Descendants of Henry Hollingsworth 7th great grandfather

Notes

1. Henry Hollingsworth 7th great grandfather

Quote from John Hollingsworth in reference to the latest DNA test results dated: 12/08/2003
I believe from a genealogical point of view there are several options:

The most probable is that you descended from one of Henry's
children or possibly one of Henry's brothers since there seems to be an
Irish connection. However, we cannot completely rule out the other male
Hollingsworth relatives of Henry (i.e., uncles or cousins) back to around
1400-1500 (plus or minus) since there is an excellent chance that their
descendants will also match 25 of 25 markers.

Some researchers think Henry was probably born in Ireland. Others say he was born in Cheshire, England. He was in an English militia and went with them to the Ulster Plantation in Ireland for the purpose of planting. This activity was often arranged by the "undertakers" or landed gentry between 1609 and 1630. Henry is listed in the 1630 muster roll for Onealland Barony, Ulster Plantation in County Armagh.

The Plantation of Ulster
Settlers from England colonised the area in the early 1600's as part of the Plantation of Ulster. The Present site of Portadown was acquired by the Obins Family who purchased the land from the original recipients (the Powells). The broad pool where Portadown was later erected had been used as a crossing place by early settlers and was the only place on which the new town could be built. The Brownlow family, who built Lurgan was the largest recipients of plantation lands. Their religious tolerance allowed many Roman Catholic tenants to hold land and also permitted a significant colony of members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) to thrive. These Quaker colonists, mainly disenchanted former Cromwellian soldiers form Yorkshire and Cumberland, were prominent in the early development of the linen industry, especially in bleaching.

Under James I both Englishmen and Scottish men were planted to produce loyal populace in place of the "mere Irish". Henry might have been planted as an English soldier or as a Scottish lowlandman.

The terms "sword and calleuer (caliver)" appear after his name telling what arms he owned. This suggests that he was a man of more than average means. The caliver was a calibrated gun for which standard bullets could be made. He actually lived on Richard Cope's half of the 2000 acre estate. He, wife Katherine and family might have returned to England during the 1641 Irish Rebellion. In 1632, Henry received 120 acres of land in the Co. Armagh. Sometime between 1641 and 1660 during the Irish Rebellion, the the Blackers took possession of it. His son, Valentine, legally took issue with the Blackers ownership of the land in 1674, and was favorably received. A semi-shared arrangement of the land occured.

Henry is listed as lately deceased in an Oct. 27, 1675 record around this event. Previous to that he was a witness to a marriage in 1671 in the Lurgan Friends Book. (C-956) Some theorize that Henry Hollingsworth was killed in the mass murders of the Irish Rebellion and that the Henry in the 1671 and 1674 records are referring to a Henry Hollingsworth who was married to an Elizabeth and settled in County Down before 1693. It is believed that it is likely Henry and his family fled to England during the massacres of the Rebellion.

In Ireland, land was the symbol of power as well as the source of wealth. The idea behind plantation was to take the land away from the Catholic Irish, replacing them with English and Scottish settlers. This meant that a new Protestant community could be established quickly to weaken Catholic Irish resistance to English rule. Plantation had been implemented on a limited basis in Ireland during the reign of the Tudors in the midlands and Munster during the 1550s and 1580s. The early seventeenth century plans for the Ulster Plantation were the most ambitious undertaken so far. The native Irish were to be moved from the planted lands to segregated areas. Most of the land in the counties of Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Coleraine (now Derry) was confiscated. It was granted at low rents to English and Lowland Scots settlers in portions of one to two thousand acres. The colonists had to let the land to Protestant tenants who would cultivate it and defend it against the native Irish.

When Catholic landowners rebelled in the Great Rebellion of 1641, thousands were killed. The revolt was violently put down by Oliver Cromwell, whose troops slaughtered thousands. The English confiscated about 45,000 square kilometers (over 11 million acres) of land from Catholic landowners, and prohibited all Catholics from practicing law, holding public office, teaching, or bearing arms.

