THE
GRANGES OF IRELAND

A
HISTORY OF THE FAMILY

Compiled by

R. T. GRANGE

of Ballyclare.

Family Crest
Family Motto

BORNE WITH DISTINCTION

	Pages
FOREWORD.	5-6
GRANGE. The name and its origin, with a summary of the family’s early days.	7-22
GENERATIONS OF THE ULSTER BRANCH	25-105
GENERATIONS OF THE LEINSTER BRANCH	147-165
SOUTHERN ENGLAND	169-180
U.S.A.	183-191
THE CANNON FAMILY. Origin of the name and how the family settled in the Sixmile Valley.	108-143

R.T.Grange
R. T. GRANGE (1896)
who compiled this history.

FOREWORD

It is now many years since I first felt the urge to peer into the misty past and try, with my somewhat limited ability, to uncover at least a little of the early history of the Grange family in Ireland which hitherto has been as a closed book to recent successive generations.

Often, as in my youth, when I listened to my parents and older relatives discuss amongst themselves the habits of earlier generations and their way of life in bygone days, there always seemed to well up within me a strong desire to gather together every scrap of information I could, and then when opportunity permitted, weave together into a definite pattern these broken and straggling threads of the family’s activities which up to now have been wreathed in obscurity.

Altogether it has taken well over thirty years to accumulate the various bits and pieces which go to make up the history of the Northern Branch. Commenced first in a somewhat haphazard manner, all scraps of information which I was fortunate enough to glean from various sources were carefully filed away, to await the time when I could link all together and so for the first time present a complete story of this farming family.

In the preparation of the pen-picture, the utmost care has been taken to ensure that every item recorded has been confirmed and is absolutely authentic, for when engaged in such a task as this, involving as it does, the assembling of dates and so forth of a very early period, inevitibly there arises the snag of a gap appearing in the continuity, and with it the temptation to theorize or let the imagination run riot.

However one is only warranted in making use of the actual written word, and when such an occasion did arise, happily this impulse was curbed and further patient and diligent search brought in its train the rich reward of the missing link.

It was not until 1956 that a really intensive and more methodical search was commenced and this was brough about by a request from Elizabeth Pearl (Betty), wife of James Stuart Grange of Vancouver, Washington, U.S.A. who sought information regarding her husband’s family.

I immediately had a questionnaire sent to every Grange whom I knew and who might have in his or her possession some useful and constructive information.

I am happy to say that everyone thus approached readily responded to the appeal and their contributions have helped in no small measure to successfully build up the Family Tree.

Altogether over six hundred registers of Churches both North and South, have been carefully scrutinized for any possible clues, old family Bibles scanned, while an endless flow of requests were dispatched to Registrars of Births, Marriages and Deaths for information of dates, or for further search to be made when a clue presented itself,often from some unexpected source.

The destruction of many Wills and Deeds in Dublin at the height of the Sinn Fein troubles in 1922 seriously hampered the investigations. County Antrim in particular suffering severely in this respect, and up in flames went most of the Grange records. However by dint of patience and steady perseverance, one obstacle after another was surmounted, and what, for many years seemed to me to be a well-nigh impossible task, that of piecing together this centuries-old jig-saw puzzle, has at last been successfully accomplished.

And yet not quite, for there still remain a few knotty problems which for the time being at any rate unfortunately defy all attempts to unravel them.

The late Rochfort Grange who was responsible for collecting the material which goes to build up the history of the Southern Branch had by comparison a much more simple task, for he had the good fortune to commence his search as far back as 1918 when all records were intact at the Law Courts. He was still engaged in this praiseworthy endeavour at the time of his death in 1943. And that he was a zealous worker is evident by the countless documents he had accumulated during the course of his labours.

The more important items of this material came into my possession through the courtesy of his widow, Margaret J. Grange, who fortunately retained them after his death and who very generously placed them at my disposal during a visit to her home in Dublin.

She had been a very active help-mate to her late husband during the course of his research activities and is herself a fount of knowledge as regards the early days of the Southern Granges.

One interesting find of the search has been a copy of the Family Crest, which I have found possible to re-produce. It has been taken from a most interesting Family Tree in the possession of Mrs Grange of Dublin. It dates from the year 1322 and traces the descent of the Rochfort of Belvedere family, one of whom, Mary Rochfort, niece of an Earl of Belvedere, married Richard Chappell Grange in 1764. On either side of the recorded marriages are the Crests of each union, making it a most colourful and attractive (as well as historical) “Tree”. From 1764 onwards it records the marriages of the later Granges who descended from Richard Chappell until that of the late Rochfort Grange and his wife, Margaret J. Cregan of Armagh, Northern Ireland. This Mrs Grange, incidentally, is supposed to be the last surviving Grange living in Southern Ireland.

Well, in the chapters which follow, can be read the result of my labours. Not very imposing perhaps when considering the expanse of time the subject covers or the number of years involved in the search. To some, even, it may seem uninteresting, colourless and drab.

I, however, am more than satisfied with what has been accomplished.

To satisfy my own personal curiosity and with no thought whatever at that time of having the outcome put into print, I set out with the primary object of ascertaining from whence we came, who and what our ancestors and forebears were. And in this, I think, I can justly claim to have achieved a fair measure of success. In fact it far exceeds my optimistic expectations from when I first set forth on this voyage of discovery.

As for myself I have found it a most congenial and interesting pastime and it has helped to while away what otherwise would have been many a lonely hour in the depths of a winter’s night.
1966 R.T.G.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE VERSION

In the 35 years (and counting) that have passed since this book was originally published, much more information has appeared. Some of this is new, generated by the habit people have of producing more people; some of it older, but not available to the author. In many places then, the original book is either out-dated or simply incorrect.
In spite of huge temptations, I've managed to leave the book largely as is, with only a few alterations: the photographs have been entered into the relevant parts of the text, and the families of female Granges have been given the same standing as those of the males.

Grateful thanks to Pat Stamp for typing out the entire book (except for the Cannon section) and pushing me into completing this project.

GRANGE

The name and its origin, with a brief description of the early days of the family

The name is an Anglicised form of the old Irish word GRAINSEAC (pronounced GRANSHA), meaning the Grange or farmhouse at the Monastery.

One early reference to the name is that given in the Hundred Rolls - Atte Grange - in residence, or living at the grange. The Hundred Rolls were documents of historic interest or value, prepared by early English historians.

The word grange in early times referred to a farmhouse of a Monastery, from which it always stood some distance apart. One of the Monks was usually appointed to inspect the books of the the farm and was called the Prior of the grange.

As time wore on the name naturally came to be applied to the land on which the grain of the Monastery was grown, and eventually was extended to any tract of land, which in any way, was connected with a Monastery. These tracts of land represented a type of territorial unit almost exclusively used in Ireland and originally were attached to Missionary Settlements founded by St. Patrick, St. Columkille and their successors. They were extra-parochial and therefore nominally tithe free. When King Henry VIII suppressed the Monasteries he confiscated the lands to the Crown, but in granting them to his friends, neglected to reserve the tithes or any portion of them for the religious instruction of the inhabitants. Therefore when the Tithe Commission endeavoured to enforce payment, the occupiers of the farms within a grange were able, legally and successfully, to resist all efforts to compel them to do so. Thus it was that the farmers of the grange of Doagh (in which is included part of the townland of Ballyclare) won their claim against the Tithe Commission in the year 1840.

The spiritual interests of the people were attended to, not by parochial or secular clergy, but by ordained members of a religious community. The secular clergy would have been what we in these present days term Lay Preachers or Lay Readers, whereas the ordained members of a religious community would in this case have been the clergy of the Roman Church which was the only Church in Ireland between 1171 and 1537, by which latter date the Monasteries were dissolved by King Henry VIII.

Altogether there are five villages in Ireland which bear the name Grange, - one in each of the counties of Tyrone, Limerick, and Tipperary, with two in the Province of Connaught, (one of these near Sligo) while throughout the length and breadth of the country are to be found quite a number of granges, or tracts of land. In one of these, a parish in County Armagh comprising about 7000 acres, are freestone quarries which provided the material for the restoration of Armagh Cathedral. The Parish Church here is a handsome building built in 1779 from limestone, also raised from the quarries in the parish. It has a square tower and octagonal spire. The land is generally good with a considerable amount of bog.

Others are :-

GRANGE - A tithe-free district in the Barony of Shillelogher, County of Kilkenny and Province of Leinster.

GRANGE - A parish comprising about 2828 acres in the County of Limerick, Province of Munster. The land is very good and is rich meadow principally in large dairy farms. The river Deel, over which passes a curious old bridge, flows through the parish.

GRANGE - A parish or district in the County of Limerick and Province of Munster, three miles from Bruff on the road to Limerick, comprises 1224 acres very good dairy land. In the district of Bruff there are three Druidical Circles, one of which is 44 yards in diameter and consists of 65 upright stones, principally of limestone, sandstone and clay-slate, but the largest which is thirteen feet high, seven feet broad and four feet thick is formed of breccia. The second Circle is 49 yards in diameter and consists of 72 smaller stones, while the third, which consists of 15 large shapeless rocks, is 17 yards in diameter.

GRANGE or GRANGEMONK - Also called Monksgrange, is a parish in Queen’s County and Province of Leinster, 4 miles from Carlow on the river Barrow comprises 841 acres.

GRANGE - A parish of some 2700 acres in County Waterford and Province of Munster, 5 miles from Youghal on the river Lickey and near the coast, off which is Goat Island.

GRANGE of DOAGH - This ancient grange or parish includes the townland of Coggrey and part of the townland of Ballyclare, in the County of Antrim, Province of Ulster. Its Church, St. Mary’s, in Church Lane in the village of Doagh, was built in 1251 and is now in ruins. It seems to have always remained a separate parish with a curate supplied from the Abbey of Muckamore, about two miles distant. After the Abbey was dissolved it was joined to the parish of Kilbride.

From as far back as 1624 which is the earliest authentic date to which the family name can be traced in Ireland, the Granges have been divided into two branches, one of these always having been domiciled in the Counties of Dublin and Wicklow in the South, with the other in the North claiming as its hereditary home, the fertile valley of the Sixmile Water in County Antrim. This river, the Sixmile, was in ancient times known as the Ollar, an old Irish word meaning the river of the rushes - a name which even today persists amongst the older generations who live in the Valley.

A number of residences erected in Ballyclare nearly two hundred years ago still bear the name. Built on the banks of the river, and standing well back from the main roadway, is Ollar Lodge with its graceful weeping ash growing in the centre of the lawn. The quiet, peaceful old-world charm of this old building contrasts sharply with the hustle and bustle of modern traffic as it rushes madly along the main thoroughfare just on its immediate front. Opposite Ollar Lodge was the Ollar Hotel, in recent years converted into another type of business, while on the Mill Lane, looking down on the gently flowing river below, is Ollar View, for many generations the home of the Hill family.

Which one of these branches can lay claim to be the original root system of the Family Tree and from which the other has stemmed, it is now impossible to say with any degree of certainty.

The loss of practically all the family papers in 1922, especially those of the Northern Branch, has led to an incomplete record of earlier generations and has been a major obstacle in definitely establishing that both branches originally sprang from a common stock. Nevertheless despite this lack of documentary evidence, the many characteristic qualities, especially in features, pertaining to the Grange family as a whole, have been so apparent in many members of both branches as to dispel any lingering doubts as to their early ancestry and close kinship.

Genealogists who have made a close study of the name state that as a family name it is an extremely rare one in Ireland, having for centuries in fact, been confined to only two regions in the whole country and that their investigations strongly indicate that the present-day bearers of the name, both North and South, are descendants of the same ancient tribe.

