Alexander Acheson (18xx-1897)

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Alexander Acheson, a poor tenant farmer in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was the grandfather for a line of Acheson descendants that headed to Australia in the early 1900's. Alexander stayed on the farm in Callow in Tyrone, raising a family of eight children.


References

* Individual index: A.12
* Family tree: Alexander Acheson and his family tree
* Lineage: Alexander Acheson2 ( Weir1)

Alexander's Early Years

There are almost no records available on Alexander during his youth. His father was Weir Acheson[1]. We do not know his mother's name. He had a brother, Joseph, and possibly a sister, a Margaret Acheson, who married John Turner.

The Farm in Collow

Acheson homestead farm in Collow

Alexander's father, Weir, was a man of the land, who owned and tilled a small acreage farm[2] in the townland of Collow[3]. Tax records show that he was paying land taxes as early as 1826, and then he registered the property as a freehold, becoming an owner of the farm in 1829.

See the biography of Weir Acheson for details on the early days of the Acheson family farm.

1845

Alexander's older brother, Joseph, marries Isabella McKennitt in December. By next year, they will be fleeing the Irish Famine to start a new family in North America. Alexander remains behind to help his father, this during the terrible years of the potato famine.

1845-1852 The Great Famine

The crop failures were caused by potato blight, a disease that destroys the leaves and the roots of the potato plant. The blight ravaged potato crops throughout Europe in the 1840s – but the situation in Ireland made it uniquely devastating.

In Ireland, almost half of the population was entirely reliant on calorie-rich, hardy, nutritious potatoes, and the rest of the population also consumed the vegetable in large quantities. So when the crop failed, people starved.

Irish Catholics had previously been prohibited by law from owning land. This changed earlier in the century, but land ownership was still concentrated in the hands of English and Anglo-Irish Protestant families (often absentee landlords) who had unchecked power over their tenants. By the 1840s, many tenant farmers existed at subsistence level on small allotments of land which barely provided enough food even in good years.

During the famine, the landowning class was still exporting grain from Ireland to Britain, benefiting from the Corn Laws which kept the price of bread artificially high. The Irish themselves could not afford the food that was being exported from their country.

The Great Famine became a rallying point for Irish nationalist movements and increased resentment about British rule.[4]

At some time in the period of the famine, the family has to sell the farm and become tenant farmers on the land. This must have been devastating for Weir, for he had accumulated enough property to have a larger-than-average place, with barn and shed and at least one cow. With his son Alexander, he would have been able to cultivate crops, but not if they perished with blight. The farm was sold to Thomas Auchinleck, the High Sheriff for the county of Tyrone. Likely this person was also acquiring other farms at distressed and desperate pricing.

Weir and Alexander continue to stay on the property, unlike so many of their neighbours, somehow paying the rent so as not to be evicted from the land.

1850

Joseph and Isabella have returned to Ireland and settle in Lower Longfield. Their second son, Weir Acheson, is born in July 1850. The Great Famine is not yet finished with its misery.

1854

The father passes away in May of 1854 at the age of 76 years. He appears to have passed the farm lease onto his two sons equally, to Alexander and Joseph. The father had seen and lived through so much in his lifetime, and has started a dynasty of Acheson descendants.

1855

Alexander's sister, Margaret, now marries John Turner from Drumquin. John's father was William Turner of Lackagh.

1859-1930

From 1859 onward to 1923, the Griffith's Valuation was the prime source on land occupation, as any census records prior to 1901 were mostly destroyed in the fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin at the beginning of the Irish Civil War. The Griffith's Valuations for Collow Townland, co. Tyrone, are in the VAL/12B/35/11 volumes.[5] and images of the original pages can be researched at the PRONI website.

By 1859, some five years after Weir's death, Joseph and Alexander are now only occupiers of the farm, it being leased from a Thomas Auchinleck. Joseph and Alexander are later struck off the register in 1862, and tenancy then continues for Alexander.[6][7]

In Collow and nearby townlands, Thomas Auchinleck appears as the landlord for several farm properties. Thomas Auchinleck was born on 16 Jan 1837 at Crevenagh, Ireland. Married Jane Loxdale in 1868 and had 3 children. Occupation: High Sheriff, then Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.), then Justice of the Peace (J.P.), all in county Tyrone. Died 1 Feb 1893 in Omagh, Tyrone.[8][9]

From 1864 to 1876, Alexander continues to be a tenant on the Collow farm.[6][10]

Between 1877 and 1881, Alexander rents a small weaver's cottage to Bernard McAree. Also, William Thompson rents a farm from Alexander, consisting of a dwelling house and 80 acres 3 roods 15 perches in size.[6][11]

In 1886, William Thompson's farm reverts back to the local landlords, the Acuhinlecks.[6][12]

Alexander Acheson dies in early 1897 and by 1899, the tenancy reverts to his heirs in the Acheson will. In 1902, it goes to his son, William Henry, and then back to the landlord, Thomas Auchinleck in 1907. William Thompson now rents the Acheson farm. The Griffich [6][13]

In 1923, the Thompsons purchase the old Weir Acheson farm and family home under mortgage from the Irish Lands Commission.[6][14]

Alexander and Ann

Marriage of Alexander and Anne Acheson

Anne Acheson was a daughter of Samuel Acheson[1] of Lackagh, county Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Lackagh[3] is a townland just west of Drumquin and adjacent to Collow. Her brother, Samuel Acheson, continued with their family farm in Lackagh, raising eleven children.

