Hello County Armagh Message Board,
One of my ancestors was a man named Hugh Montgomery who was born December 25, 1801 in County Tyrone. However, I found several newspaper articles about him in the Belfast Newsletter (through Ancestry.com) and two of those articles mentioned that he was from "Grange, Armagh". His wife was from near Markethill, County Armagh and all their nine children were born at Oona Bridge (Carrowbeg Townland, County Tyrone), so I am unfamiliar with Grange and Salters Grange and would like to request assistance with my research.
Here are the two newspaper articles I am referring to.
1. A marriage announcement for one of his daughters in “The Belfast Newsletter”, published Belfast, Monday morning, February 27, 1871, under “Marriages”.
EWART-MONTGOMERY—February 22, at the First Presbyterian Church, Armagh, by the Rev. Jackson Smyth, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Lindsay, Drumbanagher, Robert, only son of John Ewart, Esq., Tullyhappy, near Newry, to Anna Eliza, eldest daughter of Hugh Montgomery, Esq., Fairview House, Grange, Armagh.
2. A death announcement for his wife Jane in the “Belfast Newsletter”, published Belfast, Saturday, June 30, 1883, under “Deaths”.
MONTGOMERY—June 27, at San Francisco, Jane, the beloved wife of Hugh Montgomery, Esq., formerly of Salters Grange, Armagh.
My research on townlands.ie has suggested that Salters Grange and Grange, Armagh are connected like this: Salters Grange is a townland in the Grange (ONeilland West portion) Civil Parish in the ONeilland West Barony in County Armagh.
Was there a Fairview House in Salters Grange? Did houses have names assigned to them back then? How does one find more information about the Montgomerys in Salters Grange? What about the Fairview House?
Unless I am reading these articles wrong and the Grange reference is for the daughter Annie Eliza and the wife Jane. There's a third newspaper article about Hugh and one of his sons, Hugh Jr. It's a death notice for Hugh Jr. in the "Belfast Newsletter", published Belfast, Friday, August 6, 1886.
MONTGOMERY—July 29, at San Francisco, California. Hugh, third son of Hugh Montgomery, formerly of Onna Bridge, near Duegannon, County Tyrone.
I think Duegannon is a typo---the scanned image is not the best so I think it's Dungannon, but Benburb is the closest town. So it is possible that the Grange reference are for the ladies, not for Hugh Sr.
Any help in figuring out what Fairview House in Salters Grange or Grange would be appreciated. I think Grange is a civil parish (part of it is) in the barony of ONeilland West and Salters Grange is a townland in the Grange townland. Did houses or farms have names assigned to them back then?
Thank you.
USA-Researcher
Sunday 26th Jan 2020, 11:34PMMessage Board Replies
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Salters Grange is a townland, in the parish of Grange, in Co Armagh. There were no Montgomery households listed in it in Griffiths Valuation of 1864 but the way I read Jane’s death notice, it was her who came from there, not Hugh, so we’d be looking for family with whatever her maiden name was, not Montgomery.
The Newry Telegraph of 12th August 1871 does have an advert from Hugh Montgomery of Fairview House, Grange, in which he is described as the proprietor of a 40 acre farm in Salter’s Grange, which he was putting up for sale. However the Valuation Revision records for that year don’t show him as landlord of any land in that townland. Possibly it was in his wife’s family’s name.
Salters Grange is a mile or two north of the city of Armagh. Today the modern Salter’s Grange Rd runs through the middle of it.
I can’t locate Fairview House. It had the postal address Grange which is the parish name, and is broadly an area around the town of Loughgall (including Salter’s Grange). I have had a look for Fairview on the Griffiths maps but don’t see it. You could try e-mailing the local studies section at Armagh Library. Someone there may have heard of it. I would mention that it existed in the 1800s, in case it’s not there today (which I suspect is the case):
armagh.library@librariesni.org.uk
The average house in rural Ireland didn’t have a name in the 1800s, nor a road name or house number. Normally your name and your townland were sufficient to identify you and get a letter delivered. Only wealthy folk had houses with names. So this is likely to have been a more significant property in the area.
Grange usually signifies land that once belonged to a monastery. So there are lots of townlands and areas called Grange, all over Ireland.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 27th Jan 2020, 09:21PM -
Dear Elwyn,
Thank you so very much for all the very helpful information you just posted.
Jane's last name was Moneypenny or Monypeny. Her parents were Charles Moneypenny and Johanna Simpsons. Jane was, according to my family history, born near Markethill, but when my family contacted Timeline Research a few years ago, they found a birth record for Jane (born 1823), her father Charles (born 1778) and her brother Charles Jr. (born 1821). All were born in "Carbenack, Carrowbrack, County Armagh". Timeline Research did not know where Carbenack was, but Timeline Research said they found the birth information on www.familysearch.org. When I checked that website, the user who had posted the birth information did not cite his/her sources, so I'm not 100% sure. I've made another post on this website about Carbenack, Carrowbrack. It should be under general County Armagh. I suspect Carrowbrack was one of the older electoral divisions in County Armagh. If Jane was from Salters Grange, perhaps this is where (if it's the right information for the right family) Carbenack was?
The timeline for Hugh selling Fairview House matches the timeline for the family immigrating to America. They came to America, in small groups, in the late 1860's to early 1870's. All of them were living in Nevada or California (depending on who it was) by the mid-1870's. I have the family in the Nevada State Census in 1875, so the timeline of Hugh trying to sell Fairview House in 1871 makes sense. Jane's brother Charles Jr. left for America in the early 1860's which would explain how/why Hugh came to be identified with Fairview House. Hugh appears in the Griffith's Valuations for Onna Bridge in the Carrowbeg Townland in County Tyrone as a leasee.
I will email the library and find out what information, if any, exists on Fairview House.
Thank you so very much for all your help.
USA-Researcher
USA-Researcher
Tuesday 28th Jan 2020, 07:06AM -
Carbenack etc looks to me to be a garbled transcription. Possibly taken from a set of church records that were hard to read. If the Moneypenny family was Church of Ireland, and lived in Salters Grange, the Grange parish records start in 1780, so you might find Jane & her brother’s baptisms there. The records don’t appear to be on-line anywhere but there is a set in PRONI in Belfast. A personal visit is required to view them. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Tuesday 28th Jan 2020, 10:17AM