McCONAGHEY, Michael elder, in Annaloist ¹

   User ID: L310.

  General Notes:

(1st entry)
REG DATE:1816 March 2
NAME:Michael McConaghy or McConaghey [Listed under both]
ADDRESS:Annaloist a house & land
RENT: £13.13.8d
OTHER LIVES
NAMED FOR TENURE:Michael McConaghy

(2nd entry)
REG DATE:1818 August 21
NAME: Michael McConaghey [electoral details of oath & candidates]
ADDRESS:Annaloist
RENT: not stated
OTHER LIVES
NAMED FOR TENURE: Culla Felloon

from Freeholders' Index


"Church Burial Record

Name: Michael McConaghey
Date of Death: 28/03/1836
Age:
Parish / District: SHANKHILL
Address: Analoist
County: Co. Armagh
Status:
Denomination: Roman Catholic
Occupation:

© Copyright Armagh Ancestry"

from www.rootsireland.ie ^{1 2}

  Research Notes:

FREEHOLDERS

"Freeholders Registers

A freeholder held his property either in fee simple, which means outright ownership, or by a lease for a life or lives (such as the term of his life or the term of three lives named in the lease). A tenant who held land for a definite period such as 31 years or 100 years did not qualify as a freeholder. A person with a freehold of sufficient value, depending on the law at the time, could register to vote. A great deal of the Irish freeholders records were lost in the 1922 Four Courts Fire.

From 1727 to 1793 only Protestants with a forty-shilling freehold (a freehold worth at least 40 shillings per year above the rent) or above qualified to vote. In 1793 Catholics with at least a forty-shilling freehold were given the vote. Forty-shilling freeholders, whether Catholic or Protestant, had the vote between 1793 and 1829. In 1829, all 40 shilling freeholders lost the vote, and from that date a £10 freehold was required to qualify to vote....

In the latter half of the 18th century and on into the early 19th century, landlords had some incentive to subdivide farms and to grant leases for lives (freehold estates). A freeholder with property of sufficient value could register to vote in elections. Some Irish landholders therefore created small freeholds, often by providing direct leases to people who previously were subtenants, in an effort to increase the landholders' political influence, particularly after the enfranchisement of Roman Catholics in 1793. Freehold tenants could be persuaded to vote for their landlord's chosen candidate in elections.

Poll Books record votes cast at parliamentary elections by qualifying freeholders. They contain the name and address of the voter and often the address of their freehold. Freeholders Registers give similar information to the Poll Books but do not record how people voted at a particular election."

from http://www.progenealogists.com/ireland/freeholders.htm


THE BROWNLOWS

"The town of Lurgan owes its existence and much of its success to the family of Brownlow. The surname is also written Bromloe and Bromley in state papers...During the plantation of Ulster by James I, John Brownlow offered himself as an undertaker of lands in O'Neilland, stating that he was worth £150 per annum and that he wanted 2,000 acres. He was granted the middle proportion of Doughcarron containing 1,500 acres at a total rent of £8 to hold for ever, May 29th 1610.

In the maps of Escheated Counties of Ireland, Doughcarron appears violet, the colour used to distinguish those of middle size and occupies the northern portion of the ancient territory of Clan Brassil stretching along the shore of Lough Neagh. Excluded from this grant was the balliboe of Shankill and half the balliboe Aghnacloy or Aghecloghie containing 90 acres, this was set aside for the church.

On this map there is in the townland of Shankill, a roofless church surrounded by trees - Shankill - meaning 'Old Church'.
John Brownlow's son William was also granted 1,000 acres in the Manor of Ballynamoney, June 18th, 1610. This portion lay on the southern shore of Lough Neagh, stretching from the upper Bann eastward to Doughcarron and southward to John Machett's part of Kerhonan.

By 1611, the Brownlows were residing in the district and started to build two bawns having brought six carpenters, one mason, a tailor and workmen. In 1619, a fair town had arisen on Doughcarron consisting of forty two houses, streets all paved, two water-mills and a windmill.

John Brownlow died about 1616 and his son William was regranted the lands at Ballynamoney and Doughcarron by letters patent under Seal of Charles II to form Manor of Brownlows Derry 29th June 1629.

In this grant we find the first mention of the name Lurgan. It states that Sir William Brownlow was empowered to hold a weekly market on Friday and two annual fairs in Lurganballyvacken, alias Ballylurgan.

