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Previous:     Chapter 17.A: A single Irish source?

Section 17 ; Brush Families in and from Ireland
List of Sections concerning the Irish families

17.D   Crean 'senior', his children and grandchildren

We met Crean senior, Crean junior and John junior in section 17.A2 .  The evidence decisevly connecting them, and another son James, is a deed made on 17 June 1740.  This agreement between Crean and three sons is mentioned by all three; AHB, Burke, and Coyle & Duffy and is perfectly cited with a detailed reference in the deed book.  Yet the cast list differs for each of them.   I had assumed that the original had gone up in the 1922 explosion but a copy is in fact available online.   Clear, readable and comprehensive.   Only those immersed in genealogy will appreciate the fire of excitement on finding such a document.   Known about but hidden out of sight.   Online but never appearing in a search engine.  A full transcript of the deed is in Appendix 17A-deed.

The parties to the deed being recorded are as recorded by Burke.  "John Brush of Killrush and County of Meath Gent James Brush of Dromore and County of Downe [???] and Crean Brush of Omagh and County of Tyrone Gent."  Crean Brush senior, "father to the aforesaid" is referred to in the recitals to the document and is a beneficiary but is not actually a party to it.   Crean senior[Ir12] is referred to as as being of Dromore - not of Omagh.  It would appear he is now living with or near son James.   Crean of Omagh is the son[Ir15].

The deed concerns the "Town Lands" at Darkmoney and a large tenement in Omagh.  Some of the land was already owned by the three brothers and some by Crean senior, subject to a mortgage in favour of John.  The arrangments made between the three brothers, about those properties, are said to be made with the consent of Crean senior though for some reason he is not a party to the deed. It is unclear how these properties came back to the family to be divided up or how and when John lent money and got a mortgae on the property. Darkmoney and other Omagh properties had,in 1735, been transferred to John Brush junior by John Vaughan and then transferred by him to Charles Lyons as discussed below.

The agreement provides that the Omagh tenement is to be repaired at the expense of all three brothers and then sold.  The proceeds of sale are to be paid to John to settle part of the mortgage debt owed to him.

The "Town Lands" at Darkmoney are divided into three parts each to be owned by one of the three brothers.  However the shares of James and Crean junior are subject to an obligation to each of them paying to brother John one third of the mortgage money remaining after the sale of the tenement in Omagh.   Most of the land they are dividing is let out, and some then sublet.  But interestingly the "the parcell of land in Darkmoney now in the immediate occupation of Crean Brush of Omagh" goes to John rather than to Crean himself.

Provision is made for the maintenance of Crean senior and for that of their sister Catherine[Ir16].  The brothers bind themselves to pay (in equal shares) a total of twenty pounds a year to Crean senior for the rest of his life.  They also commit to pay in equal shares a total of £150 to their sister Catherine as a 'fortune' or 'marriage portion'.

 

While the continued existence of Crane[Ir12] is established beyond doubt by the memorialised deed, the connection back to Lt John as his father continues to lack any primary evidence.  Burke and Coyle & Duffy both show it and presumably it appers in the unseen Blackmore Pedigree.

Coyle & Duffy give dates for Crane[Ir12] as 1680 to 1758 but I'm not aware of any primary evidence for this.  By coincidence a later Crane Brush (Crane Richard) died in 1858, age 69 - so born 1778/9.   A birth date of 1680 is not inconsistent with the documented entries for Crean but it is hard to reconcile with the dates I have suggested for Lt. John/John senior. The very first reference to Crean is as a witness to a document in 1710.   This is consistent with the suggested birth date of 1680 but is also consistent with a birth date as late as 1689.  A birth date around 1680 is supported by a deed from 1747 discussed in the passage about grandson Rowland below.

