Elizabeth Beck

Notes:

Living at Annacloy in 1718.

Birth:
prob. Lisburn, Co. Antrim, Ireland

Other Events:

• Occupation: Linen Merchant, Lisburn

Notes:

...John Beck was born at Mullaghbrack circa 1650, the younger son of John of O,Nielan. His father John of O'Nielan handed the farm over to Adam the elder son, who became a successful farmer and wool merchant. The elder John of O'Nielan then went into business with the younger John as a linen merchant in Charlemont, and the business prospered. When the elder John of O'Nielan died, the younger John was sole owner of the business and presumably he sold this for a fair sum. He is described as a "gentleman of Belfast".
...French Huguenot refugees and linen workers were invited by the English government to settle in Lisburn in 1698. They quickly introduced Dutch looms and reorganized the fledgling Ulster linen industry. In 1711 John purchased from the Crown an estate of 656 acres at Annacloy, near Downpatrick, he being then "of Lisburn." He also had associations with Lisburn and owned land or property there, and from references probably traded there - linen merchant at Lisburn, County Antrim.
...He died at Annacloy in 1722, and was buried in the graveyard of the Society of Friends at Balinderry near Lisburn, on his testated request "after the manner of my friends the people called quakers." In his will, dated July 25, 1718 and proved by his widow at Down Diocesan Court on September 10, 1722, he mentions his sons Robert, Thomas, John of Dunagore, and Samuel of Lisburn, and requests his executors "to preserve his lands at Annacloy for the benefit of his wife and family." The appointed executors, Abel Strettell and Thomas Strettell, renounced in favour of his wife Elizabeth, also mentioned. The estate was sold to Philip Percival of Dublin in 1727, when his widow returned to Lisburn and resided with her son Samuel. The extensive inventory attached to the will shows he was a man of substance considerably beyond the average for his time. He left the four sons mentioned and five daughters. (Source: John W. Beck, A.M.I.E.E., "Beck of Northern Ireland", 1931)


Died:

WILL
—John Beck of Downpatrick, Manor of Downpatrick in county of Down.
Dated 25 July 1718.
Of perfect mind and memory but weak of body. Commits soul to Almighty God in hope of a joyful resurrection, and body to be buried in the graveyard at Ballinderry, near Lisburn, after manner of my friends the people called Quakers. Appoints Abel Strettell and Thomas Strettell of City of Dublin, merchants, and wife Elizabeth Beck as Executors. Overseer and guardian Richard Mercer of hillsborough in county of Down, gentleman. To wife Elizabeth £50 stg., and one half of household goods, remaining half to be divided amongst children share and share alike. To eldest son Robert £50 stg. To daughter Ruth £10 stg. To second son Thomas £50 stg. To daughter Abigail £40 stg. To son Samuel Beck of Lisburn £50 stg. to daughter Elizabeth £40 stg. To son John Beck of Dunagore £ 50 stg. To daughter Ellen £40 stg. To daughter Mary £40 stg. To the five daughters mentioned £100 stg., the said money to be put out at interest and so to continue until they or any one of them be married or otherwise disposed of out of their mother's house when they shall be paid the proportion of the said £100 stg. and interest. In event of death of any one of the five daughters before so disposed of her proportion to be divided equally amongst daughters that survive. Orders that bond perfected by Samuel Smart of Kilmore for £100 shall not be charged interest to date of my decease. To poor of Lisburn £5 stg. to be disposed by the Rector of it. Residuary legatee eldest son Robert, with contingent remainder to son Thomas, his heirs and assigns. Orders that executors be repaid all expenses in discharge of trust reposed in the in, and requests that they endeavour to preserve the lands at Annacloy for benefit of wife and children. Witnesses: James Smith, Francis Tineston, William McComb.
—Renunciatioun, dated 17 April 1722, of Abel Strettell and Thomas Strettell, merchants of City of Dublin, for good cause and consideration all right, claim and title to the execution of last Will and Testament of John Beck, late of Downpatrick, linen merchant, and prays the ordinary of Diocese of Down to grant administration to the proper person, Elizabeth Beck atte Downpatrick.
—Probate to Elizabeth Beck, relict and executrix, at Down Diocesan Court 15 September 1722. (25th July 1718 NA Reference T/2709 Document ID: 4865)

John married Elizabeth Strettell in Ireland. Elizabeth (daughter of Hugh Strettell and Mary Hulme) was born before 18 Jun 1655 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England; was christened on 18 Jun 1655 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England; died after 1727. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The spelling of the name varies: it is Strettle, Strettel, Strettell, Strethull, Strettill, or Strethill even when it refers to one and the same man. "Strettle or Strethull" was a small Manor in Mere, held by a family bearing the local name, and probably descended from Gilbert de Mara. (Source: Rev. William Beck, F.S.A.G., "Gleanings From the Past", (Sydney, New South Wales)

Notes:

John Beck, who was living at Amullabrack, Barony of O'Nielan, 1630, tenant on Antony Cope's estate, also there in 1663 (Armagh Subsidy Rolls). He died prior to 1669 and was buried in Mullaghbrack Parish Churchyard, reference to the grave being made in the will of his son Adam. He left at least two sons. Mullaghbrack is a parish in Armagh in the Barony of Fews Lower. (Source: John W. Beck, A.M.I.E.E., "Beck of Northern Ireland", 1931)

Birth:
of O'Nielan, presumed of London

Other Events:

• Religion: Society of Friends (Quaker)

Notes:

