This page relates largely to an area between Boardmills and Killyleagh/Killinchy in the east of County Down. The Jacksons feature heavily in the parishes of Kilmore and Killinchy, whilst the McKees were prominent in Killaney parish.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND THERE MAY BE ERRORS WHICH WILL BE CORRECTED

Below is a map of part of the area. Barnamaghery is in the centre but extends further north. Creevybeg is to the North East and Clontaghnaglar on the western side. Ballyalgin is at the eastern side.

Whilst the maps associated with Griffith’s Valuation usually include red lines denoting townland boundaries and more red lines with numbers and letters which show the holdings of each farmer or tenant, for some reason this section of map does not. Normally there are up to 5 maps showing different periods of time available; again this area has only one, it seems.

This makes tying specific people to specific parcels of land and houses much more difficult. I have used BMD information as well as land information, the two available censuses, wills and newspapers to help unravel information. I am also most grateful to Alan Thompson and his wife Carol and to Lily Cunningham for information.

The detailed census information for Ireland which would most help genealogists has been lost almost entirely due to the explosion at the Four Courts in Dublin during the Irish Civil War. The later 1861 and 1871 census records were destroyed after they had been analysed due to a zealous interpretation of the wording of the legislation. Those from 1881 and 1891 were pulped during WW1, whether to reduce fire risk (ironically), save space or to be recycled at a time of shortage is uncertain.

Nonetheless, there is some useful information available at virtualtreasury.ie website. For instance, we can see that the townland of Barnamaghery in Kilmore, 775 acres in size,had a population of 430 in 1841. Ten years later it had declined to 359. By 1861 the population stood at 330. This comprised 145 males and 185 females. Sadly, they did not analyse age groups.

The number of inhabited houses had declined from 91 in 1841 to 77 in 1851, ie 14 houses were now empty or gone. Actually, they provide another piece of information- that there were 4 uninhabited buildings. This suggests that a number of houses had been destroyed or left to rot. It is possible that this is evidence of some families simply leaving altogether.

646 acres of Barnamaghery lies within Killinchy parish, of course. It was a slightly smaller area but had a similar population of 448 in 1841. Again, there was a considerable decline over ten years, down to 352. By 1861 there were 167 males and 169 females, a total of 336. Houses had declined from 84 to 70, 67 of which were occupied.

Looking at the combined area of Barnamaghery, the population was 878 in 1841 living in 175 houses to 711 in 1851. By 1861 the combined population had declined further to 666 people living in 144 houses. This shows that the period of the potato famine and beyond saw a considerable change in population in the townland. One other thing it highlights is that there are likely to be many people whose names are simply not recorded at all or only appear fleetingly in records.

Aughnadarragh, just north and west of Barnamaghery and in Killinchy parish, held 552 acres and a population of 277 in 1841, falling to 246 in 1851. By 1861 the population was 228. The trend was downward but not to the same extent as Barnamaghery.

Creevybeg (Killinchy) was a smaller townland of 122 acres supporting 50 people in 184, then 42 ten years later (down 16%) and only 27 in 1861. The number of people was now over half what it had been twenty years earlier. There were 6 inhabited houses in 1851 compared to 9 in 1841.

Raffrey was a large townland of 1396 acres. There were 768 people living there in 1831 but 632 ten years later. By 1861 the population had declined further to 489. The number of occupied houses had reduced from 131 to 113 to 95 by 1861 (with 3 more unoccupied).

Killinchy in the Woods is a townland of 988 acres, confusingly inside Killyleagh parish. Its population reduced from 487 to 297 in 1851, a huge decrease. Ten years later there were 291 people, living in 51 houses with three more unoccupied. This compared to 86 houses in 1841 and 63 in 1851.

Clontnaghnaglar’s 932 acres lie within Kilmore parish. In 1841 there were 415 people, reduced to 235 in 1851. By 1861 the population was 245.

Lissara is a small townland of 145 acres in Kilmore parish. Its 1841 population of 67 fell by more than half to 31 within ten years. In 1861 however the number had risen back to 59. The number of houses reduced from 17 to 14 and then to 11, with a further 5 uninhabited.

There are a lot of Jacksons in these townlands today and there were many in the 19th century, too. The website link barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish/jackson is invaluable in providing a breakdown of surname distribution.

