Sarah (Widney) Linn (1757 - 1810)

Born 1757 in Killymurry, County Monaghan, Ireland

Ancestors

Wife of Hugh Linn — married 1777 in Ulster, Ireland

Descendants

Died 18 Feb 1810 at about age 53 in Concord, Franklin, Pennsylvania, USA

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Biography

The Widney family was reported by Dr. George Wilds Linn to be Dutch in origin and to have owned an estate in County Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland.^[1] His account was based on the recollections of his grandfather, who was just three when the family left Ireland for America, and of other elderly family members. How accurate those recollections are, and how much of Dr. Linn's account is supposition based on those recollections, are unknown. However, we can know that the account is not without error.

First, in all the document transcripts and extracts at the website of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, there is not one mention of a Widney, of any spelling, living in County Tyrone. To the contrary, records do exist that prove the Widney family lived instead in County Monaghan, at least as early as 1713, and owned property in Monaghan, i.e. Killymurry, in 1724 and perhaps before.^[2] The 1724 record is a deed of marriage settlement between James Widney "the elder" [Sarah Widney's great-grandfather] and James Widney "the younger" [her grandfather] conveying one-half the townlands of Killymurry. The property remained with the Widneys for another 60 years. On 6 March 1784, Sarah's brother James sold Killymurry to John Sparrow and William Armstrong jointly. The property was described as 39 acres 3 rods and 15 perches.^[3]

Second, the Widneys were not Dutch but Scottish. Notably, while there is not one record of a birth or baptism of Widneys in The Netherlands, Widney is the phonetic spelling of the Scottish surname Udny. Native Scottish folk singer Jock Duncan has this to say about the Scottish folk song "Bonnie Udny" : "I've heard many versions o it - an tunes an aa, fen I wis young. Widney wis the pronunciation. Never naebody heard o Udny: 'It's Widney boy - are ye gaun doun tae Widney the nicht?'"^[4] In fact, the 1875 "New History of Aberdeenshire [Scotland]" states that name Udny "has been spelled Widney and Uldeny, and it derives its name from the barony and family Udny of Udny, who have possessed the estate for several generations."^[5]

What of the family tradition that Col. Widney, ancestor of this family, was in the Dutch army? The truth, proven in historical records, is that one Oliver Udny was a Captain in the Scots Brigade in Service of the United Netherlands from 1607 to 1610 and subsequently acquired land in Cran, County Cavan, Ireland. Oliver appears in Cavan in 1621 and 1630. Cran is 33 miles almost due south of Killymurry.

One item in Dr. Linn's account which is accurate is that the Linns and Widneys eventually left the Calvinist faith of their Scottish Presbyterian forebears for the Wesleyan doctrine which resulted in Methodism. While Sarah's great-grandfather Widney was a leader in the Presbytery of Monaghan^[6][7], the family became Methodists by the time they left Ireland.

In America, Sarah and Hugh raised eight of their nine children, one frail son having been left in the care of an aunt in Ireland. They made a home in the sparsely populated, mountainous region of northern Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Around their home and the homes of Sarah's brothers grew the village of Concord.

Hugh and Sarah are buried in the Concord Union Cemetery.

Gravestone of Sarah Linn nee Widney

Sources

1. ↑ Linn, Dr. George Wilds : History of a Fragment of the Clan Linn in America, (1905)
2. ↑ http://www.house-of-lynn.com/james_widney_i.html : Republic of Ireland Deed Grantors Book 121, pp. 254-5, Registered #82844
3. ↑ http://www.house-of-lynn.com/james_widney_iv.html : Republic of Ireland Deed Grantors Book 368, pp. 65-6 : 1784 Indented Deed of Assignment from James Widney [IV].
4. ↑ Native Scottish folk singer Jock Duncan: "Widney wis the pronunciation [of Udny].", bottom of page at http://www.springthyme.co.uk/1039/cd39_08.htm
5. ↑ https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/ABD/Udny/description : "A New History of Aberdeenshire" (1875), Smith, Alexander Ed.
6. ↑ Killen, Rev. W. D., D.D. : History of Congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Belfast and Edinburgh (1886)
7. ↑ General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland : Records of the General Synod of Ulster, from 1691 to 1820, Vol. I: 1691-1720, Belfast (1890)

Note

• Media: Personal Correspondence Wilbur J. "Johnny" Weight Publication: 703 SW Charleston Avenue, Lee's Summit, Missouri 64081-2470, 1998