William Bordley

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Descent by Sea

William Bordley (1742-1786) was born on January 30, 1742 in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, USA.  He was the youngest of the four children of Stephen Bordley, Jr. and Priscilla Murphy.

William’s father’s life had been marked by much loss.  When William’s mother Priscilla died on February 4, 1742, five days after his birth, his father became widowed with four children under age 10 years of age.  William’s father remarried Sarah Harris (-1768) several months later on December 5, 1742.  It is assumed that she raised William from infanthood until he reached maturity.

William and his brother James Bordley were known as the “Wye River Bordleys” due to their birthplace.  During William’s life, Continue reading →

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Daniel Sullivan

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Descent by Sea

Daniel Sullivan (1844-1931) was born in Meenygorman, Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland on March 10, 1844.

Baptismal font – Newmarket Parish, Co. Cork

He was baptized that day at the Church of the Immaculate Conception,  Parish of Newmarket by the Reverend D. Murray, C.C.  His sponsors were Michael Whelan and Eliza Leary.  The photo is the baptismal font of both Daniel and Anne Sullivan.

Newmarket Parish

Daniel’s parents were Timothy Sullivan (c.1810-1848) and Ellen Sullivan (-1889).  They immigrated to Canada in 1847 leaving Daniel and his sister Anne in the care of relatives in Meenygorman.  When relatives did not hear from Timothy or Ellen for a few years, they assumed that Daniel’s parents and brothers Timothy and William had died of the typhus epidemic.

In 1850, Timothy’s brother Daniel traveled from Alexandria, Louisiana, USA to Meenygorman, Ireland and to bring his nephew Daniel and niece Anne back home with him.  A decade earlier in 1840, Daniel himself immigrated from Ireland along with his brothers Dennis and John to Alexandria, Louisiana, USA.  There he became active in general merchandise and shipping businesses.

Uncle Daniel Sullivan (1805-1871) was a life long bachelor but his care for his nephew and nieces during their early years was life altering.  He adopted and educated his nephew Daniel Sullivan (son of his brother Timothy) and niece Anne Sullivan (daughter of Timothy).  He brought his niece Anne Cotter (daughter of his sister Mary Sullivan Cotter) to Texas for education.

On July 4, 1857, Uncle Daniel relocated to his new home at Powder Horn,  Indianola, Calhoun County, Texas.   Around that time, his niece Anne Sullivan became a student at the Ursuline Convent in Galveston, Texas.   That year, young Daniel Sullivan and his sister Anne received a letter from their mother Ellen who had been assumed dead.  It is not known if Daniel ever saw his mother after that.  By 1858, a yellow fever epidemic hit Galveston and may have contributed Anne’s death at age 13.

Around the time of his sister’s death and about age 14, Daniel Sullivan entered the Jesuit school at New Orleans, witnessing brutalities perpetrated by the Know Nothing Party in political control of New Orleans.  He remained at school until 1861 and then returned to his Uncle Daniel’s home in Indianola.

In 1861 at age 17, Daniel asked his uncle permission to enlist in the Confederate Army.  His uncle outfitted him with a blooded Arabian horse, fine saddle and all needed equipment. 

Daniel Sullivan was one of the 120 young men who formed Company B of the First Regiment of Texas Cavalry, C.S.A., which was organized in May 1861 at Victoria, Texas under command of Colonel A. Buchel.  Daniel served until the end of Civil War war in 1865.

Daniel Sullivan married his cousin Anne Cotter on January 5, 1868.  Anne was the daughter of William Cotter and Mary Sullivan Cotter.  Anne was born and baptized on September 13, 1842 at Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland.  Her sponsors were James Doherty and Cate M. Auliffe.

Anne Cotter came to the United States in 1856 with her Uncle Daniel Sullivan who had adopted her cousin Daniel Sullivan a few years earlier.   She and her cousin Anne Sullivan were placed as students at the Ursuline Convent in Galveston, Texas. When the Civil War ended in 1865, Anne Cotter joined her uncle in Indianola, Texas.

After a few years, Daniel Sullivan and Anne Cotter had to get a dispensation from the Bishop Dubuis of Galveston for their marriage because they were cousins.  The Bishop came over by boat from Galveston to Indianola to officiate at the Marriage Ceremony on January 5, 1868 at the Church of Our Lady of the Gulf, Port Lavaca.

This is to Certify that Daniel Sullivan and Annie Cotter were lawfully married on the 5th day of January, A.D. 1868, according to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church and in conformity with the laws of the State of Texas. Rev. C. M. Dubuis, Bishop of Galveston, officiating, in the presence of John Boyd and William McClary, witnesses. 

Daniel and Anne had seven children who were born in Indianola, Texas.

Child Born Married Departed
William Cusack Sullivan 29 Sep 1868 26 Oct 1930
Eleanor Alice Sullivan 28 Jun 1870 Indianola, TX James Robert Collins Mar 1894 21 Apr 1931 San Antonio, TX
 Annie Marie Sullivan 27 Jun 1872  none
 Daniel Joseph Sullivan 12 Jan 1874 Josephine Saylor     Oct 1904  20 Aug 1948 San Antonio, TX
 John Cotter Sullivan 24 Dec 1875 Florence Fletcher 21 Apr 1909
 Mary Elizabeth Sullivan 22 Nov 1878 Colonel John Lincoln Clem 1903
 Walter Sullivan 15 Oct 1881  none  12 Jul 1905 Lost at Sea

Daniel Sullivan (1844 – 1931)

At some point, Uncle Daniel, who had one of the largest wholesale grocery and general merchandise businesses on the coast of Texas, left the businesses to his adopted nephew Daniel Sullivan.  Daniel who continued the Indianola businesses until January 1882 and then moved with his family to San Antonio, Texas where he opened up his own private bank.  In time,  it became one of the largest private banks in Texas. At some point, Daniel foreclosed on a J. A. Fant Santa Rosa ranch of 49,000 acres, now known as the Mariposa Ranch.  Daniel and Ann’s lives illustrate the possibilities that America provided immigrants. Their wealth and influence have impact till this day.  For better or worse, their legacy led to issues of inheritance, sibling rivalries, and perhaps hope.  This legacy began long before them and is seen centuries earlier in other family lines described here. Anne Cotter Sullivan died November 9, 1904 in San Antonio, Texas and is buried there in the family plot in St. Mary’s Cemetery.  Daniel Sullivan died November 30, 1931 and is buried next to his wife in St. Mary’s Cemetery.

Family Burial Plot

References The Family of D. Sullivan, Compiled by John Cotter Sullivan, The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas, 1952 Sullivan-Clem Family Papers 1849-1956 located at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio

20 July 1877 — letter from Daniel to his wife Anne

scan0059

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William Cotter

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Descent by Sea

In April 2012 while on a search for my ancestral Irish roots, I discovered evidence of a man named William Cotter through an inscription on a tombstone in Clonfert Cemetery, Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland.   It was a tombstone erected by William himself (3rd great grandfather) in honor of his parents (my 4th great grandparents) and his brother (3rd great grand uncle).

William Cotter (-1876) was born in Coolcluher near Kanturk, Ireland. 

William’s parents were John Cotter of Clonfert (-1812) and Catherine Murphy (-1832) who lived in Meenygorman, Co. Cork, Ireland.  Little is known of their lives except that they had three children: William, Catherine, and Timothy.

William‘s brother Timothy Cotter (c. 1804-1824) was executed in his early 20’s for being a Rockite leader of the Whiteboy movement.  The press controlled at that time by the Crown twisted Thomas’ heroism into barbarianism.  No doubt Thomas’ activities impacted William’s own life and that of his family.  William’s sister Catherine Cotter married Jeremiah Quinlan and had five children, a few who immigrated to the United States.   The early to mid 1800’s were terribly difficult time for many.  By the 1820s, starvation, high taxation, restrictive lands, and religious intolerance marked the country people in North Cork and neighboring counties.  This was the context in which William was born and grew to manhood.

