THATCHER Bespoke for weeks, he turned up some morning Unexpectedly, his bicycle slung With a light ladder and a bag of knives. He eyed the old rigging, poked at the eaves. Opened and handled sheaves of lashed wheat-straw. Next, the bundled rods; hazel and willow Were flicked for weight, twisted in case they'd snap. It seemed he spent the morning warming up: Then fixed the ladder, laid out well honed blades And snipped at straw and sharpened ends of rods That, bent in two, made a white-pronged staple For pinning down his world, handful by handful. Couchant for days on sods above the rafters He shaved and flushed the butts, stitched all together Into a sloped honeycomb, a stubble patch, And left them gaping at his Midas touch. -- Seamus Heaney

THE KISS Oh, keep your kisses, young provoking girl! I find no taste in any maiden's kiss. Altho' your teeth be whiter than the pearl, I will not drink at fountains such as this. I know a man whose wife did kiss my mouth With kiss more honeyed than the honeycomb. And never another's kiss can slake my drought After that kiss, till judgment hour shall come. Till I do gaze on her for whom I long, If ever God afford such grace to men, I would not love a woman old or young, Till she do kiss me as she kissed me then. -- Anonymous (16th century), translated by the Earl of Longford.

SNIPPET: In the 1800s, the land of Ireland was owned by about 20,000 landlords. With their families they were known collectively as the Ascendancy. They rented or leased their land to tenant farmers. Since agriculture was about the only way of making a living at the time, the overwhelming majority of the Irish people belonged to the tenant farmer class. The level of rent payable to the landlord became a major source of conflict from time to time. For about twenty years after the Famine, Irish farmers were fairly well off, but in the 1870s, poor harvests and falling prices for agricultural goods caused a drop in farmers' income. Rent became a heavy burden. Michael DAVITT was the Father of the Land League. Born in County Mayo in 1846, DAVITT's family was evicted from their farm when he was six. They emigrated to Lancashire where the young boy lost his arm in an accident in a cotton factory. He later became involved with the Fenians in England. He was sentenced to 15 years in gaol but was released after seven. DAVITT returned to Mayo where he started the Land League in 1879 to campaign for fair rents. It became such a powerful body that the British Prime Minister, W. E. GLADSTONE, was forced to introduce a land act in 1881. This act took from the landlord the power to set the rent on the farms on his estate. The Land Commission was given statutory powers to intervene between landlord and tenant and to set a fair rent. Later legislation, passed under pressure from well-organised tenant farmers, reduced the power of the landlords still further. By the 1890s, the power of the Ascendancy was virtually broken. Conservative British governments introduced several land purchase schemes. By lending money to tenant farmers to buy out their farms, they also helped the landlords to get good prices for their estates and to extricate themselves from the difficult position they found themselves in.

