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.
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 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.
ohn 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.
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 Jackson’s will is a reasonably detailed 2 page affair, reproduced here.
John must have had a very tidy mind for he sets out his surviving children by name: Martha Kidd, Margaret Elizabeth McKee and Robert Jackson in Australia. Marrtha’s family will be focussed on further below.
My research has demonstrated that John Jackson had more children: Rachel Jackson who was born in 1855, Susannah Jackson (1858-1885) and Alice Jane Jackson.
Susannah certainly died unmarried, I have seen her death registry, 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, however, presents a slight problem. Yes, she predeceased her father as she died in 1900. However, 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:
- Rachel Jackson, born 1855
- Martha Jackson, born 1856 and died 1915
- Susannah Jackson, born 1858 and died 1885
- Robert Jackson, born 1860
- Alice Jane Jackson, born 1861 and died 1900
- Margaret Elizabeth Jackson, born 1863 and died 1922
Martha Jackson was present when her mother Jane died in 1884. She married a Creevytennent 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.