William Cotter (-1876) married Mary Sullivan (1815-1888).  She was the daughter and fifth child of Jeremiah Sullivan who by some accounts may have been a founder of the early IRA but this has not been confirmed.  The identity of Mary’s mother is unknown but her first name may have been Ellen.

William and Mary resided in Meenygorman, Co. Cork near Newmarket.

Cotter home built circa 1800s

They had six children:

Child Born Married Departed
John Cotter Bridget; 11 children 19 May 1906 Ireland
Honoria Cotter Henry Pomeroy of Millstreet; 6 children
Anne Cotter 13 Sep 1842 Meenygorman, Co. Cork, Ireland Daniel Sullivan         5 Jan 1868 in Indianola, TX; 7 children 9 Nov 1904 San Antonio, Texas
 Kate Cotter William Doherty; 2 children Banteer, Co. Cork
 Mary Cotter Timothy O’Driscoll of Clonbanin, Co. Cork; 8 children Clonbanin, Co. Cork
 Elizabeth Cotter William Quinlan Of Meenygorman

At least one of their children, Anne Cotter, was baptized at the Parish of Newmarket, Diocese of Cloyne on September 13, 1842.

Parish of Newmarket, Co. Cork

 

What is known about William Cotter’s work other than being a successful farmer is that he was “of a good Irish family and connection highly respectable and esteemed alike by rich and poor throughout the entire western parts of Cork and Kerry. He was a large farmer holding close on two hundred acres of land, was always independent and in good circumstances gave a good deal of employment to the neighbourhood and his dealings with all classes were honest and upright. He was Land Agent to Lord Lisle and his kindness and generosity to the tenants on the estate are still remembered with gratitude by the tenantry…” — according to his daughter Eliza’s sworn statement.

At a time long before today’s technology of smart phones,  tablets, and Skype, William and Mary could only communicate with their daughter Anne Cotter through postal letters that traveled by sea.

Ursuline Convent – Galveston, TX

Anne had immigrated to the United States in 1856 as a young teenage girl under the patronage of her uncle Daniel Sullivan.  She was a student at the Ursuline Nuns School at Galveston, Texas  and remained there until the end of the Civil War.

The relationship between William Cotter and his daughter Anne can be glimpsed in his request for a photograph and visit from her in the letter below:

Meenygorman, November 13th, 1857

Dear Affectionate Child Anne:

I received your letter of September 24th. It gives me and family the greatest pleasure imaginable to hear of your perfect state of health, your Uncles and their family and all your cousins as this leaves me and family and all the friends. Thank God for his kindness to us all.

My dear we are all doing well. Your sisters are in a comfortable way of living…

Dear Anne: I expect your Uncle Dan will send me his and your likeness or model by next letter if possible. Until I will see you both once more it would give your Mother and me and all the family the greatest pleasure to see it often.

My Dear. I hope your Uncle will not be offended for asking such. I see likeness come from America by many. So soon as I receive yours I’ll strive to get your Mothers and mine to send to you both.

I expect your Uncle will fulfil his promise in having ye come to visit us so soon as possible where there would be thousands of welcomes. Many wants to persuade me I’ll never see ye again. I would forfeit my life on your worthy Uncle’s promise. My confidence is in God.

I’ll have the pleasure of seeing ye shortly and my little family and Uncle John altho very delicate in health prays to God often to see ye once more. Do not forget sending the likenesses when convenient…

A blessing from God may attend you all and not forgetting you Dr. child Anne. I remain yours truly.

William Cotter

Nineteen years later, William Cotter died in 1876.

The following 1885 handwritten letter from William Cotter’s son John to his sister Anne in Texas informed her of their mother’s death.

Nine years after the death of William, Mary Sullivan Cotter died in 1885.  She had been living with her daughter Eliza and son-in-law William Quinlan in Millstreet.   Mary’s son John Cotter wrote to his sister Anne Cotter (Mrs. D. Sullivan) to tell her of their mother’s death and her burial next to their father with the wish that “their Souls be united in eternal bliss.”

William and Mary Cotter rest in peace in Drishane, Millstreet and their epitaph is said to “commemorate their goodness, charity, and benevolence.”

As with other posts, once more there is a striking pattern of the archetype of a critical message that doesn’t arrive or arrives too late.   Correspondence over years indicates William and Mary’s ongoing desire for a likeness (photo) and word from their daughter Anne Cotter living in Texas.  Mary Sullivan Cotter had her photograph taken in good health and spirits only days before her death.   This final photograph was enclosed in the letter that Anne Cotter opened only to discover that her mother had just died.

References

Solemn Declaration in Newmarket, Co. Cork dated Feb. 8, 1894 by Eliza Cotter Quinlan regarding her father William Cotter

The Family of D. Sullivan, Compiled by John Cotter Sullivan, The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas, 1952

Sullivan-Clem Family Papers 1849-1956 located at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio

Jacobites and Whiteboys (2019) – mentions William Cotter

Clonfert Graveyard erected by William Cotter

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Timothy Sullivan

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Descent by Sea

Timothy (Thaddeus) Sullivan  (c. 1810-1848) was born about 1810 in Meenygorman, Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland.

His father Jeremiah Sullivan (c. 1778-1848) was considered a prominent farmer.  Nothing is known about his mother.

Timothy’s siblings were Daniel, Dennis, John, and Mary.  By the time that Timothy was about age 30, all of his brothers had immigrated to Louisiana, USA.  Mary remained in Meenygorman and married William Cotter.  Their daughter Ann Cotter later married Timothy and Mary’s brother Daniel Sullivan.

Timothy married Ellen Sullivan (- 1889) also of Meenygorman.  Nothing is known about her parents.

Timothy and Ellen had four or five children, many or all of whom were baptized in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Newmarket, Co. Cork, Diocese of Cloyne.

Child Born Married Departed
Timothy Sullivan about 1840 8 Jun 1895 Rochester, NY, USA
Anne Sullivan 19 Jun 1842 no 16 July 1858 Galveston, TX, USA
 Daniel Sullivan 10 Mar 1844 Meenygorman, Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland Anne Cotter       5 Jan 1868 30 Nov 1931 San Antonio, TX, USA
 William Sullivan 02 Feb 1845

In 1847, Timothy and Ellen Sullivan along with their children — except for two — emigrated to Canada. They left Anne and Daniel with relatives at Meenygorman with the intention of sending for them once they were located in Montreal.

In less than a year, Timothy Sullivan was stricken by Typhus fever which was epidemic in Montreal.  He died in 1848, leaving his widow and children to fend for themselves.

Irish relatives not hearing from Timothy or Ellen began making written inquiries about their status.  When they were informed of Timothy’s death but were unable to locate Ellen and children, they concluded that they all had become victims of the typhus epidemic.

By early 1850, Timothy’s brother Daniel Sullivan already living in the United States set sail for Ireland and his hometown Meenygorman.   Thinking that his nephew Daniel and niece Anne were orphaned, Daniel made arrangement to bring them back with him to his home in Alexandria, Louisiana where he formally adopted them.

Ten years later in 1858,  Timothy Sullivan‘s wife Ellen surfaced and wrote to her daughter Anne who she had just discovered was a student at the Ursuline Convent in Galveston, Texas.

Montreal, June 17th ’58

My dear children: [Anne and Daniel]

I do for the first time in my life take up my pen to address you wishing the same may find you in the enjoyment of good health as this leaves me at present, thanks be to God.

And pray I ask you what will I say, what will your Mother who has borne you in your infancy while she drew the sap of life, nay even your very existence from her bosom, who clasped you in her arms with a maternal fondness not to be equalled by any other than a mother who watched your sleeping form, your infantile angelic smiles, willing to lay down her life and her all sooner than have a hair of your head to be stirred & expected sooner or later to receive the like embraces from you.