SNIPPET: Tiernan DOLAN (a secondary school teacher in St. Mel's College, Longford), has written of well-known Dublin-born author John McGAHERN, a small farmer and one-time teacher who had lived in Co. Leitrim -- "How ironic that the genius of Irish literature, John McGAHERN, should be laid to rest on April Fool's Day. It seemed fitting though, that the astute observer of the changing seasons, should be returning just as the primroses, daffodils, cherry blossoms and whin bushes were beginning to brighten the dark, tired landscape. As the cortege approached the Longford/Leitrim border just after eleven on Saturday morning, the sun shone extra brightly and the first warmth of spring was felt. It was as if the great man was being welcomed home. And home he was, because it was just at the county border where the first little group of people gathered to pay their respects. One had left herding his cattle, another stopped on his journey to Dublin, another clutched a newspaper photo of McGAHERN. In Rooskey, along the Shannon, the crowd was a little bigger. A group of post-graduate students and their two lecturers from Limerick .... stood outside the hotel where they were doing a weekend residential school to show their esteem for the writer that they had all studied, read or taught at various levels. At Dromod the cortege left the main N4 and headed into real rural Leitrim. Old and young stood at crossroads, in gardens and at front doors, blessing themselves as their unlikely hero passed on his final journey. The town of Mohill came to a respectful stop. McGAHERN loved Mohill, its mart, its shops but most of all, its unassuming people. Shops and businesses closed their doors, engines were turned off, the people stood in silence, an elderly wheelchair-bound lady paid her respects as did a small group of hardy men at the mart entrance. He'd have liked that. At Fenagh some wore black arm-bands, a couple stood at the derelict Ivy Leaf ballroom as the fourteen-car cortege wound its way past rushy cattleless fields. In a field outside Ballinamore, two cheeky goats lay on some hay in a round feeder, as three bullocks did their best to pull at the scarce hay. How beautifully he'd have described that scene. Outside the Library in Ballinamore, children stood with parents. This day would be etched in their memories forever. A large group stood motionless and silent down where the old station used to be. How often the young McGAHERN gauged time by the passing trains. The school was passed. After he was sacked from his teaching post, McGAHERN, I think, was secretly happy to be away from the narrow petty minds. Hypocrisy and petty politicians were not to his liking. Aughawillan was waiting for the return of their most famous son. The little church was already full. Locals, literary people and journalists stood outside together; the visitors in awe of the scenery but the locals unfazed by the visitors. They had come to bury a friend, a neighbour, one of their own. That he was one of the best in the world at his chosen trade was simply a bonus. They held him in high esteem as they would a great footballer or the breeder of prize cattle. As Fr. Liam KELLY spoke lovingly ... a bee distracted the porch standers, a cock crowed from a nearby yard and a jet streaked across the skies. Ordinary sounds on an extraordinary day. In his last work, 'Memoir,' he says 'our heaven was here in Aughawillan.' John McGAHERN was back home in heaven. Back home in Leitrim." - Excerpt posted with written permission of editorial staff of "Leitrim Guardian 2007" publication.

FOLLOWER My father worked with a horse-plough, His shoulders globed like a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow. The horses strained at his clicking tongue. An expert. He would set the wing And fit the bright steel-pointed sock. The sod rolled over without breaking. At the headrig, with a single pluck Of reins, the sweating team turned round And back into the land. His eye Narrowed and angled at the ground, Mapping the furrow exactly. I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake, Fell sometimes on the polished sod; Sometimes he rode me on his back Dipping and rising to his plod. I wanted to grow up and plough, To close one eye, stiffen my arm. All I ever did was follow In his broad shadow round the farm. I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, Yapping always. But today It is my father who keeps stumbling Behind me, and will not go away. -- Seamus HEANEY

