Thanks for this fascinating information. My wife's ancestor Moses Barnett left
Clogher for Ontario, Canada, in 1823 and we've always wondered why. This
reference to a post-war local depression after 1815 could be a clue. In any
case, it's interesting to read details of the region where Moses Barnett grew
up.
-Bob Blakey
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
From: Bobbie Reihsen via CoTyroneList
Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2018 7:45 AM
To: CoTyroneIreland.com Mailing List
Cc: Bobbie Reihsen
Subject: Re: [CoTyroneMailingList] Life in Tyrone in the 19th century
So thankful for your references to Enniskillen in Co. Tyrone. Took me lots of
research to prove it on the map of Co.Tyrone, near village of Kingsmill. My
William Thompson lived and farmed there there and farmed in the 1700s. Son,
John William Thompson married "E" in Co. Fermanagh near Tempo.
They married about 1794 and had son, William b. 1796, Matthew b 1798, Margaret
b. 1800 and John b. 1803-4. When baby John was 2 years old the family of 6
left for America.
Very interesting to hear about the life in Ireland during these times. thank
you. Bobbie Reihsen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: CoTyroneList <[email protected]> on behalf of Gail
Mooney via CoTyroneList <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 4:12 PM
To: CoTyroneIreland.com Mailing List
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [CoTyroneMailingList] Life in Tyrone in the 19th century
Awesome, thank you so much Elwyn. For those of us in other parts of the world
who are challenged in our quests for information about our family members in
Ireland, you provide a window into their times. More,please!
Gail IRWIN Mooney / xo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "elwyn soutter via CoTyroneList" <[email protected]>
To: "CoTyroneIreland.com Mailing List" <[email protected]>
Cc: "elwyn soutter" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2018 10:29:46 AM
Subject: [CoTyroneMailingList] Life in Tyrone in the 19th century
>From a recent post about farming in Tyrone, I sense there is an interest in
>day to day life in Tyrone in the 1800s. The following document might therefore
>interest members of this forum. I found it in PRONI and thought it gave a good
>description of life then.
PRONI Reference :
T2279/2
MEMORIES OF DUNGANNON, FLAX, THE BIG WIND, TRAVEL, EMIGRATION, POTATO BLIGHT,
FAMINE
Notes and reminiscences dictated to me during the winter of 1904-5 by my father
James Brown Donaghmore, [Co. Tyrone] [signed] Nora Brown.
'I was born on 25 July 1823 in the old house in Donaghmore, now a part of the
soap works. My father was David Brown, son of John Brown who married Miss
McClelland and lived in Mullaghmore. Miss McClelland's brother married my
grandfather's sister and also lived in Mullaghmore. My father had one brother
John who lived in Irish Street and carried on a bakery. He married Miss Jane
McDowell. My mother was Betty, daughter of Henry King of Middletown Co
Monaghan.'
'When first married, my parents lived in a small house in Mullaghmore, since
pulled down, and afterwards in a house in Donaghmore opposite the chapel. Then
they moved to the house where I was born. They had ten children. Mary married
Richard Tener; Henry married Jane Carr; Ann and Thomas who died in childhood.
Margaret married Henry Oliver; Eliza married Robert Smith; Jane married Thomas
Lilburn; Amelia married Joseph Acheson; Isabella married John Beatty and myself
who married Jane Ellen Nicholson.'
'The first thing I can remember is a servant of ours Mary Mullen going to
America on St. Patrick's Day 1828. She and the rest of her party drove to
Belfast in a cart to sail thence to America. They took with them provisions for
the journey, chiefly oat cakes, as then was the custom. The outward voyage
averaged 30 days, but occasionally was 6 or 7 weeks and on these occasions
provisions ran short and the poor people were in danger of starvation.'
'Another early recollection is being taken into a darkened bedroom to see a
little play fellow, who was ill of smallpox, there being little knowledge of
the risk of infection then.'
