I was thinking about this recently as I have spent the better part of the past twenty years putting together our family history so that my children will know where and who they came from and so that they too can pass the information on to their own children and grandchildren. When the grandchildren start arriving it will be something I will be talking to them about, and maybe – touch wood – the great-grandchildren, and they will have their own memories of me when I am well out of this world. But their own great-grandchildren and THEIR great-grandchildren will only have photos of me and their dad to go by – if they are at all interested – and this is what got me considering the idea of sending a letter of some kind to descendants of mine who will not be born until well into the next century.

We were thinking about filming a ‘chat’ to our future descendants where we would talk about us, our family and the things we like to do. In it we would show the family car that we are driving now – seeing as cars will surely be different in the next century – we’d also show around the home, our local area and where we take our children – their ancestors – to play. Also we will talk about what is happening in world events, what we are watching on television, what things cost today and today’s technology…the X-Box, the laptops, mobile phones…heaven knows what kids will be playing with in 2115! of course we would record this all on a disc and naturally technology will have moved on in leaps and bounds by then, but updating and transferring this precious family documentary so that it adapts to future technology over the years will be a task that not only will be something for us and our children to undertake but for our future family members who will be around long after we are all gone. This will become our own family time-capsule and hopefully a family tradition for future generations to carry on.

Already we have made some fantastic breakthroughs of our own since the 1901 information has gone live, my own personal wish is that the Scottish records will be made available free of charge sometime in the near future, but I am not holding my breath…

John and Isabella very possibly met through their fathers who were both military men – Isabella’s father being Col. William Stewart and John’s father being Capt. James Hamilton with his own marital connection to the Creighton family of Col. Abraham Creighton, grandfather of the Ist Earl of Erne.

So it was from Killymoon Castle in Cookstown, County Tyrone, to Brownhall in County Donegal, that Isabella Stewart traveled by horse and carriage to begin her life as Mrs John Hamilton. John and Isabella were married in 1770 and their children were:

1. James b. 21.10.1771 – d.1805, Barrister-at-Law (married The Hon. Helen Pakenham, sister of Thomas, Earl Longford)

2. Abraham b. 25.06.1773 – d.1851

3. Eleanor b&d – 1 June 1774

4. William Stewart b. 13.06.1775. Married in 1807 to the Hon. Henrietta Blackwood, daughter of Hans, 3rd Baron Dufferin & Clandeboye of Co. Down.

5. John b 17.08.1777 – died in infancy

6. Henry b. 21.10.1778 – died in infancy

7. Henry Alexander b 30.09.1779

8. Dorothea b 16.09.1780

9. Robert b 20.02.1781 – stillborn.

Isabella was known as a fond and loving grandmother to her many grandchildren. Below is a portrait of Isabella and three of her great-grandchildren – John, Edward and Catherine Hamilton, painted in 1829 at a private residence in Dublin by renowned artist Samuel Lover.

Isabella (Stewart) Hamilton & her great-grandchildren James, Isabella and Mary Hamilton. 1829. Artist: Samuel Lover

This graveyard is at the end of a narrow country lane off the main road outside Ballintra and the Hamilton vault is over to the right of the cemetery. The last Hamilton to be buried in this vault was Sheila Marion Hamilton in 1995 – the vault had been unused by the family for some time at her death and it was by her own request that she was interred in it.

John and Isabella had posed for a portrait in which the couple are shown sitting at a small table – this table has pride of place in Brownhall house today. This painting was listed in Christie’s catalogue in the mid-1990′s – I do not know who owns this portrait today.

John Hamilton died in 1811 – Isabella died in 1832. Both are interred in the Hamilton vault in the now unused Drumholm graveyard just outside Ballintra. This was the site of the original Drumholm church.

The couple were married in Dublin near to Helen’s family residence of Upper Merrion Street, she was the 6th child of Edward Micheal Pakenham, Ist Earl Longford and Catherine Rowley.

Her siblings were:

1. Elizabeth Pakenham: 1769 - 1851 m Henry Stewart of Tyrcallen, Co. Tyrone

2.Mary Pakenham: 1770 - 1787

3. Catherine (Kitty) Sarah Dorothea Pakenham: 1772 – 1831 m Arthur Wellesley Ist Duke of Wellington

4. Frances Pakenham: 1773 – 1774

5. Thomas Pakenham (2nd Earl Longford): 1774 – 1835 m Georgiana Emma Charlotte Lygon

6. Gen Sir Edward Micheal Pakenham: 1778 – 1815

7. Caroline Penelope Pakenham: 1780 – ? m Henry Hamilton

8. Maj. Gen. Sir Hercules Rowley Pakenham: 1781 – 1850 m Emily Stapleton

9. Capt. William Pakenham: 1782 – 1811

10. Henry Pakenham: 1787 – 1863 m Eliza Catherine Sandford

James Hamilton had inherited the estate of Brownhall from his father John and the couple took up residence after their marriage, though they divided their time between the estate in Co Donegal and Dublin. During their absence John’s brother Abraham and his family occupied the house of Brownhall.