The townland of Ballylinney in Co. Antrim, which adjoins Ballyclare, was for centuries one of the possessions of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, an Order of Monks who had taken upon themselves the task of driving the infidels out of the Holy Land. A mixture of Priest and soldier, they had castles all over Europe where their armed men of fortune were trained in the arts of war for service in the Crusades.

Nearly eight hundred years ago these Knights Templar built a monastery at Templepatrick, four miles from Ballyclare, and it was in the territory surrounding this sacred edifice that the Granges in the North were first engaged in agriculture and pasturage. They had land in the Templepatrick, Kilmakee and Derriaghy areas, while another farm was worked near Carrickfergus. Altogether a total of some five or six hundred acres were farmed in those early days and for centuries, succeeding generations of this farming family followed with great fidelity, the calling of their ancestors.

Hereditary family names became general in Ireland about the end of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh, or the period during which Brian Boru reigned. Some historians, in fact, assert that this custom was adopted in obedience to an Ordinance issued by that Monarch. In the very early days some individuals received their name from a personal peculiarity such as the colour of their hair, size, complexion, figure, or bravery, &c., while others acquired theirs through a long association with a place or tract of territory.

Thus from these foregoing observations it is not a difficult matter to visualize how the Grange family came to acquire their name, - “the Grange at the Monastery,” - “the people living at the Grange,” - “a Grange man,” - and so forth, so that with the passage of time, slowly and almost imperceptibly, the name “Grange” came to be applied to, and accepted by the people living at the farmhouse near the Monastery.

After the dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth centry, the Priory at Templepatrick became the property of Sir Humphrey Norton, an English settler who in 1611 built a castle incorporating earlier remains. In 1628 the castle was purchased by Captain Henry Upton who gave his name to it and it has ever since been known as Upton Castle. He was ancestor to Viscount Templetown who lived there in recent years.

The original Temple Church stood near the Priory, while the old graveyard is within a few hundred yards of the castle itself. For centuries this was the family burying ground of the Granges and as generation after generation came to the end of their pilgimage through life, it was to this hallowed sanctuary they were brought to find rest and peace from their earthly labours. The last member of the family to be laid to rest here was Robert, born 31st. May, 1861 and died on 8th. of December, 1938.

Like all people of true farming stock, the Granges were dedicated to the land and due to the diligence and painstaking efforts of the earlier generations, the family for a very long period enjoyed great prosperity. As opportunity occurred they added to their acreage and continually increased their herds of livestock with the finest animals they could procure.

Always they were lovers of the horse of which they were shrewd judges, and in later years put their knowledge in this sphere of their farming activities to good purpose when they became agents to the British Government for the supply of cavalry and draught horses for the Army. Members of the family attended all the principal fairs throughout the country, bargaining and buying up suitable animals and then shipping them across the Channel. This entailed long and arduous journeys by road usually on horseback, but the profits accrued were such as to offset any inconvenience incurred and made it a worthwhile and lucrative business.

But the horse, alas, was to be primarily responsible for the eventual downfall of the family, for horse-racing, with of course its attendant gambling, became such an irresistible magnet for the later generations that their fascination for the Sport of Kings and the thrills of the turf led them to take a steadily declining interest in the tilling of the lands. Hunting, greyhounds and course meetings claimed still more precious time that should have been devoted to the soil, while in addition to all these faults, many of them were heavy drinkers, a not uncommon failing amongst the people in those far-off hard-living days.
Horses, hunting, dogs, gambling and drinking - a succession of steps along a fatal path that could only have one ending, - disaster. The Granges had sown the wind and it was inevitable that they should reap the whirlwind.

Money became scarce so land had to be sold or mortgaged to replenish the coffers. Acre after acre gradually slipped from their grasp until, by the beginning of the 19th. century, they had lost all of the farms at Templepatrick and Carrickfergus areas that their forefathers had built up by skilful toil.

Robert (born 1777) managed to purchase a farm of slightly over one hundred acres at Thornditch, midway between Ballyclare and Doagh, in which he placed his son Hugh (born 1805). But Hugh and his son WIlliam (born 1834 and who inherited the farm at his father’s death), ignored the fate that had befallen earlier generations through their wanton neglect of their lands and persisted in the same follies which had wrough such havoc with the family estates.

So the headlong plunge to disaster continued and the Thornditch acres were destined to suffer the same unhappy fate as had befallen those of the old Templepatrick home.

William was forced to sell the Thornditch farm to meet the demands of his many creditors and spent the eventide of his long span of life at the home of an unmarried daughter, Elizabeth, who lived in Ballyclare. He died in the early years of the present century. He was a sturdily built man with a somewhat ruddy complexion and receding hair, his roundish full face adorned with a closely-clipped moustache. In his closing years he was possessed of an uncertain temper, - soured perhaps by the ever nagging thoughts of a life foolishly spent in chasing the artificial pleasures of his day and helping in the destruction of a goodly heritage so hardly won from nature by the labours of his industrious forefathers.

The compulsory sale of the Thornditch farm meant that the sons of William had perforce to seek pastures new and entered into, for them, a strange new world - industry.

Robert remained on the farm for a short period assisting the new owner, then proceeded to Belfast where he took up employment with a haulier and in a short time had reached a responsible position in the firm.

Always however there was the call of the soil in his blood and in the early years of the present century he bought a farm near Glengormley, mid-way between Belfast and Ballyclare and prospered sufficiently to purchase an adjoining farm and double his acreage.

He had made a gallant and praiseworthy effort to once again reconcile the family name with the green fields of the open country. But all his labours came to naught, for at his death in 1938 his son Robert had to dispose of the land due to health reasons and retired to private life.

Before the Thornditch farm was sold, Hugh had placed another son, Robert, (born 1832) in a farm adjoining that of the home farm. This land went under the name of “Castle” and ran alonside both banks of the Sixmile river. How it acquired this name it is now impossible to say. Probably at some very early period, a Castle, or what is more likely, castellated mansion, which the local people in such circumstances were apt to refer to as “The Castle”, had been built somewhere on the land. A cluster of small cottages which still stand on the north bank of the river here, has always been known as Castlesod.

Robert died sometime between the years 1861 (when his last child was born) and 1864, the year when the registration of deaths became compulsory.

With the assistance of some farm-hands, Jane, his wife, worked the farm until 1874 when the eldest son Robert (born 1853) became of age and took over control of the land.

Robert married in 1883 and then for some reason disposed of the farm and went into the haulage business in Belfast where all his family were born. He returned to Ballyclare in the early years of the present century and taking over premises in Main Street, carried on the haulage business for a time between Ballyclare, Larne and Belfast.

A few years later the urge to farm once more came upon him and he purchased the “Ashdale” farm in the district of Ballyboley where he spent the remainder of his days at his hereditary calling.

At his death in 1925 his son, John (Jack) born 1890 succeeded to the farm and successfully laboured it until the late 1950’s, when he gave up active farming and retired to private life. He was the last of this long line of farmers of the North who for centuries had toiled in the Valley of the Ollar to wrest from its fertile acres the fruits of Mother Earth.

And so to the South.

Due to the extensive search conducted by the late Rochfort Grange from about 1918 onwards, it has been possible to build up an authoritative history of the Southern Branch of the family dating from 1624. This is thirty seven years earlier than the earliest recorded date in the North. He had the good fortune to commence his search before the destruction of the records in the Dublin Law Courts in 1922, thus enabling him to obtain more detailed information concerning the earlier generations - of their marriages, occupations or professions.

The earliest record of the Southern Branch shows that the family were living at Ballynagilloge, a townland in the Barony of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, and it was here that Edmund who inherited the farm was born in 1624. He is the first member of the family of whom there is any record.

They worked a total of some 650 acres, the greater part of which, about 400 acres, lay in Ballynagilloge and Raherd areas, the latter place being an adjoining townland, while a further 250 acres were in the townlands of Ennereilly and Ballinturney, both being in the Barony of Arklow.

The family burying ground was the old Churchyard at Ennereilly and many who in later years had travelled afar in pursuit of their several businesses, directed in their wills that when they had reached their allotted span, their bodies should be laid to rest with those of their fathers near the old home farm. They had found that like most families who have had a centuries-old association with an hereditary home, the yearning was ever present to return to the place of their birth.

In the early days the farms were carefully tended by a succession of generations who were quite content to follow in the traditional ways of their fathers. The acreage was gradually built up, not only by buying, but by a considerable amount of land which came into possession of the family by way of dowries and marriage settlements.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, however, it became apparent that the younger members of the generation belonging to that period no longer inclined towards the ploughing of the green fields as their fathers had done before them, but were looking further afield towards a mode of life far removed from the peaceful pursuits of the Granges of earlier days.

To some of them the high ideals of Church and Christianity proved an irresistible attraction, while others sought glory and adventure on the battlefield.

As time wore on this drift from the land steadily increased and by 1880, or thereabouts, practically all the Southern farms had been vacated and disposed of, apparently there being no one left who possessed the agricultural urge to sow and reap.

Today no Grange tills the soil in any part of Ireland.

Most of the warrior sons of the South served with famous cavalry regiments of the British and Indian armies, for like the men of the North, the horse was aye their faithful friend, and when they adopted the army as a career, boots and saddles was the obvious choice. (The Indian Army in those days was directly maintained by the Honourable East India Company and did not come under the command of the British Government until after the Indian Mutiny of 1858.)

Edmund (born about 1782) and who had entered the Church, married Diana Coates and crossed over to Southern England where he established a Branch or Colony of the family. He had three sons, each of whom chose the army as a profession, and two daughters, who each married a man of military rank. The second son, Lieut-Colonel George John, emigrated to Canada and settled in County Wellington of which he was Sherriff from 1840-76. He was president of a railway company there for many years. One of his sons, Dr. E. A. Grange, graduated from Ontario Veterinary College in 1873 and after a distinguished career in various colleges in both Canada and the U.S.A., he finally became president of the college from which he had graduated in the days of his youth.

The inclination to farm seems to have been lacking amongst the members of this English colony, at least to the same extent as had been carried on by their forebears in the Emerald Isle, all their skill and ingenuity seemingly being directed towards making a successful career in some profession, notably in the military sphere, where several rose to a high rank in the service of their country.

It is not known when the first Grange from Ireland settled in the U.S.A. It could have been the period between the closing years of the eighteenth century and the 1840’s when Irish emigrants poured out of the country in their thousands to cross the ocean and settle in America. At the full tide of this mass exodus to the Western World fully twelve thousand left Ulster annually, the great majority of them being Presbyterians.

At this time the humble potato was the staple food of the Irish people and when in 1845 the potato crop suddenly failed owing to a blight, a famine descended on the whole land and while this catastrophe no doubt forced many to seek new homes in other lands, chiefly the U.S.A., the principal cause of the migration from the North was an intolerable landlordism. Episcopalian Bishops who controlled large tracts of land refused permission to erect either a Presbyterian Church or house on their property, and wealthy landlords of the same persuasion followed the example of their clergy and usually refused to let land on any terms to a Presbyterian, or if given at all, charged him an exhorbitant rent.

It would have been about 1840 or very shortly afterwards, that a Robert Grange, born in Ireland in 1819, arrived in America with his young bride, Alicia Rhames, who was born in the year 1830, (also in Ireland). They settled in Watertown, a town in the State of Wisconsin.

Alicia Rhames was a Quaker and whether it was a question of religious or social prejudice, there was strong family opposition to the marriage and the young couple decided to leave the land of their birth and lead their own chosen way of life in entirely new surroundings.

It is difficult to pin-point in which part of Ireland Robert was born, for despite an intensive search of all existing Church registers in Ireland, no record of the marriage can be traced. Vague oral statements handed down from father to son record him as having proclaimed himself a Presbyterian and his place of birth in the vicinity of Dublin. These two references as to religion and ancestral home are, however, at variance, one with the other, for whereas the Granges in the South were, so far as can be ascertained from the records, all Anglicans, those in the North were without exception, Presbyterians.