'My first teacher was Mr Richard Robinson whose school was in the space now
planted with trees behind the cross. It was then the only school in the
village. Later I had lessons at home from Mr Stuart who taught the R[oman]
C[atholic] school in Dungannon.'
'After leaving the village school I was sent to my sister Mary Tener in Perry
Street where her husband had a grocer's shop and I attended a school kept by
two teachers from the South of Ireland, Messrs Murphy and Riordan. Afterwards I
lived with my sister Margaret in Church Street where her husband carried on a
saddlery trade and I went to Mr Burch's school on the Castle Hill. I remained
here until I was nearly 13 when in the summer of 1836 I went to the Rev. John
Bleckley's school in Monaghan. Here I stayed until I was sent for to come to
the death bed of my father on 17 November 1837. He died on 22 November and I
did not return to school, but went to business with my brother in Donaghmore.'
'Previous to the year 1816 my father was engaged in the linen trade giving out
home spun yarn and getting it woven in hand looms in the cottages. At that time
a good deal of the linen trade was transacted in Dublin, not Belfast, probably
in consequence of better banking facilities. My father used to go to Dublin to
sell his linen, in company of other merchants. They rode on horse back, in
parties, for protection from highwaymen, the journey to Dublin occupying three
days. In later years when the linen trade in Belfast had increased, buyers for
the bleachers came to Dungannon every Thursday and took their places on the
"standings" on the east side of the square where the farmers brought the webs,
woven by their families and servants. The "standings" were benches with boards
in front of them, on which the webs were thrown for examination. When the price
was arranged the buyer put his mark on it and the seller took it to Mr Robert
Tener in Perry Street who measured it. He got a few pence for each web
measured, in consideration for which he supplied the buyers with dinner.'
'Travellers then wishing to go to Belfast, used to leave Dungannon at 4 am on a
long car which took them by Moy and Loughgall to Portadown. Here they joined
John Byer's coach, running between Armagh and Belfast, reaching the latter
place about 1 pm.'
'During the war with Napoleon prices for agricultural produce were high, but
the peace of 1815 was followed by a time of great depression, partly caused by
two bad seasons, a very wet summer and a very dry one. During the latter the
corn was so short it could not be reaped in the usual way but had to be pulled.
The depression in the linen trade caused my father to open a bakery in
Donaghmore and I remember his telling me that the first flour he used was
American and cost 4 guineas[1] a barrel.'
'About the year 1820 partly from the wish to find employment for an old and
respected friend, my father conceived the idea of beginning soap and candle
making. This being before the days of railways, the materials were brought
chiefly by canal either to Moy or Coalisland, excepting what was produced
locally. In those early years of the last century, each market town had one or
more tanyards, and a candle factory sometimes including a soap works. Now, in
the following century, the soap trade has left those country towns and settled
in the sea port, so that the Donaghmore factory is the only country one, still
working in Ireland.'
'There used to be two tanyards in Dungannon, one in Beragh, three in Omagh and
several in Strabane and Derry but that business has practically ceased in
Ireland, after centring in Dublin for a time.'
'Another extinct industry is the making of nails which was carried on by the
Hodgetts father and son until a comparatively recent date. Each nail was made
separately with the hammer, of small iron rods, supplied for the purpose. These
nails cost 4d. to 8d. per 100 according to size. Now they are made by machinery
at a quarter the price. The open window of the nailer's shop was a very
favourite spot at which to linger and "shaunogh", watching him busily hammering
and chopping off the nails and giving the "cracks" of the village, without
pausing at his work.'
'Few people nowadays would know what a "shilling" (shelling) hill was. This was
a usual adjunct to the country corn mill of my young day. The oats were dried
on the kiln and after shelling were filled into a sack. This was thrown over a
horse's back and taken to the nearest rising ground where the chaff was removed
by the wind. After this process which is now superseded by the use of fans, the
winnowed grain was refilled into the sack and taken back to the mill to be
ground into meal.'
