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Alexander Watt (Gormanston Estate)

MeathJulianstown Stamullen (Meath)

Hello:

I am wondering is someone in the Julinstown/Stamullen group might be able to help me out. I am researching an Alexander Watt, who was a gamekeeper on the Gormanston estate for many years in the mid to late 1800s. I believe Alexander and his wife Elizabeth (who was also a servant at Gormanston) are buried in the Stamullen Parish Cemetery.  Jenico, 14th Viscount Gormanston erected a memorial stone to Alexander (died 1904) and Elizabeth (died 1896) in the Stamullen Parish Cemetery. The memorial stone inscription reads: “Sacred to the memory of Alexander Watt, a native of Ayrshire in Scotland. For nearly half a century the devout and faithful servant of three successive generations of the Gormanston family…” I would appreciate it if someone in the group might be able to take a photo of this memorial stone (if safe to do so with Covid right now of course). There might be other Watt headstones in this cemetery, as Alexander and Elizabeth had at least five children.  I would be interested in any of these other Watt headstones as well. My connection to Alexander Watt is through my paternal great grandmother Margaret Sloan, née Watt.  An aunt of mine Margaret Watt “Nancy” Sloan lived in Drogheda for a number of years; she is buried in St. Mary’s Church graveyard. My thanks.

Bill Sloan

billsloan@cogeco.ca

7 replies

Bill, I am hoping to contact a local to see if there is any information, is it the Church of Ireland or RC graveyard, assume C of I, I have been sent a trancscript of the death of a Anne (Nancy) Sloan who died .1st Jan. 1979, "The Lord is My Shepard" is all it says, think it is in St Marys Drogehda but awaiting confirmation.

When travel restrictions are lifted I will see about visiting but will probably be the end of June as I expect to complete vaccination mid May. I am not aware of a local volunteer and Stamulled has been dramatically developed in the last 20 years.

Pat

St Peters LouthIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Pat:

Thanks for the reply.  Yes, That would be the inscription from the headstone of my Aunt Nancy, in St. Mary's church graveyard, Drogheda. I visited her grave when I was in Drogheda in 2016. And yes, I think the Stamullen graveyard would be COI.  Thanks very much for the offer to take a look, once you are fully vaccinated and travelling is safe (safer!). Thanks again for getting in touch. Cheers.

Bill 

billsloan@cogeco.ca

Hello Bill,

I am Robert Watt born in Co. Tyrone in Northern Ireland in 1941 to a Presbyterian, Farming family of Scots / Irish origins.

I have a lot of Watt ancestry details but none seem to be in the Drogheda area, anyhow if I can have a look at  the details of your Alexander Watt I will see if there are links I can put together.

From Robert,    I am at     rwdwatt@gmail.com 

Robert Watt, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Bill / Robert

I finally got around to going to the graveyard with some help from a well known local historian in Stamullen. Lovely graveyard and old church, oddly it i seen as a Catholic one but not unusual as they are often shared.

The graveyard is in the middle of the town and I took a lot of photos and a short video showing the walk from the gate but cannot post that here as I think it is too big, (56 seconds) I am posting some of the photos below and the grave is not an easy read but you can certainly see some of the writing on the photos if you enlarge them, if you want the rest of the ones I took mail me at my site email and I can forward them from my phone, mail is stpeters@irelandxo.com 

I see words like "trustworthy" "straight dealer etc" and hope the applw has not fallen too far from the tree (feeble joke)

Get back if you want to know more and if you are coming at some point ask anything you wish. It is about 20 miles from Dublin airport.

Enjoy

Pat

 

St Peters LouthIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Bill / Robert again, when I tried to up load the text went funny so I removed it and saved the text and will now upload 7 photos here, the last one is from behind hte headstone so you can see what is on the street over the wall, the graveyard is higher than the road.

Regards

pat

St Peters LouthIrelandXO Volunteer

Hello Pat:

First off, my apologies for not responding to your message of April 12th.  The new message notification from Ireland XO for that post seems to have slipped right by me, or perhaps was automatically sent to my spam folder. Thankfully the notice about your latest message landed OK.  Many thanks for the photos. Yes, the inscription is difficult to read in places, but I know what the inscription says from an old Drogheda newspaper article about this memorial stone.  It's great to actually see the stone itself.  I hope to visit Ireland in 2022 and will definitely pay the graveyard a visit.  I have also recently discovered that that my great great grandfather David Watt (and brother of the Alexander Watt from the memorial stone) worked as a land steward on the Silverstream Farm estate just outside of Stamullen (this estate owned by Thomas Preston, one of the Prestons of the Gormanston estate) in the mid-1800s (mid-1850s to the mid-1860s), before moving to Monkstown, Dublin.  I believe the Silverstream Farm estate is now owned by the Benedictine Monks of Silverstream Priory.  One of David's daughters, Caroline Laura Watt (aged four) died at "Silverstream Avenue, Drogheda" in July 1865.  I am not sure where she might be buried.  Perhaps in the Stamullen graveyard as well. Thanks again for the photos.  Cheers.

Bill

billsloan@cogeco.ca

Hello Bill,

It is Robert Watt again,  I have been able to trace the Elizabeth and Alexander Watt you were researching,

Really I would need your email address to send it as it is from someone else's family tree.

My email address is     rwdwatt@gmail.com

From Robert.

 

 

Robert Watt, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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