About the time of Robert’s arrival, Watertown seemed to have been the focal point or reception area for the Granges and their families after they had left the old country behind them, for there are civic records of a number of families living in the town and all having been Irish born:- Robert, a farmer, born 1810, and his wife Anne, born 1815; John, a physician, born 1780. (The records of Trinity College, Dublin, and Edinburgh University were examined to see if he had graduated at either of these but the search proved negative). Living in the same house with John, Robert and Anne were Sarah Watson and her two children, Jane and John who were all born in Ireland - Sarah in 1810. She may have been a married daughter of John. In another part of the town were John, born 1830 and his wife Harriet, born 1837, with their two children, Matthew aged 3 years and Robert R, aged five months. These two children were born in Wisconsin. Again the registers in Ireland could show no trace of any of these births and marriages.

The records of the Granges in Watertown were obtained by Betty Grange of Vancouver U.S.A. BR>
Like the present-day Granges of the old country this American Colony seem to have permanently divorced themselves from the traditional family occupation of tillage and instead entered professions such as engineering, teaching, accountancy, medicine, or some similar occupation.

Yet the inherent affection for their old dumb friend, the horse, is still in evidence and seemingly just as irresistible for “Old Faithful” is still to the fore at several homesteads, where occasionally the owner can still be seen engaged in one of the old familiar callings of the earlier Granges in the Emerald Isle, that of horse-training.

While it is quite possible that there were earlier arrivals than Robert (1819), up to now no such records have been located so for the purpose of this family history he has been chosen as the first generation of this Branch of the Granges of Ireland in the U.S.A.

ULSTER

FIRST GENERATION

ANDREW, born in the year 1661, is the first Grange of whom there is any authentic information in the North of Ireland. He was married but the maiden name of his wife is not known.

He had at least one brother, Robert, and as Andrew was in possession of the home farm at Templepatrick, it would seem as if Robert was the younger man and may have farmed the land which the family owned at Kilmakee, a townland which lies close to Templepatrick. (See note on Second Generation).

Andrew was also the owner of a tract of land near Carrickfergus, the boundaries of which town in those days extended as far as Sernid, Little Ballymena and Bruslee, and the farm may have been located in one of these areas, all of which lie in close proximity to Templepatrick.

His name is on a “List of Freemen of Carrickfergus” prior to 1716, being entitled to claim privilege or right by virtue of possessing land within boundaries of the Corporation. This was one of the ancient claims to the Freedom.

Andrew died in 1732, his will being proved in the same year.

There were two sons of the marriage :-

Arthur
John

SECOND GENERATION

JOHN, son of Andrew(1661). The date of his birth is not known. He was married, but no trace of his wife’s maiden name can be found. He occupied Carrickfergus lands and after his death his widow continued to live on the farm. The records show her to be still in possession as late as 1775.

ARTHUR - Son of Andrew(1661), he was born in 1691. He was married but again no trace of his wife’s maiden name can be found. He was probably the elder of the two sons for he fell heir to the Templepatrick farm on the death of his father. He died in 1768 aged 77 years. He had one son :-

William

Note - There is a record of an Arthur Grange farming at Kilmakee during this period and it is quite possible that he was the son of Robert, brother of Andrew. He died in 1766, letters for the administration of his estate being granted in the same year.

THIRD GENERATION

WILLIAM, son of Arthur(1691), was born in 1722 and took unto himself for a wife, Sarah Gray who was born in Dublin. They were married in Dublin in 1741 and thereafter lived at the home farm at Templepatrick which William took over on the death of his father.

There is no record of William’s demise.

There was one son of the marriage :-

Richard

FOURTH GENERATION

RICHARD, son of William(1722) was born in 1745 and married Jane Stevenson of Carrickfergus. It was through this marriage that the Christian name of Hugh was introduced into the Grange family, it being a Stevenson family name.

For a time Richard worked the farm at Derrieghy, later taking over the Templepatrick lands from his father, working both until the time of his death which took place in 1812.

There was one son of the marriage :-

Robert

Note - It was about this period that the family began to seriously neglect the lands which lay in the Carrickfergus, Derriaghy and Kilmakee areas.

FIFTH GENERATION

ROBERT, son of Richard(1745) and Jane Stevenson, was born in 1777 and married Mary Reid of Doagh. He died in the year 1844 aged 67 years, by which time the family were dispossessed of all their old farmlands in the Templepatrick and other areas. His wife Mary survived him by twenty years. She was born in 1781 and died at Doagh on 1st May, 1864 at the ripe old age of 83.

Robert and Mary had two sons :-

James Reid
Hugh

Note - It was Robert who purchased the Thornditch farm.

SIXTH GENERATION

JAMES REID. All that can be traced of this son of Robert(1777) is that he was born in 1802 and that he married Margaret -----? in 1829 and that of the marriage a daughter named Jane was born on 29th July, 1830. She was baptized in St. Patrick’s Church in the Parish of Templepatrick on 15th August the same year. No trace of James’ death can be found in the records after 1865, but as his mother, Mary, and his wife, Margaret, lived together until the death of the former he probably died sometime before 1864 when the registering of deaths became compulsory.

HUGH - Son of Robert (1777) and Mary Reid, he was born in 1805 and married Elizabeth ------?. Before the final break-up of the old farms, Robert his father had purchased a farm of over one hundred acres at Thornditch, mid-way between Doagh and Ballyclare, each village being only one mile distant from the farm, and put Hugh in possession. According to the records he was in occupation in 1836. He did little to stem the flood of disaster that was steadily engulfing the family’s acres, - rather was he inclined to continue in the ways of his forefathers, neglecting the land and devoting too much of his time to hunting, horse-racing and greyhound coursing. He had the wisdom, however, to purchase a farm adjoining that of Thornditch and in this he placed a son, Robert (1832). It stretched along both banks of the Sixmile river and was known as Castle Farm.
Hugh and Elizabeth had a family of five, three sons and two daughters :-

James
Elizabeth
Robert
William
Jane

SEVENTH GENERATION

JAMES - son of Hugh (1805). He was born in 1826 and married Agnes Graham, aged 21, in Templepatrick Presbyterian Church on 2nd January 1846. She was the daughter of John Graham, a farmer living at Ballyhartfield near Doagh. Robert, brother of the bride, was best man while Elizabeth, James’ sister, was bridesmaid. No further particulars of James can be traced in this district. It is remarkable that although James was the eldest member of the family, William fell heir to the Thornditch farm and Robert the second son was place in Castle farm. As this was the period of the potato famine in Ireland when so many people (about two millions) left the country for other lands, principally the U.S.A., it may have been that James and Agnes emigrated.
There is no record of any family.

ELIZABETH - Daughter of Hugh (1805), she was born in 1829 and in 1858 married Samuel Young of Antrim, in Antrim Old Presbyterian Church.
There were two children of the marriage :-

William John
Hugh

ROBERT, - son of Hugh (1805), was born in 1832 and married Jane Baxter , daughter of John, a farmer of Silversprings, Templepatrick, the marriage taking place in Muckamore Presbyterian Church on 27th March, 1852. A short time after his marriage, Hugh(1805) his father, bought the young couple Castle farm, land which lay alongside that of Thornditch farm and ran down both banks of the Sixmile river. Although the records have been searched from the year 1864 (when it became compulsory to register all deaths) until near the end of the century, no trace of his death can be found. It would seem, therefore, that he died between the years 1861 (when his last child, James, was born) and 1864. Jane his widow, continued to work the farm herself after his death. Robert her eldest son, is recorded as having stated that his mother used to drive the horse and cart herself when delivering the farm produce to the Belfast markets taking with her all the children, well wrapped up in warm clothing.

In those days farmers were on the road at 3 o’clock in the morning and she must have been a very brave woman indeed to have taken upon herself such a task, for at that period the road from Ballyclare to Belfast was infested by highwaymen. Two of these were the O’Haughey brothers of Broughshane, one of whom was later hanged.

Farmers found it safer to travel in convoy especially when making the return journey when they had in their possession the proceeds of the day’s sales. Occasionally though, the journey had to be made alone and it was then that the robbers swooped and Robert often recalled how on several occasions the mother and children were assailed on the Antrim Road at the spot now known as Bellevue, but were beaten off with the aid of stout blackthorn sticks which all carried. Probably though when their assailants realized that it was a woman and children they were molesting the attack was not pressed home.
Robert and Jane had a family of one daughter and four sons :-

Robert
William Hugh
John
James
Daughter.(Died in infancy. Name not known)

WILLIAM, - son of Hugh (1805) was born in 1834 and married Margaret Reid who was born on 1st August, 1836. She was the daughter of Walter, a prosperous farmer living in the Doagh district. The ceremony took place in Ballyclare Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church on 6th March, 1857.

William took over the heavily morgaged Thornditch farm from his father and had the unhappy experience of being responsible for the compulsory sale of the property to meet the demands of the many creditors and so brought to an end the farming activities of the section of the family - a not very outstanding honour to which one would desire to lay claim.

He retired to the home of his unmarried daughter Elizabeth, who lived in Ballyclare, and there spent the remainder of his days contemplating what might have been had he given more time and thought to the management of his farm instead of following the uncertain fortunes of horses and dogs.

He died in the early years of the present century and was buried in Templepatrick old graveyard.

William and Margaret had a very large family indeed, eleven in all - six daughters and five sons, all of whom had to make their own way in the world as best they could for there was nothing left of the proceeds of the sale to assist them in their efforts to commence life afresh.

Mary
Elizabeth
Robert
John
William
Jane
Isabella
Hugh
Margaret
James
Rachael Rebecca

JANE. - Daughter of Hugh (1805), she was born in 1837 and in 1857 married Thomas Hilditch in Ballyclare Unitarian Church. No further details of this marriage are available.

EIGHTH GENERATION

WILLIAM JOHN, eldest son of Elizabeth (1829) and Samuel Young was born in 1858 and baptized in Ballyclare Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church.

HUGH, - second son of Elizabeth (1829) was born in 1860 and was baptized in the same Church as his brother.

The above is the only information available concerning this family.

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DAUGHTER - of Robert (1832). She died in infancy and her Christian name is not known.

ROBERT, - son of Robert (1832) and Jane Baxter. He was born at Thornditch in 1853 and took over the management of Castle farm from his mother about 1874 when he reached the age of 21. In 1883 he married Agnes Hume, daughter of John, a farmer of Ballyboley, a townland about four miles from Ballyclare. About the time of his marriage he disposed of the farm and moved to Belfast where he went into the haulage business.
Three sons and two daughters were born to Robert and Agnes - all at Belfast :-

William Hume
Margaret Ann Coburn
Robert
John
Jane

Agnes, Robert’s wife, died in Belfast about 1895-6.

MARY GARDNER WILSON (1860) at the age of 4 years. Second wife of ROBERT GRANGE (1853)

On the 6th June, 1900, Robert, who was still living in Belfast and engaged in the same business, married Mary Gardiner Wilson of Lisburn, at Malone Presbyterian Church, Belfast.

About 1904 he removed to Ballyclare and taking over premises in Main Street, plied his haulage trade between the village, Belfast and Larne. He also had a number of jaunting cars which he used for work in the outlying districts. He remained in Ballyclare for only a brief period, for the urge to farm once again came upon him, and buying “Ashdale” farm in the Ballyboley district, he spent the remaining years of his life there, ploughing, planting and harvesting.