It seems fairly clear that James (b:1811) is a blood relative to Valentine, but can not possibly be one of his descendants. The obvious possibility that needs to be checked is that Valentine's father, Henry Hollingsworth, moved from Warwickshire (or Winwickshire)( or maybe Scotland, Ed.) to County Armagh, Ireland, some time before 1632 when Valentine was born, and that James is the descendant of a brother or cousin who remained behind after Valentine left for America. by Doug Hollingsworth

Feb 11, 2004
I have not been in contact with British Researchers.
My difficulty is that I wouldn't know where to tell them where to look, and I think that it would be fruitless to engage a researcher without at least knowing which shire to point him toward.

Thanks to DNA testing, we can pretty certain that Valentine was not from the Cheshire/Manchester area nor was he from the Cambridge/Essex area. But that leaves York, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester, Stafford, Warwick, London, Essex and Kent as places where Valentine could have come from. We are awaiting DNA test results for Hollingsworths from Derby and Essex, but that still leaves a lot of possibilities.

To complicate the issue further, the County Down Hollingsworths, which is adjacent to County Armagh, insist that their ancestors are from Scotland. Since 2/3 of the settlers at the Ulster Plantation were Scots, their tradition can not be dismissed out of hand. Again, we are awaiting DNA results for a descendant of the County Down family to see if they match our descendants of Valentine.

(The Census of Ireland for 1659, has given the Seago Parish (often written Sego in ancient records means "House of Gobha"), as having only 396 people. Among them Valentine's family, 251 were English and Scots, and the remaining 145 were Irish.)

Our only lead so far is the link between Valentine and the County Wexford clan. I am aware that this is much more likely to yield a brother of Valentine than a grandfather for him, but it is the only concrete possibility that we have unearthed to date.
You and others have studied Valentine's parentage--where do you think that he came from?
Doug Hollingsworth

West Rasen, Lincolnshire Registers

(1) Anthony Hollingworth & Ellen Foster, married 11 May 1606.
(2) Elizabeth Hollingworth, of Anthony, baptized 25 June 1607.
(3) Henry Hollingworth, son of Anthony, baptised 21 Sept 1608.
(4) William Hollinworth, of Anthony & Ellen, 18 June 1614.
(5) Thomas Hollingworth, of Antho., 25 Oct 1615.
(6) Antho, of Antho Hollinworth, baptised 4 July 1618, West Rasen.

The above family is the best candidate thus far to be the origin of Henry Hollinworth, father of Valentine. These entries, except for the marriage (1) and Henry (3) which are from the original registers, come from the International Genealogical Index (IGI), not alwary reliable. But in this case there is no reason for skepticism. More children may have been born between (3) and (4). But caution: Thomas, son of a Henry Hollingworth was baptised 19 March 1643 at Bottesford, Lincolnshire. Should this Henry be the one baptised in 1608 it would probably eliminate this man from any further consideration. Finally, a christening of Anthonie Hollingewoorth, son of Raphe, 6 Jan 1631 at St Margaret in the Close, City of Lincoln, may be the identical man who administered his father's estate in Ireland in 1662 (see p. 38 of the Sept 1991 HR).

HENRY HOLLINGSWORTH has been found in the Subsidy Rolls for the Liberties of Donore, County Dublin, in the years 1665, 1666 and 1668! (Mormon film roll 258503, Tenison Groves collec-tion, Record Office, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Box 12, section15036.)

In the 1665 Subsidy, the name is entered as "Hen Hollyworth."
The 1666 roll (which was the first item I encountered) lists the name
as Henry Hollingsworth.

This man could easily be the father of Valentine, the Henry
Hollinworth of 1630-32, Ballyvickcrannell, Co Armagh. History proves
all the Protestants around Portadown had to flee their homes or face
a horrible death at O'Neill's bloody hands.

There are no Portadown records until the
Hearth Tax of 1664 when Valentine Hollinsworth (sic) appears at Bally-
vickcrannell, and we know he repurchased the 120 acre farm there from
Michael Harrison of Co Antrim in 1665 - and that it was an outright
purchase, not a lease, a very surprising thing in Ireland. The 1674
documents we found in 1970 and the 1632 award we published here a few
years ago, do not say when Henry, Valentine's father, died. Therefore,
This man in Dublin could be him, or another younger son named Henry.

