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The Fenton Family in Ireland in the 17th Century |
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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 24 August 2008 18:59 |
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This is a reprint of an article from the printed edition of The FIG Tree Newsletter printed in February of 1996 Written by Chester Fenton In a recent issue of the FIG Tree News, Kathleen Fenton detailed what is currently known about John Fenton of Urney, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. John Fenton’s will, dated 1721, provides a link to William Fenton, who with his wife Ann, emigrated to Massachusetts around 1720 in the vanguard of a major exodus of Scot-Irish colonists from Ireland to America that continued throughout the first half of the 18th century. As Ms. Fenton indicates, little information is available about John Fenton other than the text of his will reproduced in Thomas Atkins’ 1912 Fenton genealogy and Atkins’ account of the discovery of Fenton grave markers in the Urney cemetery, dated 1660 and 1670. An intensive search of historical sources in Boston area libraries has too failed to reveal any references to John Fenton or to any other Fentons that can be linked to him with any degree of confidence. This research, however, provides a useful historical context to the era in which John Fenton and his predecessors lived and identifies other Fenton namesakes who may have been related to John. The British presence in Northern Ireland originated in a plan for colonization or “plantation” developed under King James I of England. At the beginning of the 17th century, the English under Lord Mountjoy defeated a coalition of Irish lords. After the major Irish leaders left Ireland for Europe in self-imposed exile (the so called “flight of the earls”), England confiscated church land as well as the holdings of the departed Irish earls. This area with the exception of County Donegal comprises the modem-day Northern Ireland and is generally referred to as Ulster. In order to retain control and anglicize this area, the confiscated land was subdivided and granted to members of British aristocracy. Each of the landowners was then be charged with securing British colonists to occupy and develop the land. In the original planation plan, the native Irish were proscribed from receiving any parcels of land. Individuals receiving land grants fell into two broad classes. First were English officers who had participated in the military conquest of Ulster. Members of this group were referred to as “servitors”. The second group were drawn from the aristocratic class of England and Scotland and were referred to as “undertakers”. In addition to these groups, land comprising the area around the present-day Derry (Londonderry) and Colraine was granted to a joint-venture association of mercantile companies from the city of London. Trinity College in Dublin was also granted substantial holdings. The plan was initiated in 1610, and by 1630 an estimated 14,500 English and Scottish colonists (males only) were present in Ulster. In addition to the “official” plantation scheme, there were also several private colonization efforts, notably those by James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery. In the first decade of the 17th century, these Scots arranged for grants of land from the English crown in Counties Down and Antrim in eastern Ulster. These colonization efforts, supplemented with the expanding existing Scottish and English settlements in this area, provided the foundation for the most concentrated and substantial colony of British to arrive in Ulster during the first half of the 17th century. In 1641, the Irish, who had been maltreated and compelled to relocate to less desirable areas, rebelled and forced the evacuation of many British colonists in western Ulster to areas in Counties Down and Antrim. This rebellion subsequently expanded to include an alliance with “old English” Catholics throughout Ireland. The English, under Cromwell, finally subdued the Irish in 1653, and the colonization by immigrants from Scotland and England resumed with even greater intensity. After the Cromwellian reconquest of Ireland, English military participants as well English citizens who subscribed to the “Adventurers” plan to raise funds to support Irish military operations were offered grants of land in Ireland as compensation. This land was obtained from confiscated estates of the Irish who were judged to have been involved in the rebellion and from relocation of property rights of other Irish citizens. These land grants, however, were not confined to Ulster and included all the counties of Ireland. In some counties, the confiscated and redistributed land constituted a large percentage of the total. In Co. Tyrone, however, it is estimated that only four percent of the land was confiscated. By 1660, the number of English and Scottish colonists in Ulster had risen to about 30,000, comprising almost 40 percent of the total population of Northern Ireland. There is no evidence available to definitively link the Fentons of Urney to earlier Fentons living in either Scotland or England. However, the Barony of Strabane, which includes the Fenton homesite in Urney, was originally granted to James Hamilton, the Earl of Albercorn, of Renfrewshire, Scotland. Other adjacent areas, including Newtown and Lislap, encompassing John Fenton’s other land holdings were also granted to Scottish