In appearance he had many of the characteristics of the Grange family, being a fairly tall well-built man with a roundish full face and ruddy complexion, and like many of his forebears had a fiery temper but this seldom lasted long. Like them also, he was extremely fond of horses but here the similarity ended, for he neither gambled or drank. He was a skilful and conscientious farmer and time was of no import when it meant obtaining the best results from his land.

Love of the horse took him all over Ireland for he was considered to be one of the finest judges of horseflesh in the country. In this respect the mantle of his forefathers descended fully upon his broad shoulders during the years of World War I when the British Government appointed him as Agent for the purchase and supply of horses for the Army. In this capacity he travelled throughout the length and breadth of Ireland attending fairs everywhere, buying up animals which he deemed as suitable for the requirements of the mounted Regiments. His travelling though was more comfortable than in the days of yore.

Robert will probably go down in the chronicles of the Granges as the last member of the family to have undertaken this age-old appointment under the British Government for now that the mechanical age has arrived in our midst probably never again will a Grange be found in this familiar role of olden days.

Robert died at Ballyboley on 4th February, 1939.

He and Mary Wilson had one daughter and one son, both born in Belfast :-

Mary Gardiner
George Wilson

WILLIAM HUGH. - Son of Robert (1832), he was born at Thornditch in 1855 and was twice married. His first wife was Mary Jane, daughter of William A. McMillen who owned a farm at Irish Hill near Straid, about three or four miles from Ballyclare.

William Hugh ignored the traditional call of the land and bought licensed premises in the Square, Ballyclare. As a sideline to this business he kept a string of horses and jaunting cars, this being the only means of short-distance travel between the village and the outlying districts at that time. (The first railway came into service in 1877 connecting the village with the Port of Larne). This combined business made him quite a wealthy man, and in later life augmented his income by investing a considerable amount of capital in land and house property.
He and Mary Jane were married in 1880 and had one daughter and one son :-

Esther
William Hugh

Mary Jane enjoyed only a few short years of married bliss before she died, and in 1892 William Hugh again married, this time to Sarah Rogers, daughter of John, a farmer in the Bryantang district near Straid.
A son and a daughter were born of this marriage.

John
Sarah

William Hugh died in 1910 aged 55 years and was buried in Ballyclare New Cemetery.

JOHN. - Son of Robert (1832), he was born at Thornditch in 1858 and like his two brothers Robert and William Hugh was also twice married, his first wife being Annie Marshall of Glenwherry, a townland lying about mid-way between Ballyclare and Ballymena. The ceremony was held in Glenwherry Presbyterian Church on 14th October, 1887.

He then purchased licensed premises in the Square, Ballyclare, only a few yards from the home of his brother, William Hugh. In addition to this he owned a farm and stone quarries at the Craig Hill, both being on the outskirts of the village, the quarries enabling him to contract for the upkeep of the highways in the district. He also owned a number of horses and jaunting cars for public service, but his sole interest in life lay in the racing or trotting ponies, he himself driving these beautifully built animals all over Ireland.
Of this first marriage three daughters were born.

Jane
Anne
Esther

After the death of his first wife he married Elizabeth Love and of this union three sons and one daughter were born :-

John
Robert
James
Gertrude

James & Jane

JAMES. - Son of Robert (1832) and Jane Baxter, he was born at Thornditch on 4th July in the year 1861. He married Jane Marshall at Glenwherry Presbyterian Church on 14th December, 1887. She was a sister of Annie Marshall who had married his brother John in October of the same year. Thus two brothers married two sisters.

Jane had inherited licensed premises in the Duncairn district of Belfast and while residing there after their marriage, James, who had within him all the Grange passion for horses, kept a string of both horses and trotting ponies which he, like his brother John , drove in races in various parts of the country. (Pony trotting, incidentally, had become one of the public’s most popular sports in Ireland during the closing years of the last century and the beginning of the present).

When Judge Fitsimmons presided at the Courts of Assize in those days it was James who always provided the coach and team of horses to convey him on his rounds.

And as the turn-out with its six mounted constables as outriders trotted smartly along the streets on its journey to the Courthouse, it made a colourful and impressive display.

James’ sojourn in Belfast, though, was not altogether a happy one for he intensely disliked being associated with the sale of alcohol. In fact he flatly refused to have anything to do with the business and continually exhorted his wife to dispose of the premises. This he ultimately persuaded her to do and they moved to a farm which they purchased in the Ballysnod district near Larne. He died here in 1938 and was buried in Larne Cemetery.
Of the marriage three sons and three daughters are born :-

Robert
Hugh
Jean
Anne
Cassie
William J

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MARY. - Daughter of William (1834) and Margaret Reid, she was born at Thornditch on 13th December, 1857 and died on 12th May, 1912. She married Robert Boyd a police officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary and of the marriage two children were born :-

Robert
Sarah

ELIZABETH, - daughter of William (1834), was born at Thornditch on 12th September, 1859 and died unmarried on 8th July, 1939. It was she with whom her father lived when the Thornditch farm was sold. Her two brothers Hugh and James, neither of whom married, also lived with her.

ROBERT, - son of William (1834). He was born at Thornditch on 31st May, 1861 and married Edith Millar, daughter of a Belfast man who had emigrated to the U.S.A. and had married shortly after settling in that country.

On her husband’s death the mother decided to journey to the Old Country and commence life afresh, taking with her the two girls of the marriage. However, after remaining here for a time she found life not as she had expected and hoped for and returned to the U.S.A., Edith’s sister accompanying her on the journey back.

Robert &
Agnes ROBERT GRANGE (1861) and his daughter, AGNES

Unlike his brothers who had found employment in the North of Ireland Paper Mills, Ballyclare, Robert remained on the farm for a period assisting the new owner for he spurned the idea of being enclosed by four walls after a life in the open fields. He then moved to Belfast where for a number of years he was employed by a large firm of hauliers named Ferris.

Robert was a tall well-built, genial type of man full of energy and resourcefulness, attributes which soon placed him in a responsible position with the firm.

Always, however, there was a call of the soil in his blood, a yearning to possess a farm of his own and early in the present century he purchased a farm at Glengormley, mid-way between Belfast and Ballyclare, and settled down to the hereditary pursuit of farming.

In this he was successful and for the first time for many years was happy and contented and in a short space of time had prospered sufficiently to add an adjoining farm to his property and so doubling his acreage.

Edith pre-deceased her husband by about fourteen years, casting aside this life’s burdens on 18th April, 1924, and was buried in the old family burying ground within the Castle walls at Templepatrick.

She was a slimly built woman with a quiet pleasant voice, very friendly and good-natured and much beloved by all her friends. Robert and Edith had four children, two sons and two daughters :-

William
Robert
Agnes
Edith Adaline

Some years after Edith’s death Robert married Jane Kerr, there being no issue of this second marriage. Robert himself died on 8th December, 1938 and was buried at Templepatrick being the last of the Granges to be placed in this last resting place of his forefathers.

Martha MARTHA, Wife of JOHN GRANGE(1863)

JOHN. - Fourth child of William (1834), he was born at Thornditch on 20th July, 1863 and married Martha McAuley, daughter of Robert, a farmer of Sleive True, a townland or district in the neighbourhood of Carrickfergus. Robert McAuley also owned a spirit grocery business in Carrickfergus, but the family always lived at the farm. Martha was a student teacher at the time of her marriage.

On leaving the Thornditch farm John found employment in the North of England Paper Mill Company, Ballyclare, where he earned a high reputation as a skilful craftsman in the paper industry.

In the meantime Robert McAuley had sold both his farm at Sleive True and his business at Carrickfergus and bought fully licensed premises in Main Street, Ballyclare. John eventually gave up his employment in the Paper Mill and bought this business from his father-in-law, managing it himself until the time of his death which occurred on 5th May, 1914. He was interred in the family burying ground at Templepatrick.

John and Martha had a family of ten children five sons and five daughters :-

Elizabeth
John
Robert
William
Sarah
Joseph Hunter
Margaret Reid
Martha
Hugh
Lily

WILLIAM, - who bore his father’s name was the fifth child of William (1834) and Margaret Reid. He was born at Thornditch on 12th October, 1865. He also was forced to seek employment in the Paper Mill at Ballyclare, where, like his brother John, he was to become extremely proficient in the art of paper-making. His skill enabled him to become a machine-man at the very early age of 19, a responsibility usually reserved for men of more mature years.
As a craftsman he had few equals in the trade and travelled extensively throughout the British Isles, working at one time or another in almost every Paper Mill in Great Britain and Ireland. On at least two occasions, in Exeter and a works in Kent, he held the position of Under Manager.
Unfortunately, he, like so many of his ancestors was only too susceptible to the allurements of “the Cup that Cheers” and on many occasions this regrettable failing prevented him from embracing opportunities which presented themselves as potential gateways towards a successful career in the paper-making industry.
He married Janet, daughter of Thomas and Janet Cannon. The latter’s parents, James and Margaret Johnston, owned a farm at Ballynarcy, Ballynure, roughly about two miles from Ballyclare, while Thomas Cannon’s father, John, owned property at Ballycorr, about one mile from our village.
Thomas Cannon himself was a younger son and seeing no future for him on the farm at home, ran away at an early age and enlisted in a Foot Regiment of the British Army. Altogether he served twenty two years with his Regiment, fifteen of these being on foreign stations. After his discharge from the Army he married Janet Johnston.
Janet was born on 13th April 1866. She was married at the age of 21 and, according to some elderly local residents many years ago, was considered to be the prettiest girl in the village at the time of her wedding.
She was a pleasant type of woman, built on somewhat slender lines. She possessed a quiet sense of humour and was gifted with an abundance of both courage and patience, all of which she required to overcome the many difficulties and disappointments which beset her throughout the long course of her married life.
William died on 12th October, 1938 and was buried in Ballyclare New Cemetery. Janet survived him by seventeen years, passing away on 4th May, 1955 and was interred in the same cemetery as her husband.
William and Janet brought into the world a family of nine, seven sons and two daughters :-

John
William
Margaret Jane
Robert Thomas
James
Agnes Reid
Hugh
Walter Reid
Johnathan Reid

JANE, - daughter of William (1834). Born at Thornditch on 20th November, 1867, she died on 1st February, 1872 at the early age of five years.

ISABELLA - Daughter of William (1834), she was born at Thornditch on 5th January, 1869 and married James Marshall Laird, an engineer. She died at Belfast on 28th July, 1900 aged 31 years, just after the birth of her son, Joseph. He was the only child of the marriage

HUGH, - son of William (1834). Born at Thornditch on 24th January, 1873, he was a tall man, about six feet three inches in height and was the liveliest and jolliest of this big family. He never married and lived with his sister Elizabeth until the time of his death which took place on 8th December, 1912. He was interred in Templepatrick graveyard. He had always been employed by the North of Ireland Paper Mill Company.

MARGARET - was the ninth child of William (1834) and Margaret Reid. She was born at Thornditch on 29th July, 1875 and married John Brownlee, an engineer, who after working for several firms in Belfast, emigrated to the U.S.A. in the early 1920’s where the family joined him in 1925 settling in Kearney, New Jersey.

John and his son William, also an engineer, both served aboard the vessels of the United States Fruit Company.

John died sometime in the 1930’s but Margaret was still enjoying good health in 1963 although well advanced in years.
Of the marriage there were two daughters and one son :-

William
Agnes
Etta

JAMES. - Son of William (1834), he was born at Thornditch on 24th April, 1878. Like his brother Hugh, he was employed by the North of Ireland Paper Mill in Ballyclare and never married, living with his sister Elizabeth. Unlike Hugh though, he was a very quiet, thoughtful type of man, and whereas Hugh was a very tall, well-built man, he was small in stature. Never of a very robust nature he died at the age of 26, - about 1904, and was laid to rest in the old family burying ground at Templepatrick.