'When I was a boy my father began to make mould candles in addition to the
dips, which were the first candles made. The old process of making dips was a
very slow one, one man only making about 20 dozen lbs. per day. With improved
appliances a man afterwards could make 80 dozen lbs. In those days tallow alone
was used, but in later years paraffin wax has supplanted it and dip candles are
no longer made. Rush lights also were made and used as night lights. They gave
a small slowly burning light, they partially peeled rush taking the place of
candlewick. A strip of peel was left on each side of the rush and the ends of
these strips being knotted, they were suspended from the dipping rods by this
means. The wicks for the dips were made of flax tow which was loosely spun by
women and after boiling with alkali was bleached on the grass. This made a very
rough wick. Later cotton was used, it being supplied from Manchester ready for
use. Prior to Leblanc's discovery of the process of producing alkali from salt,
barilla or kelp was used in soap making. The kelp was made on the sea shore and
brought inland to the factories.'
'In Castlefin, where the Messrs Baird had a soap works, in the early part of
last century, an autumn morning would find the fair green crowded with horses,
laden with creels of kelp brought from the north-west coast of Donegal to
supply these works. Russia was the main source of imported tallow and barilla
was also brought from the Mediterranean.'
'When the soap works was started Mr Martin the traveller for the brewery
introduced our manufactures on his journeys and brought orders from Omagh
Enniskillen etc which assisted us considerably. Afterwards Mr William Irwin and
Mr John Clark travelled for the firm, an occupation which I took up about 1842.
As this was before the days of railways, I drove my own horse and gig once a
month through Tyrone and Fermanagh, also parts of Armagh and Derry. In this way
I became well acquainted with these districts and with our customers.'
'During the early years of my business career our principal competitors were in
Belfast. The chief makers there were Mr Finlay Mr Greer and Mr Glenfield.
Locally we had Mr John Shillington of Portadown and later on Robert McClelland
in Dungannon while George and Robert sons of Mr John Tener started to make soap
and candles at Moree [?]. This came to an end in a few months however. Robert
McClelland had a tannery and also sold tea in the same districts which we
visited, so he was a serious competitor. He and his nephew Joseph removed to
Belfast later on, but afterwards returned to Dungannon and built the spinning
mill now Messrs Hale and Martin's.'
'Up till the opening of the railway in 1865, our goods were entirely delivered
by our own carters. Until 1830 we had no post office. Letters were brought from
Dungannon by a messenger to the brewery and he also carried those for the
village. The mail coach from Dublin to Coleraine brought letters to Dungannon.
Our first post master had the magnificent salary of £3 annually.'
'In my boyhood there was no place of worship in Donaghmore but the chapel of
which Friar Conwell was priest. Rev. Thomas Carpendale was rector of this
parish and Rev. Robert Fraser was his curate, the parish church being in
Castlecaulfield. The chapel of ease in Donaghmore was built in 1836 or 1838,
through the influence of Mr Mackenzie who up till then had been a Presbyterian
and attended first Dungannon, of which church Rev Mr Bennett was minister. The
church in Donaghmore was enlarged and altered during Rev James McNeece's
incumbency about 1866. The levelling of tithes caused a very bitter feeling, so
much so, that on one occasion, a mob of angry Protestant parishioners
surrounded the glebe house, threatening to hang the rector on one of his own
trees. About 1835 the law was altered, so that the landlord paid the tithe,
being empowered to add it to the rent. Fr McGuckian was the parish priest who
rebuilt the chapel about 1845. My father always lived on very good terms with
his R[oman] C[atholic] neighbours. As an instance of this, on one occasion when
the weather looked threatening, the priest gave him the use of the chapel as a
temporary store for his corn. A funeral had to take place in the morning before
his offer could be taken advantage of and as the sky became more overcast,
Friar Conwell more than once, anxiously went to the top of the hill overlooking
the road by which the funeral was to come. At last he came back to my father
"hear the hour" he said "coming as if they were on the way to the gallows!" The
funeral took place, and the corn was safely housed in the chapel before the
storm came.'