Crane also appears several times in a list of Chancery and Exchequer Bills but not in the period 1735 to 1753.  If these cases are all about property the gap from 1740 ( when the deed of partition was made)to 1753 may be significant - the first 1753 entry involves Rowland, James and Crean so quite possibly Crean junior.  If Crean senior was born

The AHB tree has an entry for Crean of Omagh, son of Lt.or Capt. John, though it appears to say he died at 1730.   Which cannot be right, unless there is a further Crean one generation back.   Both Crean[Ir12] and Crean [Ir15] are alive at 1740.

There is also a suggestion,by Burke, that Crane[IR12] had a fourth son Roland (or Rowland) Ash-Brush born around 1710.  This suggestion appears in multiple trees on Ancestry (often listing him as a half-brother) but none of them seem to cite any sources for this.   It also appears in the articles by Coyle & Duffy. In earlier versions of this chapter I wrote that I was suspicious of this, if only because he is not mentioned at all in the 1740 memorialised deed.  I now feel confident in saying that the suggestion is wrong.  John 'junior' [IRxx], the son of Crane married Elizabeth Ashe, probably sometime around 1730. In 1740 he makes a will in which he names his son as Roland Ash Brush, using his wife's maiden name as the middle name of his son - a common practice.  It is clear he is a grandchild of Crean senior rather than a son.

AHB, even more wildly, suggests that Thomas Rowland Ash Brush was a brother of Capt James Brush and died in Cologne on 1 November 1744. Such detail yet hard to believe. The more I refer to AHB's tree the less confidence I have in it.

The 1740 deed also mentions Catherine as a daughter of Crean[Ir12] but little more is known of her.  She is identifed as a niece of the Rev John Vaughan of Dromore, as appears from his will of 1742 (proved in 1744).  A Chancery and Exchequer Bill from 1726 refers to Crean and wife Margaret so are we looking for a Margaret Vaughan? Or had John Vaughan married a sister of Crean.  His will names his wife as Anne.   The only other mention of Catherine is as a witness in 1745 to deeds of lease and release to Revd. George Vaughan of Dromore, County Down. Catherine Brush is described as "of Dromore, County Down, spinster", presumably living with either her father Crean or her brother Rev James.  The will of John Vaughan refers to both a son George and a grandson George.

On 1 November 1759 an "article or receipt", reciting the 1740 obligation to pay money to Catherine, witnesses that "Isaac Moreland of Tulandony, Co. Down, husband of sd. Catherine did thereby acknowledge that he had received from sd. James Brush 50 pounds ster. plus interest as his portion and did thereby discharge James Brush from the sd. sum".  This was witnessed by John Brush and Henry Brush both of Garvaghy, Co. Down, gent. Given theor location it seems probable that John and Henry were sons of Rev James.

Another suggestion in multiple Ancestry family trees is that a Richard Archibald Brush of Virginia was born in Clogher in Ireland about 10 miles south of Omagh) around 1700 and had a son Crane around 1740.  There is no direct evidence of his being another son of Crane senior but it is possible - the dates are about right.  Discussion of this is contained in section 17.K .

John Brush[Ir13]

John is the first named brother in the 1740 deed of partition between the three brothers.   He appears to be the leading figure; the one who had advanced money (£226) on mortgage to his father.   The eldest of the three?  Or just the most prosperous and well connected?  He is identified as of Kilrush, Co.Meath.  This Kilrush (not the better known one in Co Clare on the west coast) is on the boundary of Meath and West Meath around 25 miles northwest of Dublin and well south of Darkmoney/Drumragh/Omagh.  It seems to be clear that John of Kilrush is the man previously identifed as John of Mullingar, and as John junior.  The only earlier mention of Kilrush is a 1739 document referring to Elizabeth Brush, widow, of Kilrush, who I have speculated was the widow of John senior/Lt John.  She clearly cannot have been a widow of any of the four men named in the 1740 deed.

There had been a significant transaction in 1735.  The parties were the Revd John Vaughan of Dromore, Co. Down, John Brush of Omagh, Co. Tyrone, gent, Crean Brush late of Omagh but then of Darkmoney in Co. Tyrone, gent and John Brush Junr. of Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, gent. Dromore County Down is not the same as Dromore County Tyrone. The first is 10km SW of Belfast, the second is 15km SW of Omagh. Mullingar is 140km south of Omagh - a significant move from John junior's previous location in Omagh ten years earlier.

