William
Lightfoot
Born about in Ulster, Ireland
Ancestors 
Son of Thomas Lightfoot
and Mary (Unknown) Lightfoot
Brother of
Katherine (Lightfoot) Miller, Michael Lightfoot, Abigail (Lightfoot) Wiley [half], Elizabeth (Lightfoot) Jones [half], Sarah Lightfoot [half], Samuel Lightfoot [half], Margaret (Lightfoot) Starr [half] and Jacob Lightfoot [half]
Husband of
Isabel (Holmes) Lightfoot
— married
25 Apr 1706 in Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland
[children unknown]
Died about
at about age 74
in Ireland
Profile last modified
| Created 27 Jan 2013
This page has been accessed 583 times.
Contents |
Biography
William was a Friend (Quaker)
William Lightfoot was a Quaker. He was probably born in Ulster in about 1680 to parents Thomas Lightfoot) and his first wife Mary, about whom nothing else is known. (See 'Research notes.') William's father Thomas was widowed between 1683 when brother Michael was born and 1692 when Thomas announced his intention of marrying Sarah Wiley, a widow with 2 children. Thomas had become a Quaker by 1691, and Sarah Wiley was also a Quaker. (See Thomas Lightfoot's profile.)
Thomas and Sarah had a daughter, Katherine, in Lisburn in late 1693 or early 1694, and in 1694 they and their family moved from Lisburn to Ballykeran in county Westmeath. The family of John Wyly (the brother of Sarah's first husband) moved with them and took the neighbouring farm at Annagh. The Lightfoots and the Wylys had mixed farms, with arable crops and sheep. (See Thomas Lightfoot's profile.)
In April 1706, Willilam Lightfoot of Ballykeeran, Westmeath, married Isabel Holmes of Lehinchy, King's county in a Quaker ceremony at Moate, co Westmeath. [1] The couple did not have any children. It was a double wedding, as his brother Michael married Mary Newby in the same place on the same day. [2]
After the wedding, his parents moved from Ballykeeran to Benown, a couple of miles to the north, (See Thomas Lightfoot's profile.) and William and his bride stayed at Ballykeeran.
There may already have been some plan by members of the family to emigrate to Pennsylvania. Certainly William's brother Michael emigrated with his wife and their step-brother John Wiley in 1712. In 1716, William's father, step-mother, sister Abigail, her new husband Joseph Wiley and William's unmarried siblings also emigrated there. They were followed in 1729, by William's elder sister Katherine and her husband James Miller. William was the only one of the family to remain in Ireland, although he did visit his father there in 1725. [3]
William Lightfoot was a very active member of the Society of Friends. In his History of the Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers in Ireland', [4] Thomas Wight tells us
- A meeting was settled at Waterstown; moved to Ballykeeran in 1736, at the house of William Lightfoot.
Certainly, he appeared very frequently in the minutes of the Moate monthly meeting, the provincial meeting and the national meeting. [5]
No record has been found of the death of Isabel nee Holmes, but she must have died, because in 1748 William Lightfoot of Ballykeeran married Abigail Atkinson of Cumberland in a Quaker ceremony in Mountmellick. [6]
William Lightfoot died intestate. The Prerogative Court of Armagh granted administration of his estate to his widow Abigail on 12 July 1754, [7]
Research Notes
William Lightfoot appears second in his father's will, in which the children are listed in the order of their birth. This places his birth between 1678 (for his elder sister Katherine) and 1683 (for his younger brother Michael). Katherine's mother is listed as Mary on her Quaker family list, and it is assumed that Mary was also William and Michael's mother. Katherine was born in Hollywood, county Down in 1678 and her father was resident in Lisburn, county Antrim (a few miles up the road) in 1691. It is assumed that William and Michael were born nearby.
Previous versions of this profile have stated that William's mother was born Pulford. This is not true; Pulford was the maiden name of his father's third wife.
This family is described in numerous genealogies and other publications, many of which are mistaken about his father's early life. See Thomas Lightfoot's profile for a discussion.