'In October 1845 came the first potato blight. We had a field of potatoes that
year on the back lane and in one night they were struck with the blight and
both tops and roots were blackened. The damage done in [18]45 was only partial,
that is to say, only a portion of the country was affected and the blight did
not strike the plants until the crop was almost matured. Only a part could be
used for food, the rest were given to pigs or used to make starch. We put up a
small machine to grind them and extract the farina and for this purpose they
still served very well.'
'On the night of 3 August 1846 came the bad potato blight. I remember driving
to Bundoran through Co. Fermanagh with my sister Bella on August 3rd and as we
went seeing the fine crops of potatoes in the fields. We spent 3 days in
Bundoran and returning found these same crops blackened and useless. The same
state of affairs prevailed practically over the whole of Ireland and in
consequence 1847 was the famine year. It was felt severely here, but nothing
like so much so as in the South and West.'
'Indian corn and meal were introduced for the first time from America and I
remember the poor people coming into the shop and asking to see "this yellow
male". They would then take some in their hand, ostensibly to look at it as a
novelty but really to satisfy their hunger with it. It was an anomaly of this
time, that oaten and Indian meal rose as high in price as fine flour, owing to
the fact that as porridge, meal could be used more economically than flour in
bread. A committee was formed in Donaghmore which met in the school house at
the cross and contributions were raised for the relief of the worst cases. In
other parts works were begun such as cutting hills on roads, but they were
found a wasteful and useless means of relief and eventually the Government made
a grant of several million pounds to be used directly to supply the starving
people with food.'
'The fever followed the famine and broke out even in the emigrant ships in
which the poor people were flying to America. These were sailing vessels and
far inferior in speed and comfort to those now used and many of the passengers
never reached the other continent. Those who did were taken to an hospital near
the Battery, New York and there numbers died of the fever they had contracted
before leaving Ireland.'
'The fever was not so rife here as further west and south, but I remember
feeling nervous about it when in Enniskillen for two of our oldest customers
there contracted the disease and died. They sold meal and bread and probably
the poor starving people who came to seek for food, had brought the infection.'
'Wages were very low prior to the [18]47 famine. Four shillings a week was the
usual wages for a labouring man. My father always paid his men 5s. 0d. Some
farmers gave their men food instead of wages and I was told by a man in Omagh
of a neighbour of his who hired his men on these terms but would not feed them
on Sundays and gave them a penny instead. Servant girls were paid as low as 5s.
0d. a quarter, but from May to November when food was dear, many were glad to
work for their board without any wages. After the famine emigration increased
largely and wages have never been so low since.'
'The Donaghmore brewery was owned by Mr Alexander Mackenzie who lived in
Mullygruen [?] and by my uncle Mr James King who lived in the cottage. He was
one of my mother's three brothers, Alexander who married Miss Trumbell [?] and
lived in Monaghan and Henry who became a doctor in the navy being the other.
James married Miss Trimble of Clogher. On retiring from the navy Henry married
Miss [ ] and lived in Castlecaulfield in the house now occupied by Mr David
Acheson. My mother had two sisters one married William Scroggie and the other
Hugh Weir.'
'The brewery was such a prosperous concern that I remember 28 carts loaded with
beer and whiskey leaving it in a single morning. Mr Colhoun who came as a
book-keeper afterwards became a partner in the business, together with Mr
George Slevin, who was a nephew of Mr Mackenzie's and lived in Dungannon, where
they had a another brewery on the site of the present railway station. In my
recollection it was not used as a brewery but the buildings were turned into a
corn store. Part of the premises now used by Messrs Dickson as a weaving
factory were then a distillery own by Mr John Falls.'
'In 1841 Mr Falls opposed Lord Northland as parliamentary representative for
Dungannon and although the latter retained his seat, a very bitter spirit was
roused. The women drapers of Dungannon having sided with Falls, the local
gentry boycotted them and bought their goods from Silas Weir of Cookstown. This
boycotting affected some so severely that they had to emigrant to America,
amongst these being Henry Oliver and Richard Tener, and thought this seemed a
hardship at the time the families of both succeeded much better in America than
they ever could have done in Ireland.'