SNIPPET: Nicholas FURLONG is a Wexford scholar and descendant of a man who traded in his farming equipment for a firearm in 1798. His paternal great-great-grandfather, also named Nicholas FURLONG, left his rented farm,his wife, teenage children, and home in Rathaspeck to fight as an insurgent under the elected United Irish commander-in-chief, Bagenal HARVEY. Five days later Nicholas FURLONG was killed at the seize of Ross. At the Battle of New Ross, Beauchamp Bagenal HARVEY, on horseback, and his men greatly outnumbered the English (20,000 to 2,000), yet they ultimately lost. FURLONG was but one of the 30,000 men killed in a war in which the stakes were of world consequence, of far greater importance perhaps than the insurgents realized. At stake was the victory or destruction of England and the victory or destruction of revolutionary France, and in Ireland, it meant the victory of an equally impressive ideal, the concept of a brotherhood of the Irish as Irish instead of the sectarian tribalism's of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter. It meant total independence for the Irish and for Ireland or, conversely, overthrow and emasculation. Such perceptions fueled the war and in a humiliated, exploited, robbed and mutilated Ireland, and now with the ringing tones of Thomas PAINE's (one of America's founding fathers for equality and religious freedom) "Rights of Man" in every available ear, the resort to arms by ordinary people became contagious. It was an easy matter to nourish the soil of revolt. The reason that Ireland was so hotly contested is because it was of great strategic importance to both the English and the French. Suddenly Ireland was no longer a pleasant island of indigenous culture and ancient language on the fringe of the known Western World. It was a secure and rich outpost situated on the direct seat route to North America, hundreds of miles farther out in the Atlantic than the home ports of England or France. Whoever controlled Ireland controlled the North Atlantic. The author wondered why did his FURLONG antecedent obtained a weapon of death and marched from a settled civilian life to war. Was it to get back lands from which CROMWELL had expelled his grandparents? Was he a convinced United Irishman? Was he an admirer of the gentle Protestant United Irish landlord, Cornelius GROGAN of Johnstown Castle? Was he a victim of the economic catastrophe that had devastated Wexford farming in 1797? The private family account that had been handed down tells of the rage of the "innocent" local men at the retreating Wexford troops, who set fire the thatched houses on their escape route and shot civilians on sight. For that, we were told, the menfolk in fury marched. However, on the discovery and publication of Loyalist Elizabeth RICHARDS' diaries and the Jane ADAMS dairies, it was clear that there was an active-service United Irish unit with three named officers of captain rank in the parish. Per the author, Patrick FURLONG, the teenage son of the killed insurgent, Nicholas of Rathaspeck, became head of the family and chief breadwinner. He married a neighbor's daughter almost immediately, and in 1800 their first son, Nicholas, was born. Today their descendants survive, and hopefully continue to prosper in a wide swath that extends from the parish of their antecedents in Wexford across the world to Perth in western Australia and Vancouver, on the north Pacific coast of Canada. The author also identifies that his maternal grandfather, John KINSELLA, was born in Co. Wexford in 1845, within a couple miles of Bunclody. He was reared among survivors, witnesses and participants of that battle. On June 1, 1798, Bunclody (or Newtownbarry, as it was known then) was the site of a remarkable feat of arms for the untrained Irish insurgents. The occupying English forces were driven out and joyful celebrations ensued, but when the Crown forces, under the command of Col. Henry L'ESTRANGE, discovered that they were not being pursued, they halted, turned their cannon around, and from the hill road raked the packed town square and main street. The losses among the insurgents numbered in the hundreds; the wounded among the fighting men and civilians alike. In the mountain-rimmed countryside, this completely unprecedented massacre, in which capture and recapture in an effulgence of blood and fire occurred on the one day, scarred the memory of minds of all participants and witnesses. Not one solitary word of the event or related business was passed on by his KINSELLA grandfather; down to his death in the early part of the 20th century, the topic was strictly taboo in his presence. Not one iota of information could be extracted from his eldest surviving daughter, Lena, who lived to the age of 93. This terrible silence about this period reflects "the horrible blank in folk memory," Life, work, survival with head down and shut mouth were the order of the day when the patriots were worsted in the game and when eviction at a landlord's whim thrived even up to the 1880s. The 1798 Rebellion introduced total and vicious war to Ireland to such a degree that, in the major areas of conflict, the memory, the legends, and the private family accounts still sear the consciousness, and the descendants of the revolutionaries regard them with affection and pride. Worsted in the game, certainly, but what a performance by a proud and humiliated people! In that year intellectual, enterprising heroes, Protestant and Catholic alike, joined in this fresh, liberating dream for human rights and self-respect. Were it not for 1798, with its bravery, accomplishment and awfulness, such inspirational giants as Edward ROCHE, Beauchamp Bagenal HARVEY, Henry Joy McCRACKEN, Michael DWYER, Frt. John MURPHY, Thomas CLONE, Matthew FURLONG, Cornelius GROGAN, John KELLY of Killanne, Fr. Philip ROCHE, Miles BYRNE, and others would never have entered the state of Irish, European, and world history from rustic obscurity. The very same may be said of the women. It was the widows, the mothers, and the sisters who saved Ireland after defiance was reduced to debacle. The farms,the businesses and the bread-on-the table demands stimulated their courageous contributions when normal life's battles had to be resumed. -- Excerpts, "The World of Hibernia" magazine/Summer 1998

