Elizabeth (Izod) Nickson (abt. 1737 - 1786)

Born about 21 Aug 1737 in Aghold, Wicklow, Ireland

Wife of Lorenzo Nickson — married 21 Aug 1773 in Diocese of Cork and Ross, County Cork, Ireland

Descendants

Died 1786 at about age 48 in County Wicklow, Ireland

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Biography

It has been suggested that Elizabeth was born on 21 Aug 1737, at Aghold, in County Wicklow, Ireland, although these details seem unlikely to be correct. It is more likely that Elizabeth was born around 1750, at Wilton, in County Cork, Ireland, where her parents resided. She was the daughter and heiress of Kevan Izod esq., and his wife Lydia Lawton. Elizabeth was also the heiress of her uncle, William Izod esq., of Chapelizod, in Kells, County Kilkenny, which was the ancestral estate of the wealthy Izod family. William Izod, the rightful heir to the Chapelizod Estate, had died in 1789. His brother, Kevan Izod, the surviving male heir, died in 1797, and the Izod estate then passed to Elizabeth. The Izod name was added to her own family's surname after her marriage, to continue this prestigious family line. The Izod family, who were probably of English extraction, were living in Kilfernagh in County Kilkenny in the early 1600’s. They had accumulated land, and by 1770 had established a demesne called Chapelizod, at Grovebeg, in County Kilkenny.

On 21 Aug 1773, Elizabeth married Lorenzo Nickson esq., of Munny, in County Wicklow. They were married at Ross, in County Cork. They are believed to have had about nine children together, some of whom died in infancy.

Elizabeth appears to have died in 1786. Her burial was recorded that year in the parish register at Aghold, in County Wicklow. She was recorded as "Mrs Elizabeth Nickson, wife of Lorenzo Nickson esq.,". The presiding church minister was her brother-in-law, the Rev. Joseph Bunbury. He made a special note of his service in the parish register, suggesting that he was not the usual minister of the church at that time. It appears that her youngest child, Frances, has a date of birth in 1787, after Elizabeth's death. It may be that Frances was actually baptized on that later date, suggesting that Elizabeth may have died around the time Frances was born. It is also worth noting that some sources have Elizabeth's death occurring in 1814, which requires an explanation of the entry in the Aghold parish register, which seems quite unambiguous. The 1814 death may have been that of Lorenzo's sister, Elizabeth Nickson, who "died a spinster".

Research Notes

The Aghold parish register from the time of Elizabeth's birth is missing, and it is suspected that some confusion has been made due to her residence around Aghold after her marriage. It is not known where the specific date given has come from. The birth dates of her children suggest that she was probably born some years later than the date provided, probably around 1750.

It seems that Elizabeth Izod was in fact buried at Aghold, in 1786, although some sources suggest she may have died in 1814, in reference to a will from Apr 1814. The will from 1814 may relate to Lorenzo's elder sister, Elizabeth Nickson, who according to her niece Henrietta Maria Hickey, "died a spinster".

There is (currently) no evidence that Elizabeth changed her surname to Nickson after her marriage. Some of her children appear to have hyphenated their surname as Nickson-Izod and or had Izod as a middle name. After one or two generations, the Nickson name washed out and some of her grandchildren had only Izod as their surname. See some further discussion on the page for Lorenzo Nickson Izod.

Sources

• Birth/Death: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9KD6-8HF

• Marriage: Platt, Lyman, Irish Records Extraction Database, Ancestry.com, (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999).

• Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage License Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WGW8-PB6Z : 3 December 2019), Lorenzo Nickson in entry for Elizabeth Izod, 1773.

• Purcell, Michael (ed.), 'Family Chronicle' (1862), by Henrietta Maria Hickey, Pat Purcell Papers, London, 2012. A six-part online series of edited extracts from a 52 page letter of personal reminiscences produced by Henrietta Maria Hickey for her family in 1862 (IrishGenealogicalProjects.com). (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6).

• Burke's Peerage 5th Edition 1871 - The Landed Gentry - Izod of Chapel Izod House

• Chapelizod House, GROVEBEG, KILKENNY, National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH), https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12402714/chapelizod-house-grovebeg-kilkenny

• MacConaill, Rod, 'The Travers & Other Partners in The Royal Irish Gunpowder Mills at Ballincollig', Times Past: Journal of Muskerry Local History Society, Volume 11, 2014-15, ISSN 0791-1203, (https://muskerryhistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/times-past-2014-15final.pdf), pp. 13 - 21.

• Burial of Elizabeth Nickson, IrishGenealogy.ie, (https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=c-522-1-1-051), "Mrs. Elizabeth Nickson wife of Lorenzo Nickson esq"., Aghold, 1786.