There were 3913 people surnamed Jackson in 1901, and it was the 227th most common name in Ireland. Over 39% of Jacksons were members of the Church of Ireland, over 26% Presbyterian, 22% Roman Catholic and 5% Methodist.

A distribution map shows that this area of County Down was one of several where there were between 1000 and 10,000 Jacksons per 100,000 total. This does not mean, of course, that there were actually that number of Jacksons since there was a total of 3913 Jacksons on the whole island, it merely shows that the name was clustered heavily in these red areas on the map.

In fact, there were 488 Jacksons in County Down in 1901. Sixteen were in Crossgar DED (including Killinchy in the Woods and Derryboy), 7 in Kilmore DED, 6 in Killyleagh, 7 in Killinchy and 3 in Saintfield DED.

The largest concentration, however, was 67 in Leggygowan. Leggygowan included the townlands of Crewybeg or Creevybeg (7), Raffery (14), Barnamaghery (20), Carsonstown (16) and Lisown (10).

This should illustrate that there are a lot of Jacksons in and around Barnamaghery and that it is challenging to disentangle the different branches. Doing so is not helped by the lack of detailed locations on the Griffith’s Valuation maps.

The 1901 and 1911 census details are available, free to peruse, at census.nationalarchives.ie. This is for the whole of Ireland. From this we can see how many Jackson households there were in each townland. Thus, Creevybeg and Lisown had one household each. In Carsonstown there were 4 households. In Raffery there were 6 households: houses 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, and 76. The number is not a street number as we would understand it but indicates proximity as the enumerator walked or rode from house to house. So, 8 and 9 are very close together, 13, 15 and 16 are likely to be close to each other. This could indicate that these are close relatives on land which in the past was held by one Jackson but was divided later between children or could indicate sons marrying and building a house of their own on their father’s land.

Barnamaghery, of course, had far more Jacksons. They lived at houses 4, 31, 32, 33, 37 and 38. As it happens, it is these two last houses which are the starting point for Helen’s ancestors. They can be pinpointed through several sources- driving with Helen and her mum to the location where she was born, consulting the OS map for 1835 and 1901, and a combination of Google Earth and Streetview.

The map extract below is copyright NLS and dates from 1880 -1913. Joan was born in the first house on the left on the southern side of the road. The NLS allows viewers to see the same area over time and the previous map, 1860-1878 does not show it or the adjacent house existing. The road is the Castlerainey Road.

The map extract at the top of this page, from 1835, shows that the house is only just inside Barnamaghery townland, with the hedge at the back acting as the border with Killinchy in the Woods townland. This Barnamaghery is in Kilmore parish, meaning the church records for Kilmore would be the ones most likely to relate to these Jacksons.

Joan’s father was John Jackson McKee and he had been born on 6th June 1899 at Barnamaghery, almost certainly in the same house.

John Jackson McKee was an only child. His parents had married the year before and their marriage certificate is shown below. His middle name, of course, was his mother’s maiden name.

The witnesses to the wedding may have been his father’s brother James and Margaret’s sister Minnie. Minnie is usually a version of Mary Jane. An alternative Minnie exists, related further below, a neighbour of the McKees at Barnamaghery who was also a cousin. The McKees are explored elsewhere.

Unfortunately Irish wedding certificates were not required to record exact ages of those marrying. Some registrars did so but others only recorded whether the parties were of full age.

The 1901 and 1911 censuses give some more information on the family and their home. They are shown at house 38 at Barnamaghery. The first page tells us little new other than that they are living in the home of Margaret’s elderly father, John, who was around 81 years of age.

A useful detail of Irish censuses is the other pages which give information about the house itself and outbuildings.

From this we learn that House 38 had 5 outbuildings. The house walls were of stone, brick or concrete rather than turf or wood. The roof was of slate, tile or iron rather than thatch.There were 5 or 6 rooms in the house and 6 windows faced the front.

One other piece of information gleaned is that the next house was lived in by Eliza Jackson and that house 33 was that of William Jackson. It is likely that these were relatives of John Jackson. House 4 was held by Robert Jackson. Indeed, Joan McKee knew that Eliza’s daughter Minnie Jackson was a cousin of her mother or of herself.

This is the two houses on the Castlerainey Road which are shown on the map above.

John Jackson McKee’s maternal grandfather, John Jackson, died in December 1905 of senile decay which might just mean old age. Young John would have been around 5 at this time. Young John’s mother Maggie registered the death. John was apparently buried at Raffrey. I write “apparently” because I have not been able to locate the grave. I will try at Lissara graveyard and Kilmore as these are older Presbyterian burial grounds and it is possible that there was a family plot at one of these.