SNIPPET: A besom was a roughly fashioned, short-handled sweeping brush which was reserved for use in the hearth area of the kitchen. It was most effective on uneven flag floors, and in more recent times found its way into the garden where it proved a useful for effectively lifting leaves off the lawn. The head of the besom was generally fashioned from a handful of birch cuttings, which was then attached to a handle. It was a skilled operation necessitating a lot of careful practice. The craftsman, known as the besom-maker or broom squire - always chose his own materials, ear-marking a birch plantation was a least seven years established. He organised cropping (cutting) and bundling, and had the bundles stacked for seasoning behind his workshop. The stack was then given a roof of hay to carry away the rain and snow, both of which could be detrimental to the birch cuttings. This was an autumn job and the period of seasoning lasted until the following March. The birch cuttings were then removed as required and the essential job of stripping them down commenced, when unwanted material was removed from each bundle and sold off a 'bavins' or faggots for firewood. Handles of ash were then prepared, though hazel and lime was preferred in some instances. The craftsman shaved each one until it was even and smooth 'to the eye.' One end of each handle was given a blunt point, the other a gradual taper. The head was assembled on a 'besom-horse" - a foot-operated device. Willow binding was then fastened around the 'handful' of cuttings until it was drawn as tight as it could be. A few besom-makers were happy with strong but supple briar binding. A knot similar to that used by farmers when binding corn sheaves was used to secure the head, which was then fixed to the handle. The head was prevented from parting company with the handle during use with the help of a small peg pushed into a hole drilled through the handle. In recent times besoms, which are still occasionally made for domestic use, are often fashioned with factory-made handles and wire bindings, which do not have the same texture as the traditional ones. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 3:10 AM Subject: [IGW] "The Besom-Man" -- Joseph CAMPBELLl (1879-1944) > THE BESOM-MAN > > Did you see Paidin, > Paidin, the besom-man, > Last night as you came by > Over the mountain? > > A barth of new heather > He bore on his shoulder, > And a bundle of whitlow-grass > Under his oxter. > > I spied him as he passed > Beyond the carn head, > But no eye saw him > At the hill foot after. > > What has come over him? > The women are saying. > What can have crossed > Paidin, the besom-man? > > The bogholes he knew > As the curlews know them, > And the rabbits' pads, > And the derelict quarries. > > He was humming a tune -- > The "Enchanted Valley" -- > As he passed me westward > Beyond the carn. > > I stood and I listened, > For his singing was strange: > It rang in my ears > The long night after. > > What has come over > Paidin, the besom-man? > What can have crossed him? > The women keep saying. > > They talk of the fairies -- > And, God forgive me, > Paidin knew them > Like his prayers! > > Will you fetch word > Up to the cross-roads > If you see track of him, > Living or dead? > > The boys are loafing > With game or caper; > And the dark piper > Is gone home with the birds. > > -- Joseph Campbell (1879-1944) > besom=broom > oxter=arm

SNIPPET: Thomas McCAFFREY, Irish fiddler, storyteller and friend to many died on August 2, 2006, in Cleveland, OH, age 90 years. Tom was born in Corraterrif, Mohill, Co. Leitrim. He was a brother of the late Terry (OH), Sr. Mary Anthony (India and Terenure), and Michael (Corraterrif). At the age of ten, Tom took up the fife and flute but soon found his true love in playing the fiddle. For knowledge, Tom turned to his father, also a player and teacher of the fiddle and sought out musicians who travelled through Mohill and surrounding area. It was not long before he mastered the fiddle and with his strong fine voice was asked to all the local festivals, dances and weddings. He was a member of the local Dramatic Society and many other organizations. Tom emigrated to Cleveland in 1955, bringing with him his love of Irish music, dance and storytelling. There he teamed up with Tom BYRNE, a Sligo man and master flute player. Between them they recorded the album 'Irish Music from Cleveland.' They were welcome to any gathering and their partnership led to musical recordings by the Smithsonian Museum Folkways Music Archives. The Emeralds' Ceili dance band, of which Tom was a leading member, played at festivals from Nashville to Toronto and also at weddings and parties across the area. He supported traditional Irish step dancers at the feiseannas. He was President of the Cleveland Irish Musicians, volunteered with the local Comhaltas organization and with the Irish Music Academy of Cleveland. In 1987, Tom was honoured to be named Grand Marshal for the St. Patrick's Day Parade and was selected by the State to receive the Governor's Award for his efforts in preserving the music of Ireland. He received a commendation by President Ronald REGAN for his contribution to Irish Culture in the United States. Tom McCAFFREY dedicated his life to encouraging and inspiring Clevelanders, teaching them the joy, warmth and strength of Irish trad music. In 1989 a video, 'The Gentle Bard' was produced to preserve this memory. It has been distributed to colleges, clubs and cultural organizations throughout the world. A fitting tribute was paid to Tom in the House of Representatives, when during the proceedings of the Congress in September 2006, Dennis J. KUCINICH asked that the Speaker and colleagues join him in honor and remembrance of Tom McCAFFREY, "whose smile, charm, wit and Irish wisdom will be remembered and shared and whose memory will live in tunes and tales," recalling that Tom was born in Mohill in 1916 and worked on the family farm before emigrating. He noted that while Tom's true calling and love was the fiddle, he had found his other great love, Alice KELLY, at the age of 83. Tom is survived by his wife Alice Kelly McCAFFREY, his niece Madeleine HUBER, his stepchildren, grand nieces and nephews. -- Dennis J. KUCINICH's (OH) tribute appeared in the "Congressional Record," September 2006, Vol. 151. Go ndeana Dia trocaire ar a h-anam.