RACHAEL REBECCA - Daughter of William (1834) and Margaret Reid and the last child of a very big family, she was born at Thornditch on 24th March, 1883 and died in infancy, - on 2nd October of the same year.

NINTH GENERATION

WILLIAM HUME, son of Robert (1853) and Agnes Hume (1st. Marriage) was born at Belfast on 1st October, 1884. In 1906 he emigrated to the U.S.A. where he married an American-born girl (name not known). He died in the 1950’s.
Three daughters were born of this union :-

Harriet
Agnes
Margaret

MARGARET ANN COBURN. - Daughter of Robert (1853) and Agnes Hume (1st marriage), she was born at Belfast on 14th October, 1886.

She emigrated to the U.S.A. about 1910 and there married an American who died a few years after the marriage. She again married, her second husband, George Mastron, also being an American by birth. They lived at Quincy, Mass., where Margaret died on 18th February, 1961. Her husband was still alive in 1962.
There were no children of either marriage.

ROBERT, - son of Robert (1853) and Agnes Hume (1st marriage). He was born at Belfast in 1888. He also emigrated to the U.S.A. where he met and married a Belfast girl named Florence Irvine and of the union two sons and one daughter were born :-

Robert
Irvine
Agnes

Robert, the father, died in the 1950’s. His widow, Florence, was living in Boston in 1962.

JOHN, - son of Robert (1853) and Agnes Hume was born at Belfast on 29th October, 1890. Better known to his friends and associates as “Jack”, he inherited “Ashdale” farm at Lower Ballyboley, near Ballyclare. A keen and industrious farmer, he successfully laboured this land until 1939, when he disposed of it to his sister Jane and then moved into a smaller one in the same district. This he worked until the late 1950’s when he retired from active farming. He was the last of the Granges to till the soil in Ulster.
Jack was married twice, first to Mary Stewart of Lisnalinchey, near Ballyclare, the ceremony being held in Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church. Mary died in 1944 and Jack then took unto himself for a second wife, Jane Ross, also of Lisnalinchey.
When Jack called a halt to his farming activities he and Jane retreated to a bungalow which is sited only a few hundred yards from the Ballykinney Presbyterian Church where they still live.
There are no children of either marriage.

JANE, - daughter of Robert (1853) and Agnes Hume, she was born at Belfast on 25th October, 1894. She married Alexander Baxter of Upper Ballyboley. She and her husband took over the home farm from Jack when he moved to the smaller one.
Of the marriage there are two children, a son and a daughter :-

Robert Alexander
Mary Grange

MARY GARDINER. - Daughter of Robert (1853) and Mary Gardiner Wilson of Lisburn (2nd marriage), she was born at Belfast on 7th February, 1902. She was educated at a semi-private school in Ballyclare, known locally for many years as Miss Aitken’s School, it being founded by that lady about the beginning of the present century. It was the end house of the three-storey block of buildings on the North side of the Square, the houses at that time being referred to as “Shannon’s Row.”

In the very early days of the village this site was occupied by a collection of mud and wattle habitations, round in shape and with thatched roofs. They were, in fact, a type of “clochan” or “caban” and were build as temporary homes by a tribe of wandering nomads hailing from the South-west of Ireland and who had settled in the village for a short space of time before continuing their onward trek to some other part of the country. The unusual shape of the homes soon led to the villagers dubbing the site “The Bee-hive”, - a name still heard even today when older people refer to that part of the Square.

Lack of accommodation for an increasing number of pupils compelled Miss Aitken to take over new premises at the junction of the Rashee - Ballyeaston roads but before many years had come and gone, the floor-space was once again found to be inadequate to meet the demands of rapidly increasing numbers and the school now known as the Ballyclare High School was built to meet the educational needs of the continually expanding younger section of our community.

Mary Gardiner, better known to her host of friends as Maysie, moved to Belfast when her mother died in 1939 taking with her all the family documents and papers, these, unfortunately, being destroyed when her home was demolished by a bomb during the German air-raid of 1941.

She still resides in Belfast and holds the post of secretary to a commercial firm in that city.

GEORGE WILSON. - Son of Robert (1853) and Mary Gardiner Wilson (2nd marriage), he was born at Belfast on 6th September, 1903. Educated first at Larne Grammar School, he then entered The Queen’s University, Belfast, where he graduated as a B. Sc. in Engineering.
Possessed of a wander-lust, George first made his way to Toronto, Canada, and remained there for several years before returning home, then to London to take up and engineering post there. At London on 4th June, 1938, he married Phyllis Rentoul Warke of Londonderry.
Only a few years were to pass before he was once more on the move, this time journeying to Brazil, having obtained the important post of Engineer-in-charge of a new underground telephone system there which the Government were installing throughout the country.
Like all the Granges before him he possesses a deep affection for the horse and often rode in Point-to-point races in various parts of Ireland.
Once, in the 1930’s, whilst living at Ballyboley, George persuaded the British Broadcasting Corporation to produce a Christmas show by the Ballyboley Christmas Rhymers, a party of young farmers who each year roamed the countryside during the weeks prior to Christmas to provide Christmas cheer for the old and needy at the festive season. George himself arranged and compered the programme which was broadcast from “Fairview”, a residence on the outskirts of Ballyclare, for generations the home of the Ross family, one of the oldest familes in Ballyclare. Situated as it is in the midst of thick woodland, “Fairview” provided the ideal setting for such Christmas fare, with its old-world humour and gaiety.
George’s term of employment with the Brazilian Government expired about 1963 when he returned to Ballyclare and retiring from business in the same year, he lived in the Square for a short time prior to removing to the Glengormley district of Belfast.
Of the marriage of George and Phyllis there are two daughters :-

Ann Jenopher Wilson
Mary Lynd

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ESTHER, - daughter of William Hugh (1855) and Mary Jane McMillan (1st marriage). She was born at Ballyclare in 1881 and in 1905 married Samuel Stevenson of Ballyclare in Ballyclare Presbyterian Church. He farmed extensively and in addition to his interest in agriculture, owned a victualling or butcher’s business in the village.
Esther died in 1916. There were two children of the marriage, a son and a daughter :-

William
Sarah

WILLIAM HUGH. - Son of William Hugh (1855) and Mary Jane McMillan (1st marriage), he was born at Ballyclare in 1883 and married Rebecca Wilson.
On the death of his father he inherited the licensed premises and all other property including the horses.He was a man well over six feet in height and weighed about eighteen stones. He was the most cheerful and jovial of men and one might say, lived an almost carefree life and altogether was a most likeable person. He was a fine horseman and his happiest moments were when working with a high-spirited animal. William Hugh died in 1939 aged 56 years and was interred in Ballyclare New Cemetery.
There were two sons and a daughter of the marriage :-

William Hugh
John Wilson
Ruby

JOHN. - Son of William Hugh (1855) and Sarah Rogers (2nd marriage), he was born at Ballyclare about 1894 and never married. Having received a generous inheritance from his father, John never at any time displayed any inclination to train for a profession, being content to lead a leisurely life free from the cares and worries of labour. He had several hobbies on which he spent most of his time with football his favourite pastime and this led to his untimely death at an early age, dying suddenly after receiving an injury during a game in Belfast about the middle 1920’s.

SARAH, - daughter of William Hugh (1855) and Sarah Rogers (2nd marriage). She was born at Ballyclare about 1896 and married James Agnew, a motor mechanic, of Belfast. After Sarah’s death, which took place in the 1940’s, James Agnew moved to an adjoining district where he took over an undertaking business.

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JANE, - daughter of John (1858) and Annie Marshall (1st marriage). Emigrated to the U.S.A. where she married J. Herbert of Brookline, Mass.

ANNE, - daughter of John (1858) and Annie Marshall (1st marriage). She emigrated to the U.S.A. where she died in October, 1960.

ESTHER. - Daughter of John (1858) and Annie Marshall (1st marriage), she emigrated to Canada where she was still living in 1962.

JOHN. - Son of John (1858) and Elizabeth Love (2nd marriage), he was born at Ballyclare on 7th April, 1904. On 8th April, 1926, he married Mary Irwin of Pound House, Ballyalbana, Ballyclare. Of the marriage there were seven children, four sons and three daughters :-

Mary
Sara Elizabeth
John Irwin
William James
Edward
Ruby Aideen
Robert Samuel Houston

For many years John was on the staff of the Ulster Transport Authority and also was the owner of a small farm at Ballalbana. He died in 1960.

ROBERT, - son of John (1858) and Elizabeth Love (2nd marriage), was born at Ballyclare on 28th January 1910.
He enlisted in the Royal Ulster Rifles on 31st January, 1927, and served with this regiment in India and The Sudan. He was a regimental marksman with rifle and machine-gun for several years and was a regular player on the regimental football team. He was discharged on 30th January, 1934, having served his allotted term of seven years.
With signs of an approaching war with Germany on the horizon he re-joined the Army on 20th March, 1939, enlisting in the Royal Engineers. He rapidly won promotion, reaching the rank of Sergeant within the space of twelve months. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War he served in the areas of East and South Africa. He was then posted to the 51st Highland (Territorial) Division and was with this famous Scottish force when it landed in France in the early days of the war and took part in the several battles in which it was engaged during the retreat to Dunkirk. At Dunkirk his exemplary conduct on the beaches during the evacuation procedures earned him a mention in despatches.
In the course of the re-organization necessary after Dunkirk, his company was posted to the 1st. Guards Brigade and he was promoted to Company Sergeant-major. His company landed on the Normandy beaches with the Guards in 1944 and saw service with this elite Regiment during its many encounters with the Germans as it battled its way forward through France and Belgium and finally into Germany. He was discharged on Christmas Day 1945, after having almost completed a further seven years in the Army.
After his first discharge from the Army in 1934, he had settled in England and married Elsie Frances Strickland of Gravesend and of the marriage there is one son,

Robert Gordon.

Elsie died on 18th June, 1943 and Robert later married a Mrs Tack whose maiden name prior to her first marriage was Dorothy Margaret Mallows. She was born at George Green, Slough, on 25th August, 1920.

JAMES. - Son of John(1858) and Elizabeth Love (2nd marriage), he was born at Ballyclare on 5th June, 1911 and for many years has been on the staff of the Ulster Transport Authority. On 2nd June, 1936 he married Agnes Reid of Ballyclare, at Ballyclare Presbyterian Church. There is no issue of the marriage.

GERTRUDE. - Daughter of John (1858) and Elizabeth Love (2nd marriage), she was born at Ballyclare and married Wilson Proctor of Ballyclare.

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ROBERT. - Son and first child of James (1861) and Jane Marshall his wife. Born at Belfast in 1888, he married Elizabeth Lilly, there being two children of the union:-

James
Elizabeth

HUGH, - second son of James (1861) and Jane Marshall was born at Belfast in the year 1890 and married M. Graham who was born in 1883. Hugh was in the service of the Sun Laundry, Larne, for many years. He died in 1944 and was interred in Larne Cemetery. Of this marriage five children were born, two sons and three daughters :-

James
Gawn
Sarah
Jean
Margaret

JEAN. - Daughter of James (1861) and Jane Marshall. She was born at Ballysnod, near Larne, in 1894 and in July 1917 married James McDonald of Randalstown at Raloo Presbyterian Church. She died on 31st May, 1951, her husband having pre-deceased her by eleven years, (1940). There were six children of the marriage:-

Jean
Robert
Thomas
Kathleen
Edith
Clara

ANNE, - daughter of James (1861) and Jane Marshall she was born at Ballysnodd, near Larne, in 1896.