John Jackson left a will, always a useful thing for family historians. It is reproduced below, without apologies for the length, because it is so helpful.

The first point to note is that by referring to Margaret Elizabeth by her married name it means there is no doubt that it is the correct Jackson branch of so many in the Raffrey area.

Secondly, it names two siblings. This is helpful given that Irish records did not record the mother’s name or surname.

The disposal of his estate is helpful in that he pointedly does not refer to son Robert having a wife or children, does tell us that he has emigrated to Australia and goes on to explain that he had bought the house from the Marquis of Londonderry.

Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCVO, CB, PC, JP, DL 16 July 1852 – 8 February 1915 image from Wikipedia.

This politician and landowner pops up again with regard to another useful source for genealogists, the Solemn League and Covenant.

Below: the will of John Jackson; many wills are available to view for free at nidirect.gov.uk. Others may be viewed at PRONI (from 1900 onward).

Late 19th century legislation allowed tenants to purchase their holdings at favourable rates, thus giving small farmers the incentive to make improvements for themselves and till the ground as best they could whilst also removing the need to pay rent to a landlord. Of course, they were still liable for rates.

Find My Past has records of these land purchases which the government facilitated.

The image below shows several Jackson land purchases in Barnamaghery:

Note that there are two references to a John Jackson, both for 11 acres of land which were purchased from the Marquis of Londonderry. Purchase price of the first was £185 for which he paid a deposit of £37. The second purchase was only for £90.

Above and between the two Johns are two Jameses purchasing a larger area of land.

John must have had a very tidy mind for he sets out his surviving children by name: Martha Kidd, Margaret Elizabeth McKee andRobert Jackson in Australia. Martha’s family will be focussed on further below.

Photo below was taken by Gerry Hanna and shows John Joseph McKee, his daughter and their eldest grandchild.

My research has demonstrated that John Jackson had more children than those listed in the will above: Rachel Jackson who was born in 1855, Susannah Jackson (1858-1885) and Alice Jane Jackson.

Susannah certainly died unmarried, I have seen her death registration, which explains why she is not referred to. My working assumption is that Rachel also died, before civil registration was introduced in 1864. However, I note that a witness to the wedding of Martha was a Rachel Jackson in 1885.

Alice Jackson died before 1900 and documents clearly show that Alice bore two children to her husband, farmer John Jackson Thompson. John referred to his grandson John Jackson MacKee so why not refer to these two? Perhaps he felt that they were well enough provided for by the Thompsons.

Rates Valuation Books exist for the period of Griffith’s Valuation of the 1860s through to 1929 and these are a useful source of information and detail.

The extract below from PRONI (available online at their website) shows the changeover in ownership from John Jackson to his son in law Joseph McKee. The first column gives the house number in the valuation book; houses had their numbers changed so this was now number 60 and in theory this should be easy to locate on a land map. The change of name is in green and the last column as well as the inside cover of the book tells us the formal changeover was recognised in 1907 (of course, Joseph had actually held the land for over a year already). The farmland consisted of over 11 acres valued at £9-10 shillings, and the house was valued at 10 shillings.

The 1911 census listed the McKees at House 13 Barnamaghery, the house left them by John Jackson. Living with them was the local school teacher. Home-school communication must have been quite straightforward in this family. The extra pages imply that this is the same house as on 1901. The owner was Joseph McKee. House 10 was owned and occupied by Robert Jackson; Houses 11 and 12 were owned by a John Jackson, 16 was occupied by William Jackson but owned by James Jackson. This was a tightly knitted Presbyterian community.

The community felt itself under threat, however. There had been a growing demand for Irish self-government for a generation. The Liberal government of the 1910s had agreed to grant this, not least because it was depending on Irish Party votes in the House of Commons.

Previous efforts in the 1880s had been scuppered by the House of Lords where the Conservative peers were stronger. However 1910 had seen a landmark in British politics where the governing party had had difficulty passing it’s budget. The Prime Minister warned that if the House of Lords blocked the budget he would respond by creating hundreds of new peers of his choice. This threat worked and in effect the House of Lords lost it’s right to block legislation agreed by the lower chamber.

