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Looking for my Woolsey ancestors in Portadown

ArmaghDrumcree (Armagh)

My name is Peter Woolsey and I am a seventh generation Canadian with Irish ancestry. John William Woolsey was my ancestor who emigrated from Portadown, Ireland, to Quebec City, Canada, in the early 1760's. I would really like to learn more about my Woolsey ancestry in Ireland. The ancestral information that I currently have is as follows:

  • John William Woolsey (1738 – 1783) emigrated to Quebec City, Canada, in the early 1760's.

  • His parents lived in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland. I know this because the diary written by Darley Woolsey (grandson of John William Woolsey) when he traveled to Europe in 1822-1823, clearly states “At Portadown, I was shown the house of my great grandparents”. (But I am not sure if they lived in the parish of Seagoe or Dumcree.)

  • John William Woolsey had a brother and two sisters, as follows:

  • Robert Woolsey (1741–1812) who emigrated to Quebec City, Canada, together with his brother in the early 1760's.

  • Sarah Woolsey who married George Woodhouse and they lived in Emmyvale, Ireland.

  • Elizabeth Woolsey who married a Mr. Stewart of Belfast.

  • The maiden name of their mother was most likely “O'Brien”. The reason why is because a silver “Caudel Cup” manufactured in Dublin in approximately 1737 shows a Woolsey coat-of-arms on one side and an O'Brien coat-of-arms on the other side. We believe this was a wedding gift. John William Woolsey was born the next year. This Caudel Cup has been dutifully passed down to the oldest sibling of each subsequent Woolsey generation. (My older brother inherited it and he recently donated it for display at the Canadian National Art Gallery in Ottawa.)

  • John William Woolsey's father's first name may have been Meredith … but I am not sure of this.

This is all the information that I presently have. But I dearly hope that there are enough clues above to discover much more about my Woolsey family ancestry in Ireland.

 

IrelandXO member

2 replies

Hi Peter,

Thank you very much for your message and for sharing this information on our message board-no doubt this will be very helpful to others researching the same family.

I see that you have started a correspondence with Elwyn on the Seagoe parish page. Here is a link for others interested in the comments there:

http://www.irelandxo.com/group/seagoe-armagh/messages/looking-my-woolsey-ancestors-portadown

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

 

IrelandXO member

Hi Peter! I'm also looking into my Woolsey family line, and I'm not having much luck. My ancestors immigrated later than yours, but a lot of the names are similar and from the same county.  All I have is that my Great-Great Grandfather Robert J (John, I think) Woolsey immigrated in 1888 and married Jessie (Janet) Patterson who was of Scottish descent. His brother Thomas S. Woolsey immigrated in 1896 from Portadown (debark Liverpool) through to New York. Robert J Woolsey and Jessie Patterson had several children who died (John Sinclair, Sinclair, and Robert), but their living son Cecil Taylor Woolsey married by Great-Grandmother Rose Ferrara (Italian descent) in Jersey City. I also have some records of Robert Woolsey being back in Armagh around 1912 to vote against home rule--but that could be a coincidence. It's such a common name.  If you have any records of family that stayed in County Armagh through the 1860s-90s, please let me know!  I'm guessing because my great-grandfather's middle name was J, and his first son was John that I might be looking for a John Woolsey, born probably around (1830-1840) perhaps with a father or brother named Sinclair. Or a wife with maiden name Sincalir. My relations on that side of the family have very little info, as Cecil was relatively cut off from his family after marrying an Italian Catholic!  Thank you for your time!!

 

Warmly,

Rachel 

rmatuse14

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