The couple had three children:

1. John Hamilton: 1800 – 1884

2. The Rev. Edward Micheal Hamilton: 1802 – 1861 m Martha Anne Fortescue

3. Catherine Hamilton: 1803 – 1871 m Rev. William Henry Foster of Loughgilly

The marriage was tragically brief with James dying at the age of 30 in 1805. Helen died two years later and the care of the three children was taken over by Helen’s sister Catherine Wellesley (later Duchess of Wellington), their maternal grandmother Lady Longford and their paternal grandmother Isabella (Stewart) Hamilton. Within a short time the children were cared for full-time by the Pakenham family due to the advanced age of their much loved grandmother Isabella and the more beneficial surrounds of Dublin.

With John being the eldest (and heir to Brownhall ) his uncle Arthur Wellesley, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, took particular interest in his education and saw that he eventually attended Cambridge University in England. Through this John was granted his Degree after just 2 years due to a very old law which stated that direct male descendants of the Monarch could gain their qualification in a shorter time. John, of course, was descended from King Edward Ist .

John Hamilton would later recall with great affection and gratitude the loving environment into which he and his orphaned siblings were accepted into by his mother Helen’s family. His little sister Catherine, named for their mother’s sister, would grow to be extremely close to the woman later known as ‘Kitty’ Wellington – and she too in turn would be known by the name Kitty throughout her life.

In 1823, at the age of 18, Mary married 23 year old John Hamilton of Brownhall, Co. Donegal. John was a close friend of Mary’s brother and the two men had attended Cambridge University together.

Mary died at St Ernans House in 1854. St Ernans House was the family’s preferred residence and, while part of the estate, situated on a wooded island in the Donegal Bay.

Thanks to an email from Alexandra Starling in Australia I have added siblings to the Reid category regarding my Grandfather George Albert Reid.

This was a very exciting revelation for me and many, many thanks to Sandie for her kind contribution.

Wonderful to meet you all and I am so happy you are all finding the info here so helpful!

It has been a collective effort though and through the contributions of Sandra Reynolds, her sister Carol Smith and Jim Thorn we have a nice bank of information about our ancestors. We are all cousins and this story of course is ours to share.

Also Jeanette is kindly sending me what data she has and I shall be entering it all here very soon to expand on what we already have. Please feel free to contribute whatever you feel is relevant to ‘the cause’ and make use of the photo’s – let me know if you want copies via email. Thanks Jeanette!

Have a read through the various name categories: Reynolds, Davidson, Reid, Wegener/Wagner, Willis etc and let me know what you think of if you have something new to share. If I’ve made any errors with names/dates etc don’t hesitate to let me know!!

Enjoy!

Meanwhile it’s great to know that other’s are hard at it keeping the research going and Marty in Australia has been digging up lots of info on the Hennessy side recently. He has been emailing all his contacts like crazy and has kindly provided some new pics which I intend to upload here sometime later today, plus he has been out and about travelling to talk to people and get more info to share.

So thanks Marty!

Willis family group in front of general store owned by William and Laura Willis, Wrightville, Cobar, NSW. They are left to right; Alfred, Unknown, William, Charlie, Laura(Charle Reynolds sister), Grace Violet, Jessie.

Thanks to my cousin Jim Thorn for providing this photograph.

Thanks to my newly found cousin, James Thorn, I have new information to add to this project; information I would never have found had it not been for his generosity and years of his own hard work.

The information is regarding the name Wagner and Reynolds; hence I have altered the Wagner category so that it now reads as Wegener.

I have earlier recorded the middle name of my Great-Grandfather as Charles Wagner Reynolds. It was thought that his middle name was taken from his father although it has come to light now that it was not Wagner but Wegener. This was in fact his surname not his middle name, although that is how his name appears on his marriage certificate.

After his father died in 1858 Charles mother, Eliza, remarried to George Reynolds. Charles would have been approx ten years of age at this time. He thereafter took the surname of Reynolds from his mother’s new husband. This is how the name Reynolds found it’s way into my father’s side of the family. Some of Charles’ siblings retained the Wegener surname though.  I have made the appropriate changes in the past entries but have retained Wagner (although in brackets) simply because that name appears on his documents and for reasons of avoiding confusion. There is a possibility that other relations may be searching this person so it makes sense to retain the information they would also be using in their research.

Finally, as Charles used the Reynolds surname throughout the rest of his life I shall, of course, refer to his wife and  descendants by that name where applicable.

Charles’ sister Annie (nee Wegener/Reynolds) with husband Thomas Cottome, Grenfell NSW 1874. The couple married at Grenfell 12 March 1870 when Annie was nineteen and several months pregnant.

Thanks to Jim Thorn for providing this photograph.