THE BIRCHES OF BIRCHGROVE, TULLYLISH PARISH, CO. DOWN

Our starting point for the BIRCH part of our history is with James BIRCH who married a Mary JACKSON, althoughwe do not yet know if or how she might be related to the JACKSON family member who first settled at Urker. As it stands right now, the first verified link between the Urker JACKSONs and the BIRCH family is established three generations later. In short, here is how it goes (although you might like to consult the printout of the family tree to follow it through):

In 1725, James purchased the farm known as Birch Grove (or Birchgrove). This farm was on 176 acres located in the Parish of Tullylish, Co. Down, Ireland. James bought it from a John BIRCH who had himself been granted the land by Sir John MAGILL on 13 April 1692. (SOURCE: The Birch Family of Birchgrove, Parish of Tullylish . Aiken McClelland. THE IRISH GENEALOGIST, Vol III, No 5 (1960).)

(We don’t yet know the relationship between John & James BIRCH, but I suspect that the land grant had to do with the land transfers effected at the conclusion of the war between King William and King James (often called the Jacobite or the Williamite War – depending on one’s politics). Although less land changed hands at this time than during the post-Cromwell era, it was still part of the ongoing disenfranchisement of the resident and largely Catholic population.)

John BIRCH (1711-1773), the son of Mary JACKSON & James BIRCH married his first wife - a Miss BAXTER - and they had a child Elizabeth BIRCH (1733-1812). This Elizabeth BIRCH had two husbands. The first was William BREAKEY (of whom more later in the chapter in the BREAKEY family). Their child, Elizabeth BREAKEY, was born in 1758 – the month as yet is unknown. Given that they married 3 March 1758 and their daughter was born before the year was out, they either started the marriage pregnant or else conceived within the first month or two of marriage. Whatever combination of joy and sorrow was their lot, less than two years later (and quite likely less than a year later), William BREAKEY was dead.

When baby Elizabeth was two years old and her father dead, her mother, on March 14, 1760, married Alexander GILLMER (or GILMORE). The descendents of this marriage - from their three known children - figure in many of the later family intermarriages.

At age 23, Elizabeth BREAKEY married Thomas BRADFORD (and we will revisit the BRADFORD line later in the tale). Thomas was the son of John BRADFORD and Barbara COULTER (COULTER being another name which surfaces from time to time). They married 27 August 1781 and their first known child was born circa 1785.

Now, we are getting closer to the JACKSON connection.

Elizabeth BRADFORD - the daughter of Thomas BRADFORD and Elizabeth BREAKEY - married Benjamin OLIVER (more on the OLIVERs later) of Killynure, Co. Armagh. She didn’t enjoy a long life, dying at age 40, but she gave birth to five known children, the youngest of whom was Elizabeth “Eliza” OLIVER. “Eliza” was ten years old when her mother died on 12 July 1825. Given where Elizabeth (BRADFORD) OLIVER was buried, it seems that the family had strong roots in Kane, Co. Louth. I suspect that the connection is to the BRADFORD family holdings in Dundalk, Co. Louth - in particular, the townland "Cavananore".

Eliza OLIVER would go on to marry David JACKSON and live at Urker, Crossmaglen. It is at this point that the fog of JACKSON history lifts a little. But more of that later.

Backing up a moment, other stories of this extended family help to give us a sense of the economic, political and social realities of their time. We know quite a few tantalizing bits from the following the half brothers and sisters of Elizabeth BIRCH (b. 1733).