30th
October 1906; his brother, Joseph Gault,
was present. Patrick, who had a long
history of psychiatric trouble, left a will which was disputed in the courts by
his sister Mary Gault, and was reported widely in the papers. Mary Gault, gave evidence that she had lived
with her brother all her life. Following the death of their father, the farm
was divided between Mary’s brother’s Patrick and Joseph, but they did not get
on. Patrick’s niece was Sarah Anderson –
the daughter of brother John Gault - who lived with him along with her family;
she did housework for him, while her son, Hugh Gault Anderson, did ‘marketing’
and worked the farm. They argued frequently.
Joseph and Patrick argued about the boundaries between their two farms;
their father lived with Patrick before his death, and Joseph had promised to
share his upkeep but had only contributed one sum of money and no more. Despite
the evidence given by family and neighbours that the late Patrick Gault had
been behaving in an odd manner in recent years, the judge found in favour of
brother Joseph Gault.
In 1911, William Thompson Anderson and his wife Sarah were
shown on the census back at Cross, Ballyclug, along with sons William and Hugh
Gault Anderson who had married Ellenor Jane Wotherspoon of Ballyalbanagh,
Ballyclare, the daughter of Robert Wotherspoon, on 8th July
1908. The elderly Mary Gault, aged 90,
was living with the family.
The known children of William Anderson and Sarah Fay were:
- John Anderson, schoolmaster (born circa 1828 to 1835 - 1903) from
whom we directly descend.
- Belfast auctioneer Joseph Anderson (born circa 1850, died Bangor
1920). When Joseph Anderson married Ellen Campbell in 1873, the paper
named him as the 8th son of William Anderson.
- Ellen/Eleanor Anderson, born circa 1826, who married John
Blair.
- Mary Ann Anderson (1845 - 1936) who married Samuel Todd.
- Possibly Alexander Anderson, who witnessed the wedding of Eleanor
Anderson and John Blair. I have no further information on him.
This might be the son who was believed by the descendants of the Fay
family to have settled in Pittsburg.
- Sarah Anderson, who witnessed the wedding of Eleanor Anderson and
John Blair, although this witness may well have been the bride's mother,
Sarah Anderson, née Fay. On 16th September 1856 in Ballyeaston
Church, Sarah Anderson, daughter of schoolmaster William Anderson, married
Alexander McCammon/McCammond the son of Samuel McCammon. Samuel
McCammon was a farmer of Drumadarragh.
- Esther Anderson who married Robert Symington in 1860.
- Jane Anderson who married Robert McMurtry in 1874.
‘Sarah, another sister of Grandfather Fay's, married a man named William Anderson. They had a large family, two girls and two boys. One of her sons was teacher in Belfast, and one son came to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.’
(This
quote comes from online research into our Fay family who emigrated to Malone,
New York; the researcher is believed to be Marion Alden Fay Jones of
Malone, N.Y. and I have used the details in my own Fay writeup which follows.)
The Fay Family of Sarah Fay who married schoolteacher William Anderson:
The following headstone in the same graveyard of St. Savior’s in Connor commemorates Christopher and Sarah Fay who must surely be the parents of Sarah, the wife of William Anderson:
'Erected by C. Fay, in memory of Sarah Fay, his wife, who departed this life 2nd Jany. 1843 aged 72. Also the above named Christopher Fay, late of Ferniskey, who departed this life 21st March 1851 aged 83 yrs.'
A recent DNA test through Ancestry.com has strongly linked me genetically to several fellow descendants of these Fays of Kells, Co. Antrim. Their research confirms that Christopher Fay of Kells married Sarah Larimon or Larimore in 1797. Strong circumstantial evidence points to these being the parents of Sarah Fay who married William Anderson in about 1830.
The children of Christopher Fay and of Sarah Larimore were:
·
Isabella
·
Margaret
·
Jane
·
Sarah who married William Anderson, our immediate
ancestors
·
James Fay born circa 1811
·
Esther born circa 1811
·
Joseph born 25th December 1812
·
The schoolteacher Christopher Fay born circa 1815
·
Mary born 1832.
Daughter Esther Fay, who had been born in about 1811, married Charles Hall - in 1921, their elderly daughter, Ellen Hall, in a bid to qualify for the newly-introduced old-age pension, requested a search of the 1851 census, which revealed Esther Fay and Charles Hall as living in Lisnevanagh near Connor and Kells. In 1921, daughter Ellen Hall was living with a Mrs.Ellen McDonald at 80a East Main Street, Armadale, West Lothian, in Scotland.
Christopher Fay Jr. (circa 1815 -1845) married a Mary Ann McKay. A schoolteacher, Christopher Fay was mentioned in the reports of 'The Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor' which was also known as the Kildare Place Society. He was noted as being the teacher in the Old Kells School in the 1820s, having 70 pupils and a patron named Rev. H. Henry. In the 1827 report he was noted as the teacher at Apultee school with the same patron and 33 pupils.
The
Kildare Place Society was founded in 1811 by a group of philanthropists, mostly
Quakers, to provide non-denominational education to the poor of Ireland. Among
the trustees were Samuel Bewley, Arthur Guinness and Edward Pennefather. They
established three model schools at their headquarters in Kildare Street,
Dublin, in 1819 alongside a Teachers Training Institute. Christopher Fay
was trained here from 22nd February to 22nd May 1828 following recommendation
to the Society on his behalf by his sponsor Rev. H. Henry. In order to be
accepted into the Society's training scheme, the candidate had to be aged
between 18 and 35.
Although
the schools were founded on the ethos of religious inclusion, the
Society insisted that the Bible be read to the pupils everyday - this
inevitably led to Protestant proselytizing in many of the schools, eventually
leading to the loss of support of much of the Catholic population including
Daniel O'Connell. Accordingly, in 1831, government funding was diverted to the
newly developed National School system, establishing a network of
centrally-funded schools.
Joseph Fay, the son of Christopher and Sarah Fay of Kells, had been born on 25th December 1812. He married Jane Irwin, and emigrated to the States where he died on 6th January 1897 in Fort Covington, Franklin, New York. A shoemaker, he had enlisted in the 98th New York Company at the time of the Civil War but was discharged because of disability in Philadelphia on 19th December 1862. Joseph's son was Christopher R. Fay who had been born in Antrim on 17th February 1838; he moved to Canada with his parents, before they travelled on to New York in about 1852. Although he trained as a shoemaker like his father, he took to daguerrotypes and portrait painting, and settled permanently in Malone, New York, where he died on 25th July 1916. Christopher R. Fay's wife was Emilie A. Evans, the daughter of Nathaniel Evans and Elizabeth Fisk. Christopher and Emilie had two sons - Clifford E. Fay in 1867 and Eugene A. Fay in 1874.
William Anderson, who married Sarah Fay, and their son John Anderson, were teachers and worked in a variety of schools south of Kells and Connor. I found reference to them in several records.
At
the same time, John Anderson, his son, was the principal and only teacher of
Ballybracken National School in the same rural area. The school joined the
system on 4th November 1841, and in 1853 John Anderson was being paid an annual
salary of £4 11s 8d. In 1850 Ballybracken School had 52 pupils.
In 1862 William Anderson was leasing a house and garden from William Todd in Drumadarragh south of Kells/Connor. The Tithe Applotment Books of the 1830's don't show William Anderson; William Todd was there, however, leasing 26 acres. Two of William Anderson's children would marry two of the children of William Todd.
Sarah Anderson, née Fay, died on 20th February 1887 aged 82 at her son’s residence 150 North Queen Street in Belfast; the informant was her husband, William Anderson, noted as an ex-school teacher in a national school. She was buried in the Anderson family burying-ground in Connor near Kells.
William Anderson, retired schoolmaster, died at 46 Limestone Road, Belfast, on 28th January 1892; the informant was his son, the auctioneer Joseph Anderson of 30 Vicinage Park, who organised the headstone for his parents in St. Saviour's Church, Kells.
Sarah Anderson, daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay:
On 16th September 1856 in Ballyeaston Church, Sarah Anderson, daughter of schoolmaster William Anderson, married Alexander McCammon/McCammond the son of Samuel McCammon. Samuel McCammon was a farmer of Drumadarragh.
On 10th July 1856, the daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay, Ellen Anderson, married the farmer, John Blair in Drumadarragh - the ceremony was performed in the parish of Kirkinriola, Ballymena. William Anderson, the father of the bride, was noted in 1856 as a farmer rather than as a teacher; John Blair's father was the farmer, Andrew Blair/Blain. Both families were living in Drumadarragh. The witnesses were Sarah Anderson, who may be Ellen Anderson's mother or her unmarried sister, and also what seems to be Alexander Anderson (this was faded) who must be a relation of some sort, possibly the brother who was reputed to have emigrated to Pittsburgh.
One of the daughters of John Blair and Ellen Anderson was born in Drumadarragh on 3rd July 1864. They had three known daughters – Jane, Sarah Ellen and Margaret Ann.
Ellen Anderson and John Blair, a gardener, settled permanently at 1 Newington Avenue in Belfast. The family maintained a close association with Ellen’s brother, the auctioneer Joseph Anderson.
John Blair, gardener of 1 Newington Avenue and husband of Ellen Anderson, died 27th November 1901, and left everything to his two daughters, Jane and Sarah Ellen Blair. His will was executed by his brother-in-law, the auctioneer Joseph Anderson of 30 Vicinage Park, who was another son of William Anderson and Sarah Fay of Drumadarragh.
Joseph
Anderson also proved the will of John and Ellen Blair's daughter, Jane, who
died at 1 Newington Avenue on 17th May 1907. She left her trinkets, gold
watch and wearing apparel to her sister, Sarah Ellen, her Irish crochet collar
to a Mrs. Broomfield of 9 Carlingford Terrace, Drumcondra, Dublin, her India
gold embroidered cosy to a Mrs.Jane Roberts of 308 Springfield Road, and
her furniture to her mother Ellen Blair, along with a £16 annuity.
Ellen Blair, née Anderson, widow of John Blair, born in 1826, died on 6th July 1909 at 1 Newington Avenue aged 83. She was buried in Plot F633 in the City Cemetery, along with her husband, John Blair, who had died aged 70 on 27th November 1901 at 1 Newington Avenue.
Their daughter Jane was buried there too - she had died on 17th May 1907. There was also an 11-month-old child, William Edward Jackson, buried there, who had died at 1 Rosleagh Street on 22nd June 1902.
William
Edward Jackson had been born on 6th July 1901 at 1 Rosleigh Street, Belfast, to
commission agent Joshua Jackson and to Margaret Ann Blair.
