Mark,
There are plenty of records in PRONI describing what happened after the
rebellion was over. MIC575/1 is the Black Book of the rebellion. Lots of
documents on microfilm in it. Plus PRONI has other correspondence between Pitt
(Prime Minister) & Castlereagh (Chief Secretary in Ireland) about action to be
taken. There was agreement that in general the rank and file soldiers who had
survived the main battles should have no further action taken against them. A
handful of leaders were to be executed “pour encourager les autres” (as
Voltaire commented about the execution of Admiral Byng), but the main problem
was what to do with middle ranking officers, who might possibly reorganise and
try again. The decision was to interview them and warn them they faced trial
for treason (penalty death) but that if they agreed to leave Ireland and never
return, no further action would be taken. (Their families could accompany them,
if they wished). Many took advantage of that and left for America. So they are
likely some of the folk who volunteered in the 1812 war.
John Caldwell of Ballymoney was one of those middle ranking officers who chose
to leave in this way. He had been in business in Belfast and Ballymoney before
1798 and later started a business in America. He wrote an autobiography in the
1840s. Several hundred pages (T3541/5/3 in PRONI) but if anyone wants to read a
detailed account of life in Ulster in the 1790s as well as what happened in and
around Ballymoney in the rebellion, then it makes a good read. It mentions that
the American Consul in Belfast intervened in some cases and got agreement for
people sentenced to death to be transported instead (including John Caldwell’s
brother Edward).
I believe that Belfast is the US’s oldest consulate anywhere in the world still
open today. So there are long established links between Ulster and the US.
Elwyn
On Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 16:13:02 BST, Mark S. Painter via CoTyroneList
<[email protected]> wrote:
Interesting conversation, Here in Northwestern Pennsylvania the land was
settled from 1795 with the majority of the setters came after 1798, and at
least in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, well over 50% of the settlers were from
Northern Ireland. This includes those who had emigrated decades before and
those who were new immigrants. During the War of 1812 the militia was tasked
with protecting the port of Erie while they built Commodore Perry's fleet.
There was a newspaper ad posted in the Western Press published in the town of
Mercer to the effect that the veterans from the rebellion of 1798 were ready to
fight the British, so there miust have been quite a few of them among the
settlers. There are some biographies that mention a few the settlers part in
the 1798 rebellion, but they were written from 1872 and by that time much of
the families history had been forgotten. Mark
On Sat, May 2, 2026 at 8:52 AM Susan Elliott via CoTyroneList
<[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you so very much Elwyn for taking the time to provide such a
comprehensive summary of the Rebellion.
My earliest record from Stewartstown 1st is a baptism on 18 April 1818/1819 of
a Sally (Sarah) Johnston. The PRONI Ref is Baptisms 1814-1871 MIC/1/P48/1. Her
Father was John Johnston of Dernagh Parish of Clonoe and mother Belle Rainey.
This couple remain my brick wall as despite exhaustive searches I have not been
able to find a marriage nor baptism for either of them. Subsequent children
were baptised at Stewartstown 1st with John and Belle living at different
locations. At least one daughter was married there in the early 1850’s. I
have spread my searches over a very wide area. There are Johnstons and Raineys
in various places but I have not been able to link them to my John and Belle.
I assume that Belle was Arabella as that Christian name has been used in
subsequent generations of the family.
As an aside John Johnston became a Bailiff for William Blacker who was
appointed in 1831 ‘agent’ for the Commissioners of Irish Education to manage
the Dungannon Royal School Lands (Plantation – Royal Schools – 1614). He was
ultimately responsible for the condition of the lands and the tenants.
John would have been very unpopular as a rent collector and there is the
following reference in a publication titled "The Faire Field" by James Walshe
and Wilfred Dilworth:
In October 1842 one of Blacker's bailiff's called Johnston attempted to build a
new house for himself in Derrytresk but it was alleged that locals pulled his
house down at an early stage. In consequence the town-land was fined £12-10-0.
They petitioned the Commissioners on the 31st December 1844 complaining that
the house had fallen down by itself and indeed that'sometime in September last
(1843) this Johnston was building on the same ground and the new house fell
down too, in open day, as God would have it'despite the fact that it was built
of better materials than the original house, which was built using sticks'newly
risen out of the bog and in a wet late season of the year'. The tenants
protested that 'if it had fell at night he (Johnston) would have had it (a
fine) on the townland' as in the case of the former house."
In Griffiths Valuation of Ireland ~1848-1864 John is shown to be a tenant of
the Commissioner of Endowed Schools in Derrytresk.
John died in Derrytresk in 1863.