CASSIE, - daughter of James (1861) and Jane Marshall she was born at Ballysnodd in 1900 and married John Girvan of Larne at 1st. Larne Presbyterian Church on 4th June, 1925. John Girvan died on 30th January, 1951. There is one daughter of the marriage :-

Dorothy

WILLIAM JAMES. - Sixth and last child of James (1861) was born at Larne in 1905 and married Clara Roscoe of Newcastle, Co. Down, on 1st. September, 1930. There are two daughters of the marriage.

Elizabeth Jean
Sheila

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WILLIAM GRANGE (1888)

WILLIAM. - Son of Robert(1861) and Edith Millar, he was born at Belfast in the year 1888 and became a compositor in the printing trade in that city, most of his service being spent with the newspaper firm of W. & G. Baird. He married Grace Ann Bell of Dundonald, a suburb of Belfast, and the couple made their home in this district after the marriage. William died here in 1965, Grace surviving her husband by only one year, passing away in 1966. Both were buried in Dundonald Cemetery. Two daughters and one son were born of the marriage:-

Kathleen
Edith Adaline
Thomas

AGNES, - daughter of Robert (1861). She was born at Belfast in 1901 and married James McCalmont of the Glengormley district. She died in 1930 and was interred in the Mallusk burying ground. Agnes and James (who married again shortly after her death) had one son and one daughter :-

William
Isa

ROBERT. - Son of Robert (1861) and Edith Millar, he was born at Belfast in 1904 and assisted his father on the farms at Glengormley. On the death of his father, Robert and his brother-in-law William James McBride continued to farm the land for a number of years. Indifferent health dogged Robert for a considerable time and this ultimately compelled him to dispose of both farms and he retired from the land to lead a less active life. He never married and at the present time lives at Glengormley, near Belfast.

EDITH ADALINE. - Daughter and last child of Robert (1861) and Edith Millar, she was born at Belfast in 1907 and married William James McBride who lived in the Glengormley district. After their marriage they lived on one of the farms at Glengormley and when her father died Adaline and her husband assisted Robert to manage and till the land until it was eventually disposed of. There are three sons of the marriage :-

Wilbert
Cecil
Ian

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ELIZABETH. - Daughter and eldest child of John (1863) and Martha McAuley. She was born at Ballyclare in the year 1889 and died in 1905 at the early age of 16 years.

JOHN. - Son of John (1863), he was born at Ballyclare on 28th November, 1894. He was employed in Belfast at the outbreak of the First World War and immediately enlisted in the 14th. Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, 36th. (Ulster) Division. This was a battalion that had been recruited from members of the Young Citizen Volunteers, Ulster Volunteer Force and which had been raised in Belfast to assist in opposing (by force of arms) the threat by the British Government to force the Home Rule Bill on the inhabitants of Ulster despite their strong objection to this form of government. The 14th. Rifles had the privilege of wearing a shamrock and crown as a cap badge instead of the official regimental badge - a harp and crown. They also wore on their epaulettes the letters Y.C.V. instead of R.I.R.
John served with the 14th. Rifles until February, 1918, when, due to extremely heavy casualties in the Division it was disbanded and the absorbed by the 12th. Battalion Royal Irish Rifles which had close ties with Ballyclare. He took part in the battles of the Somme, Messines, Third Ypres, Cambrai, St. Quentin, Rosieres, The Advance in Flanders (1918), Fourth Ypres and Courtrai, - a formidable list of engagements indeed and he was fortunate enough to come through them all unscathed.
Discharged at the end of the war, he returned to Belfast and was employed by several firms before becoming permanently engaged by Shortt & Harland the aircraft manufacturers. In October 1925 he married Sarah, daughter of William Jones of Belfast, at Knock Presbyterian Church, Belfast and of the marriage two sons and two daughters were born :-

John
William
Agnes
Martha

JOSEPH HUNTER. - Son of John (1863), he was born at Ballyclare on 26th. November, 1896 and at Liverpool in 1918, married Madge Corrigan of Dublin. He was an electrician and after spending the greater part of his working days in Liverpool he moved to Peel, Isle of Man, where he now lives in retirement. Madge, his wife, died in 1966. There is no family.

MARGARET REID. - Daughter of John (1863) and Martha McAuley, she was born at Ballyclare on 28th. December, 1898 and bears the name of her grandmother, Margaret Reid. On 16th. July, 1920 she married William McCrea Spence at Willowfield Parish Church.
He was the son of William Spence and Mary McCrea of Ballyclare and was born at Ballyclare on 28th January, 1888. On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he was on the clerical staff of Kirkpatrick Bros., Ballyclare and immediately enlisted in the 12th. Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, 36th. (Ulster) Division. He had a flair for clerical work and was a calligraphist of the highest standard. It was not surprising therefore that he was almost immediately posted to the Headquarters Staff of the Division as the personal clerk to Lieut.-Colonel (later Sir) Wilfred B. Spender, General Staff Officer Grade 2. and was at once raised to the rank of Staff-sergeant. Colonel Spender was heard to remark on several occasions that “Spence easily outstripped any other clerk that he previously had to prepare his work”. He landed in France with the Division in 1915 and while there Colonel Spender arranged for him to be posted to a Cadet Company in North Wales with a view to taking up commissioned rank but the iron discipline required in the training of a future officer proved to be too demanding and irksome for one who was strongly inclined towards being a “law unto himself” so he sought and obtained permission to revert to his former rank. He was then posted to the Headquarters Staff of the 6th. Cavalry Division then stationed in Egypt and remained with it until he was demobilized in 1919.
On his return to civilian life he rejoined the staff of Kirkpatrick Bros. and in a few month’s time was appointed manager of Inver Bleach and Dye Works, Larne, a branch of Kirkpatrick Bros. and with his natural drive and good business sense he, in a comparitively short space of time, had these obscure works transformed into a first-class go-ahead concern. He was still managing Inver when he was suddenly stricken with an illness which lasted for only a few days and he died on 25th. November, 1935. He was buried in Larne Cemetery. His widow, Margaret Reid, still resides in Larne. Of the marriage there were three sons :-

William John
Robert Thomas
Hugh Alexander Stewart

MARTHA, - daughter of John (1863) was born at Ballyclare on 22nd November, 1900. She emigrated to Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada, in 1922 and there, in Three Rivers United Church, married Alexander Stewart, a former Ballyclare man who had emigrated to Canada about 1912 and who was employed by the Wayagamack Paper Mill Company. Before settling in Canada he had been employed by the North of Ireland Paper Mill Company in Ballyclare. In his youth he had been a prominent local sportsman and was one of the founders of a famous Ballyclare football club, - Ollardale. Of the marriage two sons and one daughter were born :-

John Alexander
William Douglas
Margaret Eleanor

HUGH. - Son of John (1863), he was born at Ballyclare in August, 1908. He emigrated to Canada and settled in Three Rivers, Quebec, where he still resides and is employed by the Wayagamack Paper Mill Company. He married a French-Canadian girl of Three Rivers, Marguerite Madden and there are two sons and one daughter of the marriage :-

Hugh
Francis
Margaret

ELIZABETH (LILY). - Daughter and last child of John (1863) and Martha McAuley, she was born at Ballyclare in 1911 and resides in Belfast. Unmarried.

ROBERT, WILLIAM, SARAH. - These three children of John (1863) and Martha McAuley died in infancy.

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JOHN. - Eldest child of William (1865) and Janet Cannon, he was born at Ballyclare on 23rd December, 1888. In 1915 he married Mary, daughter of Samuel Beggs and Jane Robinson, his wife, of Ballyclare. The Robinson family owned a farm at Glenoe, near Larne. On the completion of his education he joined the clerical staff of Kirkpatrick Bros., a textile works in Ballyclare and remained with this firm unril 1924 when he and his wife and daughter emigrated to Canada and settled in Three Rivers, Quebec. Here he became a member of the clerical staff of the Wayagamack Paper Mill Co. and remained in their employment until he retired in 1950. In his youth he was a noted all-round sportsman taking a prominent part in all kinds of sport - athletics, cycling, football, cricket and boxing, winning many awards and medals in the course of his activities in the world of sport.
John and Mary continue to reside at Three Rivers. They had one daughter :-

Gladys

WILLIAM, - second son of William (1865) was born at Ballyclare on 9th July 1891. A quiet, studious type of man, he held an important clerical post with the local textile firm of Kirkpatrick Bros., a position he occupied until the time of his death which occurred on 30th September, 1926. He was unmarried and was buried in Ballyclare New Cemetery.

MARGARET JANE, - daughter of William (1865). She was born at Ballyclare on 3rd. December, 1893 and died in infancy, - on 19th October, 1895, aged one year and ten months. She was buried in the old graveyard at Templepatrick.

ROBERT THOMAS - was the fourth member of the family of William (1865) and Janet Cannon and was born at Ballyclare on 20th April, 1896. Like his brothers John and William, he also was a member of Kirkpatrick Brothers’ staff.
Of an adventurous disposition he was closely associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force and played an active part in the gun-running episode on the night of April 24th 1914, when about 40,000 rifles and bayonets, together with three million rounds of ammunition were illegally landed at Larne Harbour. These were to be used by the Volunteers to resist the attempt by the British Government to bring Ulster under a Dublin Parliament against the wishes of the Northern inhabitants.
On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he immediately volunteered for service abroad and enlisted in the Royal Engineers of the 36th. (Ulster) Division - a Division, incidentally, that was to become famed throughout the British Expeditionary Force for its skill, courage and endurance in battle against the best troops of the German Army. He landed at Havre, France, with the Division in 1915 and moved into the Somme area for training. During the first two weeks of the Somme offensive, which opened on 1st July, 1916, he was attached to two batteries of French Field Artillery which assisted in covering the Ulster Division on the first two days and later the 49th, a Yorkshire Division. Before leaving the 49th he was commended by the Commander of the French guns for his conduct on several occasions while repairing broken communications when under heavy enemy fire.
Meanwhile the Ulster Division, having been almost decimated in its immortal charge on the 1st had been sent to Flanders to re-group and here Robert rejoined it from the Somme. Almost immediately he was promoted from the rank of Sapper to that of Sergeant and posted to the 173rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery, a Brigade of the Ulster Division’s own artillery that had been raised in the West Ham area of London. While serving with this Brigade in Belgium in 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres he was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery in the Field. The announcement appeared in the “London Gazette” of 28th January, 1918, under the following pre-amble :-

His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the Military Medal for bravery in the Field to the undermentioned N.C.O. :- 57811 Serjeant Robert Grange, 36th (Ulster) Divisional Signal Company, Royal Engineers.
In the Ypres Salient on the afternoon of July 30th 1917, Serjeant Grange volunteered to gallop a six-horse team and limber laden with urgent supplies to the entrance of a communication trench leading to the front-line system of tenches. Most of the route was under direct enemy observation but the audacity and daring of the exploit took the Germans completely by surprise and part of the journey was covered before the enemy could train their guns on the target. Despite an intense concentration of gun-fire the surprise dash was completely successful.
Throughout the following day Serjeant Grange, in face of continuous artillery and machine gun fire maintained unbroken communication between the batteries of his Brigade and the forward advancing troops, enabling the infantry to have immediate artillery support to destroy enemy points of resistance which were holding up the attack.
When a German counter-attack developed in the afternoon he set a splendid example by his courage and leadership while assisting a detachment of West Lancashire troops to repulse an attempt to re-take an important trench lost by the enemy earlier in the day.

