Hello Lister's Before I get to my question . I have a lease agreement from 1780 between a John Orr and Sir Arthur Brooke . Unfortunately one side was cut off a little so though it looks like John may have had a son but we just can not tell what his name was but William Orr of Ballaghneed in the county of Tyrone did have a son named Joseph . the land between John Orr is bounded and divided between John Orr and Mich. (Small e in right hand corner) McIlroy/ McElroy . In an Irish indenture between John Orr and Sir Arthur Brooke he does have a son Joseph aged two but date cut off that one, two thumb prints looks like name Ann Orr by the smaller of the thumbprints. Now John took out lease's for his life and the two Joseph's at a later date in Carrickapolin . William's son Joseph we have as born about 1780 and John's son Joseph we have as born about 1772, he died in Carrickapolin January 29, 1839 , wife Jane Todd we are told. I am fairly sure that William and John are brother's, with William at some time having also lived in Carrickapolin as he voted there as did John . William's son Joseph married Sarah Graham on March 20, 1802, in Aghalurcher Parish, we have three children listed for them. John I have as married to Ann , one daughter Margaret baptized in 1791 in Fermanagh and William as married to a Mary . Two of William's children baptized in Fermanagh , both daughter's . But question is what is a Senefchal . John was required to pay one sixteenth of his grain crop as a toll or Moulter , of one or more credible witness or Witnesses, to the then Senfchal of the said Manor . Now I changed the f to an s but still the word is not familiar at all to me. Gail

on 3/10/01 2:49 PM, [email protected] at [email protected] wrote: > Seneschal A SENESCHAL is a steward in charge of a noble's estate in the Middle Ages. ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA seneschal , French SÉNÉCHAL, in medieval and early modern France, a steward or principal administrator in a royal or noble household. As time went on, the office declined in importance and was often equivalent to that of a bailiff; the office and title persisted until the French Revolution. In Merovingian times the seneschal was subordinate to the major domus, or mayor of the palace, and had charge of the personnel of the royal household. Under the Carolingians he became responsible for organizing the journeys of king or emperor and, by 1071, was the chief officer--steward of the household, head of the army, and administrator of the royal demesne. With the title dapifer he headed the names of those witnessing royal diplomas. By the mid-12th century, however, the office had weakened and become largely honorary. Most of the great French feudatories--the dukes of Normandy and Aquitaine, the counts of Anjou, Poitiers, and Toulouse--had their seneschals. In Anjou and Poitou the title was given to subordinate officials on those counts' demesne. When these provinces became united to the crown after 1203, these officials were retained to perform the same duties as the bailiffs of the royal demesne elsewhere. This was the basis of the later classic administrative division of France into bailliages and sénéchaussées, although in Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Auvergne the seneschals were replaced by bailiffs. Source: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/3/0,5716,68483+1+66759,00.html Hope this helps! Sláinte! Richard Kenneth (KEN) Small Calgary, AB CANADA [email protected] Check Calgary Weather here: http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?Calgary,AB

According to the Oxford Dictionary a seneschal was the steward or major-domo of a medieval great house. Not too relevant, but I remember looking at an old stone house for sale in Runcorn Cheshire in England about 1961 when we were house hunting there. It was just below the castle at Halton and was called "Seneschal's House" and a nice house it had been too. [We didn't buy it. Amazing looking back. It was priced about 4000 pounds. A university prof from Liverpool and his wife had it and it proved to be too much for them. Price might be 50 times higher today.] Crawford.