What this meant for Ireland was that opponents of Home Rule were no longer guaranteed that the plan would be scuppered. They were deeply concerned. Those promoting Home Rule said that Westminster would remain sovereign and they would not attempt to weaken the ties further. They said they would act in the interests of all Irish people. Opponents were concerned that this was the thin end of the wedge and that an Irish parliament would push for increasing powers until the link with Britain was tenuous or severed altogether. They were concerned that increasing independence would weaken Ireland’s economy. They were concerned at the prospect of the Irish cultural revival becoming something forced upon them. For instance, there were those who wanted teachers to be forced to go to those parts of Ireland where Gaelic was spoken in their holidays. If that was forced upon them it was to ensure that Gaelic was taught to children in school. They were concerned that the Irish Party was too close to the Roman Catholic church and that it could start to influence the direction of the country.

The result was that there were two groundswells in Ireland around 1911. One was for Home Rule where a rising, predominantly Catholic, middle class would lead Ireland on a path possibly away from it’s link with Britain and possibly towards a less secular society. It is likely that the majority of Irishmen supported this.

The other groundswell was totally opposed to this. These people signed a Solemn League and Covenant, inspired by those of 1639 in Scotland. This stated that they were completely opposed to Home Rule. This petition was signed by close to half a million people in Ireland (or from Ireland living elsewhere). It provides a useful source of information for genealogists, especially as it was the first project digitised by PRONI. Thus we can find relatives who may have been elusive on the 1911 census and we have an idea of the political beliefs of our ancestor.

One of those leading the resistance to Home Rule was Lord Londonderry.

Had they signed this 20 years earlier it would have been a wonderful source given that the 1891 census has not survived but there you are.

Some of those opposed to Home Rule were banded together in the Ulster Volunteer Force. There must have been muster rolls of these men but I don’t think the documents still exist.

The McKees and Jacksons were among those who were opposed to Home Rule. Men and women signed separate documents in many areas but seemingly not at this location. These are shown below.

Below is an excerpt of the female signatures. This includes Joseph McKee’s wife Maggie formerly Jackson.

Family of John Jackson and Jane Miskimmin:

1. Rachel Jackson, born 1855
2. Martha Jackson, born 1856 and died 1915
3. Susannah Jackson, born 1858 and died 1885
4. Robert Jackson, born 1860
5. Alice Jane Jackson, born 1861 and died 1900
6. Margaret Elizabeth Jackson, born 1863 and died 1922

Martha Jackson was present when her mother Jane died in 1884. She married a Creevytennant farmer named William Kidd in 1885. The wedding took place at Raffrey Presbyterian Church.

Here is the family on the 1901 census.

The Kidds had 6 children, but 3 died before the 1911 census. The 1901 census indicates that the family were Presbyterian.

The 1911 census shows that Sarah Jane and Joseph had both died.

Sarah Jane was born on 18th June 1885:

The second child was baptised Margaret Alice Kidd, born on 23rd February 1889 but known as Alice according to the 1901 census.

Joseph Kidd was born on 10th January 1887 but died of TB in January 1905 at the age of 18.

Next was John in 1891.

James Kidd came along in 1893.

The final child to the Kidds was a girl named Isabella. She was born in 1895.

Martha Kidd died aged only 58 on 29th November 1915. Her son James registered her death.

Husband William Kidd was to die on 29th May 1924. The will index shows that he left estate of £201, probate granted to Rev John Lindsay McCandless and James Heron Kidd, farmer.

James Kidd was mentioned in newspapers for a variety of reasons. The first was an unfortunate one, in the Belfast Newsletter of 19th November 1926.

He appeared at Ballynahinch Petty Sessions charged with having sold inferior quality milk on 6 occasions, leading to a fine.

The Belfast Telegraph of 1st November 1943 contained an advert by Mrs Kidd of a letting opportunity: “a well-built stone bungalow” 5 minutes walk from Ballynahinch.

The Northern Whig of 3rd March 1943 included a report on the County Down Staghounds meeting referring to them being “hospitably entertained by Mr Kidd, a really good sportman.” The same paper had referred in 1939 to Mr Kidd being a hospitable host to the Hunt.

James was a juryman on the inquest in 1927 regarding the death by drowning of a Creeytenant farmer named William Simpson. The newspaper noted that the jury were no longer required to view the body at inquests.

