Hi Jackie,
First, it's nice to "meet" you and I'm glad you saw my reply.
We have much to discuss and it would be much easier to do so by alternate method, preferably email, to enable sharing of files, rather than transferring them to RootsChat, which has a character restriction.
That being said, let me give you an excerpt from Stafford Poole's narrative . . .
"Descendants of Stafford Downing migrated not just to the United States but also to Australia and New Zealand. A Stafford Downing, the son of Alexander and Mary Downing, was born in Co. Derry about 1835/40. In 1859 he migrated to Melbourne, Australia, and became a gold miner in Victoria. In 1868 he married Sarah Jane McKeown in Victoria and died in 1893."
His source was one of Stafford Downings' descendants, Jodi Fuller, who (at the time) was living in Bendigo, Australia
Stafford Poole sent me his narrative in March 2012, and he was (I believe) 90 years old then. I tried to get back in touch with him a few months ago, and received no reply, so I have to worry about his mortality.
Unfortunately, his narrative only includes what he believed to be his direct ancestry, and,
as you may have gathered, there were several 'Stafford' Downings.
The first known 'Stafford', was apparently the same 'Stafford' mentioned in the reply by Hanes Teulu in Reply # 7 above, who acquired a lease from William Conolly, dated 30 Mar 1734, which was located in the Townland of Dreenan. He was likely a young man at the time, and listed as "life dead" on 6 Oct 1782.
Poole further asserts that he had a son named 'Stafford', who renewed the lease originally signed by his father in 1789 and sold some land to a 'John Downing', dated 27 Apr 1821. Stafford Downing (Jr.) married Rose Mulholland and had by her, four daughters; Mary, b. May 1785, Esther, b. 4 Apr 1789, Elizabeth, and Elinor. Elizabeth was Stafford Poole's great great grandmother.
Interestingly, Stafford Downing's daughters were baptized at Old St. Lurach's Church of Ireland by Alexander Clotworthy Downing, who was Rector there until 1793. Alexander Clotworthy Downing was the eldest son of John Downing and grandson of Col. Adam Downing, the Downing branch I, and several other Downing descendants, have been trying to "prove" for 20 years.
Adam Downing, in his Will dated 4 Jan 1716, stated he was "of Rocktown", County Derry and his uncle, Nicholas Downinge, by his Will dated 18 Feb 1698, was "of Drummard". Those two adjacent Townlands are located on the south side of the present day A42 highway, near Gulladuff. Dreenan Road is just north of Gulladuff. So, you can see that two distinct branches of Downings were living in close proximity in the early 18th century. I tried to find a common ancestor but early Irish records are difficult to research, although I'm sure they are connected.
Anyway, I hope you found something of interest here, and I'm certain we are "barking up the same tree".
I don't know whether you use Facebook or not, but if you do, I'd like you to visit ;
https://www.facebook.com/groups/449344511902647/It's a "closed group" so I'm not sure you can view it without an invitation, which I can provide if you are interested. It was started by Tim Mansfield of Australia, a Downing descendant.
It's basically a forum among members and we could hash things out right there.
Just let me know how you wish to proceed.
Cheers,
Rick T