Alexander and Ann may possibly have been first cousins. Their fathers may have been brothers, although the Irish records do not go back far enough to know more about their grandparents.

The marriage[1] took place in Drumquin on June 5, 1860; Anne was about 20 years of age. She outlived Alexander and continued with the family farm in Collow.

In 1901[15], Ann (sometimes spelled 'Anne Atcheson' on documents) is living with her unmarried daughter Elizabeth 'Lizzie', age 26 and her unmarried son William Henry, age 24. They have tenants in the house: Robert and Mary Liggett, with their baby son Alexander Liggett. The farmhouse is of stone construction with a thatched roof and has a stable, cow house, fowl house a barn and a shed.

By 1911[16], the farmhouse has only Anne and her son, William Henry, age 36, still single, managing the farm. Only the stable, cow house and home remain on the property.

Anne was provided for in the will of her husband, to continue living at the family farm, and to be supported by the sons.

The Children

Together, Alexander and Ann raised eight children, which must have been a joy in such a small farmhouse. Their son William H. would be the last child staying on the farm, helping his mother.

Weir only lived for 28 years, unmarried, suffered for three years with Scrofula and six months with Nephritis. Sarah Jane married Samuel Patrick Moody, raising six children and living for 65 years, staying in the Lackagh townland. Samuel married Mary Buchanan, then moved to Australia, raising four children. William Henry remained on the farm, helping his mother until she passed away, then married Margaret Montgomery and raised two children.

Alexander's Will

Alexander's Will was registered in 1895. The text:

I, Alexander Acheson of Collow, in the County of Tyrone do make and declare this to be my last Will and Testament, revoking all former wills.

I bequest to my sons Samuel Acheson and Joseph Young Acheson the farm of land, at present in my possession in the townland Collow to whichever of my said sons who marries first. I leave that half of my farm formerly held by by brother Joseph Acheson to receive the sum of £20 as an equivalent for houses.

From the brother who remains on the old homestead. The crop, stock of farming implements to be divided equally between the said sons: subject to such exceptions as may be herein after mentioned. Any dispute relative to such divisions to be left to the arbitration of James Smyth of Bomackatall and William Henry Acheson of Bomackatall. The said Samuel Acheson and Joseph Young Acheson to pay to my some William Henry Acheson the sum of £80 (eighty pounds): this sum to be contributed in equal shares by each: or ??? off land if required before division of farm.

To my daughters Elizabeth Acheson and Mary Anne Acheson, I leave the sums of £30 (thirty pounds) each and to my daughter Sarah Anne Moody, the sum of £10 (ten pounds) to be paid by the said Samuel and Joseph Young Acheson, contributing equal amounts.

To my son Alexander, I leave the sum of £1 (one pound).

To my wife Anne, I bequeath the room she sleeps in at present to such ??? as they may provide a suitable house for her on farm to be approved of by the Executors, together with the household furniture, excepting he clock, which is not to be moved. Also the jaunting (?) car; also any cow she may choose from stock. Said cow to be supported throughout each year during her life or so long as my wife choose to remain on farm. Also to be provided yearly with sufficient ??? and three (cwt) hundred weight of (oat mill??) yearly. Also such ready cash as may be on hand at my (decease??).

The several provisions for my wife to be supplied in equal shares by my sons Samuel and Joseph Young Acheson, only so long as she remains on the farm with them.

And I appoint James Smyth and William Hy Acheson, both of Bomackatall, sole executors. In witness whereof I have set my hand this seventeenth (17th) day of September, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four.

Alexander Acheson.

Signed by the said testator. As and for his last Will and Testament, who in his presence at his request and with the presence of each other, have hereto subscribed our names as Witnesses: David Marshall (of Drumquin), James ??? (of Drumquin).

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Marriage certificate; Parish Records from Drumquin, Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland
  2. Map of the Acheson farm in Collow
  3. 3.0 3.1 Map of Collow and Lackagh, Tyrone
  4. radiotimes.com
  5. Cover for Griffith's Valuation book VAL/12B/35/11A (1860-1863). Repository: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Original research booklet; by Robert J. Williams of Londonderry, N. Ireland; compiled October 2015, 32 pp., plus photocopies of original documents, in private collection.
  7. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11A p. 13 (1860-1863)
  8. Ancestry family tree of Major Thomas Auchinleck.
  9. death record for Thomas Auchinleck.
  10. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11B p. 13 (1864-1876)
  11. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11C p. 15 (1877-1881)
  12. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11D p. 19 (1882-1898)
  13. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11E p. 6 (1899-1915)
  14. Griffith Valuation for Collow PRONI VAL/12B/35/11F p. 4 (1915-1923)
  15. 1901 Irish Census, Drumquin, Tyrone
  16. 1911 Irish Census, Drumquin, Tyrone