But alas! My dear children how soon were those hopes blasted at the very time I was expecting my hopes to be realized. We were parted for how long, for eleven long years and I left in unutterable anguish with a broken, a troubled mind, sorrow not to be equalled, pining over the absence of my long lost children, lost to me but not to themselves, thanks be to God and their kind benefactor who has watched over you with a fatherly affection.

But I say again you were lost to me. My slumber was wearisome, the tranquility of my mind destroyed, nay nearly driven to despair was it not for that Almighty Providence, who watches with an all seeing eye over the orphan and the widow, strengthened me in my tribulation and at last brought tidings to me of where you are.

O children! O children! Am I ever to see you again? Am I ever to receive the fond caresses of my dear children? O happy would I be if I could see only one sight of you! It would inspire me with new life. O that God may send the day I will be thus blessed…

The markings you sent to your Aunt for me I have received and it was a welcome gift to me. You will doubtless wish to know how I came to know your address.

I was writing home constantly to my people and could get no tidings of you until I wrote to your Aunt Mary and she sent me your directions together with the Markings you sent her. Send me in your letter a lock of your own and your brother’s hair and let Miss Anne Cotter know her people are well.

No more but wishes to give my best love and respects to your Uncle and I remain your most loving Mother.

Ellen Sullivan

Write immediately when you receive this letter and when you write direct your letter To Ellen Sullivan care of John Torrance, Eq., St. Antoine Hall, Montreal Post Office,Lower Canada -Ellen Sullivan

What kind of synchronicity occurred when Ellen’s letter read by her daughter resulted in Anne’s death from its sheer impact?

  The following excerpt from the Anne Sullivan’s obituary was published in the Galveston News on July 31, 1858:

…There is another strange coincidence in the eventful life of this child [Anne Sullivan].  After entering the convent, conceiving herself an orphan, she repeatedly expressed a wish to her cousin, that she should die and be buried within the precincts of that holy demesne.

By dint of perseverance Mrs. Sullivan (Anne’s mother) it is supposed, some time in June, at last received a letter from Ireland in reply, stating that her daughter was in the convent in this city, and on the 1st inst., poor Anne received a letter, the first and only letter from her mother.  The news was too joyous for the extreme sensibility of this affectionate and truly amiable girl – she fainted and for more than half an hour, remained in a state of insensibility. On recovering herself she observed, “that letter has pierced my heart, it has killed me! Yes, I shall die and never shall see my mother.” To a naturally sensitive disposition, and possibly, some previously predisposed organic derangement, this gentle girl, after a few days of suffering from dysentery accompanied with fever, breathed her last.

The feelings of her uncle over the mound of his adopted child, must be imagined, for those, by whom they were witnessed, cannot describe in language, the tumults of his troubled breast. May He who watches o’er the good, pour His balm on the afflicted uncle and comfort the bereaved mother.

The oft expressed wishes of this amiable and pious child were complied with – her remains are interred i’n the modest cemetery of the Ursuline Convent of our city.

The Ursuline Nuns in Galveston plaque states:

“In January 1847, seven nuns of the Ursuline Order, the first order of religious women in Texas, came to Galveston and established a convent and academy. The school opened with 25 students in February 1847 and quickly added more pupils, some of whom boarded.

In addition to educating the youth of the area, the Ursuline nuns ministered to the community thru numerous tribulations during yellow fever epidemics of 1847, 1853, 1858 and 1868. The convent served as a hospital. Both Union and Confederate solders were treated by the nuns during the Civil War without regard for the sisters’ personal safety…”

The year of 1858 was one of yellow fever epidemics and it possible that Anne was overcome both by fever and intense emotion.

Ellen Sullivan died in 1889 — 41 years after the death of her husband and 31 years after that of her daughter.   I understand that Ellen and perhaps her children are buried somewhere in Montreal, Canada. 

The twist of fate in Timothy Sullivan’s life and family is seen in the impossibility of receiving written correspondence between family members due to epidemics (typhoid), war (civil), and distance (transatlantic).  During the Civil War (1861 to 1865) correspondence among Irish, Canadian and Louisiana families ceased and was not renewed. This led to many “dead letters.”

The undelivered letters led to isolation, adoption, and even death.  Thinking in terms of Jungian psychology, one could say that the archetype here is of the critical life-changing letter or call that never arrives or arrives too late.   What meaning can we make from these broken messages?

Parenthetically, this psychological pattern is somewhat repeated when Mary Sullivan Cotter dies only days after having her photograph taken to send to her daughter Anne Cotter in Texas.  Anne then receives this final photo in a letter informing her of her mother’s death in Ireland.

 References

The Family of D. Sullivan, Compiled by John Cotter Sullivan, The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas, 1952

Sullivan-Clem Family Papers 1849-1956 located at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio

Newmarket Parish Baptismal records for William Sullivan and Anne Sullivan

fateful letter from Ellen to her children Anne and Daniel


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Timothy Cotter

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Descent by Sea

During an April 2012 trip to County Cork, Ireland, I took a wild chance to find the illusive spot where my uncle was hung by the British in 1824.  I was rewarded by an amazing revelation that unraveled a mystery that has haunted my family for generations. I am grateful to the many wonderful people who I met during that adventure, including the priest, undertaker, and town historian of the tiny town of Newmarket, County Cork, Ireland.

Captain Timothy (Tadgh) Cotter (about 1804-1824) — my 3rd great grand uncle was a Rockite commander and key leader of the Whiteboys in the early 1800s.  He was from Mennygorman near Newmarket, Cork, Ireland.

His parents were John Cotter of Clonfert (-1812) and Catharine Murphy (-1832).  Little is known about the lives of his parents.

Timothy lived and died during a time of much suffering in Ireland.  The early 1820’s were marked by agrarian upheaval.  The brutality of soldiers toward peasants, massive starvation, and excessive taxation by landlords led to revolt.  The agrarian action against these conditions is known as the Whiteboy movement.  Timothy became a key leader within the movement.

A description of the events leading to Timothy’s death is provided by Dan Cronin in his article “The Public Hanging in Ireland:”

On January 24, 1822, a group of Whiteboys seized a mail coach at Toonadrum and took the mail and pushed the coach over a cliff.  Bands of soldiers were shortly on the scene and a fight ensued… Many Whiteboys were reported killed with no causalities to soldiers. Later that day when news reached Rathmore, panic set in because people knew reprisals would follow… When communication was severed, an ex-soldier named William Brereton came forward.  He said that if he was well armed, well paid, and had a good escort that he would take the mail through to the English rulers.  When Brereton began as courier, he traveled for hours but at one spot was challenged by a small body of Whiteboys.  An argument developed and Brereton whipped his horse and brandished his gun through the leaderless and unarmed peasants.   This happened again with another group later on.  At the Parish Chapel, a band of Whiteboys accosted Bererton and his escort, calling for Brereton to surrender but he refused.  Instead, he fought desperately to cut through but in the fight his horse was hamstrung and soon fell.  At this point, Brereton was taken prisoner.

There were long discussions about Brereton’s fate.  Appeals were made to save his life including by the priest.  He had almost convinced his captures to set him free when word came through that the areas was surrounded by soldiers.  Strangers also objected to setting him free.  He was sentenced to be shot.  He was allowed to make peace with God and then was executed.  The crowds then dispersed and soldiers moved in to remove the body to Killarney.

For weeks afterwards, soldiers fine combed the area around Rathmore, brutally treating the aged, ill, women and children.  Eventually, they arrested six men.  A thorough search was made for the leader of the Whiteboy movement who was thought to be in the district.  That leader was Timothy Cotter, a journeyman and blacksmith, and native of the Newmarket area.  But he was well guarded and eluded the soldiers and slipped through.

Afterwards six men were arrested and five were found guilty and sentenced to death.   They were executed in front of the jail before a large crowd on August 10, 1822.