Thank you again Elwyn
Susan
From: Elwyn Soutter <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, 2 May 2026 7:27 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Susan Elliott <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [CoTyroneMailingList] 1798 Rebellion
Susan,
I have never seen any evidence of deliberate decisions to destroy Presbyterian
records because of the 1798 rebellion. My experience is simply that in many
cases in the 1700s Ministers never kept any records, mainly because they had
never been instructed to do so by Synod. That changed around the 1820s, and
they started to keep them a bit more regularly but even then gaps remained.
You may also be told that many were lost in the 1922 fire. No Presbyterian
records were ever kept in the Public Record Office so that’s a myth.
But some Presbyterian records were lost in the 1798 rebellion. In Maghera in Co
Derry & Ballymoney in Co Antrim, the army set fire to the roofs of the homes of
folk believed to be involved in the rebellion. Since pretty well every house in
both towns had a thatched roof it meant almost all the houses caught fire and
were destroyed. And in both towns the Presbyterian churches also caught fire or
were deliberately burned by the army and any records held there were nearly all
lost. (Some fragments were rescued from Ballymoney 1st, covering the mid 1700s,
and you can see burn marks on them. They are held in Union Theological College
in Belfast). But they weren’t burned on purpose by the congregation or the
Minister and presumably if there had been no fire we’d have the Ballymoney
records today.
Some Presbyterian churches did keep early records, and they are still around
today. So why were they not destroyed if that was the rule? At least 6 churches
in Co Antrim have records for the 1700s and in some cases the late 1600s. But
in others they simply never kept any records in the first place. And some were
lost for other reasons than the 1798 uprising. Here’s an 1848 quotation from
Rev Witherow’s book on the history of Maghera Presbyterian church. The Maghera
Minister there in 1798 (Rev Glendy) was involved in the 1798 uprising and
fled/was allowed to slip away to America. His successor was Rev Charles Kennedy
who was appointed around 1801.
Maghera January 21st 1848
Shortly after my ordination in this congregation as Assistant to the Rev.
Charles Kennedy and Successor to Rev. Smylie Robson now Missionary to the Jews
at Damascus, I made application to the Senior Pastor for any documents in his
possession that might throw light upon the history of our Congregation, but he
informed me that by some accident most of all the records in his possession had
been destroyed - he did not tell me however that he had any older than his own
time, but said that on order of the Synod of Ulster had had at an early period
of his ministry written a history of the Congregation which had been given in
to the body, but he did not know what had come of it. I received no public
documents whatever from him.
As far as Stewartstown 1st is concerned, that church was only established in
1790, so there were never going to be any earlier records there anyway. (Their
baptisms start in 1814). Stewartstown 2nd was established in 1817 (baptisms
from 1827). Stewartstown 1st has marriage records for 1820 -27 which are in
Cookstown 3rd’s records. Don’t ask me why. A travelling Minister perhaps.
Regarding Presbyterian participation in the uprising more generally,it would be
wrong to assume that everyone was involved. Many were, but many weren’t and
didn’t really support it. That’s one of the factors behind their fairly
comprehensive defeat. With a few exceptions they did not have the support
necessary to overthrow the army. They didn’t have sufficient weapons, weren’t
very experienced nor particularly well led (in military terms). They were also
massively infiltrated by Government informants. These were all important
factors. But a lot of the population didn’t support the uprising at all, or at
least sufficiently to take part. In the descriptions of the battle of Antrim
the leaders noted that as the unit marched from Donegore to Antrim town quite a
number left saying “they needed to go to the toilet” and did not return.
Perhaps their hearts weren’t really in it? You’ll note that after 1798 the
United Irishmen were never heard of again. There’s a reason for that. They knew
it was a lost cause without sufficiently widespread support. And, a few years
later, as the industrial revolution started to get going in Britain and Belfast
in the early 1800s, these same Presbyterians suddenly found new sources of
employment that quickly made them pro-Crown. Their descendants in Ireland today
are now the folk who don’t want a United Ireland and who remain fiercely loyal
to the Crown.
A fascinating subject.
Elwyn
On Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 09:06:08 BST, Susan Elliott via CoTyroneList
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello
Has anyone done any research on the impact of the 1798 Rebellion on church
records in County Tyrone? I understood that mainly Co Tyrone was affected.
On a visit to Stewartstown Presbyterian Church in 2012 I was advised that
records earlier than those accessible today probably do not exist as they had
to be destroyed to protect people’s identities. Is this correct and if so,
would there be a record of affected churches?
Kind regards
Susan Elliott
Melbourne Australia
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