The Silver Bowl: 1774 October 31 lease

A Memorial of an indenture of a lease bearing date the thirty-first day of October in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four Between David OLIVER [1] of Ballyrea [2] in the Co. of Armagh of the one part and Robert JACKSON [3] of the town and County of Armagh Gent of the other part, witnesseth that the said David OLIVER for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred and fifty pounds Stl to him in hand paid by the said Robert JACKSON the receipt therof the said David thereby acknowledge hath assigned transferred and made over unto the said Robert JACKSON his Exors, Admons and Assigns all that part of Creevy [4] with the Corn Mill theron together with all the Toll or Sucken [whats that?] there unto belonging situate lying and being in the Townland of Creevy in the County of Monaghan with all the Estate right title interest possession term of years to come claim and demand whatsoever which the said David OLIVER hath in the said Messuage or Premes to have and to hold the said Mill Lands and Toll unto the said Robert JACKSON his Exors & during the remainder of the Term of years yet to come and unexpired as by the said Deed of assignment may appear which said Deed is witnessed by Thomas JOHNSTON [5] of Armagh and James NEILSON [6] of Ballyrea in the County of Armagh and this Memorial is witnessed by the said James NEILSON & Thomas JOHNSTON - David OLIVER [SEAL] 8 November 1774 at or near the hour of ¼ after 5’ o’clock in the afternoon.

[1] David OLIVER (prob 1725-Feb 1806) of Ballyrea, Co. Armagh, husband of Susannah WALKER. Curiously in spite of all the leases involving Ballyrea, he does not show up in the PRONI Freeholders Records with that particular holding. In fact the only David OLIVER to show up there is one at Bangor, Co. Down in 1813-1821.

[2] Ballyrea, Parish of Armagh, Co. Armagh.

[3] Robert JACKSON Of interest is the fact that he was also involved in DEED: 285-617-190992 in 1772 with the SEAVERs of Ballinahonebeg – a townland that also involved OLIVERs in other leases. Also DEED: 360-236-242429 in 1772 which involved Arthur OLIVER of Ballinahonebeg and Benjamin OLIVER of Lislooney. In Deed 313 580 211019 Jan 27 1777 he is described as a linen draper of Armagh. In other deeds a Robert JACKSON is described as being of Woodvale or Ballynewry.

[4] Creevy. This is the townland known as Creevy (OLIVER) in the Parish of Donaghmoyne , Barony of Farney, Co. Monaghan. It currently includes 102 acres. It is about 2 km north of Carrickmacross between the N2 & R180 on the Southern border of Donamoyne Parish. SEE: Ordnance Survey Map #35. It was at one time a property of the Shirley family (SEE: PRONI: D/3531) NOTES from Roisin Lafferty: There are two Creevy townlands: “Creevy Oliver” and “Creevy Swinbourne”. Local lore suggests that the land was given to two of Cromwell’s soldiers - Oliver and Swinbourne. There are Swinbourne families still in the area. The entire area of South Monaghan, Barony of Farney was given to Essex in the late 1500s. He had no heir and the property passed to his sister's sons and divided in half, one half given to Lord Bath and the other to Shirleys. Creevy is not far from Laragh and is in the Carrickmacross area. NOTE: Thanks to Maria Beattie, I now know that Benjamin OLIVER held land in Creevy in the 1823 Tithe Records. This is most likely the Benjamin OLIVER of Ballyrea, who died between 1837 (alive in his brother Joseph's 1837 will) and 1840 (his will was probated), and was a son of David OLIVER & Susannah WALKER.It is unclear how much land he owned. There were 4 Creevy townland totalling 97.1.0 acres. His rent was 9.0.0 while the rent for Creevy Rooney was 12.8.11 and the rent for Creevy Swinburn was 32.17.6. The fact of a corn Mill on the townland would place it on a watercourse of some sort.

[5] Thomas JOHNSTON of Armagh. There are close to a 100 records of Thomas JOHNSTON in freeholders records, but the ones that seem most likely are PRONI D/1928/F/103 and D/1928/F/46 & 47. These show a lease for a Thomas JOHNSTON resident in Armagh with lands and houses at Mullaghbrack registered April 6, 1812. He may be a son of John JOHNSTON of Woodvale (see 1830 Indenture between Elizabeth JACKSON & James JACKSON) a prominent Armagh land owning family. George JOHNSTON & Joseph JOHNSTON & Samuel JOHNSTON are named in other OLIVER leases. There may be a familial connection.

[6] James NEILSON of Ballyrea. I couldn’t find him in PRONI Freeholder Records