Joshua
Jackson, son of farmer John Jackson, married Margaret Ann Blair, daughter of
the gardener John Blair and Ellen Anderson, in Shankhill, Belfast, on 3rd
October 1892. This was witnessed by the bride's sister Sara Ellen
Blair and Andrew Dunn.
Margaret
Ann Blair and Joshua Jackson, who had been born in 1851 in England, had other
children besides the shortlived William Edward Jackson - Nellie Anderson
Jackson was born in Belfast in 1894, and John Jackson was born in Liverpool in
about 1897.
Sara Ellen Blair, the daughter of Ellen Anderson and John Blair, also witnessed the wedding of her first cousin, Ellen McTeer Anderson, the daughter of auctioneer Joseph Anderson (son of teacher William Anderson and of Sarah Fay) and Ellen Campbell.
On 13th November 1860 in Ballyeaston Church, Co.
Antrim, Robert Symington, a servant (later a ship owner and stevedore) and son
of clerk Robert Symington of Whappstown, Connor, married Esther A. Anderson of
Drummadarragh, the daughter of teacher William Anderson. This was witnessed by John Alexander Bryson,
a resident of Drumadarragh, and by Eliza Anderson. Was Eliza Anderson a sister of the bride and
also a daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay?
Robert Symington and Esther Anderson had three known children
- Joseph Anderson Syminton, was born to the couple at 59 Harding Street on 12th
December 1871. A merchant seaman, he
would later marry Mary Hill, the daughter of David Hill of Belfast, in
Fortwilliam Park Church in Belfast on 25th October 1905 – witnesses
were Richard Allen and Agnes Hill.
William Symington was born to Robert Symington and Esther Anderson in
about 1876 and worked as a master mariner.
The Irish merchant navy records show the 1896 records of the ‘Vivency’
which was owned by Robert Symington of 15 Newington Avenue, and whose master
was William Symington. Among the crew
was Robert’s son Joseph Anderson Symington.
Son William Symington married Annie Dysart McLarnon, the
daughter of John McLarnon of Portglenone, Co. Antrim, in Newington Church,
Shankill, on 6th August 1913.
On 24th September 1889 in St. Anne’s, Belfast,
Lizzie Symington of 70 Limestone Road, daughter of stevedore Robert Symington,
married the widowed clerk, John Anderson who was the son of a William
Anderson. This was witnessed by Robert
Magee and Mary J. Boland. Were John and
William Anderson related to the Andersons of Lower Tanneybrake?
Esther Symington died aged 79 at 15 Newington Avenue on 26th
December 1912 – son-in-law John Anderson of 16 Deacon Street was present at the
death.
Robert Syminton, stevedore, died on 30th December
1914 in Gilgad, Kells, Co. Antrim – his granddaughter, Bessie Anderson of
Belfast, was present when he died.
Bessie Anderson had been born to John Anderson and Lizzie Symington of
11 Ritchie Street on 20th December 1894. Bessie would marry a
solder, William Henry Bell, the son of the late John Bell, in Newington Church
on 25th April 1919. The witnesses were William M. Moore and Mary
Moore.
In late 1915 the papers advertised the sale of Kilgad
Cottage Farm in the townland of Kilgad and Tawneybrake which had been the
property of the late Robert Symington.
On 5th December 1874, schoolmaster William
McMurtry of Belfast, the son of farmer William McMurtry, married the teacher
Jane Anderson, the daughter of teacher William Anderson in Shankill,
Belfast. The witnesses were the bride’s
brother and his wife Joseph and Ellen Anderson.
A retired national school teacher, William McMurtry died at
9 Thorndale Avenue on 7th August 1912 aged 65 – his son, William K.
McMurtry registered his death.
In 1911 William
and Jane were living at Thorndale Avenue with their three adult children,
teacher Winnie McMurtry, engineer Herbert McMurtry and shipping clerk William
K. McMurtry. Herbert McMurtry later
worked as the Superintendant of Works for Belfast Corporation; he died on 9th January 1940 at 39
Cavehill Road and was buried in Carnmoney Graveyard. He left a widow Mary.
Mary Ann Anderson (born circa 1845), daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay:
A recent Ancestry DNA test has strongly linked both me and my father, Paul Stewart, to the descendant of Mary Ann Anderson, who was also the daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay. Mary Ann was born in about 1844.
On 11th December 1860 in Belfast she married Samuel Todd, the son of
William Todd and Margaret Thompson of Drumadarragh. Mary Ann was only 16
when she married and was named as the daughter of William Anderson,
schoolteacher of Drumadarragh. The two witnesses were indistinct but were
possibly David Davis/Davin and Elizabeth Orr Kerson/Kernon.
Samuel Todd would die young on 18th January 1874 in Sandridge, Victoria,
shortly after the family had moved to Australia.
Mary Ann Anderson and Samuel Todd had:
a)
Margaret Todd, born Belfast.
b)
William Todd. He was born on 12th January 1865 at 59 Hardinge Street,
Belfast, which was where his young first cousin, Susan Anderson, the daughter
of my immediate ancestors, John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blair, died in
1872. William Todd didn't survive childhood either - he died aged four in
Australia in 1869.
c)
Sarah Maria Todd was born in 1867 in Trinidad and Tobago, and died in 1946 in
Windsor, Victoria, Australia; she was the wife of William Richard Penrose
Addicoat.
d)
Annie Elizabeth Todd (1868 - 1915) married George Frederick Percy Spooner.
e)
Samuel Todd (1870 - 1st June 1946) married Ethel May Harper in 1902 in
Victoria.
f)
William Robert Todd was born in Victoria in 1873 but died in 1874 in Trinidad
and Tobago.
g)
Caroline Todd (24th March 1876 - 27th April 1877).
Joseph Anderson (1849 - 1920), son of William Anderson and Sarah Fay:
Joseph had been born in about 1849 according to the 1901 Census.
He married Ellen Campbell on September 9th 1873 in St. Enoch's Presbyterian Church in Shankill, Belfast. At the time Joseph was a clerk; his father was, of course, the teacher William Anderson.
Joseph Anderson, according to the same
newspaper announcement, was one of the eight sons of William Anderson. Five of the sons died,
according to William Anderson’s 1892 headstone in St. Saviour’s in Connor.
Ellen
- called Helen on the certificate - was the daughter of a ship carpenter, John
Campbell and his wife Ellen McTeer. The witnesses were Jayne Call and Alex
Tougher who was an auctioneer and colleague of Joseph's.
Ellen Campbell's parents were John Campbell and Ellen McTeer, who married in Belfast on 13th June 1848 - Ellen McTeer's father was Cornelius McTeer, while John Campbell's father was Robert Campbell. Ellen Cambell, née McTeer, was widowed in 1890, when her husband, John Campbell, died aged 70 in 23 Bentinck Street on 2nd April; his grandson, William Anderson, son of Joseph Anderson and Ellen Campbell, was the informant. John Campbell, ship carpenter, was buried in Donaghadee Church of Ireland graveyard:
'Erected by Ellen McTeer in memory of her beloved husband, John
Campbell, who died April 2nd 1890 aged 70. Also the above Ellen McTeer widow of
John Campbell who died 6th September 1906 aged 7...'
Ellen
Campbell, widow of John Campbell, died in Bangor aged 79; her son-in-law,
Joseph Anderson, was present at death.
Ellen's father and grandfather were buried in the same graveyard in
Donaghadee:
'Erected
by Robert McTeer in memory of his daughter, Eliza McTeer, who departed this
life 16th May 1833 aged 8 years. And also the moral remains of above
named Robert McTeer, mariner, who lost his life in Cloughey Bay on the 30th
March 1850 aged 49 years. Also his son, James McTeer, who departed this life
13th October 1870 aged 47 years. Also Ellen Nevin, wife of the above
named Robert McTeer who departed this life 16th November 1882 aged 81.'
'Erected by Robert McTeer in memory of his father, Robert McTeer,
mariner, who departed this life 6th January 1823 aged 45 years. Likewise
on the left hand side lieth his son, James, who departed this life June 5th
1819 aged 14 years. In memory of Margaret, wife of Wm. Betconc who died
in Hamilton, Ontario, September 24th 1885.'
Later, in 1912, Joseph Anderson would sign the Ulster Covenant in Donaghadee, the home of his wife's family.
Joseph Anderson and Ellen Campbell got a mention in the Belfast Telegraph of May 10th 1874 when the birth of their son was announced, but not named, at 197 Nelson Street, which was the home of Ellen's parents, John and Ellen Campbell. Ellen Campbell's mother, Ellen McTeer, née Nevin, died at 197 Nelson Street aged 81 on 16th November 1882. ('Belfast Newsletter', 17th November 1882.)
The children of Joseph Anderson and Ellen Campbell were:
·
William Anderson born 10th May 1874 at 197 Nelson
Street.
·
Ellen McTeer Anderson born 22nd December
1875.
·
John Campbell Anderson born 1st January 1886 at 20
Bentinck Street.
·
Joseph Anderson born 4th May 1888 at 23 Bentinck Street.
From 1883 Joseph Anderson's address was Vicinage Park in central Belfast - he appears here on both the 1901 and 1911 census - and his auctioneer's premises was just south of that in the old market area of Smithfield. The old covered Smithfield market was destroyed by firebomb in 1974 at the height of the Troubles. From the street directories we learn that the business address was 16 Smithfield from 1884. In 1892 he also had a shortlived auctioneers enterprise at 33 - 35 Gresham Street.
Both of Joseph Anderson's sons went into the medical profession. In 1901 the eldest, William, was a medical student and John, aged 15, was a dental apprentice. His daughter, Ellen, was a schoolteacher, like her uncle John Anderson and her grandfather William Anderson before her. Although none of Joseph's own children seem to have followed him into the auctioneering trade, the son of his nephew, William John Anderson, is noted as an auctioneer's assistant and may possibly have been working alongside Joseph Anderson in Smithfield.
I
wonder did Joseph Anderson and his nephew, the pawnbroker William John
Anderson, collaborate somehow? The link between pawnbrokers and
auctioneers was a tight one. Unredeemed pledges at the pawnbrokers had to be
publicly auctioned rather than sold over the counter, thus the business of the
auctioneer and the pawnbroker went hand in hand. Pawnbrokers were generally the
only source of finance available to nineteenth century tradesmen. The laws
governing the trade were a subject of constant debate - the opening hours of
the pawnbroker were restricted by law to daylight hours, a law which was
generally ignored in order to provide a usable service for the urban poor of
the city. The police generally turned a blind eye to the flouting of the
opening hours, recognising as they did the vital role of the pawnbroker in the
poorer areas of the city.