The will cannot be viewed but James is the same James Heron Kidd who died on 22nd November 1964. His home was Bowlough House, Creevytenant. He left £4352-10 s to Maurice Burnside Kidd and William McConnell Kidd, clerks. I presume these were his sons.

There were two Belfast Newsletter death notices on 27th February 1981 for Margaret J Kidd, wife of James Heron Kidd of Creevytenant at her home at 19 Creevytennent Road, Ballynahinch. Her daughter Alice and son in law Harold McNally placed one notice on behalf of themselves and grandsons Ivor and Clive.

The other was by son Maurice and daughter in law Lily and their children Brian and Sharon.

The Dromore Advertiser carried an article about a Miss 1963 competition held in the Orange Hall. Alice Kidd was a participant.

Connections between the Kidds and the McKees continued via Christmas cards into more recent years with Alice Kidd keeping in touch with Joan McKee.

Turning to Martha Jackson and William Kidd’s daughter Sarah Jane, she married James McNeely, farmer. The couple moved to Barnamaghery and that is where their three children were born.

The first was Joseph William McNeely, born on 9th February 1912.

The next child was a daughter named after her grandmother, Martha Jane McNeely. Her birthdate was 14th May 1914.

Finally, Margaret Shaw Kidd was born on New Year’s Day 1919. All the births were at Barnamagery.

There is a DNA connection between Joan MacKee and people linked to the Kidds in some way but I have not managed to work out quite how yet.

A Thomas Rush born in 1844 and who died in 1904 married a Sarah Ann Kidd. She was apparently born in Scotland in 1857 and died in Manchester Connecticut in 1916.

According to a tree on Ancestry this couple had a daughter named Jane Rush, 1872-1918. Jane married a John Mitchell in (1856-1931) and they had a daughter named Bessie Mitchell (1897-1985) who in turn married George Hiram Elder (1897-1990).

Their daughter was Jane Elmer (1924-2024) and she married Edward Henry Godley and they had a daughter labelled JG who has 35 cM in common with Joan MacKee.

I have not been quite able to verify all this information myself: the American parts look correct but Thomas Rush might actually be Thomas Rusk. I have found his marriage and the birth of a daughter in 1873 named Jane the mother was not named Kidd or even Sarah for that matter: she was Margaret Kirkwood. I searched in Scotland’s OPR and state records for a marriage of Kidd-Rush and Kidd-Rusk without success.

However, there was a marriage of Sarah Ann Kidd and Thomas Rush in 1878 and they were both living at Creevytenant. In fairness, the person posting the tree on Ancestry has said that this was the year of their wedding. The wedding was on 26th February.

Sarah Ann’s father was named as Joseph and he was a farmer. I have not had success at finding his marriage which would be helpful in fitting things together but I did find the death of Joseph Kidd on 12th July 1875. He was thought to be 70 years of age, ie born around 1805.

Note that William Kidd registered the death. Is this the same William who married Martha, ie Joseph is his father? This is certainly a strong possibility. In that case, Sarah Ann Kidd is likely to be the sister of William, thus explaining the DNA link to Joan McKee.

So what is my difficulty? “Jane Rush” born in 1872 or 1873. Her parents on the tree are at variance with her parents at birth registration. I think that she was perhaps given to William Rush and his wife Margaret Kirkwood to raise, perhaps because Sarah Ann was unmarried.

I suppose that William was a relation of Thomas Rush.

Minnie Jackson and her family

As related above, Minnie Jackson was a neighbour of Joan McKee as a child. Joan related that she lived with her brother and that Minnie took in a man named Cunningham and his three children after their mother died.

As a girl Joan would help one of the girls, Peggy, as she fed the hens. Below are photos of the house from Streetview. The death notice for Minnie below tells us that the house was called Laurel Bank. My thanks to Lily Cleland who was able to help me distinguish this house from The Bank.

Minnie died at the house in February 1953. Below are death notices from the Belfast Telegraph:

She left a typed, very detailed will itemising surely everything she owned and to whom she was leaving it. The will had been written a few years before as it is dated to the end of November 1948.

Minnie spelled out who relations were and what she was leaving them. Thus, her niece Mrs Elizabeth Coulter Dickson received both money and many items, Elizabeth’s daughters Mary Jackson Dickson and Margaret Rose Dickson received money as did another niece, Mrs Agnes Orr Gibson. She also makes bequests to the daughters of her nephew John Jackson, Sarah Jane Jackson and Mary Martha Jackson. Estate not specifically bequested to named people went to another nephew, John Coulter Jackson.