In a document recently discovered by John Hollingsworth during his trip to Ireland, the document dated December 1674, refers to Henry Hollingsworth as "deceased", proving at this point in time Valentine's father Henry, Henery as he called him was deceased.

In September 1983 Harry Hollingsworth published what he called "one of the most outstanding documents and finds ever presented here (HR), insofar as the family of Valentine Hollingsworth Sr. is concerned." It was an agreement dated 1632 between Valentine Blacker and Henry Hollingsworth. Harry said, "if only such a document could be discovered for our County Wexford Hollingsworth family".

HARRY, I AM SORRY YOU ARE NOT WITH US TO FIND OUT, IT IS A COUNTY WEXFORD DOCUMENT TOO, BECAUSE THE COUNTY WEXFORD HOLLINGSWORTH ARE RELATED TO THE COUNTY ARMAGH CLAN.

Of the various Irish "Plantations" only that in Ulster was successful. Even so, it never met the aims of those who framed the scheme, in that it did not totally replace the native Irish Catholic population with English and Scottish Protestants. "Success," as defined by that criterion, was greater in the eastern part of Ulster, such as the fertile land around Lurgan, and almost nonexistent in Donegal with an intermediate spectrum found as one moved west. The undertakers could not always meet their obligations and attract enough Protestant planters, and in those parts where the land was infertile, the landlords, if they were derive income, had no choice but to content themselves with selling off the timber, and rent to Irish tenants. Despite the various legal proscriptions and fiscal measures discouraging this practice, renting to the Irish could be highly profitable for the landowner because these tenants were obliged to pay three times the rent of a Protestant planter.

In 1641, rebellion broke out again, but this occurred while the English were distracted by Civil War between Parliament and King Charles I, and consequently things went badly for the English. In the part of Ireland relevant to our story, Irish troops under Sir Phelim O'Neill and Sir Conn Magennis captured several towns, and by superior tactics defeated the Scottish general Robert Munro at the Battle of Benburb in 1642. Atrocities and counter-atrocities followed, with some settlers being killed, and others becoming discouraged and returning to England. The Plantation in Munster, initiated by Elizabeth, never recovered from this setback, but in Ulster the number of planters was to rebound after the uprising had been quelled.

The following was taken from another family history. It is not confirmed that Henry's mother was Joan Parker or that Robert Valentine Hollingsworth Born England 1547 died 1599 at Sego, Armagh, Ireland was his father, so the use of the possilbe mother's maiden name as his middle name is in doubt, also the Quaker religion was not introduced in Ireland until some time around the 1640s, so it is not likely Henry was christened a Quaker. Also according to my research, Henry died before 1674. (Ed. Tom Hollingsworth of County Wexford family)

Henry Parker HOLLINGSWORTH-14837 [Parents] was born on 7 Sep 1598 in Ballyvickcrannell, Seagoe, Armagh, Ireland. He was christened in Quaker or Friends Church. He died before 27 Oct 1675 in Ballyvickcrannel, Parish of Segoe, County Armagh, Ireland. His sealing to parents was submitted. His endowment was submitted. He married Catherine CORNISH-14838 in 1631 in Ballyvickcrannell, County Armagh, Ireland. Their sealing was submitted.

Katheran Wray (see HR Sept 1988)

HARRY HOLLINGSWORTH IN HIS LATER ISSUE OF THE HOLLINGSWORTH REGISTER WAS CONVINCED THAT VALENTINE'S MOTHER WAS KATHERAN WRAY. IF VALLENTINE'S WIFE WAS ANN WRAY, DID VALLENTINE MARRY HIS COUSIN? I REALLY DOUBT THAT. MANY HAVE BELIEVED FOR YEARS SHE WAS A CORRISH, I FELT SHE COULD HAVE BEEN A BLACKER BECAUSE OF THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BLACKER AND HOLLINGSWORTH FAMILIES.

AFTER FINDING RECORDS OF THE WRAY MARRAIGES AND BIRTHS, HARRY DETERMINED KATHERAN WAS A WRAY, AND BASED ON HIS CONCLUSION I AM LEANING TOWARDS ALSO FEELING SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A WRAY AND NOT A CORRISH OR BLACKER. HISTORY IS STILL OUT ON THIS ISSUE.

