thanks for this, Michael...it was a great lesson. > Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2013 5:08 PM Subject: [IRL-CARLOW] Part 6- NOT WE FROM KINGS BUT KINGS FROM US. > Pat Purcell Papers. > Letter, Genealogical enquiry, Dated, May, 1931. > From: J. Hallam [ ? ], > Threadneedle Street, City of London, England. > To: Pat Purcell, > Town Hall, Carlow, Ireland. > (Continued extracts edited by Michael Purcell from 52 page letter. > Part six of a FAMILY CHRONICLE compiled in 1862 by Henrietta Maria Hickey. > Not many County Families in Carlow and other counties have sustainable > pedigrees, they like to think they have but close examination of their > pedigree chart may reveal a questionable "bastard" relationship to a well > connected family on the British mainland. > Many the commoner with money purchased property in Ireland in poor times > for land prices or was granted land for some service or other. > Their first inclination after settling in Ireland is to claim a blood tie > with a titled or aristocratic family bearing a similar surname, all the > better to lord it over their "gentry" neighbours. > The British resident of noble position is often surprised when contacted > by > their recently hatched Irish "cousin" by the introduction of a dubious > bastard son, daughter or sibling of their own ancestor in order for the > relationship to be acknowledged. > One such story concerning the Carlow Rochfort family has often been > repeated and is worth recalling to memory. > It is said that the first of the Rochforts to settle in Carlow were stone > cleavers, they lived in a straw roof cabin near a quarry in Clogrennan. > A son of this family was taken under the wing of Lady Beth a member > of the Cheevers family of noble stock. She had the boy educated and > practised in the manners of a gentleman to such a measure that the boy > went > to Oxford to complete his education. > One day while on a visit to London he was introduced to a lady of social > standing and presented her with a purple silk kerchief. She was impressed > by the young man and a romantic attachment developed between them. However > her father doubted the young man's social affability and sought to make > inquiry as to his background by sending his trusted manservant to > accompany > the young man to Ireland and report back what he saw. > Travelling to Ireland on the boat the young man confided in the > servant telling him that his Irish family were poor people of low > standing and if the servant would return to his master with a good report > he would in time make the servant rich enough to have his own servants. > The servant agreed but said he would not lie to his master. > They arrived by boat on the river Barrow to the young man's cabin in > Clogrennan and the first sight the servant saw were two goats butting > heads > and the father sitting on a 3 legged stool peeling potatoes with his > finger > nails ( for the Irish peasantry grew long nails to use for peeling > potatoes > ). The servant turned away exclaiming he had seen enough. > He returned to London by the next boat. When he arrived he found that his > master had taken seriously ill and was close to death. > He hurried to his bedside and told him that upon arrival at the young > man's > home in Ireland he was welcomed by not one but two butts ( slang for > butler > ) and saw the family cutlery the like of which he had never seen before in > mansion or palace and there were two large boats for use by the family on > the river that ran alongside the house situated in the countryside. > The father gave his blessing on the marriage, the young man secured the > family wealth and purchased several thousand acres of land at Clogrenne > from the Duke of Ormonde. He built a mansion with 52 rooms with 365 panes > of glass, one for each day of the year and they lived contentedly among > their Irish "aristocratic" neighbours. > I will not put the servant's name to paper for he too settled in Carlow > with his new wealth and impressed all with his acquired gentlemanly ways > whilst proclaiming his family connection to the highest ranks of British > nobility with his pedigree charts on parchment with a mark for his > fancied > bastard grandfather. > Today his descendants trot about Carlow as if the blood of nobility flowed > through their veins. Indeed it was a lady descendant of that same > servant who first told me the story of the Rochforts saying one could tell > from their appearance and manner that they were of ill breeding. > "She knew her own" never was it truer stamped on a persons forehead. > Our family motto " NOT WE FROM KINGS BUT KINGS FROM US" tells us all we > need to know of our own family pedigree. > >