As an explanatory note on the first few lines of the Citation it would be advisable, perhaps, seeing that we live in an age of almost complete mechanization, to point out that each pair of horses in the team had a rider in the saddle of the near animal.
Although the award was not announced in the “Gazette” until January, 1918, the decoration was in fact authorized by the G.O.C. of the Division, Major-General Nugent, three days after the Brigade came out of action at the end of August, thus making it, in effect, an immediate award on the battlefield. Robert (known to his friends as Bob) was wounded during the retreat from St. Quentin in March, 1918, when the Germans made their all-out effort to capture the Channel ports. Prior to this he had taken part in the battles of the Somme, Messines, Pilkern Ridge, Langemark, (these latter two in the Third Ypres (1917) campaign, and Cambrai.
He refused commisioned rank several times preferring to remain in the ranks, for in those days unless one was assured of an adequate additional income from a private source, a junior officer in H.M. Forces was committed to an unending heartbreaking struggle against ever accumulating debts.
On his discharge from the Army in 1919 he rejoined the staff of Kirkpatrick Bros. and was in charge of the bleaching department for almost forty years. Always interested in the social activities of the town he was closely associated with almost every sporting organization and for several years served as a Councillor on the Urban District Council.
Margaret Spence

Margaret Murray Spence

For many years he was a leading figure in the Masonic Order being a member of one of the many branches in the surrounding district and in 1949 was installed Grand Third Principal of the District Royal Arch Chapter of Antrim. In 1960 he became a Life Governor of the Masonic Royal School in Dublin.
On the 1st February, 1924, he married Margaret Murray Spence, daughter of William Spence, a station-master in the employ of the Northern Counties Railway Coy., and Mary McCrea, his wife, of Ballyclare. The marriage took place in the Ballyclare Presbyterian Church, the officiating clergyman being Rev. W. J. Guy MacBeth.
William Spence was a member of a Welsh family that had in earlier years settled in Ulster.
Margaret was born at Belfast on 28th November 1896, died on 16th December, 1952 and was interred in Ballyclare New Cemetery. In her youthful days she was a slimly-built, fair-haired woman of medium height and known affectionately to her wide circle of friends as Madge. She had a cheery word and a friendly smile for everyone, and with her ready wit and vivacious spirits always at bubbling-over point was ever set to offer instant repartee to any sally that might be forthcoming her way. One of her greatest loves in life was music and gifted with a rich contralto voice was a member of several local choirs. She was a sister of William McCrea Spence who married Margaret Reid Grange. Of Bob and Madge’s marriage there is one son :-

Robert John

JAMES, - son of William (1865). He was born at Ballyclare on 18th August, 1898. A man of about six feet two inches in height, he was in the employ of the textile firm of Kirkpatrick Bros., Ballyclare until he retired in 1964 after about fifty years’ service. He removed to Bangor, County Down, about this date where the family still resides.
In 1923 he married Martha Robinson of Ballyclare and one son and two daughters were born of the marriage :-

John
Jean
Jamesina

AGNES REID. - Daughter of William (1865), she was born at Ballyclare on 9th June, 1902. From the completion of her education until a short time prior to her death she was on the staff of the Ballyclare Post Office. Unmarried, she died on 24th August, 1939 and was burried in Ballyclare New Cemetery.

HUGH, - son of William (1865). He was born at Ballyclare on 23rd May, 1906 and married Margaret Agnes, daughter of William Hugh Hollinger and Jane Graham, his wife.
Both the Hollinger and Graham families are of farming stock, residing in the townland of Glenwherry. The Hollingers are of a German descent, the family having lived for centuries in WALDSHUT, a Black Forest town on the Upper Rhine. They were a warrior race whose battles led some of them in due course to Holland, where they eventually settled and became absorbed into the Dutch way of life.
About 1589 a member of this Dutch group, Ruprecht (or Robert) by name, accompanied Queen Anne, Consort of James 1st, to England as part of her escort or bodyguard. She was the daughter of King Frederick the Second of Denmark.
Ruprecht became naturalized and assumed the English Christian name of Robert and served under King Charles 1st between the years 1625-49.
Three brothers of this Hollinger family in England crossed over to Ireland with King William IIIrd’s army in 1688 and in 1690 one of them was granted a large tract of land in the townland of Grange, County Antrim (between Ahoghill and Portglenone), in recognition of his services to William in the course of the fighting. For many years this land was known as the Hollinger Estate. When the secret society of the United Irishmen was formed for the purpose of freeing Ireland from the English yoke, all the Hollinger family with the exception of one, who was deeply religious and against the use of force, joined this body and took part in the 1798 Rebellion in an attempt to overthrow the English forces.
After the defeat of the rebels at Antrim on June 7th, the Hollingers had to flee the country, many of them going to the U.S.A. and Canada, their lands being confiscated and distributed amongst families who had remained loyal to the English Government.
In later years one of the family settled in the Glenwherry district where his descendants are still engaged in tilling the land. In more recent years a John Hollinger made his way back to the old estate at Grange and succeeded in purchasing one of the original farms which, at the age of 60, he was still labouring in 1953.
For many years Hugh Grange was in charge of a department in the local textile firm of Kirkpatrick Bros. but when it was forced to close down in the present year (1966) he was transferred to the Inver Bleach and Dye Works Larne, a branch of the parent body in Lancashire.
There is one son of the marriage :-

Noel

WALTER REID. - Son of William (1865) and eighth child of the marriage, he was born at Ballyclare on 12th. May, 1910. ABout six feet three inches in height, he joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1934 and except for a very brief period of about nine months (when he was posted to County Fermanagh on being promoted to the rank of Sergeant), all his service was spent in the city of Belfast. He was a Station Sergeant of a barracks on the Antrim Road when he retired in 1964, after having completed a total of thirty years’ service with the Force.
In July 1938, he married Catherine Kennedy of Cookstown who was on the nursing staff of a Belfast Hospital. Both are keen anglers and spend most of their leisure hours trampling along the banks of our tumbling, gurgling burns with rod and line in quest of the elusive inhabitants of the murky brown waters as they dart hither and thither in their ceaseless search for some dainty morsel of food. Or, with visions of a majestic salmon gracing the dining-room table, following the course of some big meandering river as it slowly winds its way through the beautiful Ulster countryside. There is no family.

JONATHAN REID - was the last child of William (1865) and Janet Cannon. He was born at Ballyclare on 30th May, 1913. Never blessed with good health from early childhood he was never called upon to take up any kind of employment. He died on 4th October, 1940. aged 27 years and was buried in Ballyclare New Cemetery.

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JOSEPH, son of Isabella Grange(1868) and James Marshall Laird was born at Belfast on 16th July, 1898. His mother having died just shortly after his birth, he was placed in the care of Isabella’s sister, Elizabeth of Ballyclare. He was employed by the North of Ireland Paper Mill Coy., Ballyclare, until he enlisted in the British Army in 1916 at the age of eighteen. He served in the 7th Battalion Seaforth High-landers (a Scottish kilted Regiment) in France and Flanders until 1919, when he contracted pneumonia and died in University War Hospital Southampton on 13th March of that year. He was 21 years of age.

WILLIAM, son of Margaret Grange(1875) and William Brownlee, was born at Belfast about 1895 and emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1925 with other members of the family. A marine engineer, he served aboard the vessels of the U.S.A. Fruit Company. He is unmarried and lives with his mother and sister Agnes in Kearny, New Jersey.

AGNES, daughter of Margaret Grange(1875) and William Brownlee, was born at Belfast about 1897. She is unmarried and lives in Kearny with her mother.

ETTA, daughter of Margaret Grange(1875) and William Brownlee, was born at Belfast about 1901 and settled in Kearny with the other members of the family. Here she married S.J. Sebery, an American, and they reside at Newark, New Jersey. They have one son, John (Jack), who married an American girl of German extraction. Jack, who holds a post in a bank, served two years in Germany with the U.S.A. armed forces towards the end of the 1939-45 War.

TENTH GENERATION

GLADYS. - Daughter of John Grange (1888) and Mary Beggs, his wife. She was born at Ballyclare in 1916 and accompanied her parents to Canada when they emigrated in 1924. Speaking French fluently, she was employed as a stenographer by a French-Canadian firm in Three Rivers until the time of her death in 1953. She was unmarried.

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WILLIAM, son of Esther Grange (1881) and her husband, Samuel Stevenson, was born at Ballyclare about 1906 and took over the flesher’s business at the death of his father. He married May Jefferson of Belfast.

SARAH, daughter of Esther Grange (1881) and her husband, Samuel Stevenson, known to her wide circle of friends as “Cis”, is unmarried and resides at Ballyclare.

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KATHLEEN, - daughter of William Robert (1888) and Grace Ann Bell his wife, was born at Belfast on 18th December, 1914 and married Alexander Dyet, manager of a coal mine in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland. The family reside at Prestwick.
There were four children of the marriage, one son and three daughters :-

Grace
Gavin
Ann
Adaline

Alexander Dyet, the father, at the present time is at Oxford College where he is engaged in selecting suitable candidates for executive posts for the National Coal Board.

ADALINE. - Daughter of William (1888) she was born at Belfast on 23rd. April, 1916. A spinster, she resided with her parents at Dundonald, near Belfast.

THOMAS. - Son of William (1888) he was born on 26th September, 1918, at Dundonald, a suburb of Belfast in County Down. Employed as a joiner by McLoughlan & Harvey the building and contracting firm of Belfast, it was his intention to become a surveyor, and with this object in view he studied for a period at the Belfast College of Technology where he won a scholarship in the Building Trade. Unfortunately before this ambition could be realized the grim spectre of Death intervened and at the early age of 25, he passed from this earthly abode to His Father’s Home above.
He was a young man who, from the early age of fifteen until his untimely death, had ungrudgingly and earnestly devoted much of his time to the affairs of his Church, particularly so in the realm of Sabbath School activities. It is recorded of him by a friend that on the day prior to his passing to the Great Beyond, he, knowing full well that he had now almost reached the end of his pilgrimage here below, found the strength and courage to sing to his friends gathered round his bedside, that beautiful hymn :-

When my life’s work is ended
And I cross the swelling tide.

Thomas died in 1943.

JAMES, a son, and ELIZABETH, a daughter of Robert Grange (1888) and Elizabeth Lilly. There is no further information available regarding this family.

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ROBERT JOHN. - Son of Robert T. Grange (1896) and Margaret Murray Spence, his wife, he was born at Ballyclare on 13th July, 1928. Better known to his widespread circle of friends as Jack, he was educated first at Ballyclare High School and then proceeded to The Queen’s University, Belfast, where he graduated as a B.Sc. in Engineering. Whilst at Queen’s he served with the Signals Section of the University Officers’ Training Corps (Territorial Army) and held the rank of Corporal when he resigned at the conclusion of his studies and his term of service had expired.

Robert & Margaret
Robert J. Grange (1928) with Margaret H. and daughter, Angela

On leaving Queen’s he joined the Staff of the Northern Ireland Electricity Board as a Technical Engineer, since when he has been continuously in the service of this body. On 15th October, 1957, he married Margaret Helen, daughter of Robert F. Thompson of Belfast, and his wife Agnes Campbell. Three clergymen officiated at the wedding ceremony viz. Rev. E.M. Borland of Rosemary Presbyterian Church, Belfast, (where the ceremony was held); Rev. H. Quinn of Grange, County Antrim and who was an uncle of the bride, and Rev. Harold R. Allen of Ballyclare Presbyterian Church.
Margaret was educated at Victoria College, Belfast.
R.F. Thompson came from a farming family who for many generations had tilled the soil in the Broughshane district of Ballymena in the County of Antrim.
He was an official in the Ministry of Agriculture in the Northern Ireland Government but before the Six Counties enjoyed the privilege of organizing its own domestic affairs in 1922, he had been with the old Department of Agriculture in the Imperial Government from 1919.
He was a recognized authority on the production and marketing of eggs and during the greater part of his career he was closely associated with the Government’s campaign to improve the quality and standard of eggs in Northern Ireland. In 1923-4 he was one of a committee of three appointed by the Northern Ireland Government to advise farmers as to how this could be best achieved and frequently gave talks and lectures at meetings of producers and was also a regular speaker on the radio on the subject. At the time of his death (in 1958), he was senior officer in the Eggs and Poultry Marketing Board.
R.F. Thompson was a quiet, courteous, and the most unassuming of men whose twinkling eyes, beaming smile won for him numerous friends in the course of his business. He travelled extensively, his duties taking him to all parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, - and even as far afield as the Continent. He was a man who keenly identified himself with all kinds of outdoor sport but at no time was he happier than when tramping over hill or bogland with gun in hand in the depths of winter, or, at the other extreme, on a bowling green on a warm summer’s day. He was an enthusiastic member of Cavehill Bowling Club of Belfast.
Jack, after spending several years in various Provincial towns was eventually appointed District Engineer for the Cookstown area in County Tyrone and he and Margaret now reside in Cookstown. There is one child of the marriage, a daughter :-

Angela Margaret

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HUGH, - son of Hugh Grange (1908) and Marguerite Madden, his wife, was born in 1942.