The subject matter of the 1735 deeds is the townland of Dergmoney and various properties in Omagh - much the same as the package of properties transferred in 1723 to Claude Hamilton. Except this time the properties are being transferred by John Vaughan to John Junior, for a consideration of £452. John senior and Crean are only involved in this transaction by consenting to the transfer since the land is still subject to their equity of redemption.   Were they giving up that right? Presumably John Vaughan has acquired the land from the Hamilton family.

At some point in or prior to 1735 John junior has married Elizabeth Ashe.  Which seems to explain the move to Mullingarr as her family had connections there.   Unless John had been married before, a 1753 deed involving son Rowland suggests they had been married by 1731 at the latest.

A month after the properties were transferred to him, John Junior transfers to Charles Lyons a similar but not identical group of properties (including the townland of Dergmoney). As explained below, Charles Lyons was the half brother of Elizabeth Ashe.   In this transaction the equity of redemption of John and Crane is not mentioned.  This transfer is linked to the marriage of John junior to Elizabeth Ashe.  John junior has married money, the memorial recites that "John Brush was entitled to a considerable fortune in right of his wife Elizabeth" who is identified as "Elizabeth Brush als. Ashe then the wife of John Brush and daughter of Richard Ashe late of the Island of Antigua deced."

The webpage https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ll/lyon03.php
contains detailed information about the Lyons family:
"John Lyons of Antigua then of Ledestown, co Westmeath (a 1715, Major). married Elizabeth Williams (dau of Henry Williams (Deputy-Governor of Antigua), widow of Lt. Col. Richard Ashe)". Presumably the same man named as Elizabeth (Ashe) Brush's father.   John and Elizabeth Lyons' first child is named as "Charles Lyons of Ledestown, Sheriff of co. Westmeath".  Ledesetown is just a couple of miles outside Mullingar. Stirnet is a resource that has to be paid for but a bit more information is in a Lyons family history.

Major John Lyons, JP.,DL. of Ledestown Hall, Westmeath, High Sheriff of Westmeath, acquired the Ledestown estate in 1715. He entered the army and attained the rank of Major, serving with distinction in the West Indies during the reigns of King William and Queen Anne. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Williams, Lieut.-Governor of Antigua, and relict. of Colonel Richard Ashe. As sole heir of her father, she inherited extensive estates on the Island of Antigua, which Major Lyons augmented by considerable purchases. Having retired from the army after many years of service, Major Lyons returned to Ireland, leaving his forth son, Samuel Lyons, in possession of the larger part of his property on the Island. His [i.e. Major John Lyons'] son Charles Lyons, JP.,DL. of Ledestown, High Sheriff of Westmeath, married in 1723, Christiana, daughter of Robert Mason, Esq. of Mason Brook, Co. Galway.

This extract about the Ashe family, taken from a site about the Landed families of Britain and Ireland refers to a Richard Ashe (died 1728) who may have been Elizabeth's father. There is more about the Ashe family in Timeline.ie

Thomas Ashe (1529-82), who went to Ireland in the mid 16th century, inherited lands at Trim (Co. Meath) through his wife, and his son, Gen. Sir Thomas Ashe (1567-1626) was granted further lands there and in Co. Cavan. Sir Thomas, whose only child was a daughter, distributed his property between his younger relatives. His lands in Co. Meath fell to the share of his great-nephew, Nicholas Ashe (1608-65), and on his death passed to his cousin, William Ashe (d. 1682), who built a new house known as Ashfield. Ashfield passed in turn to William's son Richard Ashe (d. 1728), to his son, Joseph Ashe (b. 1707; fl. 1799), and to Joseph's two surviving sons, Sir Thomas Ashe (b. 1732) and Maj. William Ashe (c.1753-1839).

