The Silver Bowl: 1938 Letter from Blin Brown

For the past few days I have been like Alfred Waddell [2] , up a tree, sir, but in my case its the family one, & gosh! it has been a 'flee bedder' in its time!! McGredy's [3] roses just aren't in it!! Auntie [4] will be able to fill in more details perhaps than I have here - for example who & where the McCartins [5] were, where John Bradford [6] lived before he married Barbara Coulter [7] of C.nore also Benjamin Oliver's Father's [8] & Mother's name &c. I know he bought Killynure [9] from a man called Dobbin [10] , who had to leave the country - for its good - & on the condition that if ever this Dobbin man wanted it again, he was to get it back for the same price paid. Therefore the Olivers never did anything to improve the place. The Olivers were connected by marriage with the Dobbins of the folly, Viscount Lifford, Dean of Armagh [11] at one time, & I was told by Mother with the Colthards of Blarney Castle [12] . One branch of the family lived in Dublin [13] & were of social importance, also their crest is the old cathedral in Armagh [14] , & a cousin of grand mother's was Rector of Loughall [15] . He lived in [Tully???] Park [16] and built Rookford [17] for his son. This son married a Miss Osborne of Killylea. They were not productive, & after his death Mrs Oliver went to live with her sister Mrs Kid [18] , & that family got the Oliver silver - except one table spoon which is here. A number of the Olivers are buried in Lisnadill [19] & some day I will get Mollie Wright [20] to come over there & we may find out something interesting about them.

T.B. [21] got back last evg. cold but pleased with his visit. We have heard of many attentions such as [???] &c &c, but so far to no purpose!! I understand there is but a shadow of a prospect of your calling (even) to see us. I realize how you are fixed, but I am disappointed you do not seem able to blow in for dinner, a gab & tea. I did hope you could manage that, & bring Master Thomas Reed [22] and others too? I wish Auntie [23] was fit to come. I wonder if monkey gland would be any use in her [case/care]?

Well! Cheerio!! If I don't see you again, here's for the very best always.

Much love to all.

[1] Probably John “Jack” Andrew McCullagh: 18 Nov 1897- Abt 1971. Cousin of Sarah “Blin” Margaret BROWN and son of Margaret JACKSON & Andrew McCullagh

[2] Alfred WADDELL who was born in the late 1890s was a son of Alfred Hampden WADDELL & Mary Anne Henrietta GILMORE. I suspect this is the person we are seeking. They lived in Co. Monaghan.

[4] If this is “Jack’s” mother, then this would be Margaret JACKSON, wife of Andrew McCULLAGH

[8] Probably WIllaim & Elizabeth OLIVER. William being a son of David OLIVER (see Full Circle, by David Nesbitt)

[9] The family farm that the OLIVER family owned which then passed to the BROWN family though inheritance and marriage. This is where Blin was born and where she lived for most of her life.

[10] DOBBIN – The DOBBIN family were a notable Armagh family, DOBBINS FOLLY still there. In 1711 a James DOBBIN married a Mary OLIVER, daughter of William OLIVER of Mullintur. The links to the OLIVER line of Killynure have yet to be puzzled out.

[11] According to Amy Lloyd’s notes, Lady Lifford was a cousin to Elizabeth Oliver. Elizabeth Oliver had one sister, Maria who married Vincent Lifford*, Dean of Armagh, and two brothers. Benjamin lived at Ballanahode, Rookford, and William. *NOTE: This part of Amy Lloyd's notes confuses me. The 2nd Viscount Lifford was actually named James Hewitt (1751-1830) and it is he who was the Dean of Armagh. His father, also James Hewitt (1709-1789) was the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Of him, I have so far learned a little. On a page on St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin: http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/Wright/wright9.htm there is the following description: Lord Lifford's Monument. - Lord Lifford, High Chancellor of Ireland, expired in the month of April, 1789, at the age of 73, shortly after the violent debate in the Lords upon the regency question. Previously to his promotion to the Great Seal of Ireland, he had been one of the judges of the King's Bench in England, and was indebted to his sincerely attached friend, Lord Camden, for his promotion. He was generally considered an excellent lawyer, and an impartial judge, and his patience and good temper on the bench were exemplary. A plain marble tablet is laid on a slab of variegated marble, of pyramidal shape, on the summit of which are placed the arms of the family, with this suitable motto, "Be just, and fear not."

[12] SOURCE: http://www.blarneycastle.ie/history.asp?lang=en BLARNEY CASTLE, CORK. The Jefferyes intermarried on 14th January 1846 with the Colthurst family of Ardrum, Inniscarra and Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, and Lucan, Co. Dublin. The early children dying, Lady Colthurst decided to build the new castle in Scottish baronial style south of the present keep. This was completed in 1874 and has been the family home ever since.

[13] My searches for OLIVER family crests that relate to the Ulster lines have so far come up empty handed.

[14] According to Amy Lloyd, daughter of Sir Thomas JACKSON, the Oliver crest relevant to our branch of the family was three fishes one below the other.Regrettably, the window was demolished in a bomb blast.

[15] Loughgall Presbyterian Church, known locally as Cloveneden, is situated just over a mile (on the C180 ) from Loughgall village on a beautiful raised setting in the apple orchards of County Armagh. Silver OLIVER (1788-1844) SOURCE: Burke's Irish Family Records was Rector of Loughall.

[16] Tullymore Park is just across the road from Rookford - so this may be the reference.

[17] I believe this home is in the townland of Ballynahone Beg and is on the Monaghan Road. Amy LLOYD's notes indicate that a Benjamin OLIVER lived there.

[18] The KYDD family show up in leases with OLIVERS

[19] I have been to the church and could see no relevant gravestones. Perhaps they are buried elsewhere. There is only the transcription I have of the gravestone erected by ELiza OLIVER in memory of her father Benjamin OLIVER: To the memory of Benjamin Oliver of Killynure who departed this life July 1st aged 66 years. This [?] of respect was erected by his eldest daughter AD 1833 [Probably 1883 - going by the deaths mentioned]. Here also are the remains of his parents William and Elizabeth Oliver. Of his sons William Thomas and James. Of his sister-in-law Jane, wife of William. And of his sister Frances Oliver and Mrs. Elizabeth Vance. Church of Ireland, Parish of Lisnadill, Co. Armagh

[20] Mary WRIGHT Nee MENARY: 1872-1946

[21] Probably her brother, Thompson BROWN

[22] I am not sure which REED or REID this may be. Possibly Thomas Jackson REED: 25 May 1881- 21 April 1956

[23] Possibly Margaret JACKSON (1853-1944)

[24] Sarah “Blin” Margaret BROWN: 1886-1963, daughter of Thompson BROWN and Elizabeth “Bessie” JACKSON