FRANCIS, - son of Hugh (1908) was born in 1944.

MARGARET, - daughter of Hugh (1908) was born in 1948. All three children of this marriage were born at Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada.

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JOHN, - son of James Grange (1898) and Martha Robinson, his wife. He was born at Ballyclare on 27th May, 1920 and married Ruth Smyth of Bangor, County Down, at Queen’s Parade Methodist Church, Bangor, on 5th April 1945. Ruth was born at Bangor on 27th July, 1923. John is on the staff of the Ulster Transport Authority. There is one child of the marriage, a daughter :-

Arlene

JEAN. - Daughter of James (1898), she was born at Ballyclare on 12th December, 1927 and married Charles McAuley of Ballyclare. There is one daughter of the marriage :-

Martha Grange

Jean died on 2nd April, 1946, just a few weeks after the birth of her only child and was buried in Rashee Cemetery.

JAMESINA (INA) - Daughter of James (1898) was born at Ballyclare on 7th November, 1930. She married John Kenneth Burgess of Carrickfergus, a marine engineer, at Ballyeaston Presbyterian Church in April, 1962. There are two daughters of the marriage and the family reside at Carrickfergus.

Joan Amanda
Yvonne Elizabeth

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NOEL. Son of Hugh Grange (1906) and Margaret Agnes (Meta) Hollinger, his wife, he was born at Ballyclare on Christmas Day, 1936. On 12th September, 1963, he married Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of William Scott and his wife, Charlotte McDowell of Lisburn, the ceremony taking place in Hillhall Presbyterian Church, Lisburn.
Margaret, who was in the nursing profession, was an S.R.N. and S.C.M. and at the time of her marriage was a Ward Sister on the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. There are two sons of the marriage:-

Jeffrey
Michael David

An engineer, Noel served his apprenticeship to the practical side of the trade in the works of Kirkpatrick Bros. Ballyclare and studied at the Belfast College of Technology.
After holding the position of Supervisor in several Ulster firms, he and Margaret decided to emigrate and accepting the offer of a responsible post with an engineering firm in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, they and their first child, Jeffrey, left old Ireland behind them in 1965 and set out to make a new home in the West. After spending about a year with this Company Noel then moved to a similar firm in La Fletche, also in Quebec, where their second son was born and where the family at present reside.

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WILLIAM HUGH. - Son of William Hugh Grange (1883) and Rebecca Wilson his wife, he was born at Ballyclare and was by profession a marine engineer. He was drowned at sea in 1942 when his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Newfoundland.

JOHN WILSON (JACK). - Second son of William Hugh (1883), he was born at Ballyclare and on his father’s death in 1939 took over the licensed premises in Ballyclare which he still controls.
One Sunday afternoon in 1941 during the Second World War he was involved in an unusual car incident. Driving the family home after a week-end visit to their bungalow on the Antrim coast, they had just reached the Park on the Ballynure Road when he espied the huge wire hawser of a barrage balloon (which had broken from its mooring at Belfast) dragging along the road in a most alarming manner. Jumping hastily from the car they had just reached the safety of the roadside when the hawser wrapped itself round the abandoned vehicle and dragged it for a distance along the road, finally leaving it stranded twenty feet up a nearby tree. Having thus capably carried out its good turn for the day, the balloon careered merrily on its way to the coast where it was shot down by a fighter plane.

RUBY. - Daughter of William Hugh (1883), she was born at Ballyclare. A spinster, she lives with her brother Jack at Ballyclare.

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HARRIET. - Daughter of William Hume Grange (1884) and his American born wife (name not known). The only information available is that she died some years ago.

AGNES. - Daughter of William Hume Grange (1884), she was born in U.S.A. and married an American.

MARGARET. - Daughter of William Hume Grange (1884), she was born in the U.S.A. The only information obtained concerning her was that she was in the nursing profession and was a Ward Sister in a New York hospital.

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JAMES. - Son of Hugh Grange (1890) and M. Graham, his wife, he was born at Larne in 1910 and married Ruth Gourley of Larne, who was born in 1911. James, on the completion of his education, joined the clerical staff of the Inver Bleach and Dye Works, Larne, which at that time were managed by William Spence and on the latter’s death was appointed as his successor. A keen and far-seeing business-man, he successfully piloted the works through a most difficult and trying period during and after the Second World War. Never sparing himself, he applied all his natural and purposeful drive to the business and today, to such an extent has trade increased that it has become necessary to dismantle a laundry which he had established in part of the works and use the floorspace for additional textle machinery to cope with the ever expanding trade. He is now Managing Director of the firm.
There is one son of the mariage :-

Hugh

GAWN. - Son of Hugh Grange (1890), he was born at Larne in 1914 and married Norah Law of Belfast, in Knockbreda Church. He joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1936. Of the marriage there are four sons :-

David
James
Stephen
Frederick

SARAH.- Daughter of Hugh (1890), she was born at Larne in 1916.

JEAN. - Daughter of Hugh (1890), she was born at Larne in 1918.

MARGARET. - Daughter and the last child of Hugh Grange (1890) and M. Graham his wife, she was born at Larne in 1925. She holds the post of Secretary to the Inver Bleach and Dye Works, Larne.

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IRVINE,ROBERT,AGNES. Two sons and one daughter of Robert Grange (1888) and Florence Irvine his wife. The only information to hand is that all three were born in the U.S.A.

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ANN JENEPHER WILSON. - The first child and daughter of George Wilson Grange (1903) and Phyllis Rantoul Warke his wife, she was born at St. Margaret-on-Thames, London, on 30th May, 1940. She was educated at Ashleigh House, Belfast and afterwards studied Art at Trinity College, Dublin. She is at The Queen’s University, Belfast, at the present time engaged in further special studies in librarian work.

MARY LYND. - Daughter of George Wilson Grange (1903), she was born on 23rd October, 1941, also at St. Margaret-on-Thames, London. She was educated at Ashleigh House, Belfast and then proceeded to King’s College Hospital, London, as a Student Nurse. After qualifying, she returned to Belfast and is a Staff Nurse in the Royal Maternity Hospital.
Lynd, like her father, is fond of horses and loves to ride when time and opportunity permit.

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WILLIAM, JOHN, MARTHA and AGNES. - Two sons and two daughters of John (1894) and Sarah Jones his wife. There is no further information available concerning this family.

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WILLIAM JOHN, Son of Margaret Reid Grange (1898) and William McCrea Spence he was born at Belfast on 8th April, 1921. On the outbreak of war in 1939 he was an apprentice student in the Inver Bleach and Dye Works, Larne, studying the textile industry, intending to make this his career.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force as a wireless operator and machine-gunner and in a comparatively short time was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He took part in over twenty operational flights over German territory. His air-crew was one of the famous “Pathfinders” - planes which went ahead of the main raiding force to pin-point by coloured flares the important strategic objectives to be destroyed, and remaining overhead during the attack to direct the incoming planes to their various targets. His plane was on this duty during the last of the huge 1,000 bomber raids over Hamburg on the night of 30th July, 1943 when it was shot down. Only one of the crew, the navigator, survived the crash. William John, or Jack, as he was known to his friends), is buried in Hamburg Military Cemetery.
He was engaged to be married to an English girl just prior to the fatal flight. Jack was an ideal type of young man and with his engaging manner and wonderfully cheerful disposition he won for himself innumerable friends.

ROBERT THOMAS, Second son of Margaret Reid Grange (1898) and William McCrea Spence, he was born at Larne on 12th January, 1923. His education at Larne Grammar School was interrupted by the death of his father in 1935 and for a brief period was an apprentice student at the Inver Bleach and Dye Works, Larne. He then obtained a Government post in the Ministry of Food and was appointed Assistant Food Executive Officer for the Larne district.
Shortly after his brother Jack was shot down he enlisted in the Army and was posted to the Royal Army Pay Corps. A well-built man over six feet in height, he soon reached commissioned rank. - First Lieutenant. Most of his service was spent abroad, with a short spell in Africa then a lengthy period on Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. He was Paymaster on the latter station until he was demobilized in 1947.
He rejoined the Ministry of Food on his return home and for a period was Food Executive Officer for the Bangor area in County Down. In 1949 he transferred his services to the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority and at the unusually early age of 26, was appointed Secretary for the East Antrim Hospitals Management Committee which controls all the hospitals in the East Antrim area. Here he had plenty of scope to utilize to the full the excellent organizing abilities he possesses, and the efficiency and drive with which he carried out his multifarious duties soon brought him recognition and his due reward when the Hospitals Authority appointed him Deputy Secretary to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. On leaving Larne to take up his new appointment, many were the glowing tributes paid to his organizing abilities. The Chairman of the East Antrim Hospitals Management Committee said, -- “by his ability, a service has been built up in this area which is second to none in the entire Authority”. While an Ulster Member of Parliament added his tribute by saying, -- “he has sown seeds of a great future harvest of hospital work in the East Antrim Group”. In this new post he had ample opportunity to exploit to the full his extraordinary creative gifts and travelled extensively throughout Britain, the Continent, North America and the Middle East to obtain information about the planning and administration of recently built hospitals. The experience and knowledge thus gained has proved to be invaluable for the future development and improvement of hospital work in Northern Ireland. In October 1962, at the age of 39, he succeeded Brigadier T.W. Davidson as Group Secretary of the eight hospitals known as the Royal group of Hospitals. On St. Patrick’s Day, (17th March), 1950, he married Min Kane of Larne, at Ballynure Presbyterian Church and of the marriage there are two daughters :-

Catherine Elizabeth
Patricia Margaret McCrea

HUGH ALEXANDER STEWART, Third son of Margaret Reid Grange (1898) and William McCrea Spence, he was born at Larne on 3rd March, 1926 and was educated at the Masonic Boys’ School, Dublin. A marine engineer by profession, he spent a number of years at sea before becoming domiciled in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he became a supervisor with a Westinghouse Engineering Company. In 1953 he married Josephine Mitchell of Millbrook, Larne, who had joined him in Canada after he had settled there. There is no family.

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DOROTHY. - Daughter of Cassie Grange (1900) and John Girvan, she was born at Draperstown on

THEGRANGES OF IRELAND

AHISTORY OF THE FAMILY

Compiled by

R. T. GRANGE

of Ballyclare.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE VERSION

GRANGE

The name and its origin, with a brief description of the early days of the family

ULSTER

FIRST GENERATION

SECOND GENERATION

THIRD GENERATION

FOURTH GENERATION

FIFTH GENERATION

SIXTH GENERATION

SEVENTH GENERATION

EIGHTH GENERATION

NINTH GENERATION

TENTH GENERATION

THE
GRANGES OF IRELAND

A
HISTORY OF THE FAMILY