LORD JOHN KILBRACKEN There have been many landed gentry, In this country down the years, Many who controlled their patch, Through dominance and fear. That was Ireland's history, One hopes those days are gone, That never was the way of life, For the man they called Lord John. I'll tell you that landed man, Who lived not far away, John Godley, Lord Kilbracken, Was unique in many ways. His door was always open, To the great and to the small, A learned man, a journalist, Who fought in the second world war. He lived in the big house, Himself and Lady Sue. In that tranquil place called Killegar, Where those majestic broad leaf grew. Over looking lakes and rivers, And the black bridge in the view, He was well respected, By everyone he knew. Lord John's love for trees and nature, Inspired his pen in hand, He was from grand old English stock, But a proud, brave Irish man. God rest you Lord Kilbracken, Your memory will live on, May Kilbracken house be stately once again, Filled with story, fun and song. We wish the new Lord great good luck, And may his reign be long, He'll have a hard act to follow, In the footsteps of Lord John. -- Excerpt, 2007 issue of "Leitrim Guardian," posted with written permission of editorial staff. --- "My memories of LORD KILBRACKEN go back to my youth and coming home from Drumeela NS via Killegar. <snip> .... Mossie Whelan.

SNIPPET: "My memories of LORD KILBRACKEN go back to my youth and coming home from Drumeela NS via Killegar. Jimmy McGARVEY was an employee on the estate; he lived with his wife and family in the gate lodge at Killegar Church. Mrs. McGARVEY was a dressmaker and made clothes for us and this meant many visits to her house and then home through the fields across the estate-mearing to our own farm. I was too young to appreciate lilies, orchids and rhododendrons, but the sweet red apples and fat yellow gooseberries still taste good in my mouth. On our journey up the back avenue and through the big house yard we would most likely meet LORD KILBRACKEN out walking. He always talked with us but we never understood his accent, only awaited his generosity as we approached the orchard gates overflowing with fruits, flowers and vegetables. This was Hugh John GODLEY, 2nd BARON KILBRACKEN and father of John Raymond 3rd BARON whom we buried opposite his own gates in Killegar Churchyard on August 18th last. The religious difference and social class divided us at the time but we were good neighbours. Thankfully, the only permanence in life is change and this change was very evident at the ecumenical funeral service held in Killegar Church, built by John GODLEY in 1813. Reading through Burke's Peerage the GODLEY lineage is rich and colorful, full of academic and military achievement. The late LORD KILBRACHEN's grandfather was John Arthur GODLEY, 1st BARON KILBRACKEN, private secretary to British Prime Minister, GLADSTONE 1872-74 and 1880-82 and permanent Under-Secretary of State of India 1883-1909 raised to the peerage as BARON KILBRACKEN of Killegar, Co. Leitrim, December 1909. A legend in his own time and champion of many causes with particular regard to Northern Ireland, the late John Raymond GODLEY was born in Belgravia, London in October, 1920. He was the eldest of three children of Hugh John, and Elizabeth Helen Monteith HAMILTON. The children were educated in England, and spent school holidays in Killegar. John Raymond moved permanently to Killegar when he inherited the peerage and the property on the death of his father in 1950. For us, Killegar was the place to go on a Sunday afternoon for although private property the estate was used by the local community. My father had rented Drumergoul - a portion of the estate - and we travelled under the Big House to the back of Kilnamar lake to count cattle nearly every day, often swimming there. I remember sitting on the black bridge watching the red squirrel, a spot to which I returned recently with Drumeela Art Group ..." -- Excerpts posted with written permission, editors "Leitrim Guardian 2007" issue w/photos.