Based on this information it is clear that the Charles Lyons who appears in the Brush records is the half brother of Elizabeth Ashe, the wife of John Brush junior.  Charles Lyons is listed as getting married in 1723.  As Elizabeth Ashe is an elder sister this suggests she (and probably John Brush junior) were born in the late 1600s rather than the first decade of the 1700s.

Looking further at the Lyons family listing, the second son of John and Elizabeth Lyons is said to be "John Lyons of Drogheda" (Captain)" whose second son Hugh married a Hamilton and whose grandchildren married a Nixon (niece of a Stewart), a Nathaniel Cooper and a Thomas Norman. None of which is directly relevant to the Brush family but the familiar names do suggest the Brush family were somehow mixing in the same circles.

The documents from October 1735 (18 and 20 October 1735, deeds of lease and release, memorial 56,872[19])are a lease between John Brush Junr. of Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, gent., of the one part and Charles Lyons of Ladystowne, Co. Westmeath, esqr., of the other part followed by a release tripartite between John Brush of the one part, Charles Lyons of the second part, and Elizabeth Brush als. Ashe then the wife of John Brush and daughter of Richard Ashe late of the Island of Antigua deced. of the third part.

The memorial states that "John Brush was entitled to a considerable fortune in right of his wife Elizabeth in consideration whereof he made a provision for her in case she survived him — in pursuance of the agreement and in consideration of 420 pounds ster. part of the portion of Elizabeth to John Brush in hand paid, and in order to make a provision by way of maintenance for Elizabeth in case she should survive her husband, and in consideration of 10 shillings sterl. paid to John Brush by Charles Lyons John Brush released unto Charles Lyons" a parcel of properties including the town land of Dergmoney.

As previously stated, it is unclear how Darkmoney and one Omagh tenement came back into the Brush family's ownership in order to be divided by the 1740 agreement.

On 2 July 1740 John Brush of Kilrush, Co. West Meath, Gent, makes a will.  The Prerogative copy of the will still exists and is held in the Public Record office of Northern Ireland.

The Prerogative copy of the will

The date is very clearly given as 1740.  In Bentham's abstract, and later secondary sources it is incorrectly shown as 1741.

Taken from Bentham's abstracts

The beneficiaries are named as "my beloved wife" (how sad that he does not actually name her!) son Roland Ash Brush, daughter Frances Brush and "the poor Inhabitants of the Parish of Killoa" who are to receive five pounds distributed as his executors shall determine.  Killoa would seem to be the parish now named as Killua within which the Kilrush Upper townland sits.  His wife is to receive "all my Plate and Linen her Black Pad and whatsoever she is intitled to by her Marriage Settlement".  What 'her Black Pad' was I have not been able to discover.  The residue of his estate, both real and personal, is left to Roland and Frances "to be equally distibuted amongst them share and share alike".

As his executors he appoints "my good friends" William Smith of Barbaravilla, Esq Charles Lyons of Ladystown Esq and Sam^l Lyons of the City of Dublin Gent.  Esquire seems to have been a term signifying higher social standing than Gentleman.  It can be noted that almost all references to the Brush family from around this period refer to them just as Gent. By a 'Memorandum' he adds "I do leave each of my Exor^s Mourning Rings"

The copy will is marked as proved on 27 February 1760.  Samuel Lyons had already died by this point.  The back of the copy will is marked "Prerogative Copy Will of John Brush decd 1760".  Whether this means that he died in 1760 or just that it was proved then is not known.  

The proving of the will is also listed at 1760 in the indexes to Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations, 1595-1858.  The Rowland listed at 1774 is presumably John's son as named in John's will.

AHB says nothing of him except that it was John "from whom the American branch descended". I had long assumed that this reference to "the American branch" was to the 'infamous' Crean Brush[Irxx] of New York and Vermont but he only had one daughter. Was he referring to Richard Archibald, Crane and others of Virginia?

Coyle and Duffy do not mention John (junior) at all but their dates for the other charecters would put his birth date around 1700. If he is the father of Richard Archibald an earlier date is probably needed.