On the 15th August 1885, Joseph Anderson, auctioneer, was mentioned during a debate on the subject at Westminster:
'
Mr. Sexton (for Mr. O'Kelly): asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, Is it a fact that William Hunter of Smithfield, Belfast, carries on
the business of auctioneer and appraiser at the above address, he being a
person appointed to office of appraiser over the pawnbrokers of County Antrim
by the Grand Jury, and, in contravention of the Act, carries on the pawn
broking business at North Queen Street and Shankill Road, also the business of
moneylender and bill discounter; is it a fact that Joseph Anderson, being
appointed as above, manages a pawn office, and carries on the business of
auctioneer in Smithfield, Belfast, the owner of said pawn office residing in
Gilford, County Down; is it true that those men do not conduct their
business as directed by the Act.
The
Chief Secretary (Sir William Hart Dyke): I am informed that the statements are
substantially accurate; but I am not aware that the persons mentioned do
not conduct their business as directed by the Act.'
Joseph
Anderson seems to have been a business associate of the Tougher family. Alex
Tougher was a witness at his wedding to Ellen Campbell; also Joseph
Anderson and William Tougher, auctioneers of Smithfield, proved the will of a
Sarah Ann Stewart (no relation) in Belfast in 1894. On the 1901 Census, this
William Tougher gives his profession as a pawnbroker.
On 4th April 1888, a dinner was held, on behalf of Joseph Anderson, at which his fellow auctioneers/pawnbrokers, John Scott, John Bennett and Andrew Lavery expressed confidence in him following difficulties in his business.
Joseph Anderson proved the wills of his brother-in-law, John Blair, and of his niece, Jane Blair. John Blair, the son of Andrew Blair, married Joseph Anderson's sister, Ellen Anderson, (the daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay) on 10th July 1856 in Kirkinriola, Antrim. Ellen Anderson was, therefore, the sister of John Anderson and Joseph Anderson.
John Blair, Joseph Anderson's brother-in-law, died at 1 Newington Avenue, Belfast in 1901. He was a retired gardener and had earlier, in 1897, proved the will of his own brother Andrew Blair of Drumadarragh, Antrim. John Blair died shortly after the 1901 Census so he filled out a return: he was living at Newington Avenue with his wife, Ellen, and two daughters, Sarah Ellen, and Jane Blair, a teacher who died shortly afterwards in 1907. Jane Blair's will was also proved by her uncle, Joseph Anderson, auctioneer.
William Anderson, the son of Joseph and Ellen Anderson, appeared in the UK Medical Registers up until 1919, when his entry appeared but was crossed out in pencil. The 1915 Register gave his address as Hartley Road, Nottingham; he had been registered with the medical board on July 31st 1902. William had received his qualifications as a surgeon in 1902 from Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities.
He appeared on the 1911 census with his wife Rachel at 53 Hartley Road. She had been born in Augherlough, Monaghan, in about 1883. They had three sons, William, who'd been born in 1905 in Belfast, Joseph born in Nottingham in late 1910 and Louis Charles Anderson born in Nottingham in 1914.
Ronnie McLean kindly sent me the following information which he collated while researching the crew of HMS Electra, sunk during the Battle of Java in 1942:
"Unclear whether on Electra for Athenia
rescue - Leading Sick Berth Attendant (Temporary) Louis Charles Anderson (C/MX. 54712), died HMS Electra, 27/02/1942. Chatham Naval Memorial
(wrecksite.eu), (Commonwealth War Graves Commission). LSBA Ty. Louis Charles Anderson born 4 July 1914
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, died HMS Electra [age 27]. LSBA
(Ty.) Louis C Anderson,
C/MX. 54712, mother Mrs. R Anderson, 58
Waldeck Rd., Nottingham (National Archives ADM 358/3252). Louis Charles
Anderson of 58 Waldeck Rd., [Carrington, Nottingham], died on or after 27 Feb
1942, probate 4 March 1947 to Rachel Anderson, widow [mother]. No RN service
records found. Query mother – Rachel Reynolds born quarter 1 1883 Cootehill,
Cavan, Monaghan, Ireland. Rachel Jemima Reynolds married William Anderson
quarter 3 1905 Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. 1911 UK census William Anderson
(37), surgeon, born Belfast, Co. Antrim, Rachel Anderson (28), born Augherloch,
Co. Monaghan, William (6), born Belfast, Joseph (9 months), born Nottingham, at
53 Hartley Rd., Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Louis C Anderson born quarter 3
1914 Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, mother’s maiden name Reynolds. Father -
William Anderson born 1874, died quarter 3 1919 age 45 Nottingham,
Nottinghamshire. 1921 UK census Rachel Anderson (39), born Monaghan, Ireland,
William (16), born Belfast, Co. Antrim, Joseph (10), Kathleen (9), Louis (6),
Victor (2), last 4 born Nottingham, Nellie Reynolds (36), visitor, born
Monaghan, Ireland, all at 58 Waldeck Rd., Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Curious
court case of a boy knocked off his bicycle 20 Dec 1932 in Huntingdon St.,
involving Louis Anderson (18½) and James D Copley or Copeley of 53 Waldeck Rd.,
Carrington, partnering in electrical engineering, with question of who was
driving and loan of license. Anderson took fright and had visited relatives in
Ireland for 7-10 days (e.g. Nottingham Evening Post 6 March 1933 p10). 1939
register Rachel Anderson born 7 Feb 1884 widow, Kathleen M born 7 Sep 1911,
freelance commercial artist, Victor born 28 Jan 1919 telephone development
engineer, all at 293 Mansfield Rd., Nottingham, Nottinghamshire."
Ellen McTeer Anderson, daughter of Joseph and Ellen Anderson, married, in Fortwilliam Church on 26th April 1904, a commercial clerk, Andrew Anderson. This was the man who would later prove the will of Ellen's father, Joseph Anderson. Andrew had been born in Co. Down on 27th January 1871 to the Scottish-born Thomas Anderson and Ellen Cockburne. I doubt a family link between the two Anderson families here - Thomas Anderson may have been born to Irish parents in Scotland, and then returned home to Co. Down, or he may be truly Scottish. An insurance clerk, he settled in the Banbridge area, where the family had eight children, of whom only two survived - Andrew and Marion. The wedding of Ellen McTeer Anderson and Andrew Anderson was witnessed by Robert Maxwell Carson and the bride's first cousin Sara Ellen Blair, who was the daughter of Ellen Anderson and John Blair.
On 9th February 1905, Andrew Anderson and Ellen McTeer Anderson had a son, John Campbell Anderson, named after Ellen's brother; this child didn't survive and died of diabetic coma, aged only 3, on 22nd April 1908 at 137 Alexandra Park Avenue. He was buried in Carnmoney Cemetery in North Belfast; his grandparents were buried later alongside him - Thomas Anderson died, aged 78, on 15th April 1916 at 11 Manor Street, and Helen Anderson died at Manor Street, aged 81, on 19th April 1921. At the time of his father's death in 1916, son Andrew Anderson was living at 15 Park Avenue in Bangor.
On 19th October 1907 in Ballysillan Church, Shankhill, Belfast, John Campbell Anderson, son of Joseph Anderson and Ellen Campbell, married Elizabeth Smyth, daughter of Inspector Robert Smyth; the wedding was witnessed by Matthew Parker and Marion Stevenson. Matthew Parker was a relation of Elizabeth Smith.
In
1911, John and Elizabeth Anderson were living at 25 Grosvenor Road, Belfast; he
was a master artificial teeth maker. John Campbell Anderson died on 1st June
1923 at 116 Grosvenor Road.
His father, Joseph Anderson, auctioneer of Smithfield, died aged 71 at 30 Ward Avenue, Bangor, on 17th November 1920, and his will was proved by his widow, Ellen Campbell Anderson, and by his son-in-law, the secretary, Andrew Anderson.
Our Paternal Ancestors John Anderson (1835 – 1903) and Jane Wilson Blain:
John Anderson was the son of William Anderson (1804 - 1892) and Sarah Fay (1804 - 1887) of Lower Tannybrake, Kells, Co. Antrim, and was our immediate paternal ancestor.
On 24th October 1856 John Anderson married Jane Wilson Blain as the first of three wives. We descend from this couple.
From
the certificate we learn that John, a teacher, had been born in about 1835, and
was living in Drumadarragh, Kilbride, Co. Antrim, presumably still at home with
his parents. Closeby, as can be seen from Griffiths Valuation, was a
school in Ballybracken townland where John Anderson was the principle and only
teacher.
On
the marriage certificate we see that Jane Wilson Blain lived here in
Ballybracken. She had been born in 1837 to William Blair, a weaver of
Ballybracken, and to his wife Shusoneah Susan Willson/Wilson. The
witnesses to the marriage were J.S. Rainey and Samuel Ferguson. James Rainey
was married to the bride's sister, Eliza Blain, while a Samuel Ferguson was a
farmer of both Halftown, Ballyclaverty, and also Ballybracken next to
Drumadarragh - his will of 1897 noted his wife as Mary Scott and two sons as
Andrew and John Ferguson.
The Blain and Blair families
might be the same people who were, as yet, undecided as to the exact spelling
of their name.
It was difficult to find information on John Anderson and Jane Willson Blain following their marriage, other than snippets here and there. The family were nomadic, and were noted in Drummadarragh, Ballyhartfield, and Belfast, before the elderly John Anderson joined his daughter in Co. Derry where he would die in 1903.
In January 1861, at the Ballymena Petty Sessions, John Anderson, the teacher in Tullynamullen School near Kells, was fined £3 for physically assualting a 12-year-old pupil named Robert Boyd who had been tussling with other boys all trying to warm themselves at the classroom fireplace.
On a government sessions report into Irish schools, I came across a reference to John Anderson, a teacher of Carnmoney No.2 Boys' School in 1865. Carnmoney is in Newtownabbey where hisdaughter, Susan, had been baptised in 1865.
John Anderson took over the running of Aughanloo National School, Co.Derry, in the 1870s, where he was succeeded by a son-in-law, Mr. McIntire, according to the Derry papers of the day - it's unclear who this McIntire was. The newspapers might be confusing the schoolmaster, McIntyre, with John Anderson's son-in-law, James Barbour, who was married to Sarah Anderson. I have found no reference yet to any Anderson/McIntyre marriage. A Robert McIntyre was one of the witnesses to the marriage of John Anderson’s daughter, Sarah Anderson, when she married schoolmaster James Barbour in 1887. The previous year, 1886, a schoolteacher Robert McIntyre, son of John McIntyre of Ballynarig, married Maggie Forsyth, the daughter of Andrew Forsythe of Ballylaighery, in Ballykelly Presbyterian Church, Co. Derry.