William married Eleanor, the daughter of Sir John 'Dougherty, Lord of Innishowen. In 1639 he was M.P. for Armagh in the Irish Parliament. The estate of Brownlow suffered a set-back during the war of 1641. His castle and bawn were destroyed and he was taken prisoner to Dungannon where he was found a year later by Lord Conway's forces. This must have left his estate ruined and in debt. William died on the 20th Jan. 1660, leaving three daughters, Lettice, Rose and Eleanor. Arthur Chamberlain, the eldest son of Lettice Brownlow, was born at Ardee Co. Louth, in 1645, educated at Trinity College, Dublin and qualified in law at Lincoln's Inn.

In 1660 when he became of age, he assumed the name of Brownlow and inherited his grandfather's estate. Under his supervision Lurgan began to grow and prosper. He took a deep interest in the welfare of his tenants by introducing linen weaving to them and buying their produce at a loss to himself. Thus he laid the foundation of the linen industry in this district and by 1675 there was a market house established around which linen was sold. In 1708, Lurgan was described by Thomas Molyneux as a town which has the greatest mart of Linen Manufacture in the North, being almost entirely peopled by linen weavers.

Besides being a man of business, Arthur was a man of culture. He spoke fluent Irish and he saved the Book of Armagh from destruction. As early as 1699, along with several others, he had the idea of building a canal between Lough Neagh and Newry. Arthur died 22nd February 1712, and was buried in Shankill Graveyard, leaving two daughters, Lettice and Anne and five sons, William, Standish, John, Philemon and Arthur. The eldest, William, was baptised 31st December, 1638. It was during William's lifetime that the Church of Ireland left the old Church in Shankill and began to build the Parish Church on the Fair Green of Lurgan. On 24th May 1744, he married firstly, Judith, the daughter of Rev. Charles Meredyth, Dean of Ardfert , and returned to live in Lurgan 1748. Judith died at Lyons, October 1763, leaving two sons, William and Charles.

In the Hibernian magazine of March 1777, Lurgan was described as a town consisting of wide streets half a mile long with several lanes, consisting of 400 to 500 houses. The greatest number being thatched or shingled, very few being slated. In the latter part of the 18th century, even though there was prosperous linen industry, poverty was common amongst the unskilled people of the town and district. William Brownlow set about to enlarge and improve his demesne after the current fashion of his day. William died October 1794 and was buried in the vault in Shankill Graveyard. He was succeeded by his eldest son William, born 1st September 1755.

A description of the Brownlow Estate is contained in a Survey of County Armagh by Sir Charles Coote for the Dublin Society 1803:

'This manor is all leased in so small divisions as to average less than five acres and a great number so low as three acres. All these are leased except the town of Lurgan, where there is a perpetuity on the whole. The town of Lurgan has been called Little England and is composed of one very long street, which is in one place near the church greatly disfigured with a number of very miserable houses, which are strangely built in its centre, and quite spoil the effect it otherwise has. There is an excellent house which if any, is the only building that should be suffered in the centre of that street; the entrance to this building has been ornamented with iron railings, and in the apartments overhead the sessions have been held, but a neat court house and bridewell have been newly built and now newly finished. Many of the houses in the town are covered with shingles and it is surprising to see this made adaptable even in some handsome modern houses.

There is a poor school supported by an annual charity sermon and liberal subscriptions in which seldom less than 200 children are educated.

Mr. Brownlow's demesne, which consists of 300 acres, adjoins the town of Lurgan and is very much improved and enclosed with a capital stone wall. The mansion is a very antique castle, and has received many additions since the original walls were built in 1609. The demesne though very beautiful, corresponds with the antiquity of the castle, and the many enclosures in which it is divided. It is highly ornamented with a fine sheet of water, which is covered with swans, Cape Geese, wild duck and a beautiful variety of water-fowl. Around the lake is a pleasant and neat gravel walk decorated with elegant plantations. The park is well stocked with deer and numerous hares sport, through every part of the demesne.'

William Brownlow died July 1815, leaving no family. His brother Charles, succeeded him. Charles died 11th Sept., 1822, leaving three sons, William, who was killed in Spain in 1813, Charles, who later became Lord Lurgan and Rev. John Bligh, incumbent of Sandgate, Kent."

from The Brownlow Family and The Rise of Lurgan ^{3 4}

Michael married Ellen. (Ellen was born about 1781 and died on 26 February 1847 in Annaloist, Shankill parish, County Armagh, Ireland ⁵.)