Minnie was generous to the Cunninghams, with money left to Annie, Alice Margaret (Peggy) and Samuel.

The excerpt here illustrates that Minnie must have been a very precise and ordered woman: “To Mrs Agnes Orr Gibson 3 tablecloths and towels, one cut glass butterdish, one silver tea service and plastic tray, six fruit dishes, Biscuit Barrel, sandwich plate…”

It is amusing to read instructions regarding her Austin 8 HP car, which John Coulter Jackson was to have first offer of at 3/4 of the market value.

Minnie was the second youngest of seven children born to Samuel Jackson and Eliza Coulter. This couple had married in July 1863. Note that Samuel’s father was a Barnamaghery farmer named Robert Jackson. I believe that this is the same Robert Jackson who was father to the John Jackson who was grandfather to Joan McKee’s father.

Minnie’s birth record is below:

She was born in 1874 with a sister, Agnes born two years later. An elder sister had already died. The girls surely remembered little of their father as Samuel died in 1879.

Family of Samuel Jackson and Eliza Coulter:

1. John Jackson, 1864-
2. Robert Jackson, 1866-1942
3. Ellen Jane Jackson, 1868-1872
4. Martha Jackson, 1870-
5. David Stewart Jackson, 1872-1961
6. Mary Jane (Minnie) Jackson, 1874-1953
7. Agnes Jane Jackson, 1876-1885

Samuel left a will which can be quite hard to read due to the slope and the large letters.

The will makes clear that he has three sons and 3 daughters still alive but under age. He left provision of £100 to each daughter for when they came of age. According to a reckoner on the internet this is equivalent to £3414 in April 2026.

I have little information as yet regarding the eldest child, John Jackson. This is due to the difficulty distinguishing with certainty between people with the same name.

The second child, Robert Jackson, was born at Barnamaghery.

He was to marry Grace McBratney in April 1893 and together they had 8 children. His sister Minnie was a witness at the Saintfield wedding.

Information about his family will follow below.

Ellen Jackson lived only a few years, dying in 1872. The next child was Martha. Her father’s will indicates that she was alive in 1879 but I can say nothing of her beyond that.

David Stewart Jackson was born in 1872. He added a couple of names when he married Mary Orr in May 1903. David went on to live at a house called Mossgrove in Raffrey with his family and he was one of 45 new magistrates appointed in 1935 so he must have been an upstanding and reliable person.

The Family of Robert Jackson and Grace McBratney

As shown above, this couple married in 1893. They were to have 4 children together.

This branch of the Jacksons lived at a house known as The Bushes but I do not yet know where that was. Robert died in 1942. Here is the family from the 1901 census. Whether this was The Bushes or an earlier house I cannot say.

In 1911 the family were at house 10. This could be the same house with enumerator following a different route, a new house or the same house with a couple of new houses built in the previous ten years. The couple said they had had four children,

1. Samuel Jackson, 1893-1964. He married Marjury [Marjorie later] Martin and they had a son named Robert. Joan McKee has 11cM DNA connection to this Robert’s daughter according to Ancestry.
2. William Jackson, born 1895 and who married Lizzie Martin.
3. Elizabeth Coulter Jackson, born in 1896 and who married a William Jackson.
4. Anna Jackson, born around 1903.

The McKees

It would be possible to spend many pages, chapters, on the various Jacksons of Raffrey but I lack incentive to do so. It is my contention that all the branches will conjoin in the 17th century.

Let us turn to Joan McKee’s father, John Jackson McKee. It was shown earlier how he was born at Barnamaghery in 1899 to Joseph McKee and Margaret Elizabeth Jackson. This couple had married at Barnamaghery in 1898. Joseph said his father’s name was Hugh McKee. Here are the two certificates again for convenience. Note that one witness was a James McKee.

It is interesting to note that it seems to have been John Jackson McKee’s grandfather who registered his birth in 1899.

As shown in the Jackson section above, Joseph McKee took over the farm of his father in law on behalf of his son.

Joan McKee knew the family came from Boardmills, which is not far from Barnamaghery, being SW of Crossgar and in Killaney parish.

According to Irish civil service records extracted from census information prior to their destruction, there were 464 people living in Carricknaveagh’s 969 acres in 1841. This fell to 385 by 1851 and again to 332 by 1861.