One of the frustrating things about the Irish records is that one of the limited surviving records are Chancery and Exchequer Bills - that simply give names of Plaintiffs and Defendants with no more detail. These begin in 1682 and continue through the 18th century:
1682 John
1710 John
1717 John and Crean
1726 Crean and wife Margaret
1727 John and Crean
1732 Joseph and Mary his wife
1735 John and Crean
1735 Crean
1738 John
1739 John
1740 John
1751 James
1752 James
1753 Samuel
1753 Rowland, James & Crean
1753 James
1754 Crean
1754 Rowland, James & Crean

The references to John stop at 1740 - which is consistent with the suggestion that Lt John[IR10]/John senior died in 1741 but those in the 1730s could equally well refer to John junior[IR13], son of Crean.

The lack of referencs to John, and to properties at Omagh, are also likely to be linked to a devastating fire in 1742 which destroyed large parts of the town of Omagh

At 1741 a lease of property in the parish of Termon Co. Tyrone is granted { by who??}to Ephraim Smith and a Samuel [Poge]. Termon is about 8 miles south-east of Omagh/Dergmoney The lease is for the combined lives of ES & SP and of John Brush "the eldest son of the present wife of Ephraim Smith". There is no explanation of why. If the John in question is John junior of Kilrush[IR13] then Mrs Smith is the widow of Crean[Ir12], who was alive in 1740 at the time of the partition deed. Is this lease somehow for her benefit (or John's)with her husband and SP as trustees? An alternative scenario could be that she is the elderly widow of John [Ir10] and that the John referred to is an otherwise unknown brother of Crane[Ir12] - the barrack master? Or does it indicate that the John in question was still a minor? An answer that does not really fit with any of the charectars we know of. The Chancery Bill list includes a reference to a Samuel Brush of whom we know absolutly noting else. Was 'Poge' a poor writing of Brush?.

In 1754 this lease is varied. SP relinquishes all his interest in the lease to ES. William Brush[Ir16] of Aughnacloy is a witness to both the deed of variation and to the memorial of it. Aughnacloy is another 25 miles or so further south and will appear in the Brush story for at least another 250 years with future generations of the Brush family farming there. It is right on what is now the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Being a witness has no legal effect but this is clearly symbolic in some way. More than symbolic; the Brush family clearly had some financial or personal interest in what was going on. It seems reasonable to assume that William was a son or a younger brother of John. In 1755(or early 1756, another William Brush[Ir ] is born). Age 27, with 7 years service he is, on 21 January 1783, pensioned out of the 34th Foot as wounded and identified as of Aughnacloy, a weaver. From 1776 to 1796 the regiment had been serving in Canada.

In 1766 a census is taken. More fully described as "Parliamentary returns as to religion, made by the Protestant Rectors, by order of the Irish House of Lords. of Armagh in the County of Tyrone, Ireland." The record for the Aghalow and Carnteel parishes record John Brush and Roland Brush. An Ancestry search of this record set shows 2 records for John Brush but there is no way of telling if there were two Johns or if the search shows one entry in duplicate. Aghalow (Agaloo) is just to the south of Aughnacloy, Canteel just to the north. The reference to John so close to William from 1754 reinforces the link back to the 1741 lease.

On 22 January 1768 an advert is placed in The Belfast Newsletter: John near Drogheda is clearly not the late John of Kilrush (who we had marked as James's brother), but is linked somehow to Rev James. The same John who was at Drogheda as barrack master in 1738?

The Rev James Brush[Ir14].

Of the three sons of Crane [IR12], the one we know most about is Rev James [Ir14].   Coyle & Duffy give James's dates as 1704-1777 and place him as the middle son of Crean. If there is support for this it probably comes from the Blakemore Pedigree. In 1734 he witnessed the memorial of the 1717 deed by which father Crean acquired the townland of Darkmony.   The 1740 deed does name him second in the list of sons. The AHB tree agrees the death year saying he died on 23 June 1777. One of my earlier drafts says "An alternative birth date for James [Ir13] is maybe c. 1712" but I'm unsure why. It may simply have been to get a better fit with the date of his first curacy and his marriage.