...Hugh and Mary Strettell had become convinced by Robert Barclay (joined the Society of Friends) sometime between the end of 1654 when Elizabeth was born and October 18, 1655 when James was born. His aged father, Thomas, was evidently living with them and became convinced also, and so was buried in Mobberley Quakers burial ground and not in the Church burial ground.
...The Stretells, or Strethulls, were presumably not politically minded or inclined, and so gave their attention to the land and its cultivation, and so, because of the division and sub-division of the original estate, which came through Gilbert de Strethull or De la Mare and his son William in the twelfth or thirteenth century, owing to the large increase of families of the same blood, the title of gentleman was dropped, and some became practically yeomen, but they were, as the Mobberley Parish Official Record states "The Strettells were substantial yeomen."
...Evidently Hugh Strettell was substantial, indeed, for he owned Brown Edge farm, near Brown Edge hamlet, and Blakely House, and when the estate of Saltersley came to the daughters of Francis Hulme in 1662, he being entitled to one part, jure uxoris, bought the shares of the other co-heiresses, the sisters of his wife, Mary, and so became sole owner of Saltersley Mansion in 1655.
...James married a Quakeress. Amos and Abell Strettell came to Dublin towards the end of the seventeenth century and became wealthy merchants there. Robert Strettell, the fifth son of Amos Strettell, who went to Ireland circa 1678-79, settled there. (Source: Rev. William Beck, F.S.A.G., "Gleanings From the Past", (Sydney, New South Wales)

Hugh married Mary Hulme. Mary (daughter of Sir Francis Hulme and Joan Worthington) was born before 2 May 1631 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England; was christened on 2 May 1631 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England; died on 11 Sep 1662; was buried on 11 Sep 1662 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
11da 7mo 1662

Other Events:

• Name: William Becx
• Name: Wyllem Becks

Notes:

...The surname of Beck is not common in Northern Ireland, and prior to 1850 was only represented by three groups of families resident respectively in the Ardes district of County Down, the parish of Donegore in County Antrim, and in those portions of the Baronies of Upper Iveagh and O'Nielan, lying between Dromore and Hamiltonsbawn. In these districts a large number of families owe their progenitors to the Plantaion of Ulster, which occurred towards the end of the sixteenth and early in the seventeenth centuries, when the escheated estates of the native chieftains were occupied by British settlers. A tradition that the three groups of Beck families were collateral kinsmen descended from one of these settlers, or an earlier army servitor is substantially confirmed. Subsequent to 1850 a much wider distribution of the name is found, but with one exception, where recent English origin is definite, all existing families claim an ancestry in one or other of the three groups.
...The earliest records detailing individual Plantation settlers are contained in the Ulster Muster Rolls of 1630 (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 4770), and therein are included the names of Adam Beck and John Beck, both described as "of Granshagh, Barony of Lower Ardes," and John Beck, tenant on Antony Cope's estate, Barony of O'Nielan. The consensus of evidence indicates that the heads of these families were brothers who had settled in these districts prior to 1630. The previous history of these two progenitors is unknown, but a crest which occurs on seals, bookplates, etc., of many descendant families affords a clue in its marked similarity to that included in the armorial bearings of Beck of London (Harl. Sco., vol. xv.). For the most part successive generations were yeomen or tenant farmers and landowners, occupying holdings in those districts where virgin soil was first tilled by their Plantation ancestors, the name recurring in the scanty local records of the Baronies mentioned, and showing continuous association through nine or ten generations during three hundred years. One member, John Beck, of Lisburn and Annacloy rose to a position of wealth during the close of the sixteenth century, but in the next generation his sons, with one exception, are again found in the tenant farmer class. Offshoot families settled in Belfast from 1650 onwards, but no continuity of descent in this town is found, until its increasing industrial importance during the last century attracted several members, some of which were notable in professional and commercial activities. The further family at Donegore was founded about a century later that the Muster Roll record, by a younger son of the O'Nielan branch who deserted his paternal district - and settled in County Antrim. The territorial association of the name with the Barony of Upper Iveagh receives mention in Hume's "Origin of the Population of County Down," reprinted in vol. i "Ulster Journal of Archaeology." This reference applies to the descendants of John Beck of O'Nielan, and commencing with the two brothers, a connected pedigree of this line can be traced.

Thomas married Margaret Graffet on 9 Jan 1619 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. Margaret and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Margaret Griffith

Notes:

...The family of Hulme, to which Francis Hulme belonged, was found in Cheshire and Lancashire from an early date. Like other families, it took its name from the property which it held. Holme or Hulme means low, flat land near a river. A place such as that was usually composed of rich meadow land or flats, and for agricultural purposes was very valuable. In the time of Henry II, there was a John de Hulme, who built the mansion of Hulme. There are several ancient mansions in the parish of Manchester, among which may be enumerated Hulme Hall, the ancient manorhouse, occupied in the reign of Henry II by John de Hulme.
...Unfortunately, it did not remain in the possession of the family for any length of time, for in the reign of Edward I, it was held by Adam, the son of Adam de Rotoundale. The family, however, held other land and continued to be known as Hulme, of Hulme.
...Francis Hulme prefereed to remain attached to the Parish Church, of which he was a churchwarden for many years, and a monument was erected to his memory at mobberley Church by his eight daughters.

Birth:
of

Francis married Joan Worthington on 30 Sep 1630 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. Joan was born about 1600; died on 9 Jul 1662 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England; was buried in 1662 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Religion: Society of Friends (Quaker)

Notes:

Joan Hulme was the first of the family to become a Friend (Quaker). When Joan died in 1662 her daughters erected a tombstone as a memorial in the Friends' Burial Ground, Moberley, where she had been buried, probably at her own request.

Birth:
of Quarvoll Bank, Wilmslow

Religion:


First of the family to become a Quaker.