The children of John Anderson (1835 – 1903) and Jane Wilson Blain were:
1) James Anderson, born 11th July 1860, and baptised in Connor Presbyterian Church on 7th Oct. 1860 by John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blain. Alive in 1869, he was mentioned in the 1870 will of his paternal great uncle, James Wilson who died on 1st April 1869 in Ballybracken. The birth and baptism details have been filched from a fellow researcher and have not been confirmed directly by myself. The will is online with PRONI.
2) Sarah Agnes Anderson was born 22nd Dec. 1862 and was christened in Finvoy, Ballymoney, on 13th Jan. 1863 by John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blain. As with James who precedes her, the date of birth and baptism, has not been directly confirmed by myself since I have not yet had a chance to go through the Connor/Kells church registers in the PRONI offices in Belfast.
Sarah Anderson married the school teacher, James Barbour, son of Joseph Barbour of Limavady, Derry, on October 20th 1887 in Drumachose Church; the witnesses were Robert McIntyre and Jane Rainey. Sarah’s father, John Anderson, had moved to Co. Derry in the early 1870s to teach and on the 1901 census, Sarah's widowed father, John Anderson, can be seen living with the Barbour family at Aughansillagh, Derry.
James Barbour, who had been born in Limavady in 1851, was educated as a teacher in Marlborough College, Dublin, and was the principal of Lislane School in Limavady.
The Barber/Barbour Family of Terrydremont, Drumachose, Limavady:
The
Flax Growers List of 1796 shows up three members of the Barber family farming
in Drumachose - John, Joseph and Robert.
James Barbour's parents were Joseph (1806 - 1873) and Elizabeth Barber of Terrydremon. Another researcher on the LDS site had Joseph Barbour's wife as Elizabeth Laggan or Logan, 1809 - 1886. Joseph Barbour was himself the son of Edward Barbour and Catherine Scott, but I haven't personally confirmed this. Joseph Barbour's brother was William Barbour (1808 - 1891), farmer of Ardgarvan, Co. Derry, who died at Ardgarvan on 7th December 1891; his will was administered by his grandnephew, John Barbour Mullin. William Barbour had married a woman by the name of Mary Anne, and had a son, William Barbour, and two daughters, Jane Barbour and Sarah Barbour who died aged 48 of chest disease in Ardgarvan on 13th September 1906.
Farmer Joseph Barbour and Elizabeth (Laggan?) had four sons - John Barbour, born circa 1840, Joseph Barbour, born circa 1849, William Barbour, and the schoolteacher, James, who had been born in 1851, and who would marry Sarah Anderson in 1887.
The children of Joseph and Elizabeth Barbour of Terrydremont:
a) John Barber, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Barber of Terrydremon/Drumachose, was born in 1840 and married Jane White, the daughter of James White on 19th June 1860. In 1860 John Barber was living in Ballymully whilst his bride, Jane White, was in Tullydrumond. Her father, James White, was a shoemaker and the wedding witnesses were Joseph Mullin and Mary White.
b) His brother, William, married Eliza Beers, the daughter of a carpenter James Beers of Terrydrummond. The wedding took place in Drumachose on 11th December 1873 and was witnessed by Scott Barbour and Catherine Beers. William Barbour and Eliza Beers had children at Lisnagrib, Balteagh, Terrydrummond. William was born 28th February 1876, Joseph was born circa 1877, Alexander was born on 18th March 1881, Catherine was born 3rd February 1883, Eliza Jane was born at Terrydremont on 23rd December 1884 and Scott was born in Lisnagrib on 8th May 1889. William Barbour died aged 63 at Lisnagrib on 22nd June 1907; a James Barbour of Lisnagrib was present, and William's will was granted to Robert Stewart and James Irwin, farmers.
c) Brother Joseph never married, and appeared on both the 1901 and 1911 censuses farming still at Terrydrummond.
d) James Barbour, schoolmaster, who would marry Sarah Anderson in 1887.
e) Elizabeth Barbour (1840 - 1880) the daughter of farmer Joseph Barbour, married James Mullin/Mullan, a farmer, the son of William Mullin, on 19th March 1868. Their son was John Barbour Mullin, who was born in Ardgarvan, Drumachose, on 29th March 1870, and who married Effie Black, the daughter of Hugh Black, in Ballykelly, Co. Derry, on 2nd July 1912. This was witnessed by John Mullan and Margaret MacLaughlin. Effie Mullin died on 4th August 1929, while her husband, the schoolmaster John Barbour Mullin, died at Main Street, Limavady, on 28th November 1931. His will was administered by the widowed Mary Elizabeth Black, and by the unmarried Martha Mullan.
James
Mullan and Elizabeth Barbour, the parents of John Barbour Mullin, also had
Martha Mullan in 1878, Margaret in 1880 and an unnamed child in 1874. By 1901,
Elizabeth Mullan, née Barbour, was dead, and the widower James Mullan, aged 55,
was living in the Fruithill area Limavady - this townland was very close to
Terrydrummond North where the Barbour family came from. James Mullan's
children were living at home - William aged 32, John aged 30, Elizabeth aged
28, James aged 25, and Martha aged 23.
John
Barbour Mullan was a schoolmaster like his cousin, James Barbour. By
1911, William, John and Lizzie Mullan were still living at home with their
father.
A snippet of the 1851 census survived and shows the Barber/Barbour family living at Terrydremont - Joseph Barber was 40 and had married in 1830. His wife, Elisa, was aged 38. The only child listed was 5-yr-old Joseph, who could spell. According to the later 1901 census, Joseph Barbour had been born in 1849, rather than 1846 as stated above, but they generally just guessed their correct ages in this era.
In 1859, Griffiths Valuation showed Joseph Barber farming 10 acres (leased from Hugh Lane) in Terrydremont North.
Elizabeth
Barber died on 22nd February 1886 at Terrydremont. She had made a will 4
years earlier:
'March 27 1882. I, Elizabeth Barber of Terrydremon, do publish this my last will and testament in way and manner as follows. I leave the farm and all the chattels to my son Joseph, and James to live here with Joseph as when I was alive, till something occurs to cause separation, and when James leaves, I allow him a cow, and my sun (sic) William one pound sterling, and my sun John one pound sterling, also to James Mulin (ie: Mullin) one pound sterling, and I nominate James Deens as my executor...'
Elizabeth signed her will with her mark; neighbours James and
Samuel Deens witnessed the document.
The children of Sarah Anderson and James Barbour were as follows:
a) The twins, John Barbour, born at 7.15pm on 7th September 1888 and Joseph, born half an hour later. Joseph Barbour died of TB in Aughansallagh on 25th April 1909; his sister, Jane Wilson Barbour was the informant.
b)
Jane Wilson Barbour, known as Jennie, was born at Lislane on 23rd July 1890.
c)
Elizabeth/Lizzie was born on 26th December 1892.
d)
James, known as Jim A. Barbour, was born on 24th November 1894.
e)
Sarah Agnes was born at Aughansillagh on 26th August 1896. Sarah Agnes Barbour
married a laundry manager, Thomas George Kane, the son of an engineer Thomas
Kane, on 20th July 1921 in Drumachose. Limavady. Francis Kane and Mary Augusta
Campbell were the witnesses.
f)
William Anderson Barbour was born on 7th February 1898.
g) Louis Victor MacKenzie Barbour was born on 27th October 1899. He died of peritonitis, aged only 11, on 15th June 1911.
The family emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba - the children seem to have gone first, followed later by their elderly parents.
In
1916, James/Jim, a checker, was living at 476 Balmoral Street, Winnipeg,
with his sister, Jennie, a stenographer.
William
Anderson Barbour, their brother, also emigrated - he joined up with the
Canadian forces in 1917, giving his address as 14 Camden Court, Young Street,
Winnipeg - he had been born on February 7th 1898 to James Barbour of Drummond,
Limavady. William was a stenographer.
In 1921, the records show up their parents' emigration. 'The Declaration of Passengers to Canada' record James Barbour, aged 70, and his wife, Sarah, arriving, with the intention to remain; they were heading to live with their daughter, Jane Barbour, who had paid for their passage over, and with their sons James and William - it was good to see that William survived WW I. Jane, James and William were resident at Suite 7, Young Street, Winnipeg. The closest relative at home in Derry was given as James Barbour's older brother, Joseph Barbour of Terry Drummond, Limavady.
Son William Anderson Barbour emigrated to Chicago in 1923 where he was naturalised on 5th March 1929. By 1930 he had married a Northern Irish woman, Lydia, who had emigrated in 1920. The couple had a son, William James Barbour, in Chicago on 25th June 1928. The LDS records the child as having been born to William Anderson Barbour and to Lydia Luitengastm - Lydia's family name here must be incorrect since I know of no Irish family name similar to this. Perhaps the original handwritten document was illegible. She had been born in Ireland on 1st December 1899 or 1898, emigrated to the US on 17th July 1920, and was naturalised on 6th March 1941; her address in 1941 was given as 944 Deerfield Road. She died in September 1977 in Illinois.
By
1940 the family were living at Deerfield Village, Lake, Illinois, and had an
8-year-old daughter, Donnalee Barbour.
William
Anderson Barbour died in Illinois in September 1978. Wife Lydia died
there
In 1928 James Barbour and Sarah Anderson sailed back to Ireland from Canada aboard the 'Minnesoda'. Their intended address was 3, Main St., Limavady. Next to them on the list was William Caldwell of 30 Arundel Street, a checker living in Canada.
Later
in 1928, the elderly couple reappear on the passenger lists of the 'S.S.
Duchess of Bedford', sailing home from Belfast to Quebec. They stated
that they had been living in Canada since 1921, so had been returning home for
a visit. James Barbour was a retired teacher, still living at Suite 2, Huntley
Apartments, Young St., Winnipieg. His next-of-kin was his cousin, Mr. J.
Mullan of 2 Main St., Limavady.
The same passenger list also recorded Sarah's place of birth as 'Carreagle', Ireland, but I've had no luck finding out where that is.
Also
sailing with them was the William Caldwell who had sailed back to Ireland with
them earlier in the year. He was aged 44 and the son of R. Caldwell of 30
Arundel St, Belfast; his wife was named as Lizzie Caldwell of 455
Alexandra Drive, Winnipeg.
James Barbour's cousin, who he went home to visit in 1928, was the schoolmaster, John Barbour Mullin, who had been born in 1870 to the farmer, James Mullin/Mullan, and to Elizabeth Barbour, the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Barbour of Terrydremont, and sister of James Barbour.
James Barbour died at 1320 Rosemount Avenue, Fort Garry, Winnipeg, on October 3rd 1937.
Sarah
Barbour, née Anderson, died on February 28th 1948.
