Jacksons of Tullyvallen - update May 2015

Learning more about the Jacksons of Tullyvallen may provide a clue about why one line of the Jacksons ended up settling first at Liscalgot in South Armagh in 1727, and then in the neighbouring townland of Urker by the late 1700s. Along with other bits of bailing twine and wire, this line of inquiry might get us closer to either establishing or disproving the link with both the Jacksons of Colerain as well as a possible link to the Richard Jackson who established the Forkhill Trust in the late 1700s.

In the meantime, there are lots of smoking guns to be seen, but a bulls eye has yet to be achieved.

I saw the 1823 map beneath for the first time last week. It was attached to a lease by Alexander HAMILTON to George KAY and concerned that part of the townland of Tullyvallen known as Mill Farm. In the description, it says that that the property was bounded on the north and east by part of Tullyvallen now in the possession of James Montgomery Reed and on the south by a farm held by George Kay and on the west by part of Tullyvalleb in possession of Robert Garmoney.

This map was found thanks to the assistance of Sean Barden. This image is copyright Armagh County Museum: Accession number T343.1.

 In 1688, 135 years before this map was surveyed, about 249 acres in the townland of Tullyvallen, Parish of Creggan had been granted to Thomas BALL to the use of Daniel & Sarah JACKSON. SOURCE: County Louth Archaeological Journal.

In another source, the Ferguson Certificates, Thomas BALL of Creggan had 5,253 acres as an assignee of Edward Richardson, Ellinor Blackiston, Dan Jackson, Sarah Jackson, Elisabeth Hepburne and Katherine Jones. SOURCE: The History of the Parish of Creggan in the 17th & 18h Century. L. P. Murray, Isaac Dobson, Wm. Frankland, J. Southey. Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1934), pp. 117-163.

We know little more than that, although we do know that Daniel & Sarah were the infant children of John JACKSON of Antrim, and that John Jackson was one of the ex-soldiers settled in the Parish of Dunaghy, Barony of Kilconway, County Antrim who was displaced by Antrim's recovery of his estates. SOURCE: Armagh: History & Society. ed A.J. Hughes and William Nolan.2001 Dublin. p 359. (NOTE: The source used in the article: Reports and Schedules claimed in respect of lands in Antrim.) I assume that Daniel and Sarah were either completely orphaned, or at least that their father, John Jackson was dead.

It was in 1665, after years of litigation, that Randal Macdonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim recovered his forfeited properties. His success meant that adventurers, such as John JACKSON, who had been awarded the lands a couple of decades earlier in payment for of their service under Cromwell, were displaced. See:  An Historical Account of the McDonnells of Antrim page 466.

Parish of Dunaghy, Co. Antrim.

The Parish of Dunaghy, Barony of Kilconway, County Antrim (where John Jackosn was first awarded lands)  is interesting in terms of the Jacksons of Steeple. It is in the same neck of the woods.

The Ire Atlas search indicates that the Parish of Dunaghy includes 37 townlands, one of which is Ballyreagh. There are Jacksons at a Ballyreagh, but I doubt that it is here. There is also a townland of that name in Co. Down, as well as in Colerain, and the one in Co. Down is convincingly proven to be a residence of several Jacksons in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

The estate papers of the Antrim estate, the Moore estate, the O’Hara estate, and the Rowan estate may be profitable places for me to look, but it will be a year before I get back to PRONI. Perhaps someone reading this could take a peek and let me know if they spot a transaction involving John Jackson in the mid to late 1600s anywhere near Dunaghy.

NOTE: Dunaghy, the site of John Jackson's original land grant, is a parish just east of Ballymoney. It may be worth noting that there were two JACKSON with holdings in Ballymoney Town in the Antrim Hearth tax rolls in 1669: David JACKSON & ffranc aka Francis JACKSON. If John JACKSON was a son of Rev. Richard JACKSON (1602-1681) – and that is yet to be proven - then ffrank JACKSON may have been the Francis JACKSON who was his brother. In the 1860s, at the time of Griffiths Valuation, there were 4 JACKSONs in Ballymoney.

Bill MacAfee – who I recently had the pleasure of listening to at a lecture he presented at PRONI has a page with maps of some of these townlands.

Balteagh -Another townland of interest:

Since we know that John Jackson, the ex-soldier had probably died before 1688, I figure that it is worth looking at deaths and probates in that time frame for John Jacksons. In the Phillimore and Gertrude Thrifts lists of wills in Derry, there is mention of a1662 will probated for a John JACKSON of Balteagh

If Balteagh was a townland rather than a parish, then there are two options for where it might be in Co. Londonderry. SOURCE The Ire Atlas Townland database:

Townland		Acres	County	Barony	Civil Parish	PLU	Province
Balteagh Lower		554	Londonderry	Coleraine	Macosquin	Coleraine	Ulster
Balteagh Upper		902	Londonderry	Coleraine	Macosquin	Coleraine	Ulster

With respect to the Parish of Macosquin, the Hearth Money Roll records the Jackson presence there before 1688 (again this data is thanks to Bill MacAfee’s site):

Hearth Money Roll 1663

#	Surname	1st Name	Barony	Parish	Townland
1582	Jacksann	James	Coleraine	Macosquin-Camus	Not specified
1595	Jackson	John	Coleraine	Macosquin-Camus	Not specified
1593	Jackson	Robert	Coleraine	Macosquin-Camus	Not specified
1113	Jackson	Widow	Keenaght	Balteagh	Drumagosker [Drumagoske]

On the other hand, if the Balteagh reference was to a Parish of Balteagh, Co. Londonderry, then the townlands in that parish that need bearing in mind are: Aghansillagh, Ardmore, Ballyavelin South, Ballyleagry, Ballymully, Cloghan, Drumagosker, Drumgavenny Lower, Drumgesh, Drumsurn Lower, Edenmore, Glebe, Gortnarney, Kilhoyle, Lislane, Little Derry, Maine North, Moneyguiggy, Smulgedon, Temain, Ternamuck, Terrydoo Clyde Carnet, Terrydremont North, NOTE: Ardmore is now included in Killead. I do not know where most of the other townlands are.

There is one other John Jackson probate that intrigues me, and it may seem far-fetched but may prove not to be. The Connor Diocesan Wills cover most of Co. Antrim and parts of Counties Down and Londonderry. In them, there was mention of a will for 1676 for a John JACKSON of Co. Cork, at Balligamish. I have no idea why a will from Cork would be included in the Connor Diocesan Wills – perhaps someone can advise me – unless it was because the deceased also had holdings in counties Antrim or Down. Unfortunately, I can find nothing remotely close to a townland or parish in Co. Cork which sounds or looks like Balligamish.

The reason why this 1676 probate may not be far-fetched is that there is a family story about a man from Cork who had a connection to the Jacksons of Urker. Sometime in the late 1700s,  Margaret Jackson (1739-1820) threw fistfuls of deeds into the peat fire. She was furious about her husband David Jackson’s (1743-1796) seemingly futile efforts to regain lost family lands. Days later, a man from Cork showed up with the missing parts of the deeds. Had Margaret not burnt her husband’s bits of deeds, so the story goes, the Jacksons of Urker would have been restored to their lost lands – some of which had been gambled away by her father-in-law George Jackson (1718-1782) in an ill-advised game of cards.

Who knows?