All the while, Cotter, the  “will o’ the wisp” roamed through Kerry, Cork, and Limerick.  Other times he simply appeared in a district.  Here, late at night he would address a meeting in some isolated farmhouse — there he would form another branch of the Whiteboys.  By daybreak he would have moved on, at all time only hours ahead of his relentless pursuers.

During the night of June 7, he called to a house at a place near Newmarket and took a few hours sleep.  Though the owners of the house tried to hide his identity, he was recognized by a maid-servant.  She passed on the information and dipped his gun in a bucket of water.  In a short time, the house was surrounded.  Cotter jumped to his feet and went for his gun, only to find to his horror that it was “dead.”  He ran to a window at the back of the house, and but for the same female he would have gone through.  She threw a horse winkers and long reins beneath his feet which caused him to fall to the ground where he was overpowered.  He was removed to the jail where he was tried for the murder of Brereton, found guilty and sentenced to death…

He was ordered to be executed on Monday August 15 at Shinnagh Cross — almost the same spot were Brereton was put to death.  He was escorted from Traloe to the place of execution by horse and foot police and two companies of infantry.  A Father O’Mahoney from Traloe remained with him up to the moment of his execution — it took place about 2:45pm.

On the night prior to the execution a mobilization of all the able-bodied men of the East Kerry area took place.  They were hoping Cotter might be rescued — a vain hope.  On the morning of the execution, upwards of 600 men assembled on the Rathmore-Killarney Coach Road.  But the authorities were again forewarned and their escort was made overwhelmingly strong.  The rescue fell through and the poorly equipped peasants scattered as Cotter arrived in chains.  Many people were brutally beaten by soldiers, though nobody was killed.  But men were clubbed senseless, left and right.

The execution took place in a saw pit, at the turn just south of the Cross. There were immense crowds present and all the arrangements were carried out without a hitch — it took 45 minutes to erect the drop.  During this time, Timothy Cotter remained in prayer.  When at last the order was given, he walked firmly to the gallows.  Turning he asked all present to pray for him — the drop fell and he was launched into eternity without a struggle.  All present fell on their knees and men and women wept openly. Four or five members of his family were present at the execution.  The body was placed in a coffin and again taken to Traloe to be dissected, as was ordered in his sentence.  On the way to Traloe, a row broke out in Killarney where a mob tried to take the body off the military who were stoned.  Several people were arrested and taken to Traloe Jail as the attackers were beaten off.  Tradition tells us that the body was afterwards returned to his family and that the remains were laid to rest in the family plot, in Drishane, Millstreet, Co. Cork.  This was the last public hanging in Ireland.

Under the control of the Crown, the English newspaper of the time The Connaught Journal of Galway (Aug. 23, 1824) attempted to twist the events of the hanging claiming that Captain Timothy Cotter “a wretched convict” was apologetic for his actions. As for the 600 people who came in support of Timothy and his beliefs, the The Connaught Journal twisted events to read “the immense multitude fell simultaneously upon their knees, and offered up their prayers to the throne of God, for mercy upon the misguided man.”

A marker can be found in Rathmore, Co. Kerry commemorating Timothy’s honor. It is engraved in Gaelic, probably to be elude the English before Ireland’s independence 100 years later. Against all odds and explanations, my husband Richard and I discovered the marker the first day we set out to unravel the family mystery of why Timothy was hung two centuries ago.

Located in Rathmore, Co. Kerry, Ireland with translation:
In Memory of
Michael O Foglu [Foley]
Matthew O Sullivan
Tadj O Healuite [Healy]
Liam O Healuite Healy
Art O Laoire [O’Leary]
Who finished their lives on 10th August 1822
In prison Craig-li
Tadg Mac Oitir (Cotter)
Who finished his life on 15th August 1824
At this place
These five were the
“Whiteboys” Who were put to death by the forces of England (Gall) in this country in their search
For the fight of freedom.

Timothy Cotter was a Rockite commander.  The book “Captain Rock: The Irish Agrarian Rebellion 1821-1824, Part 66” provides context for Timothy’s activities:

As in certain earlier agrarian movement, there was a tendency for persons of elevated social status (yet well below the rank of gentleman) to be recognized as leaders of Rockite bands who members were drawn from different layers of society… Another revealing indication of the somewhat elevated social status of many Rockite leaders was their connection in some cases with members for the landed elite. 

Cornelius Murphy, alias Captain Starlight, a  principal in the attack on Newmarket during the insurrection of January 1822 and “well known in Duhallow as a notorious Whiteboy leader,” took the oath of allegiance to the king — a possible protection against arrest — from the magistrate Jeremiah McCartie on the day after the attack. McCartie, it was said, could not have been ignorant of Murphy’s character, since a local priest had earlier denounced him before McCartie as “the ringleader of all disturbances” in the the district.  Timothy Cotter, even more famous as a Rockite commander in northwest Cork during and after the insurrection, long escaped apprehension; he did so at least partly because of the benevolence or restraint of more than one local magistrate.   An irate and sarcastic Kanturk gentleman complained in 1824, shortly before Cotter’s capture: “In a letter to Judge Torrens last assizes I mentioned that to the disgrace of our authorities, Cotter was know to remain at ease with a few miles of this town, and had spent last Patrick’s day coursing with the eldest son of one our active magistrates.” …

Timothy Cotter, another chief Rockite of Duhallow barony, who was eventually executed for the murder of the mail-coach agent William Brereton in January 1822, was long able to avoid through the apparent connivance of certain magistrates.

It had long been official practice to arrange  the public execution of Whiteboy offenders in such a way as to attract and impress large crowds of onlookers.  This was of course done in the prosaic hope that the “awful spectacle” would drive home the lesson that serious agrarian crime frequently brought those guilty of it to a tragic but just end on the scaffold…”Immense crowds” were also attracted to the execution of Timothy Cotter in August 1824 when he was hanged at Shinnagh, the scene of the crime, for the slaying of the mail-coach agent William Brereton. 

Less than 200 years ago, this public execution occurred in the presence of Timothy’s family while onlookers fell to their knees in grief.

If the psychological/spiritual “work” that we each need to try to accomplish involves making meaning of our life in the context of the flow of time, then what impact does this event have on the individual and collective psyches of Timothy’s descendants?  Is meaning found in any attempt to lessen the suffering of others and in standing up to injustice?  The shadow side — the disavowed part of ourselves — would be wondering about our own capacity for aggression as a means to an end.

Road to the Cotter house

I was drawn to Timothy’s hometown where I met two locals who were interested in sharing with me the location of two memorial stones that include his name.  It was a first step in more deeply making sense of the the context of Timothy’s life.

Timothy lost his father when only a young boy.  Perhaps his father —  like son — was a Cotter Whiteboy.  Timothy never married but his mother and siblings lived with his memory.  His mother died eight years after her son’s execution.  Timothy’s brother William Cotter married Mary Sullivan and had children who became comfortable in their lives as local farmers.  One daughter Ann Cotter immigrated to the United States and married Daniel Sullivan and went on to live an affluent and notable life . Timothy’s sister Catherine Cotter married Jeremiah Quinlan and had five children with a few who immigrated to the United States.

William Cotter erected a memorial in honor of his parents and brother.  Next to Timothy’s name are the words “for Erin” which translates to  “for Ireland.”

Clonfert Cemetery, Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland — Cotter

Timothy Cotter died for freedom against oppression and is known to be buried in Drishane, Millstreet.  Rest in peace great-great-great grand uncle.  Not to be forgotten.

References

Daniel O’Connell & the Whiteboys

Captain Rock: The Irish Agrarian Rebellion of 1821-1824, Part 66 by James S. Donnelly, Univ of Wisconsin Press, Nov 12, 2009

Journal of Sliabh Luachra No.1 — The Last Public Hanging in Ireland by Dan Cronin

Agrarian disturbance in West Cork 1822 by Ann Murphy, Terelton, Co. Cork

The Connaught Journal 1824

Posted in -6th Generation, Cotter Ancestry, Great Grand Uncle, Ireland, Line - SULLIVAN | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Robert de Ogle

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Descent by Sea

Sir Robert de Ogle aka Sir Robert Ogle (c. 1306-1362), baron of Ogle and Hepple, was probably born in 1306.