undertakers. Furthermore, recent research on Ulster settlement patterns suggests that Scottish colonists were more likely to settle on lands controlled by Scottish undertakers, with English colonists settling on lands controlled by English landlords. Atkins, however, speculates that the Fentons were likely descendants of a General James Fenton who served under Lord Mountjoy during wars with the Irish Earls in the early 17th century and, according to Atkins, was awarded leaseholdings in Ulster as a reward for military service. This James Fenton, according to Atkins, was a distant relation of Sir Geoffery Fenton who served as Viceroy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth in the 16th century. No evidence, however, has been uncovered to support this conclusion. No Fentons are included as either servitors or undertakers in the original Ulster planation scheme, and, with one exception discussed below, no other references to “English” Fentons have been found in the historical accounts of 17th century colonization of Northern Ireland. What references that do appear suggest a Scottish connection for the Fentons of Urney. Current research reveals four specific references to the Fenton name in Ulster in the 17th century, all with Scottish associations. First, according to church records, a William Fenton, listed as a minister in Cairncastle in Co. Antrim, was granted denization in 1625. William, a graduate of St. Andrews in Scotland, apparently served as curate in Cairncastle from 1612 to 1635. Fenton was among a number of Scottish ministers who migrated to Ulster in the early 17th century to bolster the standing of the established Irish Church. Second, a James Fenton of the Glenarm barony (on the east coast of Northern Ireland in County Antrim) is included in a 1653 list of 260 Scottish Presbyterians who were marked by the Irish Commissioners for removal from County Down and Antrim to certain districts outside of Ulster. This list was included as part of a proclamation by the Commissioners of a plan to remove “all the popular Scots” from Northern Ireland. This strategy was occasioned by Cromwell’s defeat of Charles II in England and his assumption of power, beginning the Interregnum period in Britain. The Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster were thought to be loyal to the monarchy, and, therefore, the removal and dispersion of the leading Scottish colonists would serve to weaken opposition in Ulster to the new parliamentary government under Cromwell. Nothing, however, apparently came of this plan. A third Fenton reference is found in Seamus Pender’s 1939 compilation of the 1659 Irish Census. A William Fenton, “gent” [gentleman], is indicated as residing in the parish of Cairncastle, Barony of Glenarm in Co. Antrim. William is listed as a “titulado”. According to Pender, a titulado is defined as a principle person of standing in any particular locality; such a person could be of either sex, a nobleman, baronet, gentleman, esquire, officer, or adventurer. Thus, we have three Fentons associated in the 17th century with a specific location in Co. Antrim. The final Fenton reference, over forty years later, is to another William Fenton. William, of Island Magee in Antrim, is listed as an attendee of the 1705 Ulster Presbyterian Synod meeting as a ruling elder of his church. Island Magee is located on the coast about 25 miles south of Glenarm. Although we can only speculate, the proximity of these locations suggests that this William is also related. Also, given the Scottish background of most Irish Presbyterians, this reference also serves a pointer to the Scottish ancestry of the Fentons in Ulster. The single historical reference that suggests an English connection is the inclusion of the name John Fenton among the list of individuals who participated in the so-called Adventurers’ Act of 1642 in which the English parliament solicited contributions directly from private citizens to finance the military suppression of the Irish rebellion. According to this plan, private investors (called “Adventurers”) would loan money to parliament with the expectation that they would be repaid with land grants obtained from property confiscated from the Irish rebels. A Col. John Fenton of London is included among the names of the subscribers to the plan, contributing a modest a100. This relatively small contribution, however, was apparently not indicative of this Fenton’s social and political standing as he was subsequently appointed by parliament (in 1653) to a committee charged with devising a plan for allocating the confiscated Irish land among the Adventurers and among English soldiers and military officers who were also to be paid in Irish land. Despite Col. Fenton’s participation in this scheme to obtain land in Ireland, records of the actual land disbursement fail to indicate that he ever received any grant of land. We are still left in a quandary regarding the origins of the Fentons of Urney. While some relationship with the Fentons in Co. Antrim seems plausible, such a conclusion is speculative at best. Perhaps future research, including examination of extant 17th century records will, in the future, shed light on this question. For those readers interesting in pursuing this topic, please contact me for a list of references for this article and for 17th century Irish history in general. Chester Fenton’s mailing address is as follows: Chester Fenton6 Biltmore StreetJamaica Plain, MA 02130
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