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I’ve now updated the chapter: “The Beattys out of Ireland” in the family story to include all the latest information I have about the early generations of our Beatty family. The Colebrooke Estate records at the Public records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) didn’t go back quite far enough to tell me where our ancestor James Beatty (1797-1873) came from before taking up farming at Aghavoory townland just south of Fivemiletown, Co. Fermanagh, sometime before 1829. They did tell me the year he died, which enabled me to find his death certificate, so here is his death record.

James Beatty of Aghavoory, co. Fermanagh. Death record 1873

They also showed that the land which James later farmed was leased in 1787 to a Robert McKnight, then aged 32, and that that name remained against James Beatty’s Aghavoory land in the Colebrooke Estate rent book until November 1865 even though James Beatty paid the rent. The original Robert McKnight would have been aged 105 by then. Maybe it was sublet to James by the McKnight family all that time? There seems to be no surviving lease for Aghavoory in James Beatty’s name, even from 1865.

So who was Archibald Beatty, Farmer, who was given as James’s father at his (second) marriage?

We know from genetic testing that we are very closely related to the Beattys of Farnamullan. The YDNA tests indicated a strong probability that Charles Beatty (1725-1798) of Farnamullan could be the common ancestor between our family and descendants of the Farnamullan Beattys. I’m told that analysis of “BigY” tests using the same DNA samples gives an even stronger indication that either Charles or his father must be the common ancestor. I confess that I don’t really understand “BigY”.  As mentioned in earlier posts, Charles Beatty of Farnamullan had a son Archibald Beatty (1758-1831), who married Martha Moore of Aghavoory in 1792. Their second son was a James. It was the coincidence of Martha Moore being from Aghavoory that compelled me to visit PRONI in Belfast. It’s now confirmed that our James was born in 1797. This is the perfect date to be the second son of a couple who married in 1792 and had 8 children. The order of Archibald’s children (but not their birthdates) is given in a transcription of his will whose original is lost. The birthdates of the two youngest children are known from tombstones, indicating that Martha had at least 2 children in her forties. The ages at death of Archibald, his wife Martha and their eldest son Charles who died young come from the transcription of a tombstone at the Church of Ireland in Lisbellaw, very faint when transcribed. From the date and age at death, eldest son Charles would have been born in 1805 – too late for our James to be his younger brother. But also there is a death certificate for third son Archibald who would have been born about 1797. There was no mention of the second son James having died young, and he was left four pounds in the will of his brother Archibald so was still alive somewhere in 1869. So where did he go then??

In short, I haven’t given up on Archibald Beatty (1758-1831) of Farnamullan as the father of our James after all, although there is still no documentary proof. If this Archibald is not the one, and we take the genetic test results seriously, then we’re probably looking for a son Archibald of a hypothetical brother of Charles Beatty (1725-1798) of Farnamullan who would need to have been about the same age as the above Archibald; have married at about the same time and also have a son James. There weren’t as many Archibald Beattys in Fermanagh as there were James Beattys, and only a couple of those seemed likely from a scan of the sparse Irish records. Sigh! I think I’ll leave it at that for a while!

Church of Ireland, Lisbellaw, Fermanagh. Tombstone of Archibald Betty [sic] (1797-1869), wife Martha and eldest son Charles.

Update September 2024: Something must be wrong in the tombstone transcription to make the  date for Charles’ birth 10 years too late. It’s transcribed as: “Also their son Charles who depd. this life March 27th 1818 aged13 [?] years” If the barely legible age was 23 and not 13 then he was born in 1795 OR if the date at death was 1808 and not 1818 then he was born in 1795 – and then the birth date of his younger brother Archibald (born 1797) makes sense and James of Aghavoory (also born 1797) is the right age to be the missing second son James. Most likely the age at death is 23 as it is also more likely that a 23 year old would have made his will a few months before he died. 

Will of Charles Beatty from Ireland Diocesan and prerogative Wills and Admins. Indexes 1595-1858

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