Robert Ogle married Joan Hepple.  She was granddaughter of Robert Hepple and Margaret Chartenay, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Richard Chartney and his wife Ethama. Her grandfather was the grandson Richard Chartenay and Matilda, his wife, daughter and co-heiress with her sisters, Elizabeth and Annotta, of William fitz William of Hepple.

Robert Ogle became head of a Northumberland family long settled at Ogle in the parish of Whalton, eight miles south-west of Morpeth. 

The family rose to importance in consequence of the border warfare with Scotland.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Ogle like this:

OGLE, a township in Whalton parish, Northumberland; 6½ miles S W of Morpeth. Acres, 2, 117. Pop., 117. Houses, 21. Ogle Castle here was long the seat of the ancient family of Ogle; was built, or restored and strengthened, in 1340, by Robert de Ogle; was a long quadrangular pile, with towers at the four corners, and surrounded by a double moat; was the place to which Copeland took the captive King David of Scotland, after the battle of Neville’s Cross; and is now represented chiefly by fragments incorporated with a picturesque manor-house of the time of Charles I., and by remains of the moat. 

Ogle Castle -- artist's interpretation

On March 28, 1329, he or his father Robert Ogle received a royal pardon for all homicides, felonies, etc., with others who aided the king in the late rebellion, and was probably soon after married, for on May 10, 1331, his father-in-law Sir Robert Hepple had license to entail upon him and Joan Hepple, his wife, lands in

Great Tosson

Great Tossan, Little Tossan, Low Trewhit, High Trewhit, Flotterton, and half the advowson of the hospital of St. Leonard of Alriborn.

Robert Ogle was a soldier at war as his military records indicates:

When David Bruce penetrated as far as Newcastle in August 1341, Robert Ogle distinguished himself by effecting the capture of five Scottish knights, and in the same year Edward III gave him permission to castellate his manor-house at Ogle, together with the privilege of free warren on his demesne lands.   Sir Robert Ogle was granted a licence to crenellate in 1341.  ‘Ogle Castle… may have owed something to the five newly-knighted Scottish men-at-arm whom its builder, Robert de Ogle, captured… and who were ransomed ‘for a great weight of gold.”

Ogle Castle -- artist's interpretation

Some remains of Ogle Castle, which was surrounded by two moats, are still to be seen.

Robert Ogle shared with John de Kirkby, bishop of Carlisle, the honors of the resistance to the Scottish foray into Cumberland in 1345, when Sir William Douglas, the Knight of Liddesdale, burnt Carlisle and Penrith. In a skirmish with a detachment of the invaders, in which the bishop was unhorsed, Robert Ogle ran the Scottish leader Alexander Stragan (Strachan) through the body with his lance, but was himself severely wounded.

Robert Ogle fought at the battle of Neville’s Cross, or Durham as it was officially called, on October 17, 1346, and took three prisoners— the Earl of Fife, Henry de Ramsay, and Thomas Boyd (Fwdera, v. 533).  There is a tradition that the captive king David was taken in the first place to Ogle Castle.

The War of Roses in late Medieval England was essentially a power struggle between noble factions who were fighting for the right to the throne of England.

Robert Ogle was in command at Berwick as lieutenant of William, lord Greystock, who was with the king in France, when the Scots took the town by surprise on the night of November 6, 1355 (dugdale, i. 741). He made a brave resistance, in which two of his sons fell,and succeeded in holding the castle till help came (Hot. Pari. iii. 11).  Greystock was condemned to forfeiture of life and property, but was afterwards pardoned on pleading that he had the king’s orders to go to France.

Robert Ogle and Berwick Nov. 1355

Robert Ogle of Choppington, Northumberland was a leading Yorkist in First Battle of St. Albans  May 22, 1455.

First Battle of St. Albans by Graham Turner http://www.studio88.co.uk/

The first battle of the “Wars of the Roses” was fought out between the retinues of King Henry VI’s supporters and those of the Duke of York and his allies. The latter, along with his kinsmen the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, raised around 3.000 men and attacked Henry’s army of 2,000 men who had barricaded themselves inside the town of St Albans. After the Yorkist’s initial attacks had been repulsed, Warwick’s men forced their way into the town and the King’s forces were overwhelmed in the street fighting that ensued. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Clifford, plus about 50 other notable Lancastrians, were killed in the fighting.

Robert Ogle and Joan Hepple occur as owners of Thursby in Cumberland, which came into the family in the time of Edward II.

Sibling Relationships

Robert Ogle (xxx) siblings

Joan Hepple’s (xxx) siblings

Children of Robert Ogle and Joan Hepple:

Child Born Married Departed
Robert Ogle
 1330 Helen Bertram  1355
Thomas Ogle
Joan Ogle William de Swinburne

Robert de Ogle lost two of his sons in battle.  His son Robert Ogle (1330-1355) married Ellen Bertram, only child and heiress of Sir Robert Bertram of Bothal, three miles east of Morpeth, who in 1343 obtained a license to build the castle there.  Their son Robert Ogle (1351-1409), who succeeded his grandfather Robert de Ogle was under age and John Philipot became his guardian.

In 1352, Sir Robert Ogle received a commission appointing him arrayer of the forces in Northumberland.   He was at Capheaton in 1354 and a justice at Hexham.

In 1360, a charter of his granted at Ogle, contains his seal, an armorial fesse between three crescents, on the sinister side of the shield, a helmet out of which issues a plume (to which is added the words S + Roberti. de + Oggle. 

Sir Robert Ogle died on the feast of Corpus Christi on June 16, 1362.

His inquisitions post mortem were taken  in 1363, 1364, 1365, 1367, 1369, and 1373 from which it appears Robert Ogle held Saltwick, Ogle, Twisell, Shilvington, Aldworth, Long Witton, Seaton, Woodhorn, Thirnham, Fowberry, North Middleton, Dissington, Aldesheles, Roulay, the Wallfield, Ritrinum, Slaveley, Hepple, Tossan, Warton, Flotterton, High Trewhit, Low Trewhit, Sewingshields, Herowdon, Blackheddon, Slaughter, Alwinton, in this county, and Thursby, etc., in Cumberland, holding some of these in chief.  

Saltwick Bay photo by Bob Embleton

On November 16 , 1362, Sir Robert Ogle is described as deceased and, with his surviving widow, had held conjointly half the barony of Hepple, but by a grant under the king’s licence the escheator is forbidden to intromit.  Joan Hepple died on the 19th of March, 1364/65.   Her inquisitions post mortem were taken in 1366, and she held Saltwick and Thursby in dower.

Resources

Dictionary of National Biography

British History Online

Fourteenth century England, Volume 2 by Nigel Saul, Chris Given-Wilson

King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 339

Cat. Inquisitionum post mortem, ii. 254

Rotuli Parliamentorum; Calendiirium Inquisitionum post mortem, ed. Record Commission; Rymer’s Fcedera, original edition; Walsingham’s Historia Anglicana in the Rolls Ser.; Wyntoun’s Chronicle in the Historians of Scotland; Dugdale’s Baronage; Nicolas’s Historic Peerage, ed. Courthope; Hogdson’s Northumberland; Arctueologia /Eliana; Hexham Priory (Surtees Soc.); Culendariutn Rotulorum Patentium, p. 229, and Calendarium Rotulorum Originalium, p. 801.

Posted in 21st Generation, Ogle Ancestry | 1 Comment

Stephen Bordley, Jr.

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Descent by Sea

Stephen Bordley, Jr. (1709-1776) was born in 1709 near the Wye River in Maryland.  He was the youngest of five children.