Sources
- ↑ Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Family Lists, image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMM1VM-1%2F0141&parentid=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMARR%2F3239G : accessed 16 February 2024), marriage of William Lightfoot of Ballykeeran co Westmeath and Isabel Holmes of Lehinchy, King's county in Moate, co Westmeath on 20d 1mo (Mar) 1705 (1706); citing Moate MM family lists 1660-1782 with testimonies and minutes, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
- ↑ Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Family Lists, image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FQM1M-2%2F0170&parentid=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMARR%2F6298G : accessed 11 February 2024), marriage of Michael Lightfoot of Ballykeeran co Westmeath and Mary Newby of Waterstown in Waterstown, co Westmeath on 20d 1mo (Mar) 1705 (1706); citing Leinster QM marriage certificates 1664-1711 (approx.), Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
- ↑ Myers, Albert Cook, Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750 : with their early history in Ireland, the author, Swarthmore, Pa., 1902. Section on Thomas Lightfoot ff p 338 (https://archive.org/details/immigrationofiri00myer/page/338/mode/1up?q=Lightfoot&view=theater : accessed 11 February 2024)
- ↑ Wight T., A history of the rise and progress of the people called Quakers in Ireland : from 1653 to 1700. To which is added a continuation ... to ...1751. With an introduction ... and a Treatise of the Christion discipline exercised among the said people by J. Rutty, I. Jackson, Dublin, 1751, p 346 (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101067676641&seq=352&q1=Henderson : accessed 16 March 2024)
- ↑ FindmyPast database with images, search on Irish Quaker congregational records 1740 +/- 40 years for name 'William Lightfoot' (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/results?datasetname=ireland%2c%20society%20of%20friends%20(quaker)%20congregational%20records&firstname=william&firstname_variants=true&lastname=lightfoot&eventyear=1740&eventyear_offset=40&sid=999 : accessed 5 March 2024)
- ↑ Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Family Lists, image, FindMyPast (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id : accessed 05 March 2024), marriage of William Lightfoot of Ballykeeran and Abigail Atkinson daughter of Robert Atkinson of Lawrenceholme in Cumberland deceased in Mountmellick, Queen's county on 14d 6mo (Aug) 1748; citing Leinster QM Marriages 1716-1775, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
- ↑
"Betham Genealogical Abstracts"
Archive: National Archives of Ireland
FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 5 March 2024)
William Lightfoot, Farmer, Ballykein, Westmeath, administration 12 Jul 1754 to Abigail Lightfoot, widow, Notebook: Betham's Genealogical Abstracts. Prerog. Admons. (Int.) L. 1729-1778; Series description: Series 2, admons.: v. 25 "H" 1725-1759 v. 26 "H" 1759-1793 v. 27 "H" 1795-1799 "I-J" 1661-1759 v. 28 "I-J" 1758-1799 "K" 1626-1731 v. 29 "K" 1732-1798 v. 30 "K" 1798-1799 "L" 1620-1727 v. 31 "L" 1729-1778 v. 32 "L" 1778-1779 "M" 1595-1673; Source: Admn; Collection: Genealogical abstracts of records of the Prerogative Court of Armagh.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to George Grazier for creating WikiTree profile Lightfoot-294 through the import of Grazier Family Tree.ged on Jan 24, 2013.
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L > Lightfoot > William Lightfoot
Categories: Moate Monthly Meeting, County Westmeath | Irish Quakers | Lisburn Monthly Meeting, County Antrim
Several changes and additions are required to this profile as a result.
- We should add the Irish Quakers and relevant quaker meeting categories
- William Lightfoot features second in his father's will in which the children are listed in order of birth. He was therefore probably born in Ulster between 1679 (the year after his sister's birth) and 1682 (the year before his brother's birth)
- His mother's name was Mary but not Pulford. Pulford was the maiden name of Thomas Lightfoot's third wife.
- William's father was in Ulster by 1678 at the latest when there is no evidence that he was a Quaker. He did not move there in 1692 to escape persecution.
- William Lightfoot stayed at Ballykeeran, Westmeath, when his father and the other members of the family moved to Bunown.
- Wiliam Lightfoot visited his father in Pennsylvania in 1725, but did not die there. He returned to Westmeath.
- He appears repeatedly in the Quaker minutes until 1750; one reliable-looking source says that the Waterstown meeting (a feeder meeting to the Moate monthly meeting) was held there, but I need to check this.
- William Lightfoot of Ballykeeran married Abigail Atkinson of Cumberland in a Quaker ceremony in Westmeath in 1748.
- He died intestate, probably in 1754 when administration of his estate was granted to his widow Abigail
I have not discovered when Isabel or Abigail died.
Alan