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The Joneses of Benadah Abbey,
County Sligo, Ireland
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Note: In examining family
papers when I had leisure, a condition I did not enjoy until I was
Rector of Gaytonthorpe in E. Walton in 1886, I found out much and
indeed nearly all of that which I notice in these pages. Like my
grandfather and my father, I had little opportunity, less time and
small curiosity which might lead me to enquire into family history.
Amongst the correspondence, found out that Father Jones, Professor
of Theology in the Jesuit College of St. Beunos, at St. Asoph, in
Wales, was the last of the Benadah Abbey family, in the male line,
and so I wrote to the old gentleman, who was most charmingly courteous
& communicative. I give extracts from his letters . . .
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St. Beunos Collage, St. Asoph, N. Wales, Oct. 23,
1888 -
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My dear Mr. Crawford, I received your
letter with very great pleasure . . As I had heard |
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nothing of the Newton
Stewart family for many years, I feared they were extinct and I
am exceedingly happy in being now in communication with their representative
. . . About the year 1840, my elder brother David obtained of Sir
Wm. Betham our family pedigree, taking the line back to the old
princes of Brisland . . . That portion of it which related to the
family since its residence in Benedah was later given by Sir Bernard
Burke, which also contains an account of the Crawfords of Newtown
Stewart . . . Owing to the long minority of my father - 13 years
- and the constant absence of his predecessor and Uncle, the old
family mansion of Benadah was allowed to go almost to ruin and I
remember my mother lamenting chiefly the destruction of the trees,
the disappearance of the family plate and the vandal treatment of
the family portraits. Of these latter three were preserved &
they were perforated with bullets or knife cuts. One of these was
my great grandfather in military uniform and another of my grandfather
in court dress & the 3rd of Elizabeth Jones who married Crawford
of Newton Stewart. When she was young she went on a visit to her
cousins in Wales, the Joneses of Landisilio and with them went to
London and was presented at court. She became one of the maids of
honour to the Queen and resided at Court for some time. Her grandfather,
or father was very strenuous in the cause of William of Orange and
did the King some service for which he received the permission to
use the royal livery with new arms, "the three nags heads' being
changed for "a cross between 4 mullets". I am sorry to say that
when I was last in Ireland in 1880 I heard that the picture of Elizabeth
Jones was burnt through the negligence of a servant.
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"After my return from Italy and the West Indies in
1870, I found that the Crawfords of Newton Stewart had disappeared
from the list of landed gentry and then I let the matter drop -- My
sister is a sister of Charity in the Hospital for the dying, Stanhope
St., Dublin. (A Roman Catholic Sisterhood) She wishes to thank you
for your letter and desires me to tell you of the great pleasure it
brought her . . . and the delight she felt at hearing of the dear
old Crawfords and at being in communication with their relative .
. If your grandfather had accepted the offer of adoption, in all probability
he would had a very different career, I well remember him saying that
being appointed his uncle's heir was the great misfortune of his life,
for he had a brilliant career open to him in the Austrian Army, for
which he was admirably suited and which he gave up to lead the life
of a country squire. |
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