DOWNING family of Castle Dawson & Bellaghy, 18th century

[aghadowey]

It's quite possible that there was more than one ship called 'Princess Charlotte' at the same time- one doing a Liverpool/Quebec run and the other back and forth Australia/England.

[Accra]

I agree there was certainly more than one vessel named Prince Charlotte in the early to mid 1800's, possibly named after the eldest daughters of King George III, and IV. The Royal Navy launched one in 1825 and the Brocklebank family in 1815.

There was also the brig named Charlotte, carrying salt - shown in information from 'The Ships List - Ship arrivals at the port of Quebec 1827' at www.theshipslist.com/ships/Arrivals/1827 - arriving in Quebec 8th Oct. 1827 from Liverpool which is the same date given in the sailing itinerary for 'Princess Charlotte' numbered 1 to 5 in dukewm's email dated 25 March 10.

I believe the list 1 to 5 involves 2 vessel's as aghadowey has already put forward in this mornings email. I think the Australia/England run was made by 'Princess Charlotte' which also made the Liverpool/New York run arriving 6th Oct 1827 that James Downing [Downey] sailed on, and the Liverpool/Quebec run was made by the brig Charlotte the smaller vessel that carried no passengers, arriving in Quebec 8th Oct. 1827. Jill

[Accra]

Hello, this is in reply to Cyclamen's email dated Friday 12 march 10.
Nicholas Downing of Drummard, will dated 18th Feb. 1698, named his nephew in his will as Daniel Downing.

In his will his nephew's are named as -

Adam Downing, main heir with his wife Mary, as long as she remained
                         unmarried.
John Downing. *     [named as brother of Adam above]
George Downing*   [     "      "      "        "      "         "   George still alive in 1716]
Daniel Downing -     'All tenants rights & profits in and to the townlands of
                                Moyagall he paying the yearly rent payable to the Lord
                                Viscount Masserene for the same.'
Abraham Downing - left £10.
Tobias Mulhollen    - left £10.
Samuel Downing    - left £5.  [Adam's will names a brother Samuel]
Bernard Downing   - left £5.

Nicholas Downing names a brother William quote - "... and to each of my brother William his children by his last wife Mary five pounds stg all which legacies I order to be paid in four years after my decease by my nephew Captain Adam Downing ...."
They are possibly young at the time of Nicholas's death.
Nicholas also left £10 to Sarah Downing the daughter of - quote " my beloved brother William."

Nephews John Downing* and George Downing* brothers of Captain Adam Downing. - If Adam failed to produce heirs then all that was given to Adam by Nicholas would be passed to John and if John failed to produce heirs all would be passed to George.

Nephews John Downing * and George Downing* were left £5 each but later in a codicil Nicholas Downing leaves them another £5 each.

Nicholas's wife Mary and nephew Adam were Executors and his cousin Major John Dobbin and Commandant James Biskby of Magherafelt were called overseers.

The will was signed in the presence of Jas Biskby and Downey Mulhollan.
Nicholas signed his name as 'Nich Downinge'.

Nicholas asked to be buried in the Church Island of Lockbegg, but I don't know if this was granted.

Cyclamen is it possible if you could please send me information you have on these Downings? It would be a help with my search for the father of Adam Downing. Thank you. Jill.

[dukewm]

As "Accra" and "Aghadowey" have explained, I agree that there were probably 2 separate ships of similar name that sailed the routes mentioned.

Thanks for the input.

[cyclamen]

Hi Jill,
I will send a message using the P.M. system.

[Accra]

As I have emailed information from Nicholas Downing's will I will now email information from Captain Adam Downing's will, nephew and heir to Nicholas Downing.

The will was found and copied before 1890 as the finding of the will is mentioned in a letter dated 6th Feb. 1890. At the end of the copied will an attempt has been made to copy Adam Downings signature and below the signature is drawn a small coat-of-arms - Downing impaling Adam's wife's father's arms, the drawing is too small but it looks as if Adam's wife's side of the shield is divided [l to r]

There is no date on the will but in Sir William Betham's notebook [National Archives ref. BET 1/17 entry 166] the date is given as 4th Jan. 1716. Proved 1721.

In his will he describes himself as being 'of Rocktown and of Ballymacragg'.
Those named in the will, in order, are -
Ann                     - wife [1 1/2 or money from farm in Rocktown]]
Mary                   -  daughter [£10 after his death & £300 on her marriage if she
                                              marry's with the consent of the family]
John                   -  son under 21 [£300 plus the lands of Dromard]
Jackson              -  son    "       "   [£300]
William               -  son    "       "   [£300]
Adam                  -  son    "      "   [£300]
George               -  brother [£300 to be used for expenses while looking after
                              sons until they became 21 and to "put them out to
                              "apprenticeshipps".]
Elizabeth Ewing  - daughter, widow of John Ewing, who married without Adam's
                              knowledge. At first no provisions were made for her
                              because of her marriage - but he gave her £10 per year
                              only to be paid to her or any persons she choose BUT not
                              into the hands of any husband.
Ann Ewing          -  grandaughter [£10]
Jane Downing     -  mother [40 shillings a year]
Henry*                -  son [see below]
Adam Downing    -  godson [and nephew] [£5]
Samuel Downing -  brother [father of the Adam above]

Adam gave to his son Henry and I quote - "I give and devise all - but subject to the legacies and payments aforesaid - to my son Henry Downing."