3) Daughter Susan Anderson was born to the teacher John Anderson and to Jane Wilson Blain on March 18th 1865 in Ballyhartfield, Templepatrick, Doagh, Co.Antrim and was baptised in Ballylinny Presbyterian Church on 18th May 1865 - Ballylinny is in Newtownabbey. This child died of scrofula at the age of seven on 31st July 1872; her father, John, was present when she died at home at 59 Harding Street in the centre of Belfast. On a government sessions report into Irish schools, I came across a reference to John Anderson, a teacher of Carnmoney No.2 Boys' School in 1865. Carnmoney is in Newtownabbey where his daughter, Susan, had been baptised in 1865.
4) A third daughter, Ellen Anderson, was born July 2nd 1867 in the New Lodge Road, Belfast to John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blain. I have yet to uncover furth information on this daughter.
5) William John Anderson (1958 – 1928), the oldest child of John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blain, was baptised in Connor Presbyterian Church, Kells, on 28th March 1858. He would later marry Agnes Keating in Belfast; they were the grandparents of our grandmother, Agnes Keating Wilson who married our Dublin-born grandfather Bertie Stewart.
William John Anderson (1958 – 1928) and Agnes
Keating:
 |
|
William John Anderson |
At some stage before his marriage to Agnes Keating, William John Anderson, the son of schoolmaster John Anderson and Jane Wilson Blair moved south to work as a pawnbroker in Belfast city, probably aided by William’s paternal uncle, Joseph Anderson, who worked as an auctioneer in Smithfield in the city centre.
William John Anderson and Agnes Keating married in Berry Street Presbyterian Church, Shankill, on 17th October 1877. William John gave his profession as a pawnbroker. The witnesses were Alexander Reid and James Rainey. Agnes Keating's father was mentioned as Samuel Keating a cardriver. She gave her address as the time of the marriage as Dunadry which is close to Templepatrick in Co. Antrim, this despite the fact that her family came from the Donaghadee area of County Down.
https://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-keating-family-of-ballyhay.html
You can trace William John Anderson through the street directories. Between 1884 and 1897, he ran two pawnbroking establishments, one at 69 Templemore Avenue and the other around the corner at 93 Castlereagh Street.
In February 1892, William John Anderson was assaulted with a clock by a man named Thomas Houston when Houston was asked to leave the panwbroker's office on the Newtownards Road.
In
1897, during the Belfast Municipal Elections, William John Anderson of 93
Castlereagh Street, stood as assentor to the candidate Robert John Dawson of
Cherryville, My Lady's Road, a building contractor.
By 1900, he has branched out into the bicycle trade at 134 Albertbridge Road while still running a pawnbrokers closeby at 215 Templemore Avenue.
He
later opened the first cinema to operate in the area and also ran several shoe
shops. The cinema was named The Princess Picture Palace on the
Newtownards Road and seated 1,200 people - it opened on 16th September 1910,
and closed down on 31st December 1926.
When
William John Anderson signed the Ulster Covenant in 1912, the family home was
at 418 Woodstock Road; in 1911 they had been living at 360 Woodstock Road,
while in 1901 they were at Number 410.
The children of William John Anderson and Agnes Keating were as follows:
Marion
Anderson, née Russell, died on 23rd May 1917 at 160 Madrid Street.
Present on the 1911 Census were the two young sons of Samuel and Marion Anderson - William John Anderson who had been born on 11th June 1908 at 6 Lomond Avenue, and Matthew Aird Anderson who had been born on 18th March 1910 at 160 Madrid Street.
Matthew Aird Anderson died at 10 Greenburn Park, Lambeg, Lisburn, aged 77 on 12th November 1987 and was buried in Plot E4-796 in Dundonald Cemetery. Also there was May Anderson, aged 78, who died at the same address on 21st February 1994. This was presumably the wife of Matthew Aird Anderson. Also buried in this same plot was a William J. Donald of 1 Queenside, Carryduff, who died aged 87 on 16th December 1970.
b) Agnes Jane Anderson, our great-grandmother, was born to William John Anderson and Agnes Keating at 56 Templemore Avenue on 25th March 1881. She married our great-grandfather Edward Leviolett Wilson, and their daughter, Agnes Keating Wilson, married Bertie Stewart – these were my paternal grandparents.
 |
|
Agnes Jane Wilson, née Anderson,
and my father Paul Stewart |
Agnes Jane had a twin, William John Anderson, also born on 25th March 1881. A John Anderson died, aged 6, at the family home of 69 Templemore Avenue on 23rd April 1887.
c) Elizabeth Veronica (Lily) Anderson was born to William John Anderson and Agnes Keating on 5th October 1884 at 69 Templemore Avenue; present at the birth, according to her civil birth registration, was Elizabeth Jamieson of Wallace Street, Newtownards, who was a relation of Lily's mother, Agnes Keating, the daughter of Samuel Keating and Elizabeth Jamieson of Ballyhay, Donaghadee.
Lily Anderson was a piano teacher who later lived at Gibson Park Avenue in Belfast. Lily Wilson died aged 83 on 27th February 1968 at 13 Gibson Park Gardens and was buried in the family plot (C2-136) in the City Cemetery.
d) Kathleen Coey Anderson was born to William John Anderson and Agnes Keating on 24th July 1887 at 69 Templemore Avenue, but she died aged only 1 year and 8 months at 69 Templemore Avenue on 5th March 1889.
e) William Mitchell Anderson was born to William John Anderson and Agnes Keating at 69 Templemore Avenue on 28th July 1889, although his grave has his date of birth as 1884. Relation Elizabeth Jameson, who now lived at 69 Templemore Avenue, was present at this birth too. William Mitchell Anderson later managed Andersons Picture House on the Newtownards Road which had been opened earlier by his father William John Anderson. He died aged 70 on 23rd June 1954 at 13 Gibson Park Gardens.
f) Ernest James Anderson was born to William John Anderson and Agnes Keating on 3rd October 1897at 215 Templemore Avenue; his birth was registered under the name of James Ernest Anderson, but he was always known as Ernest. He died on 11th August 1968.
He
later emigrated to Canada, and met his Edinburgh-born wife, Mamie, on the boat
going over. Ernest Anderson appeared on the 1931 passenger list of the
'Letitia' which was sailing from Belfast to Québec. The list stated that
Ernest had previously lived in Canada, from 20th October 1928 until 14th August
1931, at 1505 Makay Street, Montreal. He was a stock-keeper, and his
next-of-kin in Ireland was his sister, Elizabeth Anderson of 13 Gibson Park,
Belfast.
The family photo below shows Lily Anderson, the piano teacher, dressed in black to the right of the group. Her older sister, Agnes Jane Wilson (nee Anderson), is shown in the middle. They are visiting our grandmother, Agnes Keating Wilson (aka Nessie), shortly after her marriage to our grandfather, Bertie Stewart, at their first home in Killyvolgan, Ballywalter, Co. Down. Nessie is without a hat. Her sister, Kay, has her arm around her aunt Lily. The man to the far left is William Mitchell Anderson, the brother of Agnes Jane Anderson and Lily Anderson. Neither William nor his sister, Lily, ever married and the two shared a house together at 13 Gibson Park Gardens in Belfast. They also had a holiday home in Ballywalter, Co. Down.
William John Anderson seems to have been an enterprising and generous individual who employed many of his and his wife's relations in his various businesses.
William
John and Agnes Keating Anderson witnessed the marriage of her brother, Samuel
Keating, to Sarah Agnew of Bangor in 1885. By 1901, Sarah was widowed and
living with her five children in Jocelyn Street close to the Woodstock Road
where William John Anderson and Agnes Keating were living. As can be seen
from the Census, two of Sarah's adolescent children - William aged 16 and
Samuel aged 14 - were working in the pawnbroking trade.
Agnes
Keating's sister, Margaret Jane Keating, married Robert McWilliams in
Westbourne Presbyterian Church in 1887. By the time of the 1901 Census
they were living on My Lady's Road off the Woodstock Road - Robert McWilliams
was working there as a pawnbroker's assistant and one of their eight children
has been named William John Anderson McWilliams.
On
the same street - My Lady's Road - lived two of Agnes Keating's paternal aunts,
Margaret McCully and her unmarried sister Agnes. Margaret McCully's
husband, George Cully, was a shoemaker and I wonder did he supply shoes to
William John Anderson's shoeshops at some stage?
William John Anderson died at 13 Gibson Park Gardens, the home of his children, Lily and William Mitchell Anderson. Aged 70, he died on 15th October 1928.
His
wife, Agnes Anderson, née Keating, died aged 53 at 418 Woodstock Road on 21st
March 1911.
The
family plot was C2-136 in the City Cemetery and also held Lily and William
Mitchell Anderson, neither of whom ever married.
Also
buried there were the two children of William John Anderson and Agnes Keating
who didn't survive childhood - John Anderson died at 69 Templemore Avenue aged
6 on 23rd April 1887. His sister, Kathleen Coey Anderson, died aged 1
year 8 months on 5th March 1889 also at 69 Templemore Gardens.
The Blain Family of Jane Wilson Blain, 1st Wife of John Anderson (1835 – 1903):
The teacher John Anderson's first wife, Jane Wilson Blain, had been born to Shusonneah Susan Willson (1800 - November 1873) and William Blain (1789 - 11th August 1882).
William Blain died on 11th August 1882. From the Belfast Newsletter of 12th August 1882: 'August 11 at the residence of his son-in-law, James Rainey, Umery, Antrim, William Blain, aged 93 years. His remains will be removed for interment in Connor Burying-ground on Monday...'
From other researchers I learnt that the children of William Blain and Shusonneah Willson had been christened in Connor Presbyterian Church:
1) Robert Blain.
2) Hugh Blain, a carpenter, born 29th April 1822 - 23rd April 1902.
He married Eliza Service, the daughter of Thomas Service of Dunamoy on
4th July 1861 in Ballyeaston. At the time of the wedding he was living in
Ballybracken. The witnesses were named as Thomas Service and a Mary
Wilson. Mary Wilson might be a relation of Hugh Blain's mother.
On 23 Aug 1865 Hugh Blain and Eliza Service had a daughter, Elizabeth Blain,
born in Ballybracken. There was also a daughter named Susan Blain. Hugh
died in Ballybracken on 23rd April 1902, leaving everything to the unmarried
Elizabeth Blaine, his daughter. He was named as the primary beneficiary
of his great-uncle James Wilson's will of 1869. James Wilson of
Ballybracken left his entire property to his grandnephew and, in 1901, Hugh
Blaine and his daughter, Lizzie, were living here at
Ballybracken.
Hugh
Blain’s wife, Eliza Service, was the daughter of farmer Thomas Service of
Dunamoy, Co. Antrim. Her siblings were Thomas Service who married
Elizabeth Hutchinson in 1866 and who had David Hutchinson Service, Lizzie
Service and Maggie Service, and William Service who married Margaret Galt,
daughter of Robert Galt of Dunamoy, in 1869.