'The Presbyterian minister of Castlecaulfield was the Rev John Bridge, who held
his services in the old meeting house which had been one of the outbuildings of
the castle. He became very unpopular owing to his having failed to attend the
Omagh Assizes to give a character to a man called Ritchie, who was tried and
afterwards hanged for murder. It was a party quarrel, and he was said to have
struck with a spade shaft the man who was killed. In consequence of this Mr
Bridge left Castlecaulfield and was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph Acheson who
married my sister Amelia. He preached at the old castle until he built the
present meeting house in 1841. The curate of Castlecaulfield at this time was
the Rev. Robert Hamilton, an excellent man who worked very devotedly for the
spiritual and temporal well being of his people.'
'John Wesley visited Castlecaulfield on one of his tours in Ireland and my
grandmother who was a godly woman, took my father, then a little boy, to hear
him preach there. The circumstance impressed him very much and the seed then
sown did not fall on stony ground.'
'There were two doctors in Donaghmore Dr O'Neill and Dr Corr. The former had
retired from the navy and did not practice much. He lived in a cottage on the
site on which Toybank [?] was afterwards built. Dr Corr was the general
practitioner and an R[oman] C[atholic]. He was followed by Dr McMullen and Dr
McClean. Mrs McClean and Mrs Corr assisted their husbands in their practice and
continued it after they became widows. Both were celebrated for pulling teeth.
Mrs Corr was said to have removed an inch and a quarter of Thomas Hodgett's jaw
bone, along with a tooth one day! In later years Dr Henry of Pomeroy had a
considerable practise in this neighbourhood, Dr Neville of Dungannon being
dispensary doctor.'
'When anyone in my young day required a suit, he took the tailor with him to a
cloth shop and together they chose the stuff and it was taken home by the
tailor to make up. In the same way the shoemaker went with the customer who
required boots or shoes and helped to choose a piece of leather of which to
make them. In the country there were no shops where ready made goods could be
had. The shoemaker in Donaghmore used to make chief shoes and take them to
Dungannon to the market, where they were sold on the street. It was a common
sight to see the women on a market day, sitting down at the foot of the
Gallow's Hill to wash their feet in the little stream, before putting on the
shoes and stockings they had carried so far and which they only intended to
wear in the town.'
'There was then a court for the recovery of small debts called the seneschal's
court which was held monthly in Donnelly's public house. Daniel McKenzie was
the seneschal and he called a jury of 12 men to help him to adjudicate and it
was said he looked under the table to see which man had brogues on, before
deciding who should be foreman! The fees or costs were largely spent in drink
for the good of [the] public house, of which there were five in Donaghmore and
two at the Back Ford. These courts ceased when the County Court was
established.'
'People here often date from the time of the "big wind". That was the 5 January
1839. It unroofed the brewery coolers and did much damage elsewhere. When
George Mulholland came to his work next morning, someone asked him how he "put
in the night", knowing he had a thatched cottage "oh! all right" said he "I
just slept on the roof to keep it on!"'
'About 1845 Dan O'Connell was at the height of his popularity. A comical
illustration of this I had when talking with a man in Beragh, a small grocer
who was a great admirer of his. He told me O'Connell had attended Omagh assizes
as a barrister on one occasion and that he had ridden into Omagh, 6 miles off
that he might see "Dan". He stood about the courthouse steps until he had the
opportunity to shake him by the hand. In telling the story to me afterwards he
held his right hand aloft and said emphatically "and I never put that hand into
a herring barrel since"!
'Illicit distillation was very prevalent then, so much so that my mother told
me on one occasion the military came to Middletown and seized 22 stills. It is
easy to understand what a demoralising effect such a state of things must have
entailed.'
Elwyn Soutter
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[1] 1 Guinea was 21 shillings, or £1.05 today.
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