Stephen’s father Reverend Stephen Bordley   (1674-1709) came by sea to Maryland in 1696 to become the second Reverend of St. Paul’s Parish, Kent County.   He died when Stephen was only an infant.

St. Paul’s Parish graveyard

Stephen’s mother was Ann Hynson, daughter of Colonel John Hynson, a wealthy land owner.  Ann remarried Alexander Williamson (?-1740), the third Reverend of the Parish shortly after her husband’s death.  Ann and Alexander had a son.  It is assumed that Stephen Bordley, Jr. was raised with his brother Thomas (1704-1752), his sister Mary (1707-1729), and his half-brother Alexander Williamson (1712-1760).

Stephen Bordley, Jr.‘s uncle Thomas Bordley (c. 1683-1726) lived in Annapolis and rose to prominence becoming Attorney General for Maryland.  He owned over 7,500 acres of land.  Thomas’s son  John Beale Bordley (1727-1804) who was Stephen Jr.’s first cousin also rose to prominence and acquired half of Wye Island.


St. Paul’s Parish, Kent Co., Maryland

Stephen Bordley, Jr. married Priscilla Murphy (1714-1742) on April 22, 1731.  She was baptized on June 18, 1714 at St. Paul’s Parish, Kent, Maryland.  In July 2012, we visited this site with a desire to stand where these ancestors once walked.

Priscilla’s father was James Murphy and Margaret, daughter of Colonel Charles Hynson.

Stephen Bordley, Jr. served as a lawyer in Kent, Queen Anne and Baltimore Counties, Maryland.

Stephen and Priscilla had four children:

Child Born Married Departed
Margaret Bordley 1732 none 1737
Judge James Bordley 10/26/1736 Mary Ann Hopper 1772 1793
Margaret Bordley 6/16/1739 William Vickers
William Bordley 1/30/1742 Mary Clayton  1786

Stephen’s wife Priscilla Murphy died on Feb. 4, 1742, five days after the birth of their son William Bordley.

Stephen raised his sons William and James Bordley who were known as the “Wye River Bordleys” having been born there.   His son William later served on the Vestry and as Register at St. Paul’s Parish during the last few years of his life.  James pursued a legal career, being a Justice and elected to the Committee of Correspondence.  By the 1776 Revolution, Stephen’s son James was Captain of a Militia Company, 20th Battalion.

Stephen Bordley, Jr.’s life was marked by much loss of family. He had two sisters who died in their infancy before he was born.  His father died when Stephen was an infant; his sister-in-law died when he was 20; his sister when he was 22; his wife when he was 33; and his brother when he was 43.

Widowed with four children ranging from age 10 years to 10 months, Stephen Bordley, Jr. married Sarah Harris on December 5, 1742 several months after Priscilla died.   By 1768, Sarah Harris died leaving Stephen twice widowed. She died in 1768. He died eight years later in 1776 at the time of the American Revolution.  His will was dated August 19, 1776 and  proved September 7, 1776.

What lessons can be extracted from Stephen’s life?  He was a survivor of much relational loss and mourning.  He served his community well.  He lived during a liminal period before the American Revolution and dying in the year of Independence.

References

Bordley Pedigree compiled by Bryden Bordley Hyde

Posted in -8th Generation, Bordley Ancestry, Eastern Shore of Maryland, Line - CLEMENS, Through Son | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Stephen Bordley, Jr.

Stephen Bordley

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Descent by Sea

Stephen Bordley (1637-1695) was christened at Tunstall, Lancaster, England on January 1, 1637.  There was a siege on Thurland Castle which lay it in ruin when Stephen was only about six years old.

His father William Bordley (1605-1669) and his mother was Susanna Smithies.  It appears that Stephen’s three older siblings died in infancy and he was their only surviving child.

Christ’s College, Cambridge, England

Stephen Bordley was educated at Hawkshead Grammar School where his father was Headmaster. Founded in 1585, students were taught Latin grammar and the principles of the Greek tongue, ancient history, and the sciences of arithmetic and geometry sufficient “to meet the practical needs of the businessman, surveyor, or navigator.”

Stephen matriculated 1654 at Christ’s College, Cambridge University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1657 and Master’s of Arts in 1661.

Stephen Bordley was ordained Deacon at Lincoln Cathedral on March 24, 1660 and ordained a priest on September 1661 at Durham Cathedral, considered the greatest Norman building in England, perhaps even in Europe.

The Cathedral was built as a place of worship, specifically to house the shrine of the North’s best-loved saint, Cuthbert, in whose honor pilgrims came to Durham from all over England. It was also the home of a Benedictine monastic community.

Stephen Bordley married  Margaret Colston (c.1640-1720) about 1660.  She was the daughter of William Colston (c.1600-post 1650) of Newcastle, a Royalist, and Margaret Proctor, of Cuthbert Proctor of Newcastle who was the great great grandson of Geoffrey Proctor (c. 1450-1525) of Nether Bordley,Yorkshire, England.

St. Hilda’s Church

Stephen Bordley became curate at Ryton, Durham until 1664 and then Vicar until 1689 at St. Hilda’s, South Shields, Durham on the east coast of England below Newcastle upon Tyne.

St Hilda’s stands on an ancient site presumed to have been occupied by the monastery founded by St Aidan in 647. There is no record of the exact date of the original foundation of the chapel but there is evidence for a Saxon building below the present nave. The church certainly existed in Norman times, since it is mentioned in a Charter of 1154 and again in the Charter of King John in 1204.

Stephen Bordley is listed on the South Shields Perpetual Curacy, known as The Prior of Durham formerly Patron, for succeeding as Curate on July 27, 1664.   The Chapel Wardens books which began in 1660, have the following entry:

“Whereas sundry of the Masters and Mariners of Whitby are often by their employments obliged to be in Tinemouth harbour, and being then willing (when opportunity invites,) to pay yt duty yt they owe to God for his great mercies, &c. but being unwilling to be uneasy to the respectine inhabitants in their own seats. they have desired liberty to erect and build a gallery under the farthest arch save one in the said Parochial Chappell, at their own proper costs and charges, unto which request, we the Minister, Chapell-Wardens, and 4 and 20, do with great willingness consent. S. Bordley,” &c.

The salt trade was growing to its height during the time Stephen was Curate.

St. Mary’s Church is on left

Stephen was Rector of St. Mary’s Newington Surrey 1689-1698 and Prebendary (Willesden) of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

St. Paul’s Cathedral – London

In April 2012, we visited St. Paul’s and through an amazing synchronicity were allowed to go to an off limit area to sit in the quire where Stephen would have once sat as a Prebendary.

St. Paul’s London — The quire looking east toward the high alter

During Stephen’s career, he and Margaret had seven children.  Their first son named after Stephen’s father and Margaret’s father William was blind.  Their second son Stephen took his father’s name.

Child Born Married Departed
Margaret Bordley c. 16 Aug 1666 George Lumley, 1691
William Bordley c. 21 Aug 1671 Blind none
Mary Bordley c. 24 Sep 1672 none
Stephen Bordley
 c. 24 Aug 1674 Ann Hynson 1709
Thomas Bordley 16 May 1677 Rachel Beard; Ariana Vanderhayden 1726
Elizabeth Bordley c. 1679 none
John Bordley c. 1681 yes

Stephen had an extensive journey in the clergy but hedied before hisson Reverend Stephen (1674-1709) was sent to Maryland 1696 by the Bishop of London and appointed to St. Paul’s Church, Kent County, Maryland.  Reverend Stephen’s younger brother Thomas Bordley (1677-1726) accompanied him to Maryland as young boy.  He later became an influential lawyer and Attorney General of Maryland.

Stephen Bordley died on August 11, 1695 and was buried on August 16, 1695 at St. Mary’s Parish, Newington, Surrey, England.  Original record below.

His son Thomas died on a 1726 voyage to London for an operation and was buried near his father at St. Mary’s.