3) Andrew Blain, 2nd February 1824 - 15th May 1887, married Margaret Gordon in Ballyeaston on 23rd October 1853.
On the 1853 marriage certificate, he was named as 'Andrew BLAIR' which
makes me suspect further that the Blain and Blair families were the
same.
In 1853, when he married Margaret Gordon, Andrew Blain was a carpenter
of Ballybracken, the son of William Blair/Blain, while Margaret's father
was Robert Gordon. The witnesses were James Austin and Hugh Blair/Blain.
Andrew Blain was appointed the executor of the will of Elizabeth Gordon of
Ballyrobert, Templepatrick, when she died in 1875. Andrew Blain at that time
lived in Ballywalter, Ballylinney, just south of Templepatrick and close to
Ballyrobert. Elizabeth Gordon named her two sons as Robert and James
Gordon, and her daughter as Isabella Gordon.
Andrew
Blain of Ballywalter, Ballylinney, was also named as the executor of his great
uncle James Wilson's 1869 will.
Andrew's wife, Margaret, died aged 51 in Ballywalter on 3rd March 1884.
A carpenter, Andrew Blaine died of meningitis aged 60 in Ballywalter on
15th May 1887. His niece, Sarah Anderson, was present at the death - she
was the daughter of schoolteacher John Anderson and of Jane Wilson Blain, and
would marry James Barbour later that same year.
A daughter of Andrew Blain and Margaret Gordon was Eliza Blain who married the Doagh blacksmith William Reid, son of Robert Reid. The marriage took place on 19th June 1874 in Mountpottinger, Belfast, and was witnessed by William Lyle and Sarah Agnes McAdoo. William Reid and Elizabeth Blain had a son named Robert Blain Reid.
The
son of Andrew Blain and Margaret Gordon was Robert Andrew Gordon Blain (1854 -
1841) who married Isabella Stewart (1860 - 1930) the daughter of farmer
Alexander Stewart and Mary Ann Ferguson of Drumdreenagh, Drumballyroney, Co. Down.
The wedding took place in Ballyroney on 26th April 1885 and was witnessed by
civil engineer William Robinson and by William Urey Stewart who
was Isabella Stewart's brother. William Urey Stewart had been born
on 2nd May 1872; his brother, Joseph Nixon Stewart, had been born on 7th
March 1869. In 1885, when he married Isabella Stewart, Robert Gordon
Blain was living in London. He taught civil and mechanical engineering.
He and Isabella reared their four sons in England but they kept an
address in Ireland, where Robert would die on 30th December 1941.
The
children of Robert Gordon Blaine and Isabella Stewart were:
a)
Robert Andrew Gordon Blaine, born on 19th June 1886. A mechanical engineer, he
emigrated to the United States in 1907 with his wife, Eva L. Blaine. They
lived in a variety of places, including Buffalo, NY, New Brunswick, NJ, and
Detroit.
b) William A. S. Blaine, born in Wanstead, Essex, in 1887. In 1925, Robert Gordon Blaine and Isabella travelled to Michigan to visit their eldest son, Robert. They named their next-of-kin as their son, Rev. William Blaine of Coleraine.
c) Victor John Perry Blaine, born in Wanstead on April 4th 1890. He emigrated to the States, and, in 1910, was staying, along with his older brother, Robert, at the home of his widowed, Irish-born, aunt, Agnes Waugh, and her son Richard's family, in Detroit. He married a woman from Illinois named Ethel, who worked as a librarian, but, at some stage, the couple divorced. Victor died in Michigan in 1964. A son, Victor Chandler Blaine, was born in Michigan in 1916 - his mother, Ethel, who'd been born in 1896 in Clinton, Illinois, to Joseph Garrigus and Minnie Lisenby, married her second husband on June 14th 1936, the Illiinois attorney, Eugene M. Smith, the son of Felix F. Smith and Claribel Hooker.
d) Joseph Ferguson Blaine, born in Essex on 17th May 1897. Born in Essex on 17th May 1897, Joseph qualified as a surgeon in Belfast, and lived in Pontypool, Wales, and, in the 1950s, in Nelson, New Zealand. He administered his father's will in 1941. He died in Sussex in Rustington, Sussex, in 1977.
4) Eliza Blain, 2nd February 1827 - 24th February 1910, the daughter of William Blain and Shusonneah Willson, married James Rainey of Umry, Clonkeen, Co. Antrim. Her father, William Blain, died here in Umry on August 11th 1882. Their children were David Rainey, Jane Rainey, John Rainey, Margaret Rainey, Susan Rainey and Eliza Rainey (1854 - 1943) who married James Orr Agnew (born 1856). See below for more on the Rainey family of Umry.
5) James Wilson Blain was born 21st December 1829 to William Blain and Shusonneah Willson. A tailor by profession, on 27th April 1874, he married Eliza Gleghorn of Potters Walls, ten miles west of Drumadarragh/Ballybracken. She was the daughter of James Gleghorn or Potters Walls and the sister of Thomas Gleghorn who had married Ellen Wylie in 1873, and the aunt of Minnie Gleghorn who married in 1897 a carpenter James Wilson of Ladyhill, the son of Robert Wilson. Eliza Gleghorn's father, James Gleghorn of Potters Wall, made his will in 1872.
The 1874 wedding of James Wilson Blain and Eliza Gleghorn was witnessed
by John Bonar and Elizabeth Rainey who was the groom's sister and wife of James
Rainey of Umry/Ummery.
6) Twins Jane Willson Blain and Shusonneah Blain, born 14th February 1835. Jane Willson Blain married the schoolmaster John Anderson in 1856 - we descend directly from them. Nothing further is known about Jane's twin Shusonneah Blain, but our immediate ancestor, Jane Willson Blain, has been discussed above.
The Wilson/Willson Family of Ballybracken:
The parents of Jane Willson Blain (the first wife of schoolmaster John Anderson) were William Blain (1789 - 11th August 1882) and Shusonneah Susan Willson or Wilson (1800 - November 1873).
Shusonneah Susan Wilson had a sister named Elizabeth Rainey and a brother named James Wilson.
Elizabeth Wilson, the sister of our Shusonneah Wilson and of James Wilson, had
married a Robert Rainey and was mentioned in her brother’s 1869 will.
She had a son, James Wilson Rainey.
Shusonneah
Susan Wilson's brother, James Wilson (1792 – 1869), lived in Ballybracken next
to Drumadarragh. James Wilson died aged 77 on 1st April 1869 leaving
a will, in which he mentions his niece, Jane Wilson Anderson (the daughter of
his sister, Shusonneah) and also his two nephews, Hugh and Andrew Blane or
Blain, the sons of Shusonneah and her husband William Blain.
'...I
allow the sixty five pounds twelve shillings I owe Hugh Blane on foot of an
I.O.U....to be paid out of my property...I allow my sister, Elizabeth Rennie
(ie: Rainey), the sum of ten pounds...and if any of it is unpaid at the time of
her death, the remainder is to go to her son James...
...I
allow my niece, Jane Wilson Anderson, the sum of fifteen pounds...and if she
should die before it is all paid, the remainder is to go to her son James..
...I
will and bequeath to Hugh Blane all my property...I nominate and appoint the
said Hugh Blane, my nephew, and his brother, Andrew Blane of Ballywalter (ie:
Ballylinney), executors...'
James Wilson's above will of 1869 was witnessed by Ephraim Wilson and Archibald Wilson of Maxwells Wall, Antrim. This Archibald Wilson also held land in Carncome, which immediately adjoins Maxwells Wall, both townlands being midway between Kells and Ballybracken/Drumadarragh. Griffiths Valuation of 1862 shows a strong cluster of Wilsons farming here, and this is possibly the origin of the Wilson family of Shusonneah Wilson. The other Wilson s there in 1862 were Speir Wilson, John Wilson, Hugh Wilson, John Wilson (distinguished from the other John Wilson by the word 'Big' after his name), James Wilson (distinguished from the other James by the word 'Ross', possibly his mother's family name), and James Wilson.
So the three definite members of our Wilson family were Shusonneah Wilson who
married William Blain, Elizabeth Wilson who married Robert Rainey and James
Wilson of Ballybracken.
There are early records which associate the Wilson family with Ballybracken
townland. From Roots.chat we learn that a John Wilson of Ballybracken made his
will on 4th February 1755. Probate was granted on 28th August 1761. In
his will he asked to be buried in Kilbride and names his sons as James and John
who were both to inherit the farm. Son James was to rear the youngest daughter
Jeannet, and the will names a second daughter, Elizabeth Wilson, who was
married to William Blaire.
The tithe records of 1833 note Robert Wilson, William Wilson Sr. and William
Wilson Jr. as farming land in Ballybracken.
The will of Jane Ferguson who died on 5th March 1865 named her brother as John
Wilson of Ballybracken but the will itself has not survived.
Were this Wilson family of Ballybracken related to the neighbouring Wilson family who farmed in Drumadarragh? I have no idea yet whether they are or not, but I include them here for the moment.
An earlier James Wilson of Drumadarragh had a daughter, Sarah Wilson,
who married John Gann of Ballycleverty in 1835. From Belfast Newsletter
of 31st July 1835: '...by Rev. John Doherty of Donegore, Mr. John
Gann, Ballycleverty, to Sarah, eldest daughter of Mr. James Wilson of
Drumadarragh...'
When James Ballagh died on 8th October 1859 in Ballyvoy, he named James Wilson of Drumadarragh and Ballybracken as one of his executors – in his initial will, he named James Wilson as living in Drumadarragh, but a later addition notes James Wilson as living in Ballybracken. The final probate of the will of James Ballagh once again gives James Wilson’s address as Drumadarragh. The mention of Ballybracken here might have been in error however.
James Ballagh names his surviving sister as Anne Wilson, who later made her own will in which she named her husband as James Wilson. This was a different James Wilson than the James Wilson (1792 – 1869) of Ballybracken who was the brother of Shusonneah Blain and Elizabeth Rainey. James Wilson (1792 – 1869) made no mention of a wife and children in his own will, and Anne Wilson’s husband, James Wilson of Drumadarragh, was still alive when she died in 1871.
Anne
Wilson, née Ballagh, died in 1871, leaving husband James Wilson of
Drumadarragh, and children John, Mary Jean, Ann, Samuel, Robert, Agnes and
William Hugh Wilson who was a watchmaker of Omagh, Co. Tyrone. (Watchmaker
William Hugh Wilson died on 15th January 1887; his
brother-in-law was David Martin.) Anne Wilson also named a
brother-in-law as Francis Wilson of Carntall, and her will was witnessed by
William and Thomas Wilson. James Wilson, widower of the late Anne
Wilson, died on 19th November 1872 but his will gave no clues
to link his family to the Wilson family of neighbouring Ballybracken.