It is safe to make the statement that Henry and Katheran could have dwelt in Ballyvickcrannell throughout the rebellion of 1641, and in the Commonwealth into the Restoration in 1660.

Katheran was living as late as August 1632 and her name appears but once in any record we know of, the Birth and Death Record Book of Lurgan Quaker Monthly Meeting. There, the couple are called "Henry and Katheran Hollingsworth."

If we assume Katheran was a Blacker, Katheran's father and mother would have been Valentine Blacker and Judith Harrison. It is even possible Valentine was named after Katheran's father. A Cache of documents - grants, settlements, deeds from the period 1632-1675, lodged up in the front attic of the offices of a long established firm of solicitors in Northern Ireland. These are of the Blacker family of Carrobracke, alias Carrickblacker, County Armagh and the calendar reference states that they are of "Valentine Hollingsworth to Valentine Blacker." Settlements usually mean nuptial settlements arranged before or after the wedding.

We have to remember that the Ulster Plantation was undertaken at a moment of national paranoia, and planned in extreme haste. King James, having survived the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, lived in dread of further Catholic conspiracy {5}, and there was widespread apprehension that at any moment the Earl of Tyrone would land back in Ireland with an invading Spanish army and reclaim his hereditary lands. On the one hand, while this made the authorities keen to establish planters, worry about Tyrone discouraged settlers from coming, and so made it more difficult for the undertakers to meet their commitments. Everything had to be done in such a hurry, and no attempt was made to resurvey the land the tenants would occupy. It was far quicker from everyone's point of view to just accept the Irish system of land division and although the newcomers were not Irish speaking, retain the traditional Irish place-names - which indeed remain in use to this day. Townlands were a peculiarly Irish unit of land division, their names commonly referring to some local geographical feature {6}. Parishes also retained their original names and in great part, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Civil Parishes had the same boundaries.

We can not totally eliminate the possibility that Katheran's father could have been Valentine Blacker. The Blacker and Hollingsworth farms were right next to each other and they entered into many agreements together.

As the Irish Times puts it: "Now on show in Dublin, the 1641Depositions on the slaughter of dozens of Protestant families inPortadown were gathered not with peace and reconciliation in mind butas preparation for the revenge later taken by Cromwell."After a brief search I found this:"[4308 ] 4212
Alexander Gill beinge in the Towne when the Irish cameto Burne it saith
That Toole mc Macan, Toole mc Rory mc Cann Bryan Roemc Glassney <A> Magenisse, Glassney oge Magenisse Donell Duffe mcConwall Patricke Dowe mc Conwall Cauer mc Conwall Owen Roe mc Conwalland Neese mc Conwall of Clanconell neere lurgan Came with the rest ofthe Irish to lurgan the first day of November 1641 or ther abouts, Andwith fire and sword burnt the Towne, and Murtherd about sixteenepersons of the Inglish as namely John Davis, Tho: ward, James [ ]sely,Leonard Rigs, Richard Ridsda{ } James Tanner, John Rogers, GILESCALVERT Mary Sadler, widdo{w} Jackson and others, which he wilbe reddyto depose when he sha{lbe} cal ld and stript the rest, as Sir williamBrownlowe Mr John { } William Codde, and James Atkinson whoe liues nowNeere lurgan as { } suppose can witnes they beinge present then Thusmuch I { } reddie to depose when I shalbe cald
I haue heard that manusmc Cowen; whoe liues at sca{ } can discouer whoe it was that HangdHenry Hunter, william Hu{nter} and William Howker, neer lurgan;and that he hath heard Owen Roe mc Keene say, that he had murthredmanie o{f} the Inglish
As Concerninge the Murther Comitted by Toole mcMacan <C> at Portedowne, William Clarke neere Captain SpencersElizabeth Simons neer knockbridge Sara Hopkins at Charlemont andAnthonie workman whoe liues with maior Dillon neere Dundalke canwitnes as I heard."This is the website for that entry:<http://www.1641.tcd.ie/deposition.php?depID=836209r106>Full Irish Times article:<http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/1009/1224280689359.html>Happy browsing.