John Hamilton (abt. 1710)

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Tracy Hope [send private message]

Biography

John was born about 1710. ^[1]

This is the earliest connected Hamilton I can source for Fintragh House, Killybegs, County Donegal. The Hamiltons were Ulster Plantation settlers in the early 17th century and were documented as established in Killybegs by 1619.

The town of Killybegs, which may already have been occupied by Irish, was "officially" founded in the early 17th century. "On the plantation of Ulster, 200 acres of land were granted by King James I. to Roger Jones, Esq., on condition of his laying out the site of a town, building 20 houses with lands for burgesses, and assigning convenient spots for market-places, a church and churchyard, a public school and playground, and 30 acres of common." The described town is Killybegs^[2].

While the baronies of Boylagh and Bannagh were originally granted to eight different undertakers during the Plantation, every single undertaker withdrew, either never leaving Scotland or decamping again. The lands then came under the control of a single overseer, Sir Robert Gordon, and then eventually most of Boylagh and Bannagh became the property of John Murray of Broughton.^[3]

The Statistical Survey of the County of Donegal (1802) gives John Murray, Esq. (later Earl of Annandale) as undertaker of baronies Boylagh and Bannagh (also written as Banagh) soon after the Plantation. He was granted 10,000 acres by James I, and leased 1,000 acres to "Wm. Hamilton, Gent., and to some others".^[4][5]

The original Hamilton settlers at Killybegs were William and James Hamilton, brothers. William was the first Protestant minister at Killybegs, and by 1619 was living in a "clay and stone" house near the ruins of Ancient St. Catherine's church. James was the High Constable of Killybegs at the same time, and leased land both in the town of Killybegs and the entire nearby ballyboe of Drumbeagh, along the hill near where Fintragh would later stand.

The above William may be a William Hamilton of Howden "of the Woodhall (Scotland) family", rector of Killybeg in 1627, died before 1654. He was married to a Agnes Walkinshaw.^[6]

In 1630 a John Hamilton, Esq. is listed in "A Muster Rolle of ye Province of Ulster" under the Bishop of Rapho[e]^[7]. He is likely to be the son of either WIlliam or James.

In the Irish census (Pender, 1659), a James Hamilton, gent, is listed as landowner (tituladoe) of the townland of "Fentraugh, Killebegs". However there are no sources linking John, above, to James, beyond both being resident of Fintragh and therefore clearly related.^[8]

James Hamilton, gentleman, County Donegal, Barony of Boylagh and Banagh, Killebegs parish, Fentraugh Quarter 3 Eng/Scot 37 Irish

In the 1665 Hearth Money Roll for the Barony of Bannagh, a Francis Hamilton is recorded as having two hearths at Fintragh.^[9]

A deed dated 1669 passes the lease of the land of James Hamilton, late of Fintragh, to his son Alexander. Based on dates, Alexander may be John's father or, more likely, grandfather. Presumably the James Hamilton of the deed is the same James Hamilton as in the 1659 census and also likely to be the original James Hamilton, Constable of Killybegs.

Sources

1. ↑ Unsourced family tree handed down to Tracy (Frisken) Hope.
2. ↑ Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837.
3. ↑ County Donegal & the Plantation of Ulster. Ulster-Scots Community Network. 2010, www.ulster-scots.com/uploads/uscndonegal400.pdf.
4. ↑ McParlan, James, M.D. Statistical Survey of the County of Donegal. (1802). Dublin: Graisberry & Campbell. p.123.
5. ↑ Hill, Rev. George. (1877). An Historical Account of the Plantation in Uster at the Commencement of the Seventeenth Century. Belfast: McCaw, Stevenson & Orr. http://archive.org/stream/anhistoricalacc04hillgoog#page/n6/mode/2up
6. ↑ Hamilton, George. A History of the House of Hamilton. Edinburgh: Printed by J. Skinner & Co, 1933. p. 950.
7. ↑ Mervine, William M. “The Scotch Settlers in Raphoe, County Donegal, Ireland. A Contribution to Pennsylvania Genealogy.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 36, no. 3, 1912, pp. 257–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20085598.
8. ↑ Pender, 1659. Census of Ireland. http://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/digital/censusofireland1659/index.html, pp. 74-75, accessed 15 April 2020.
9. ↑ Donegal Genealogy Resources: 1665 Hearth Money Roll for the Barony of Bannagh. http://donegalgenealogy.com/hmrbannagh.htm, accessed 1 January 2022.

• Patrick Conaghan, "Bygones...New Horizons on the History of Killybegs", privately published, Killybegs, 1989. pp.105-106.