In 1841 the townland held 82 houses, declining to 72 in 1851. By 1861 there were just 63 inhabited houses and 3 unoccupied houses.

Usually marriage certificates say if the father of either part is dead, but Joseph McKee’s does not.

However, we have a huge clue from the following, the registration of the marriage of John Jackson Mckee to Elzabeth Florence Patton, now Perry after her first marriage.

John had his mother’s maiden name as a middle name and seems to have presumed that his father had been given the same accord. In fact none of the documents available show this but it did suggest that i should look for a McKee- Graham marriage.

There is only one registration of a McKee-Graham marriage. This was in 1845 so children from the marriage are unlikely to have been registered other than by a church. Margaret Graham was a minor, ie under 21, from Cargygray. Her father James was a farmer.

Cargygray is one of 11 townlands in Anahilt parish. The townland is 468 acres in size.

Hugh McKee was of full age and a bachelor. He was a farmer from Carricknaveagh. His father was a farmer named James McKee. An Andrew McKee was a witness to the wedding.

There is no sign of Hugh on the Rates Valuation Books at that time. Only the first book, which started in 1866, shows Hugh’s name. It has a line through it and the name James McKee replaces it. This indicates that Hugh was dead then. It is of course possible that this is a different Hugh but I do not think so.

Hugh almost certainly died in May 1865, a year after state registration of deaths became law. The certificate below shows that a Hugh McKee of Carricknaveagh, farmer, died of a tumour and a Margaret registered the event. If accurate, he would have been born around 1815 and therefore around 30 when he married.

Hugh McKee, unfortunately, left no will to help clarify his family but it seems clear that James and Hugh were his children. Whether the Andrew who witnessed his wedding was a brother or other relative may be established in time. Or not.

Wading through microfilm records at PRONI in August 2022 I noted in MIC637/3 a list of McKees in Killaney Parish. This included 5 names: Brice in Carrickmadenow 1852; Hugh in the same 1746; Hugh in Carricknaveagh 1849; James in Carrickmaderow 1817 and Thomas in the same in 1784. Others are listed from the tithe applotment book for Saintfield in 1834. This does not include a Hugh and no names for Carricknaveagh as such. There is also a list of 10 McKees from various townlands and the number of acres held. This included 3 named Hugh (it could be the same man, of course, with 3 separate holdings. These were 6 acres in Leggigowan (sic), 12 acres in Lisdoonaw and 19 in Oughley.

James was living and farming at House/land 34, Carricknaveagh. The map below from Griffith’s Valuation shows the location close to where the Saintfield Road meets Temple. There seem to be 11 fields, a house and two outbuildings.

The Grahams

As shown above, Hugh McKee married Margaret Graham and her father was stated to be a farmer named James Graham. The registration is hard to read but she was living at Cargygary at the time, in Annahilt parish.

Cargygary is a townland of 469 acres.

We are very lucky to have a will which is detailed and accessible. It clearly was written by Margaret’s father and lists his various children and two farms. I reproduce it here:

At present I cannot list the children in order of birth. All were born before statutory registration began in 1864 and I have not had time to consult parish records at PRONI yet.

Still, we can establish the following:

James Gram married Betty Ann and they had this family:

1. Joseph, a farmer received the farm at Ballylintaugh
2. Robert living in America in 1856
3. Jean living at home
4. Mary Ann, married to someone named Gillmore (I note that James spelt Ann as “an” several times in the will).
5. Elizabeth, married to someone named McReely or McReevy
6. Margaret, married to Hugh McKee
7. Thomas, a farmer, received the farm at Cargygary (mispelt as Cargygray in the will)
8. James, farmer received the farm at Magheraconluce.

Joseph, James and Thomas are likely to have been the oldest as they received land. Robert may have been one of the younger children as he moved to America and Jean the youngest or second youngest as she was unmarried.

Father James lived in a farmhouse at Cargygary at the time of his death in 1856. The pictures show that Carygray and Magheraconluce are adjacent.

Griffith’s Valuation of 1864 does not list any Graham at Carygary but does show Eliza Ann Graham (presumably James’s widow) as holding plots 18 and 19 in Magheraconluce.

William McKee held plots 16 and 17. This may well be the witness to the will and could be a relation of Hugh McKee.

An Eliza Ann Graham, widow of a farmer, died on 7th June 1879 at Cargygary. She was said to be 81 years old. Thomas Graham of Cargygary registered her death with a mark.