However, another online researcher has established that two of the daughters of
Robert Ballah married two of the Wilson - Janet Ballah married William Wilson
(1808 -1884) of Ballygowan, then of Rashee, while her sister, Nancy Ballah,
married John Wilson (1799 - 1886) of Ballybracken.
The Rainey Family of Half-Umry, Clonkeen, Drummaul:
Elizabeth Wilson, the sister of Shusonneah Susan Wilson (the wife of William Blane) and of James Wilson of Ballybracken, married a Robert Rainey at some stage and had a son, James Wilson Rainey – I suspect a link between these Raineys and the Rainey family of Umry but this is unclear.
James Wilson Rainey, the son of Elizabeth Wilson and Robert Rainey, was a grocer of Islandbawn/Islandbane, Muckamore and of Belfast. On 2 January 1879 in Ballynure, he married Sarah Todd, the daughter of James Todd of Drumadarragh. This was witnessed by James Todd and Mary McCammond. Mary was the bride’s sister who, on 1 April 1870, had married John McCammon, the son of Samuel McCammon of Drumadarragh.
(Interestingly, on 16th September 1856 in Ballyeaston Church, Alexander McCammon, also the son of Samuel McCammon, married Sarah Anderson the daughter of teacher William Anderson.)
James Wilson Rainey, died at 135 Alexandra Park Avenue, Belfast, on 3rd October 1921, while his widow, Sarah, died there in September 1932, leaving sons William John Rainey and Stevenson Rainey. A third son, Hugh Todd Rainey, had already died of cirrhosis of the liver on 18th November 1916.
Eliza Blain, the daughter of William Blain and Shusonneah Wilson, married James Rennie/Rainey, the son of John Rainey, on 28th September 1852 in Kirkinriola, Antrim.
James
Rainey and Eliza Blain subsequently settled in the townland of Umery, Clonkeen
in Drummaul, just outside Randalstown and also south of Kells. He
appeared on Griffiths Valuation of 1862 leasing 19 acres in conjunction with a
James Smith; also present in the same townland was William Rainey Senior and
William Rainey Junior.
James Rainey witnessed the wedding of his nephew, our immediate ancestor William John Anderson, the son of the teacher John Anderson and of Jane Wilson Blain, when he married Agnes Keating in Belfast in 1877. A J.S. Rainey had witnessed the wedding of William John's father, John Anderson, to Susan Wilson Blain in 1856.
James Rainey, farmer of Half Umry, Clonkeen, Drummaul, and husband of Eliza Blain (the daughter of William Blain and Shusonneah Susan Wilson) left a will, and died on 14th September 1895 at Half Umry; his son, David Rainey, was the informant of death.
'This
is the last will of me, James Rainey, of Half Umry in the Parish and County of
Antrim, farmer. I leave unto my wife, Eliza Rainey, an annuity of twenty pounds
to be paid in equal parts of...my farms in Half Umry and Clonkeen in the parish
of Drummaul by two sons to whom I bequeath said farms, my farm in Half
Urmy I leave to my son David and that in Clonkeen to my son John
aforesaid...and also the sum of one hundred pounds sterling to each of his
sisters, Jane, Maggie and Susan, such legacies to be payable if demanded two
years after my decease...I nominate and appoint my wife, Eliza Rainey, and my
son David Rainey executors of this my last will...'
(Clonkeen is located immediately next to Gillistown, Randalstown, where there was a neighbouring settlement of Raineys. William Rainey of Gillistown died on 1st August 1875, mentioning a wife, Mary, daughters, Sarah and Margaret, a son, Hugh Rainey; he named, as his executor, William Rainey of Clonkeen, which seems to suggest a family relationship between the two families. William Rainey of Clonkeen died on 20th December 1881 aged 64, leaving everything to his wife Sarah. This was witnessed by a Robert McIntyre; William and Sarah had a son named William John Rainey of Clonkeen. Also, in 1907, Sarah Rainey of Clonkeen made her will, in which she mentioned her niece, Sarah Thompson of Gillistown.)
Eliza Rainey, née Blain, the widow of James Rainey, died on 24th February 1910 at Half Umery; the informant was her son David Rainey.
The
children of Eliza Blain and James Rainey of Half Umry were David Rainey who
died aged 62 at Half Umry on 9th March 1917, Jane Rainey who died at Half Umry
on 15th October 1917, John Alexander Rainey, Margaret Rainey who was born on
12th January 1867 and Susan Rainey who was born on 13th January 1870.
Another researcher, who left her family details on the LDS website, identified
another daughter as Elizabeth Rainey (1853 - 1943) who married James O. Agnew
and who emigrated to the US.
The Blair Family of Drumadarragh:
(The
Tithe Books show up Blairs in the 1830s in the Grange of Kilbride - William
Blair, 16 acres; Robert Blair, 18 acres. There were also a cluster
in the Ballywee townland - Robert Blair, 15 acres; William Blair, 20 and 6
acres; David Blair, 17 acres.)
John Anderson's first wife, Jane Wilson Blain, had been born to the Ballybracken weaver, William Blain and his wife Shusonneah Susan Wilson on 14th February 1835, and I wonder were the Blairs of Drumadarragh related to the family of William Blain of neighbouring Ballybracken? The spelling of family names at this time was not an exact science, so Blain could well be a variation of Blair. Although Grffiiths Valuation shows up plenty of Blairs in this area in the 1850s, there are few Blains to be seen.
Eleanor/Ellen Anderson was the sister of the teacher, John Anderson, and the daughter of William Anderson and Sarah Fay. Born in 1826, she married John Blair, the son of Andrew Blair of Drumadarragh, on 10th July 1856 in Kirkinriola, Ballymena, Co. Antrim. At the time of the marriage, her father, William Anderson, was named as a farmer of Drumadarragh, rather than a teacher. John Blair was named as a farmer of Drumadarragh, although later he worked as a gardener in Belfast. The witnesses to the wedding were what seems to be Alex. Anderson, and Sarah Anderson who may be Ellen's sister or her mother, Sarah Anderson, née Fay.
John Blair, who married Ellen Anderson, was the son of a farmer, Andrew Blair of Drumadarragh. Griffiths Valuation of 1862 shows up two Andrew Blairs in Drumadarragh, one leasing 19 acres and the second leasing 41 acres; John Blair was present too, leasing a house only, as was Hugh Kernohan; a James Kernohan married Janet Blair, the daughter of Andrew Blair.
There
was also a major clustering of Blairs in the Ballycor area of Ballyclare, three
miles east of Drumadarragh, and these may well be related.
Andrew Blair the Elder of Drumadarragh made his will on 7th May 1884. He appointed as his executors Thomas Cunningham, a teacher of Drumadarragh, and his son Robert Blair of Drumadarragh. He left his farm, which he held under Colonel Langtry, to his son Robert who was living with him. A Samuel Blair was one of the witnesses, along with the teacher, Thomas Cunningham. Probate was granted 1st August 1884.
The son of the above Andrew Blair, Robert Blair of Drumadarragh, died on 12th February 1900; he left a will in which he bequeathed his family lands of about 50 acres in Drumadarragh to his trustees; they were to let out the farm and sell off the stock, crop etc., and, after paying outstanding debts, etc., they were to give £5 to his nephew, Andrew Kernaghan. They were to pay the balance to Robert's unmarried daughter, Jane Blair, who, should she marry with the consent of the trustees, was to get the farm. If she was to die without heirs, then the farm should pass to his nephew Andrew Kernaghan. Another of Robert Blair's nephews was William Kernohan who was the informant of death when his uncle Robert died in Drumadarragh on 12th February 1906.
Andrew Kernaghan/Kernohan had been born in Co. Antrim in 1871 to James Kernohan and Janet Blair, the daughter of Andrew Blair. On 11th April 1863 in the parish of Kilbride, Jane Blair, the daughter of Andrew Blair of Drumadarragh, had married James Kernohan a teacher of Cromkill, Connor, who was the son of Hugh Kernohan - the witnesses to the event were Robert Blair and Mary Kernohan.
A Hugh Carnaghan was born in Belfast in 1873 to James Carnaghan and
Jenette Blair, probably the same couple. William Kernohan was yet
another of the sons of James and Janet.
The unmarried Jane Blair was the sister of the above Robert Blair, and of John Blair, gardener of Newington Avenue and of Andrew Blair, shoemaker, who died on 16th April 1897 at the home of his brother, the gardener, John Blair of 1 Newington Avenue, Belfast. The unmarried Jane Blair of Drumadarragh died on 1st February 1897, and left a will in which she mentioned her sister, Jennie (ie: Janet) the wife of James Kernaghan/Carnaghan/Kernohan, and her nephews William and Robert Kernaghan. She also named her brother, John Blair, who was named as one of the executors, and a cousin, Agnes Hill, the widow of the shoemaker, Alexander Hill, whose daughter was Jennie Fulton; another cousin was named as Margaret Todd, spinster. The witnesses were Samuel Blair and Andrew Kernaghan.
(Another
Andrew Kernohan was born on 8th March 1906 in Drumadarragh to an Andrew
Kernohan and Jane Blair.)
Jane
Blair's 1897 will mentioned her cousin Agnes Hill. This was Agnes Todd
(1838 – 1917) who had married the Ballyclare shoemaker Alexander Hill (1815 –
1883) who was 23 years older than her. Among their children were John
Hill born 6th March 1869, Robert born 17th April 1875, Samuel born 29th July
1878, Andrew and Jane. Daughter Jane married Joseph Fulton, son of Joseph
Fulton of Doagh, on 21st June 1887 in Kilbride; the witnesses here were Hugh
Strange and Eliza Hill. Shoemaker Alexander Hill died in Ballyclare
aged on 30th July 1883 and was survived by his widow Agnes – on
the same page of the general register, she notified the authorities of the
premature deaths of two of her children from scarlatina. Robert
Hill, aged 8, died on 9th September 1883, while Samuel Hill
died aged 5 on 21st September 1883. Agnes Hill was
named as their mother. She would die aged 79, a widowed housekeeper
of Ballyclare, on 12th December 1917; her son John was present.
John Anderson's second wife, Eliza Todd:
We descend from the teacher John Anderson and from his first wife Jane Wilson Blain or Blair.
Jane
Wilson Blain, the first wife of teacher John Anderson, died young and John Anderson went on to marry another two times.
