Ireland XO
Back to Message Board

Seymour ancestors in Ireland

DerryColeraine (Derry)

I am trying to find the names of the parents for Felix Seymour, DOB 1725 in Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland according to the records I have. He came to America at about age 12 with his father who purportedly wanted to look the area over, and had a friend who had immigrated to America previously, William Rennick. The father left young Felix with the Rennick family and left to go back to Ireland, planning to bring the rest of the family back with him. Reports say he died at sea...how, I don't know. Young Felix remained with the Rennick family, eventually marrying one of their daughters, Margaret. The rest of the ancestry I have and feel very comfortable with.

Many people using Ancestry.com have latched onto a George Seymour, stating he was the son of the Earl of Edgemont, but am dubious about that. I can't find any connection to verify that. I believe that this family left Ireland for religious reason, but that is just my thought. If I can't find any documentation on Felix, then my journey ends there. I am hoping there is something that will document his parents' names.

IrelandXO member

7 replies

There are no church records for the Coleraine area that go back to the 1700s and so it will be very difficult to trace Felix.

I looked at the Muster Rolls for the Barony of Coleraine c 1630 and the Hearth Money Rolls for 1663. There were no Seymour households listed in either and so that suggests they arrived in the area after that period. Looking at the censuses, the majority of Seymours in that part of Ireland were Presbyterian or of that background (eg Moravians), indicating Scottish ancestry. Scots settled in that part of Ireland all through the 1600s but there was a big surge in the 1690s due to famine in Scotland. So your family may only have been in Ireland for a generation or so.

No trace of Felix in PRONI's e-catalogue or intheir name index.

 

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you so much for the information and getting back to me so quickly.  I'll looking into the Scottish connection.

 

IrelandXO member

From research I've done the Seymours were from England actually. They did reside in Ireland for some time, but Felix Seymour and Lord George Seymour I believe were born in England.

IrelandXO member

I am a great grandson of Felix Seymour and have been seeking to prove the family legend that Felix was a descendent of the Seymours of Wolfs Hall and that I am related to King Henry vIII 3rd wife Jane. I ran into the same deadend trying to connect Felix to Ireland.  As mentioned previously, the Seymours may have only been in Ireland for a short period of time during the plantation era. I did find a lt General Wiliam Seymour of the 24 regiment of foot that was deployed to Ireland in the late 1600's. He was 64 when he died, I can't find anything regarding his martial status of if he had any children, if he did one of them could be the father of Felix. Lt General William Seymour was a son of 4th baronet Edward Seymour, who was a member of parliment. I haven't been able to find muster rolls to see if he is listed with the 24th regiment and if there were any men named Rennick that served in it.

Shawn Clark

The Muster Rolls aren’t on-line.  They are published in book form; “Men and arms” - the Ulster Settlers c 1630, edited by RJ Hunter.

The settlers who came to Ireland as part of the Plantation in the early 1600s feared attack by the native Irish. Consequently, they were required to be armed and prepared to defend themselves. Each major landowner was required to provide armed men in the event of any attack. (As happened in 1641).  More or less all healthy adult males were expected to be ready to fight. The Muster Rolls are those lists of people, together with details of what weapons they possessed, eg sword, musket, pike, snaphance, caliver or no arms. Consequently it is a sort of mini census of all the adult males in any area, who were of settler stock.

The Muster Rolls are lists of people resident in the area. What they don’t contain are details of any military units from England or Scotland temporarily serving in Ireland.

I did check the Muster Rolls for persons named Rennick. There were none around Coleraine in 1630. There was just 1 and he lived in Co. Fermanagh, over 100 miles away. Settlers came to Ireland from Scotland, England & Wales in several waves throughout the 1600s. The Plantation period is really 1610 to the mid 1630s. Further groups arrived in the 1640s, notably 10,000 Scots who stayed behind after General Munro’s army was disbanded at Carrickfergus in the mid 1640s and they decided to stay on, and a huge wave of Scots came in the 1690s due to famine in Scotland. So if your family aren’t in the Muster Rolls, it doesn’t mean they didn’t live in Ireland but probably that they arrived after 1630.

Since the original post in 2014, a book has been published called: “The Town Book of Coleraine” by Andrew Kane in 2016. It contains details of persons resident in the town in the 1700s and 1800. There are no Seymour or Rennick households listed.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

I'm a Descendanta relative of Felix Seymour

1. Felix Seymour ( His Dad is  ( Lord ) George, Earl of Hertford Seymour -abt 1963 in Province of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

2. Thomas Seymour

3. Solomon Seymour

4 Hiram Seymour Sr

5. George Seymour

6. Albert Seymour ( Great-Grandpa )

7. Donald Seymour ( My Grandpa )

8. Daniel Seymour ( My Dad )

9. Jessica May Seymour ( Belknap ) ( Me )

 

Here's my email jssmy78@aol.com if your relative some way please send me an email... I'm living in Circleville, Ohio

or you can find me on Facebook.., I have 775 family relative 

Your Jessica Belknap

Jessica Seymou…

Jessica, 

Unfortunately the person the original poster asked about is a different Felix Seymour. I am also looking for the father of Felix R Seymour who was born in 1725 in Ireland and arrived in VA at the age of 12. He is my great-great-great-great-great grandfather. I information that his father was also named Felix but I cannot find solid proof.

luvmyeor@comcast.net

Reply

Reply
One image file up to 2 MB.