A lot of detail about him is contained in a book "The Clergy of Down and Dromore". "He matriculated at the University of Glasgow in 1724, as Anglo Hibernus, and graduated M.A. 1726; ord. priest (Dromore) at Magherlin 21 Sept.1729; C [Curate] Annacloan. ..... He married Catherine Aplin, niece of the Right Rev " AHB says he married Sarah APLIN in 1737.(source? shown on AHB tree)

From 1733 to 1736 he was the curate at Lann (Magheralin) , from 1735-1746 he was the curate at Dromore Cathedral and from 1743 to 1754 Vicar of Garvaghy (near to Dromore in Down, not Garvaghy in Omagh). If he was born in 1704 he was 28 or 29 at the time of his first known curacy.

https://www.nli.ie/pdfs/mss%20lists/120_SmytheFamily.pdf PAPERS OF THE FAMILY OF SMYTHE OF BARBAVILLA MS 41,589/2 1733-42 Letters to William Smyth from the Rev. James Brush [Vicar of Drumgath (1736-42)], Dromore, Co. Down, mainly about Brush's efforts to get young Anglicans 'of honest parents and suitable characters' and who have experience of the linen manufacture, to settle on the Barbavilla estate. In 1765 Rev. James, his wife Catherine and eldest son John transfer the one-third share of the Dergmony townland settled on James in 1740 to a David campbell of Omagh. Was Catherine a second wife or was Sarah Aplin another error by AHB. According to AHB Rev James had 13 children of whom the most signifcant seem to have been Crane Brush[IR ] and George Brush [IR ].

The 1751,2 and 3 cases involving James may be to Rev James but could also be to another James who is listed as a new father in the Catholic parish register of in Dublin in 1756. unconnected group?

The grandchildren of Crean senior

Roland

Roland is identified as the son of John junior of Kilrush in John's will of 1741. In 1747 "Rowland Brush of Drumslagie in the Manor of Ridgeway, Co. Tyrone, farmer" acquires "the part of the towne and lands of Drumaslagie then in his possession containing 33 acres plantation measure during the lives of Rowland Brush, John Brush son to said Rowland aged 16 years, and Margaret Brush, daughter of said Rowland Brush aged 4 years, and the longest lived of them". If we assume, inthe absence of any other information, that John was born when Rowland was 25 then we are looking at a birth date for Roland/Rowland of around 1706, which pushes the birth date for his grandfather Crean senior back to around 1680. I have not been able to identify Drumslagie in the Manor of Ridgeway, Co. Tyrone but the Manor of Ridgeway seems to have included Augnacloy which is where we find subsequent generations of the Brush family. In 1757 Rowland Brush transfers to John Brush (? his son?) of Shantawny, Co. Tyrone all his interest in a lease of part of the town and lands of Drumslaggie in the Manor of Ridgway, Co. Tyrone, which he holds from Acheston Moore Esqr. during the lives of Rowland Brush, John his son, and Margaret Brush, daughter of Rowland, or the longest lived of them deed witnessed by Ephraim Smyth of Sess, Co. Tyrone tanner and Samuel Perry of Gallagh, clothier Shantavny (Sean Tamhnach) is a townland in Aughnacloy Rural ED, in Carnteel Civil Parish, in Barony, in Co. Tyrone, Ireland. The first reference to Rowland (other than the will of 1741, when he may still have been a child - if John and Elizabeth only married around 1735) is 1753 (indicating a birth in or before and in both this and the 1754 case he is named alongside James and Crean. My theory ( and it is no more than a theory) is that he has taken over the interests of his father John[IR13] In 1747 Probate for the will of Roland, at 1774, is listed in the Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland .

Next:     Chapter 17.B: John in 1599?

Following:     Chapter 17.C: Other early Irish entries

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