John Anderson, schoolmaster, and Eliza Todd married in Belfast on 2nd August 1872. As is often the case, the marriage registration certificate for this event was written in the worst handwriting ever, so I found it impossible to decipher the name of the church – it’s possibly Dundonald. However, other details were clearer - Eliza, was a widow, and had previously been married to a man by the name of Robertson. She was the daughter of farmer William Todd and Margaret Thompson. John Anderson was, of course, a widower and a teacher, the son of William Anderson (and Sarah Fay) who was likewise a teacher. Both bride and groom were living in Belfast, but no address was given. The witnesses were a Charles and Rachel Hutton.
Eliza/Elizabeth Todd's first marriage had taken place on 7th September 1861 in Ballylinney Meetinghouse. She was the daughter of William Todd of Drumadarragh, and her husband was John Robinson (not Robertson as stated on her later marriage cert of 1872) who was the son of farmer David Robinson of Drumadarragh. The witnesses in 1861 were Patrick Barklie and Mary Mooney.
The Todd Family of Drumadarragh:
Schoolmaster
John Anderson's second wife was Eliza Todd, the daughter of William
Todd and Margaret Thompson of Drumadarragh.
A William Todd of Carnlea was baptised in Ballyeaston Church in 1800 by Thomas
and Mary Todd, who also had Samuel Todd in 1801, Francis Todd in 1803, Robert
Todd in 1804, Thomas Todd in 1806 and Jane Todd in 1811, and William Todd might
have resettled in Drumadarragh as an adult in the 1830s.
In 1862, Griffiths shows William Todd leasing 66 acres, in Waterheadstown,
Drumadarragh, and subletting a house to John Anderson's father, the
schoolmaster William Anderson.
William Todd died on 13th February 1877, leaving a will:
'...I
leave to my wife, Margaret, ten pounds a year for her maintenance while she
lives out of the interest of my money and a free residence on my farm...
...,
I leave all my interest in my said lands, with all stock and crop, which
may be thereon, and any farming implements and household furniture to Robert
Todd and William Todd, sons of my late son Robert, in equal shares...
...It
is also my will that my daughter-in-law, Sarah, widow of my late son Robert,
shall be entitled to reside in the dwellinghouse on my farm and be suitably
supported out of the profits of my lands, provided, and so long as, she remains
unmarried and attends to the welfare of my said grandchildren and the
management of my farm and, otherwise, in all respects, conducts herself to the
satisfaction of my executors.
I
leave to the daughters of my late son, Robert, the following legacies, namely
to Margaret, one hundred pounds, to Annie, one hundred pounds, and
to Sarah Jane, one hundred pounds...
...I leave to my son, William, twenty pounds, to my daughter, Margaret McCauley, otherwise Todd, twenty pounds, and to my daughter, Eliza Anderson, otherwise Todd, twenty pounds, which three legacies shall be payable at the end of one year from the time of my decease....'
On 12th August 1852 in Ballyeaston Church, Margaret Todd, daughter of William Todd, married the carpenter Robert McCauley who ws the son of John McCauley. The LDS picks up the birth of three of their children - twins Ann and James M'Cauley were borin on 27th January 1864 while the family were living in Ballymackvea, Kells. Robert McCauley was born in Kells Connor on 10th February 1868 and would marry Elizabeth Barrie in Kilsyth, Scotland, on 12th February 1886.
Robert Todd, the son of William Todd, married Sarah Graham and had Ann Todd in
Drumadarragh on 24th December 1868 and twins William and Robert Todd on 2nd
January 1871.
Amongst the executors and witnesses of William Todd's will was Robert Blair,
who was the brother of the gardener John Blair who married John Anderson's
sister, Ellen Anderson in 1856.
A James Todd of Drummadarragh, who is most likely related to the previous William Todd, died on 15th March 1885, leaving a will, in which he names his wife as Sarah Todd, and a sister as Agnes Todd.
Also
mentioned was his son James Todd who was to inherit the farm in Drumadarragh,
his son Hugh Todd of Adelaide Street in Belfast, a grandson James
McCrorey, a daughter Sarah Todd who was married to J.W. Rainey of Belfast (ie:
James Wilson Rainey), a daughter Mary McCammond, and a granddaughter Ellen
McCammond.
On 10th September 1894, James Todd, the son of the previous James Todd of Drumadarragh, died and left a will which stated that his sister, Mary McCammond, was living with him. Her son was named as James McCrory - he had been born as James Todd McCrory on 16th May 1884 in Drumadarragh to James McCrory and Mary Todd; Sarah Todd had been present at the birth.
I could find no reference to a McCrory/Todd or McCrory/McCammond or McCammon marriage, but Mary Todd, the daughter of James Todd, had married John McCammon, the son of Samuel McCammon of Drumadarragh on 1st April 1870 – they had a daughter Ellen on 13th May 1871. Alexander McCammon, the brother of John McCammon and son of Samuel McCammon, had married Sarah Anderson, the daughter of teacher William Anderson and Sarah Fay.
James Todd also mentioned his aunt, Agnes Todd, and his sister, Sarah Wilson Rainey, who had earlier been mentioned in the 1885 will of their father James Todd. Sarah Todd had married the grocer James Wilson Rainey (1850 - 1921) who was the son of Robert Rainey and Elizabeth Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson being the sister of Shusonneah Susan Wilson who married William Blain and from whom we directly descend.
Sarah
Todd and James Wilson Rainey had a family, first in Belfast, and then at
Islandbane, Muckamore, Co. Antrim - William John Rainey, Samuel Brown Stevenson
Rainey born 29th July 1884 at 30 Berlin Street, Hugh Todd Rainey born 23rd
January 1889 at 30 Berlin Street, David Alexander Rainey born 11th February
1893 at Spring Farm, Isalandbane, Robert J. Rainey born Belfast, and Morton
Rainey born in 1891 in Belfast.
James
Wilson Rainey, grocer, died on 3rd October 1921 at 135 Alexandra Park Avenue,
Belfast; the informant was his son Stevenson Rainey; his widow,
Sarah, died there on 13th September 1932.
To return to William Todd (1800 - 1877) of Drumadarragh – he had died leaving a
widow, Margaret. William and Margaret Todd had had Robert, who
predeceased his father, William Todd, Margaret who married a McCauley and Eliza
Todd who married the schoolmaster John Anderson as his second wife.
William and Margaret Todd's shortlived son, Robert, married Sarah Graham in 1866. Robert and Sarah had an unnamed daughter in Drumadarragh on 20th February 1867, Ann Todd on 24th December 1868, Robert Todd on 2nd January 1871, William on 16th June 1872, and Sarah Jane on 8th December 1873.
In
1901, Robert Todd, the son of Robert Todd and Sarah Graham, was living still in
Drumadarragh with his wife, Mary Marshall, the daughter of a Larne farmer, John
Marshall. They had married in Larne on 27th October 1893, and the witnesses had
been Sara Todd and John Marshall, possibly the parents of the bride and groom.
Living with Robert Todd and Mary Marshall in Drumadarragh in 1901 was Robert
Todd's maternal uncle, Robert Graham.
John Anderson (1835 – 1903) and second wife Eliza Todd:
Schoolmaster John Anderson and his second wife, Eliza Todd, moved soon after their 1872 marriage to Derry where their children were born:
A female, unnamed, born 18th January 1873.
Joseph Anderson, born 7th August 1874 at Aughanloo, Derry.
· Margaret
Anderson born 7th April 1879 at Magheraskeagh, Derry. Her birth was registered
in the Limavady district, and she was unnamed on the certificate – a Sarah
Anderson was present at her birth, possibly her paternal grandmother, Sarah,
née Fay. Margaret died in Belfast in 1941.
· Elizabeth
(Todd?) Anderson born 1st March 1881 at Magheraskeagh, Aughanloo, Derry; once
again Sarah Anderson was present at the birth.
All the above places are situated on the outskirts of Limavady, and close to Drumachose - Sarah Agnes Anderson, the daughter of John Anderson and his first wife, Jane Wilson Blain, married schoolmaster James Barbour of Drumachose.
DNA Match:
I share a huge block of DNA with the grandson of a James Darragh and Mabel Gray of Belfast - 113 centimorgans spread across 5 segments. James Darragh was the son of William Darragh and Margaret Anderson, Margaret being the daughter of John Anderson and Eliza Todd who had been born in Derry on 7th April 1879.
This DNA match, known as Shielshome on Ancestry, also shares a large amount of DNA with a descendant of the Fay family.
Margaret Anderson married William Darragh on 25th August 1898 in Shankill, Belfast. He was a farmer of the Cavehill Road, and son of farmer William Darragh, while 19-year-old Maggie Anderson was the daughter of the teacher, John Anderson, with an address at the time of her wedding in Crawfords Park. The witnesses were Richard Darragh and Sarah Blair.
William Darragh had been born in Moyasset townland, Ahoghill, Co. Antrim, to William Darragh and Rachel McCleaney, on 27th June 1870.
William
Darragh and Maggie Anderson had a son, John Darragh, on 10th August 1900 at 2
Hamburg Street - I can find no further children registered at this time, so
John might have been renamed James later - but William Darragh, husband of
Maggie Anderson, died of typhoid in the Belfast workhouse shortly after. He was
aged only 27 when he died on 19th January 1901. There was no sign of his child
and widow on the 1901 census and I wonder if they had to spend time in the
workhouse too?
William Darragh's parents, William Darragh and Rachel McCluney/McCleaney had married on 16th May 1864 in Ahogill; he was the son of Patrick Darragh, while Rachel's father was named as John McCluney. The LDS records the undated births of two further children to William and Rachel Darragh - James McClure Darragh and Samuel Darragh. The elderly Patrick Darragh (1803 - 1880) died a widower in Ahogill on 11th September 1880; a Mary Darragh was present.
Proni wills record the death of a Margaret Darragh, widow of 26 Sylvan Road, on 22nd April 1941; schoolteacher James Darragh (her son?) was present.
Eliza Todd, John Anderson's second wife, died on 31st March 1886, and John married a third time, to the widow, Margaret Mcmains, on 18th July 1892 in Drumachose. The daughter of Archibald Dunn of Pellipar, Dungiven, Margaret had previously married Marcus McMains of Granagh, and late of Melbourne, Australia, in April 1864 in Scriggan Presbyterian Church. ('The Coleraine Chronicle', 16th April 1864.) At the time of this 1892 marriage, John Anderson was back living in Belfast.
Margaret, the third wife of schoolmaster John Anderson, had died by the time of the 1901 census.
John Anderson died on 8th February 1903 at Aughansillagh, Derry, and the will was proved by his brother, Joseph Anderson, an auctioneer of Belfast. This was the same Joseph Anderson who had erected the headstone to their parents, William Anderson and Sarah Fay, in St. Saviour's Churchyard in Connor in 1892.
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