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Bettie Ferguson/Fergeson, daughter of Lord Ferguson, Co. Tyrone

Tyrone

Relatives in the USA have kept many very old letters regarding their family history. According to the letters, Bettie Ferguson/Fergesun was the daughter of Lord Ferguson and lived in a castle. She eloped with her groomsman James Caulfield abt 1785. Their children included Jane Caulfield born July 2, 1787 in Co. Tyrone, James Caulfield born Jan 18, 1788 born Co. Tyrone near Cookstown, Margaret Jane Caulfield born Feb 17, 1794 in Co. Tyrone, Mary Caulfield born abt 1802 in Co. Tyrone near Cookstown, and Bettie Caulfield born abt 1805. 

I would have thought if Bettie Ferguson eloped with her groomsman, that would have made the newspapers but I have found nothing. I have search ed for Lord Ferguson with a castle but nothing. I haven't found the baptisms of any of the children although I have found some of the marriages and have traced the children, to Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota. Son James is very specific about his date of birth as being Jan 18, 1788. 

Mary Caulfield married James Duffin in Coalisland in 1822, the only family member who seems to have become Catholic. In her obit, Margaret Jane Caulfield says she married James B. Happer in 1817 and James died in 1843. Most of their children were born in Drumadds, as per findagrave. 

Would there be any way to find out anything more about Lord Ferguson and his daughter Bettie, who had brothers Robert and Jimmie?

Thank you

Peggy

 

Peggy

8 replies

Peggy,

The tithe applotment records for 1827 list a James Happer (plus some other Happers) in Drumadd townland, which is in the parish of Tamlaght. This is not too far from Cookstown:

https://cotyroneireland.com/tithe/tamlaght.html

The names all appear twice which suggest they have been duplicated.

By the time of Griffiths Valuation in 1859 there are no Happer households listed there. There was a Robert Ferguson (plot 9) on a 21 acre farm. Ferguson is a common name in the area though and it may just be a coincidence.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameS…

Registration of births & deaths didn’t start in Ireland till 1864. Prior to that you are heavily reliant on church records. You didn’t say what precise denomination(s) the families were (save that Mary married a Catholic). Drumad(d) is in the parish of Tamlaght. If Church of Ireland, Tamlaght parish has baptisms from 1801, marriages from 1829 and burials from 1834. If Presbyterian, then Coagh Presbyterian church has baptisms from 1839 and marriages 1820-22 and 1845 onwards. Presbyterians generally don’t keep burial records. There’s copies of these records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.

If the family came from Tamlaght and were Church of Ireland you may find Mary & Bettie’s baptism in the Tamlaght records. You might also find James Happer’s burial in 1843, plus the baptisms of any children they had. But if they attended a different church in that parish, it appears that no records exist for the years you need.

With regard to the Fergusons and a castle, I am not aware of any significant castle in Tyrone that was still inhabited in the late 1700s and associated with the name Ferguson. There is Killymoon Castle near Cookstown (rebuilt in 1802 after the original burned down) but it belonged to the Stewart family.

https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/places-to-visit/historic-house…

There is of course Castle Caulfield, not far from Cookstown, but it belonged to the Caulfield family and was in ruins in the mid 1600s.

If Bettie Ferguson’s father was a Lord, then that normally indicates he was of a noble family (ie Baron, Viscount, Earl etc). They are all listed in Burke’s Peerage and Debrett. You can search them on-line (subscription sites). Some major libraries also keep copies.

The lack of records in Ireland makes researching in the 1700s very difficult. It may be hard to substantiate the story about the Ferguson family’s background. Whether an elopement in the 1700s would have made the newspapers is debatable.

Sometimes family stories get a little exaggerated too. It’s surprising how many young men and women from a family in the nobility reportedly eloped from a castle with a servant, (often leaving an unclaimed fortune or were disinherited). They often stowed away on a ship to America. Sometimes their castle was reportedly taken from them by the English. These themes recur with remarkable regularity.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

It seems quite definite that the Happers were from Drumadds. One of the letters says that James Duffin who married Mary Cauffield in 1822 had a linen mill and lived right across the road from her sister Margaret Jane Happer. Would there be a way to find out about a linen mill in Drumadds in the 1840s? James Duffin emigrated with his family in 1850. Margaret Jane Happer  emigrated  in 1846.