Robert Ewing Born: 1740 Ireland M/1 Jane Unk Children: Esther, Robert, Samuel M/2 Jane Bonneau 26 Sept 1785 Child: John 1st **************************************************** Robert Ewing 2nd B: 1766 Ireland M: 04 July 1791 Carrie Selina (?) D: 14 July 1843 Adams now Brown Co OH USA Children: Nancy, John Calhoun, Jackson 1st, Samuel, Robert, Sarah, Mary Ann, James, Jackson 2nd M/2 Isabella Smith 12 Dec 1811 James & Jackson 2nd born to 2nd marriage If anyone knows this family please e-mail me on or off list. Thanks

It would be a lot more helpful to all of us using this list now -- and to those who will be searching the list's archives hunting for THEIR ancestors for many years to come -- if you would always include the SURNAME you are discussing in the SUBJECT of your email .... IN CAPITAL LETTERS. Thank you! The truth is, there is no one here who doesn't have MANY brick walls. So you must tell us something about yours to attract us to read your message, or we will just delete your message without reading it .... due to all the pressures of lack of time. If you want to catch the attention of those who know something about EWING, you must always put that name in your subject, in caps, and do that in every message on every list. Good luck! :) ----- Original Message ----- From: Colleen Seignior To: ILS - jackgail ; [email protected] Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 5:58 PM Subject: Re: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL ----- Original Message ----- From: "ILS - jackgail" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 12:31 PM Subject: Re: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > Hi Coleen: > > I too, am researching Ewing - My Ewing's are from Belfast. My father was > Alfred Ewing, born in Belfast in 1921. His father was also Alfred Ewing > who married a Hannah Ritchie. Hannah's parents were James and Margaret > Ritchie, nee Eston. Alfred's was born in or about 1891 and parents were > William & Mary Ewing, nee Horner. > > Alfred and Hannah (Hansie) had four children before leaving Ireland for > Canada. Cecil, Jennie (Jean), Alfred and Fredrick. > > I do remember my father saying that he had an Aunt Minnie and Uncle Sam, > but > that is all the I am aware of. > > Do any of these Ewing's seem familiar to you. > > Thanks, > Gail Sexton, nee Ewing > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Coleen Coleman" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; > <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 2:36 PM > Subject: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > > >> EWING, Robert 1st >> B: 1740 Ireland >> M/1 Unk >> Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd >> M/2 Jane Bonneau >> 26 Sept 1785 >> Child: >> John 1st >> SECONDLY: >> EWING, Robert 2nd >> B: 1766 Ireland >> M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle >> name). >> THIRDLY: >> Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? >> Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much >> for your help out there. >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