Margaret Colston Bordley outlived her son Stephen dying in 1720 at Newcastle. Her will of 1718 was probated in Newcastle in 1720 and leaves her unmarried daughters Mary and Elizabeth “all that my real estate which came from my Grandfather Proctor to my Mother Colston and from her to me…” and states “I recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God whenever he shall please to call me, my body to the Earth to be decently buried…” RIP 7th Great Grandparents

Resources

Survey of London: volume 25: St George’s Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington)

Chapelry of South Shields’, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham: volume 2

Surtees Soc CXI, p. 173 and Northumberland County History, Edw. Bateson Vol 2, page 192.

Will of Margaret Colston Bordley, located at the Department of Paleography and Diplomatic, University of Durham.

St. Mary’s Parish, Newington Burial Records

Bordley Pedigree compiled by Bryden Bordley Hyde

Posted in 10th Generation, Bordley Ancestry, England, Line - CLEMENS, Through Son | Tagged , | Comments Off on Stephen Bordley

Capt. William Bryden

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Descent by Sea

Captain William Bryden (1768-1840) was born in  Edinburgh, Scotland on November 21, 1767.  His baptism took place at the Canongate Parish:  “James Breaden, shoemaker in Canongate and Elspeth Chalmers his spouse, had a son born 21st November 1767, baptised 29th said month, named William.”

His parents were James Bryden and Elspeth Chalmers of Deskford on the Moray Coast just west of Banff, Scotland.   On his parents’ marriage record, it notes that James was a shoemaker and Elspeth was the daughter of James Chalmer, farmer.

William was the youngest of three children which included a sister Agnes (1759-) and a brother James Bryden (1761-1820).

The children were born during the time of the Highland Clearances lasting several decades where people were forcefully displaced to the Lowlands.

In Edinburgh, it was a time of a new city plan, discoveries, and exploration.

It appears that William’s brother James Bryden came to America by 1784 as his first child was baptized in Baltimore that year.  William was probably back in Scotland reaching the age of 16 and starting a sailing career.

By 1796, James had achieved success to become the owner of the fashionable Fountain Inn, “Baltimore’s Best.”

At some point, William came as a mariner to America, sailing in and out of ports.  According to a  parchment headed “N149” and dated March 23, 1790, William Bryden of the County of Philadelphia, Mariner took Pennsylvania’s Oath of Allegiance.

After another five years on the sea, the Scottish records cite that on March 6, 1795, William Bryden (mariner) married Ann Veitch (father James, laborer), both of Abbeyhill, Edinburgh.

Bryden, William, mariner, residing in the Abby Hill, and Ann Veitch, daughter of James Veitch, labourer in the Abbyhill; witness, William White, gardener 06 Mar 1795

A story told years later by his future son in law Augustus Ducas Clemens describes how William decided to move to Baltimore was based on a strange twist of fate.  The time was around 1796.

Captain William Bryden, who had the command of a vessel, came into this Port for the first time and  happened to go to the Hotel bar, the man in charge asked him for his name, for the resemblance was so great between the proprietor and the Captain, when told he said, ‘I believe that the proprietor of this house is your brother,’ which turned out to be the fact; they had been separated since boyhood and neither had an idea that the other was living.

The consequence of this discovery was that the Captain settled in Baltimore and for forty years was a resident on the Northeast boundary of the City fronting on Loney’s Lane, and for the first half of that period commanded and sailed from this Port the largest class of vessels of that day.

During William’s voyages, he found his future lifelong home of Baltimore.  His older brother James had already settled there, owning a business and raising a family.   Probably married only a year or so, William brought his wife Ann Veitch to Baltimore. Records of the First Presbyterian Church, Baltimore note the September 21, 1797 baptism of their first child Ann Veitch Bryden born on August 1st.  This first daughter later married Alexander Tate.

Within a few years, widowed William Bryden married Elizabeth Goodman (1769 – 1839) on April 12, 1801.  Most information suggests that her maiden or married name was Goodman.   Elizabeth was apparently widowed and had her first children in her thirties.

Child Born Married Departed
Elizabeth Goodman Bryden 2 Apr 1805 Thomas Bonham Kinnersley, 10 Apr 1828 2 Mar 1842
James William Bryden 1807 Margaret Boyd, 26 Feb 1841 after 1889
Theresa Susanna Bryden 15 Dec 1809 James Francis Forsythe,  10 Oct 1833 1882
 Henrietta Matilda Bryden 1 Mar 1812 Augustus Ducas Clemens, Sr., 15 Mar 1841 30 May 1900

In the early 1800s during the birth of his children, Captain William Bryden was a captain of clipper ships carrying cargo to and from the West Indies, particularly Barbados and Jamaica.  At age 42 in 1810, he retired from sailing to build a house in Baltimore near Philadelphia Road.

During first few years in Baltimore including 1803, William maintained a residence at 7, Fleet Street, Fell’s Point, near the waterfront.  At the time, the area was known for the ship building of top sail schooners to be used as armed privateers.

William’s brother James was busy as the Innkeeper of the Fountain House.

A native of Scotland was the second innholder, James Bryden, who bought the leasehold interest of Mr. Grant in the property for £5,035 13s. and 7d., common money, and became the proprietor of the inn about September 15, 1705. He was one of the founders of the St. Andrew’s Society, which held its first meeting there and many subsequent ones.

It is said that one evening shortly after the control of the National Government had passed for the first time into the hands of what is now the Democratic party, a solitary horseman in shabby clothes and dirty with the dirt of the road applied at the Fountain Inn for shelter, but the clerk refused him accommodation, and the horse man was received at a rival house nearby. Mr. Bryden’s mortification was great when be learned that President elect Jefferson had been turned down. Mr. Bryden conducted the house until April 1, 1808, when he leased it for 10 years at $2,000 a year, with the exception of the last year, which was to lie $2,500, to John H. Barney, who had kept the Red Lion Tavern on the Philadelphia road, 13 miles from Baltimore’, and opened a coffee house in New York City.

Capt. William Bryden became a member of the St. Andrew’s Society of Baltimore, organized in 1806 of which his brother James Bryden was one of the founders.

By 1808, William’s brother James Bryden, sold the Fountain Inn in Baltimore and  moved to New York City, according to the February 28, 1808 “The Federal Gazette,” Baltimore. James announced in the press that on May 23, 1808 that he would

“open the Tontine Coffee House and would conduct it on the European plan, and would keep a daily list of vessels entered and cleared, and other conveniences for business men and mariners.”   Tontine Coffee House, once located on the northwest corner of Wall and Water Streets, is now recognized as the precursor to the New York Stock Exchange!

At some point in his retirement, William Bryden built a large country estate named “Orange” — suggesting an early unwise attempt at growing oranges there.  It was located on the eastern outskirts of Baltimore, at what was later Canton and Biddle Streets.   After William’s death, his administrators tried to keep the house but there was a legal battle between family members to partition it.  Eventually, Orange was put up for sale in American and Commercial Daily Advertiser, November 1841:

All that part of “Orange,” containing twenty acres and six-tenths of an acre, long known as the country seat of the late Capt. William Bryden, situated about one mile and a half north east of the Court House, and near to Monument Street. The improvements are the very best order, and consist of a large two-story BRICK DWELLING HOUSE, containing 10 rooms, in excellent repair, and suitable for the accommodation of a large family. There is a 60 foot porch on the whole length of the house. There are also a Stable, Barn, Milk-House, Smoke-House, &c &c, upon the premises, all of brick, large and in good order–the soil is of the best kind–there is a fine Garden and the place is well set in Fruit, such as Apples, Peaches, Pears, Grapes, Raspberries, Gooseberries, &c &c. The Fences are in good order. The situation is very high and healthy, and from its near proximity to the city, (it being within the city limits) presents great advantages, whether as a Country Seat or Market Garden.

“High and healthy” refers to the danger from malaria, which in those days was common up and down the East Coast. It was known to be more prevalent in the low-lying marshy areas, but the connection with mosquitoes had not yet been made, and people believed the disease to be carried by breezes off the water.