Peggy

 

 

Peggy

Peggy,

 

Griffiths Valuation for 1859 lists all the properties in Drumad. (There were only 19). No mills listed and none on the accompanying map. 1901 census for Drumad has 15 houses and a population of 87. None was a miller.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you, Elwyn. I have gone back to Google Earth where I plotted Kilsally Townland and Drumadd Townland. At the northeast corner of Kilsally, it abuts Drumadd Townland. I also plotted the land that used to belong to Patrick Duffin 200 years ago, where I visited last year. It seems likely to me that Patrick took over James' Duffin's land when James emigrated in 1850. The land that I visited was not quite on the border of the townlands of Kilsally and Drumadd but very very close and perhaps my plotting is not 100% accurate. Where there any mills in Kilsally in the 1840s? Perhaps James was in Kilsally across the road from Margaret Jane Happer in Drumadd. Slightly less chance, James Duffin was in Aghaveagh, across the road from Margaret Jane in Drumadd.  By the time of Griffiths, both James Duffin and Margaret Jane Happer had emigrated but I suppose the mill would still be there,owned by someone else.

Peggy

Peggy

Peggy,

In general, Irish mills were powered by water. Most mills were close to a river, so the water could be used to power the machinery. (A good surviving example in Tyrone is Wellbrook Beetling Mill, about 5 miles west of Cookstown, on the road to Omagh. It's owned by the National Trust and is open to the public). I don't see any significant river going through Drumad, Kilsally or  Aghaveagh, so I doubt there were ever mills there. The most promising location looks to be the Ballinderry River which is fairly close by. It looks big enough to have powered mills. You could go through all the nearby townlands on the banks of that river, in Griffiths, looking for mills. (They would be listed because they were liable to be taxed). Or another approach would be to read the OS memoirs for the relevant parishes as they generally list all mills. The Ordnance Survey (OS) memoirs were compiled in the mid 1830s, which is the period you are interested in. They are a detailed description of each parish. They mention significant buildings, things of archaeological interest, business and leisure activities, details of people who migrated from the area and so on. Things like Castles and mills normally get described. These memoirs were compiled by army engineers and sometimes by civil servants. They porvide a useful social context to get a sense of how people were living at that time. They vary from parish to parish but often contain 20 or 30 pages of information on each parish. Drumad is in Tamlaght parish but I notice that some nearby townlands are in Arboe so you need both parishes. Fortunately those 2 are in the same volume.

The OS memoirs were published by the Ulster Historical Foundation, in the 1990s. You need Volume 20 which includes Tamlaght & Arboe. I think it will cost you £7.50 (sterling). You can order on-line on their website. (The OS memoirs have not been put on the web so you have to get a paper copy. If you are in Ireland there are copies in PRONI and in Omagh library).

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

I don't have the OS memoirs as yet but I do have some of Old OS maps, the most southerly that I have covers Moneymore, Magherafelt & Cookstown, Sheet 27. I did find several mills along the Ballinderry River. Unfortunately, this map cuts off just south of Coagh, just south of Elagh Mills. So I might need Sheet 35. On the other hand, the Ballinderry cuts to the west just about there, and Sheet 35 might not help me. 

In the script included with the map, there is mention of Oldtown for which a patent for a market and fairs was granted in 1628. However, the town was razed in 1643, and the lands were subsequently acquired in stages by William Stewart of Killymoon ( a castle just south of this map). In the mid-eighteenth century the Stewart family decided to build a new town here.............The development of major weaving mills led to considerable expansion of Cookstown in the 1820s and 30s.

Thanks for your considerable knowledge and information.

Peggy

Peggy

Peggy,

Try the old OS maps on the PRONI site. 

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/proni-historical-maps-viewer

Edition one covers the years 1832 – 1846 & Edition 2 1846 – 1862.

The nearest mill to Drumadd that I can see (in edition 2) is at the southern end of Coagh on what is now the Urbal Rd. The right hand side of the Ballinderry river would be in Urbal townland. There’s a mill in Urbal in Griffiths. Plot 7a was a spinning mill  with some mill workers houses nearby. That’d be about a quarter of a mile from Drumad.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

That spinning mill in Urbal sounds promising. We have got to be very close to solving this. I know that one of the letters (which I have been frantically looking for), to the best of my recollection, says that the "castle" was in Drumas, which I thought must be Drumadd. Later on, when the letters say that James Duffin with the linen mill lived across the road from his sister-in-law Margaret Jane Happer (who lived in Drumadd), it might not be literally across the road, just nearby. And maybe he didn't own the mill, just worked there. Who's to say?? Would be great to solve this. 

Peggy

Peggy

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