----- Original Message ----- From: "ILS - jackgail" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 12:31 PM Subject: Re: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > Hi Coleen: > > I too, am researching Ewing - My Ewing's are from Belfast. My father was > Alfred Ewing, born in Belfast in 1921. His father was also Alfred Ewing > who married a Hannah Ritchie. Hannah's parents were James and Margaret > Ritchie, nee Eston. Alfred's was born in or about 1891 and parents were > William & Mary Ewing, nee Horner. > > Alfred and Hannah (Hansie) had four children before leaving Ireland for > Canada. Cecil, Jennie (Jean), Alfred and Fredrick. > > I do remember my father saying that he had an Aunt Minnie and Uncle Sam, > but > that is all the I am aware of. > > Do any of these Ewing's seem familiar to you. > > Thanks, > Gail Sexton, nee Ewing > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Coleen Coleman" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; > <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 2:36 PM > Subject: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > > >> EWING, Robert 1st >> B: 1740 Ireland >> M/1 Unk >> Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd >> M/2 Jane Bonneau >> 26 Sept 1785 >> Child: >> John 1st >> SECONDLY: >> EWING, Robert 2nd >> B: 1766 Ireland >> M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle >> name). >> THIRDLY: >> Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? >> Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much >> for your help out there. >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Barbara, Have you tried a Google advanced "all the words" search with your surnames of interest, i.e., ALCOCK, HAWKINS and MOODY? Several intriguing hits came up when I tried. One website devoted to Co. Wicklow marriages had several of your surnames of interest including (but not limited to) these two: 1. Groom Thomas DRIVER, Bride Sarah MOODY, Groom's residence "Muckduff." Bride's residence Toorboy. Marriage Date 11 March 1852, Church/Location Kiltegan, married by a priest. Witnesses: G. HAWKINS, and G. ALCOCK. 2. Groom William ALCOCK. Bride Elizabeth Jane FURLONG. Groom's residence Mungoduff, Kiltegan. Bride's residence Killabeg, Coolkenno. Marriage Date 9 Aug 1906. Married by a priest. Witnesses: William DRIVER and Catherine FURLONG. William ALCOCK is listed as a widower and Elizabeth a spinster. Occupation Farmer. Fathers George ALCOCK and William FURLONG, farmers. Another webpage had mention of a Jacob ALCOCK 13, "shepherd boy," Gressenhall, Norfolk, living with a Hannah HILL, Sparrow Green (?), a Norfolk farmer, Gressenhall in 1851. I found, on another website, the passengers and crew lost in the Royal Mail Steam "Tweed" on 12 Feb 1847: Crew members included J. ALCOCK and J. MOODY firemen and H. HAWKINS, boots. This was pretty interesting in that there weren't many crew members and here are all three of your surnames you are researching. Did you know that air travel in Ireland began in 1909-10, with Henry FERGUSON's first powered flight, in Co. Down. In April 1912, Kilkenny man Denys Corbett WILSON made the first crossing of the Irish Sea, landing near Enniscorthy,Wexford. British aviators Capt. John ALCOCK, born 1892 in Seymour, Old Tafford, England, and Lt. Arthur Whitten BROWN born Glasgow1886, crash-landed in a bog near Clifden, Connemara, Galway on 15 June 1919, after the first transatlantic crossing, from St. Johns, Newfoundland. Apparently there is a Winfield Castle in Suffolk, England, home of the WINGFIELDS. A Harry ALCOCK lived in Wilton Castle in Co. Wexford. Both of the above appear to be members of the wealthy peerage. You should be able to find all these on a Google search using some keywords. Perhaps you have them as possibilities already. Please check my note for accuracy. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [IGW] ALCOCKS - ?Winfield Castle > Hi Barbara, Where is Winfield Castle - England? Jean > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "barbara logan" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 9:01 PM > Subject: [IGW] ALCOCKS > > >>I am interested in the Alcock name who lived as shepherds , alongside the >>names Hawkins and Moody. >> I believe near Winfield Castle. >> My husbands' Mother's family came from there. >> Anyone know of this family ? >> I have been doing genealogy for twenty years, but have not followed this >> path before. >> I have the Alcock name in Canada for many generations but got stuck at >> the >> Irish border. >> I have recently got aa few more facts from a genealogical friend.

