William McConnell and Jane Anderson
William McConnell
William McConnell was a blacksmith from Seahill Road, Ballyrobert, County Down, Northern Ireland and was born in about 1814, based on the fact that he died in 1889, aged 75.
My mother’s sister used to correspond with Miss Charlotte McConnell, a daughter of William McConnell, who moved to Beartsed in Kent, when her brother James took a position as Head Gardener at Snowfield House, Yeoman Lane, Bearsted, Kent. He had previously worked as Head Gardener at Tyrella House, Tyrella, County Down, for Major Craig, but moved to Kent when Major Craig bought Snowfield House in 1921.
Charlotte McConnell’s neice is a DNA match of mine, and was able to corroborate the story of William McConnell of Ballyrobert, so as well as being part of the oral tradition of our family, William McConnell of Ballyrobert is also corroborated by DNA evidence.
Jane Anderson
I know very little about Jane Anderson except her name, which was listed on the death certificate of her daughter Elizabeth who died in Glasgow in 1910.
Jane Anderson was my great great grandmother. To date, I have not managed to trace her in any of the records but work will continue and more information will be added to this page as and when history starts to give up it’s secrets.
Glencraig
The other circumstantial evidence we have is from Griffiths Valuation in 1864 that a William McConnell rented a forge at Plot 8b Seahill Road, in the Glencraig area of County Down, Northern Ireland. We also know that one of his sons was the gardener at Tordeevra, in Helen’s Bay.
In the map opposite, the location of William McConnell’s forge is marked in red.
William McConnell’s Grave
It is clear from the gravestone opposite, which is located in Bangor Abbey, that this was the grave of William McConnell of Ballyrobert. It is also the grave of his second wife Eliza and his son William.
The inscription transcibes as follows:
THE FAMILY BURYING GROUND OF
WILLIAM McCONNELL
of Ballyrobert who died
7th August 1889 Aged 75 years
ALSO HIS SON
WILLIAM McCONNELL
who died 5th April 1915 Aged 38 years
ALSO ELIZA WIFE OF
WILLIAM McCONNELL SENIOR
who died 10th November 1930 Aged 83 years
Jane Anderson
The death certificate of William McConnell’s daughter Elizabeth (Eliza) in Glasgow in 1910 makes it clear that her mother’s name was Jane Anderson.
I assume that Jane Anderson must have died and her husband William married again to Eliza, as shown on his gravestone. I have not yet had time to trace subsequent marriage records.
Location of Ballyrobert Forge
The map opposite shows the location of Plot 8b from Griffiths Valuation 1864. It corresponds quite accurately with the plot of the vicarage of Glencraig Church.
Griffiths Valuation 1864
From the text of Griffiths Valuation we can see that William McConnell rented an area of land listed as 20 perch which equates to approximately 1/8 of an acre. It was to provide a house, forge and garden and was rented from the representatives (in Chancery) of Robert S Kennedy.
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Glencraig Church Vicarage
It is quite surprising that the plot of the vicarage shown on the 1880 map corresponds almost exactly with Plot 8b from Griffiths Valuation.
However, it measures approximately one acre, so it seems clear that William McConnell only rented a small part of this plot of land, presumably the western end.
