First Generation - to 1878/1881
John & Sarah Wilkinson
The Wilkinson Family Bible lists John as being married to Sarah and his death is recorded as 11 March 1878. Sarah died on 31 August 1881. Although no place is mentioned, their son Thomas, wife Margaret O'Hara and their young family lived at Coolkill, Benburb, Co Tyrone, N.Ireland at the time and so they may have spent their final years there, as it was common for elderly parents to live with and be supported by their eldest son and his family. I have records of the birth of Thomas' and Margaret's first 4 children showing that they lived in Coolkill from 1875 to at least 1880, but I can't locate any birth records in Tyrone from 1882 on - for the next four of their eight children - although I have exact birth dates, no places of birth. After Sarah died, maybe they moved? Third son John was in Belfast where he married in 1907.
John Wilkinson is said to have migrated from York, Yorkshire, England but I have yet to confirm this. There is a record of the marriage in York of a John Wilkinson to a Sarah Bainbridge in 1846 (Jan, Feb, Mar 1846, registered York, Vol. 23, page 633). Now John and Sarah's son Thomas was born in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, N.Ireland in 1952. If these John and Sarah are my great-great grandparents then they would have had to migrate to Tyrone between those years; which is odd since this was during the Irish potato famine of 1845 - 1849.
What happened before 1852? What was the attraction of Tyrone? And why Dungannon? At least 3 generations of Wilkinsons were engineers. Perhaps John Wilkinson (d.1878) was one too? Did the construction and maintenance of the Ulster canal (opened in 1841) or the booming linen mills of Clonfeacle require his skills?
The Family Bible
The family Bible is the primary source of information on John & Sarah's descendants. I suspect it was presented to their son Thomas by his parents as the detailed entries commence with Thomas. He was probably responsible for the initial entries which subsequent generations have maintained. There is no mention of Thomas having siblings, so if there were it would be nice to have this confirmed. There are no dates given for his parent's birth dates or marriage date.
Clonfeacle Parish and Dungannon
In 1852 the Wilkinson family lived in Coolhill, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, (Coolhill is a townland and now a SE suburb of Dungannon). After marriage, Thomas and Margaret lived at Coolkill (not a misprint) townland, Benburb, Clonfeacle parish, Tyrone county. The Parish of Clonfeacle straddles the Blackwater River, the boundary between Counties Tyrone and Armagh. Benburb is both a town and a district in Clonfeacle parish. (See also maps: Clonfeacle, Co Tyrone (15); Clonfeacle, Co Armagh (4)).
An area referred to locally as "bog-land", Blackwater country is ow-lying and marshy land ideal for the growing of linen-flax. Frequently enshrouded in ground fog and mist, the Blackwater River, after leaving the Benburb gorge, drains this area into Lough Neagh ("48 feet above the sea at low water"). The river is well-named as the acidic waters from the anoxic marshland contains dark-brown tannins leached from the flaxes and bull-rushes growing in the bog-land.
The Clonfeacle area is famous for its quality linen and the damp climate ideal for weaving. The town of Moygashel, near Dungannon, is a mill town and mills have been in operation there since 1795. The town has lent its name to a distinctive linen weave with a characteristic puckered texture. The weave has lost much of its popularity over the past 4 to 5 decades with most Irish Linen now imported from Europe and China.
The now derelict 74 km Ulster canal, built between 1825 & 1841 to link the Erne system and the Shannon river with Lough Neagh, more or less follows the Blackwater river upstream from Moy so allowing the transport of manufactured products (linen) & peat, mined in the area, to other places such as Belfast. Visit the Ulster canal at Milltown, near Benburb, Clonfeacle.
Territorial Divisions of Ireland
A description of the varous teritorial divisions used in Ireland (Parish, County, Townland, &c) is available from the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland: www.proni.gov.uk/geogindx/geoghelp.htm#mapkey
Ireland is sub-divided in a very unique way; four provinces into 32 counties, counties into baronies, baronies into parishes, and parishes into Townlands. County Armagh has 27 civil parishes ( not including Magheralin being part of county Down and Kildarton being newly formed after 1851 from surrounding parishes).
The Townland is a unique feature of the Irish landscape and is one of the most ancient divisions in the country pre-dating parishes and counties. The origins of the Townland remains obscure but they are undoubtedly of great antiquity and were eventually written down in anglicised form. There are over than 64,000 Townlands in Ireland (over 1200 in county Armagh ) and Townlandscan vary enormously in size, from a one acre to more than seven thousand acres.
They were used as the smallest geographical unit in the Tithe Applotment Survey (1815-1838) and the Griffith 's Valuation Survey (1848-1864) and various Census returns. The Townland name usually referred to an identifiable feature of the landscape such as Clonmore 'great meadow' Names of people who have lived in a particular place can also be reflected in the name of the Townland such as Ballymacdermot 'McDermot's townland'.
Some Townlands in Ireland derived their names from early habitation sites such as Dun (meaning fort) or Cill/Kil (meaning church). If you are researching your family in Ireland , the Townland of origin is one of the best pieces of information you can have to start tracing them. The parish is also important as many counties have several Townlands of the same name, for example there are four Townlands called Cabragh in county Armagh. <http://www.sagp.org/townlandatoz.php>
Dungannon to Belfast to Geelong, Australia
Thomas (1852 - 1926) was born in Dungannon and his wife Margaret O'Hara (also occasionally written as "Margret") came from Moy, Clonfeacle, Co. Tyrone. Thomas was living in Coolhill (adj Dungannon) and Margaret in Gortshalgan (adj Dungannon) when they were married. They were both 22 at the time and Margaret may have moved fom Moy into the larger Dungannon town for work.
It is not known when the family left Tyrone, but by 1900 Thomas was founder member of the St Donnard Church of Ireland, Bloomfield, Belfast. The family and descendants remained in and around Belfast until, after WW2, married son Thomas (1914 - 1990) and married daughter Anna (1910 - 1991) migrated with their families to Geelong, Australia. More of that story in later pages.