Hi Coleen: I too, am researching Ewing - My Ewing's are from Belfast. My father was Alfred Ewing, born in Belfast in 1921. His father was also Alfred Ewing who married a Hannah Ritchie. Hannah's parents were James and Margaret Ritchie, nee Eston. Alfred's was born in or about 1891 and parents were William & Mary Ewing, nee Horner. Alfred and Hannah (Hansie) had four children before leaving Ireland for Canada. Cecil, Jennie (Jean), Alfred and Fredrick. I do remember my father saying that he had an Aunt Minnie and Uncle Sam, but that is all the I am aware of. Do any of these Ewing's seem familiar to you. Thanks, Gail Sexton, nee Ewing ----- Original Message ----- From: "Coleen Coleman" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 2:36 PM Subject: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > EWING, Robert 1st > B: 1740 Ireland > M/1 Unk > Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd > M/2 Jane Bonneau > 26 Sept 1785 > Child: > John 1st > SECONDLY: > EWING, Robert 2nd > B: 1766 Ireland > M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle > name). > THIRDLY: > Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? > Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much > for your help out there. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

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Hi Coleen - A somewhat later (1848-64) period in Ireland, but those records may hold important clues. There were 124 EWING households in Ireland - 31 in Donegal, 27 Tyrone, 19 Belfast city, 15 Antrim, 14 Derry/Londonderry, 5 Armagh, 5 Down, 4 Dublin city, 2 Sligo, 1 Limerick and 1 Wexford. Apparently 5 EWIN households were in Donegal. . Matheson's survey of births in Ireland for the year 1890 showed there only 24 EWING births, principally located in Londonderry, Tyrone and Antrim --23 Ulster, 1 Leinster, 0 Connaught, 0 Munster provinces. Listers can check out http://www.ireland.com/ancestor for information on in which counties their surname/s of interest are found, in which particular parishes are found alone or together. The latter is particularly valuable for marriages that took place in Ireland. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean R." <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 10:14 AM Subject: Re: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > Hi Coleen - You can be pretty sure that you will find these given names in > earlier generations. I would suggest searching for a Samuel Ewing for > Robert 1's father. Esther is likely the name of Robert 1's mother, his > unknown wife's name or the name of wife's mother. Names were repeated in > each generation. Sounds like Protestant Christian names. Second wife > Jane's given name seems to be most often found in Ulster. Did they > emigrate > to America? The earliest American Federal Census goes back to the > Revolutionary War period. Jean > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Coleen Coleman" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; > <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:36 AM > Subject: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > > >> EWING, Robert 1st >> B: 1740 Ireland >> M/1 Unk >> Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd >> M/2 Jane Bonneau >> 26 Sept 1785 >> Child: >> John 1st >> SECONDLY: >> EWING, Robert 2nd >> B: 1766 Ireland >> M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle >> name). >> THIRDLY: >> Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? >> Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much >> for your help out there. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.4/705 - Release Date: 2/27/2007 > 3:24 PM > >

Free access to various records. http://www.accessgenealogy.com/ Check out the webpage "A Bundle Of Old Letters," especially one entitled "The Efficient Mrs. O'Shaughnessy" from 1913. Jean

Hi Coleen - You can be pretty sure that you will find these given names in earlier generations. I would suggest searching for a Samuel Ewing for Robert 1's father. Esther is likely the name of Robert 1's mother, his unknown wife's name or the name of wife's mother. Names were repeated in each generation. Sounds like Protestant Christian names. Second wife Jane's given name seems to be most often found in Ulster. Did they emigrate to America? The earliest American Federal Census goes back to the Revolutionary War period. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: "Coleen Coleman" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:36 AM Subject: [IGW] MY BRICK WALL > EWING, Robert 1st > B: 1740 Ireland > M/1 Unk > Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd > M/2 Jane Bonneau > 26 Sept 1785 > Child: > John 1st > SECONDLY: > EWING, Robert 2nd > B: 1766 Ireland > M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle > name). > THIRDLY: > Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? > Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much > for your help out there.

EWING, Robert 1st B: 1740 Ireland M/1 Unk Children: Esther, Samuel, Robert 2nd M/2 Jane Bonneau 26 Sept 1785 Child: John 1st SECONDLY: EWING, Robert 2nd B: 1766 Ireland M: Carrie Selina (unknownif maiden or middle name). THIRDLY: Who were Robert Ewing 1st's parents? Did he have any siblings? Thanks so much for your help out there.