William and his brother James, both immigrants from Scotland, became influential and successful in business affairs.   At age 52, William lost his brother James who at the time was living in New York City.  The relationship with his only sister Agnes remains unknown.

William and Elizabeth lived until their early seventies. Elizabeth G. Bryden was first buried at Christ’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul and Chase Streets.  Shortly afterwards when Captain William Bryden died, she was moved to Westminster Presbyterian Church Cemetery, a very small burial ground in downtown Baltimore at Greene and Fayette Streets, where they now rest with each other.  A detailed historical story of the church and graveyard is here.

The inscription on William and Elizabeth’s tombstone reads:

Sacred
To
The Memory Of
CAPTAIN WM. BRYDEN
A native of Edinburgh, Scotland
Born Nov’r 21 1767
Departed this life April 9 1840
In the 73rd year of his age

Also his wife
ELIZABETH C. BRYDEN
A native of London, England
Born Oct’r 11 1769
Departed this life January 21 1839
In the 70th year of her age

Here rest the ashes of a happy pair,
Who reared their offspring with parents care.
A joy to each they present the stage of life,
He a loved husband, she a loving wife.
In all their action generous and just.
Their sacred ashes blossom in the dust.
This tomb
Erected by their children as a token of love.

References

Midlothan: Edinburgh – Parish of Holyroodhouse or Canongate. Register of Marriages, 1564-1800

“Genealogy and Biography of the Leading Families of Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Md.”, Chapman Publishing Co., N.Y.C. 1897, with heading “Genealogical and Biographical Record”, pp. 939-940

Baltimore, Volume 11 By Merchants and Manufacturers Association (Baltimore, Md.), Baltimore Association of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Baltimore

Ancestry Notes compiled by William Morris Kinnersley III, including those of Bryden Bordley Hyde

Posted in -6th Generation, ARRIVED BY SEA, Bryden Ancestry, Line - CLEMENS | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Martin Buck

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Descent by Sea

Martin Buck (1689-1743) was born in Germany, perhaps in the Palatine.  He was widowed, remarried, naturalized, and became a land owner in Beekman Patent.

Martin’s father Paul Buck was born in Doretz, Germany and his mother is unknown.

On November 12, 1708, Martin Buck married Elizabeth Becker in Kirchberg, Germany.  Harsh conditions prevailed in the area.  A year and a half later, they headed for the American Colonies to a new life.  Martin’s name appears on the Second Ship List of 1710 of Palatine Refugees arriving by sea from London to New York on June 30, 1710.

The list is made up of the second half (62 names) of the June 30, 1710 subsistence list along with any who appear to have been part of their household.  Margretha Schmid’s name appear immediately following Martin on this list where one might expect to see Elizabeth’s name.  The lists showed 2 persons over 10 years of age and 2 persons under 10.  An October 4, 1710 entry
shows Maria Gertrud Hamin and Martin Buck.  The family was reduced to 2
persons over 10 yrs and 1 person under 10 on December 31, 1710 and remained that size until September 13, 1712 when the household returned to 2 persons over 10 and 2 persons under 10 years old.

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The experience of Early Palatine families in New York can be found here.

By the autumn of 1712 Governor Hunter could no longer afford the expense of taking care of the Palatine and they were left to fend for themselves, still in debt to the crown.  Disgusted, they left for the land along the Schoharie Creek, which they claimed had been promised to them by Queen Anne. The life of Palatine refugees was difficult with  promises not kept.


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While thousand of Palatines traveled by sea to the Colonies,  only a small percentage are recorded over time. Martin Buck‘s name has remained in historical records for over three hundred years.  There are  several different spellings but it is the person, now known as Martin Buck:

    • Marte Bok, metselaer was mentioned in 1712-13.
    • Marte Bock on the 1718 Palatine Debt List (Livingston Debt Lists).
    • Both Martin Boeck and Carel Neiher aka Carl Neher (1675-1733) were naturalized on September 8 or 9, 1715.  Respectively, they are my sixth and fifth great grandfathers.
    • Martin Buch with Nicolaus Hamen’s widow and 2 children was at Quunsberg circa 1716/7.
    • Marttyn Bock made his first appearance in the Dutchess County rolls in the North Ward in 1717-8 and  he was listed there until 1729-30 when he was recorded in the Middle Ward.  Carel Naher was a constable in the North Ward in 1721, and an overseer of ye King’s Highway there in 1729, according to Dutchess County Supervisor’s Records.
    • In 1735-6, Martin appeared in the South Ward for the first time and then in 1739-40 at Beekmans.

After Martin’s wife Elizabeth died, Martin married widow Maria Gertrud Schmidt.   Maria Gertrud Schmidt was born about 1686 in Germany.   Her parents may have been Anthony Schmidt (1664 – 1711) and Margaretha Eringer (1668 –  ) who were born in Weilburg, Limburg-Weilburg, Hessen, Germany.   Her first husband was Nicholas Hamm.  According to The Hamm Family History:

Sometime during the Spring of the year 1709 several of the Hamms living in the Alzey area of the German Rhineland Palatinate boarded a boat for a four to six week passage down the Rhine River to the sea. Their destination, the city of Rotterdam, thence to England. There was, they had been told, the opportunity to migrate on to America.  In this group were the following:

Nicolaus Hamm, his wife Maria Gertraud and their two children
Peter Hamm, his wife and one child
Conrad Hamm, probably single, in his early twenties
Caspar Hamm, a teenager

…Somewhere along their emigration route Nicolaus Hamm died, leaving his widow Gertaud and their two children fatherless.  She soon remarried to a Palantine named Martin Buch (Buck).  (In those days necessity dictated that a widow or a widower remarried quickly for the very sake of the survival of their families.]

The threshold of a new life in the Colonies was unpredictable, resulting in the widower Martin Buck and widow Maria Gertrud marrying and having children together.  The dates are of baptisms and all were in Kingston, Ulster, NY except where noted.

Child Born Married Departed
Agnese Catharina Buck 1712 Georg Nicolaus Kuntz 1731 1768
Anna Christina Buck 19 Feb 1716  Kingston, Ulster, NY Barent D. Thalheimer 29 Jun 1742
Henrich Buck 24 Jan 1718
Anna Margareta Buck 2 Aug 1719 Joh. Jurge Kuhns 1739
Anna Maria Buck 14 Oct 1721 Lawrence Emigh
Elizabeth confirmed 1740 at Emigh’s Dnia post
Martinus Buck 18 Jun 1727
Gertrude Buck 20 Apr 1729
Andries Buck 1 Sep 1732

According to Doherty, “the location of [Martin Buck’s] farm was noted on a deed of 30 April 1869 as located on great lot number 8, consisting of 160 acres which was granted by Col. Henry Beekman to Martin Buck for three lives on 1 May 1740.”  The words “three lives” are striking.  Humans exchanged for land?  If so, how does a refugee who suffered so much come to terms with his role in slavery?

For a history of settlers of Beekman Patent in the 18th century, see here.

Martin Buck & Lot 8 Beekman Patent

Martin Buck’s widow made her appearance in 1743/4, according to Dutchess County Tax Lists.

Martin Buck and Maria Gertrude Schmidt died about the same time about 1743 in Beekman, Dutchess, New York.  There were my sixth great grandparents.

Resources

An Historical & Genealogical Study of all 18th Century Inhabitants of the Patent by Frank J. Doherty, Chapter 99 The Buck Families

The Hamm Family History

Palatine Heads of Families From Governor Hunter’s Ration Lists  June, 1710 to September, 1714

The Book of Names Especially Relating to The Early Palatines and the First Settlers in the
Mohawk Valley Compiled and Arranged by Lou D. MacWethy, Published by The Enterprise and News, St. Johnsville, NY., 1933

The Palatine Families of New York by Henry Z Jones

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