The Right Hon. William Conolly of Dublin and Henry Arkwright of Galloway were trustees.

Adam appointed the following as joint executors -
The Rev. Simon Rowe his father-in-law.
George Downing his brother.
Henry Downing his son.  

I hope this is helpful to some. Jill.

[dukewm]

Hello Jill,

Good stuff and most thankful for your replies.

Although many of the names in the Will are matches for my lineage, some discrepancies lead me to believe these may be 2 separate families, or (gasp), the authors of my family book may have "borrowed" a few names or mistakenly attached to my line.

I could send you some more of what I've got to crosscheck with your data, if you wish.

I did come across a Capt. Adam Downing in my searches who seems to be different from the Col. Adam Downing from my line who supposedly came to Ireland in the army of William of Orange and fought at the battle of the Boyne in JULY 1690 and later appointed Deputy Governor of County Derry.

regards,
Rick

[Accra]

Hello Rick,
The 1st part of this email is in reply to yours dated Friday 12 March 2010. I can only give answers down to Clotworthy Downing son of John Downing, and I will attempt to keep in the order of your email. If you have BMD dates and I don't, I will say.

The Downings certainly owned a house and land which they named Rowesgift.
John Downing b.1700 d.1785 the son of Adam Downing was given the house by his father-in-law the Rev. Simon Rowe on his marriage to Simon's daughter Anne. The house stands just outside Bellaghy on the road to Castledawson. It no longer belongs to the Downings.

As you may know fire destroyed many archives in 1922 so research is a little tricky. But in the churchyard of St Tida's stands the Downing family vault in which are buried 9 members of the Downing family - from Adam in 1719 to John Downing Nesbitt in 1847. On 2 memorial stones on the vault sides their names, births, marriages, deaths and relationships to other Downings are etched.

Col. Adam Downing -
I have no day of month date for is birth. He was 23 years old during the Siege of Londonderry so I doubt he would have been a colonel. He could not have arrived in Ireland in 1690 as he was named on the list of those who held the city and who signed the letter dated 29 July 1689 to King William and Queen Mary.
Adam married Ann nee Jackson [Adam's will] I have no marriage date for them.
His 1st son was Henry, no birth date, but he couldn't have died in 1712 as he was named in Adams will.
His 2nd son was John b.1700, who became Adam's heir after Henry's death.
He had 3 more known sons - Jackson, William and Adam [Adam's will]. No daughters have come to light.

John Downing - son of Adam.
Born 1700, no day or month date. Died 1785 10 Nov. [Irish Newspaper deaths]
Married Anne nee Rowe, no date. Born 1711 died 1776 2 Feb, buried in vault.
Daughters - Margaret wife of Capt. James Hand. No BMD dates. Buried in vault.
                    Sarah wife of Charles Dawson . No BMD dates.
                    Jane no BMD dates.

Sons - Clotworthy born 1727 died 1812. Buried in vault. Married .
           Rowe no BMD dates. Died aged 19 of smallpox according to family letter.
           Dawson born 1739 died 1807. Buried in vault. Married twice.
           John no BMD dates. Said to have served in the Seven Year War in
           Germany. A deed for Rowesgift signed by John and his brother Dawson
           dated 10 Oct. 1788 mentions 'John Downing & his present wife' so
           because of the wording he possibly had more than one wife.
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In answer to your email dated 27 March 2010.

The names mentioned above are your ancestors. I have seen your family book online.
If you have referenced BMD dates for those I don't have I would be most interested please.
I would also like to know about the Captain Adam Downing you came across in you searches as opposed to Adam Downing who fought at the Seige of Londonderry and the Battle of the Boyne.

Hope the above is helpful. Jill.

[cyclamen]

These are some notes I made many years ago re the Downing family. They came from T1065/35 a document in PRONI.
'Dawson Downing was the younger brother of my greatgrandfather Alexander Clotworthy DOWNING who was called after his two godfathers Lord Caledon and Lord Masserene. Dawson Downing married twice and Mrs Scott Robertson was his granddaughter from his first wife. She had a brother who had a son Col George Downing (Indian Army) and one daughter. Col George Downing left a widow and four daughters. No son.
Signed Mr or M or W?? E Savage- Armstrong Oct 20 1929'

Underneath this I have written see Belfast Newsletter of Oct 17th 1929 for Dawson Downing pedigree. (Family were connected to Rowesgift , Ballintoy)

The above would need checked.