family bj the jeffcotts of ireland - one-namejephcott.one-name.net/tjs/tjsbj.pdfmemory of alicia,...

The Jephcott Family – Chapter 6 – Family BJ _____________________________________________________________________________________

6.BJ.1

Family BJ

The Jeffcotts of Ireland Page

6.BJ.1 Introduction

6.BJ.2 The Jeffcotts of Kerry

6.BJ.9 Sir John Jeffcott

6.BJ.14 Sir William Jeffcott

6.BJ.15 Letters Received

6.BJ.17 The American Connection

6.BJ.20 The Australian Connection

6.BJ.23 The Family Tree Collection (see also the gedcom trees from the home page link)

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Introduction

Our knowledge of this family came at an early stage in our research as we discovered the Sirs, John and William, Jeffcott, who were recorded in various biographical collections.

We are grateful to Sue McBeth and Bob Jephcott of Melbourne, Australia for donating a copy of a book to the Jephcott Society's collection, entitled 'Sir John Jeffcott - Portrait of a Colonial Judge' by R M Hague. Sue and Bob also compiled a family tree, which we have printed (with a few additions) at the end of this section.

In 1994, we received a superb letter from Helen Kemp of France who was a direct descendant of this family, who had a great interest in the genealogy of the Irish Jeffcotts and who had engaged a professional genealogist to do more research on her behalf. A transcript of her letter is shown on following pages. Sadly, we were informed by Helen's twin sister Marion, that Helen had died in October 1995.

Sir John Jeffcott was the better known of the two brothers, mainly because he appeared to have been chased all over the place by his creditors, having got away with murdering a rival suitor in a duel, and finally meeting his end in tragic circumstances. He was also the first judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. Indeed, on the charge of murder, he is believed to be the only British Chief Justice ever to stand in the dock on this charge.

The book is well worth reading and gives much source material for further research. News cuttings and book extracts which follow, give an account of Sir John's life. I also enclose various biographies of the lesser known brother Sir William.

The family tree starts with William John Jeffcott of Ballinanlort, Ireland. We have other trees that appear to have their beginnings in Ireland and it is possible that the families are linked. I have not been able to do any serious research myself but I did visit Tralee and had a look around the Ballymacelligot area, including a wander around its very unkempt Church of Ireland churchyard.

Since writing the book of the family, the internet has given us so much more to look at and to discover. This section of the family has centuries of Jeffcotts dating back to the imposition of protestant settlers (which included us) by the Tudors, in an attempt to ‘tame’ the troublesome Irish. It’s all here. It led to a mass migration of Jeffcotts from Ireland to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, etc. brought about by the potato famine in the 1850s. The problem for researchers is the lack of records in Ireland, due to the uprisings that ultimately led to Ireland becoming ‘free’ in the 1920s. This led to the destruction of many records and it is possible that research material relating to this family would have been affected.


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Family tradition has it that the Jeffcotts were awarded land in Ireland in the time of Queen Elizabeth and settled in the area of Tralee. What truth there is in this, remains to be found. The records that we have seen give a little information, but nothing as far back as Elizabethan times.

Here follows a transcript from 'The Bernards of Kerry' by J H Bernard (Rt. Rev'd. Archbishop of Dublin), produced in 1922, presumably drawing from records available before the destruction of the Irish uprising of that year. It should be read in conjunction with the notes made by Helen Kemp (shown later) and some of the contradictory information given by R M Hague (also given later).

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THE JEFFCOTTS OF KERRY

by the Reverend J H Bernard

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Jeffcott was a name well known in Northamptonshire, as well as in Warwickshire and Worcestershire. In 1691 a John Jeffcott was Sub-Dean of Worcester, and several members of the family appear among the lists of Parliamentary electors for the County of Northampton between 1702 and 1831. Their arms were :- Ermine, three crescents azure on a canton gules, four crosses crosslet fitchée: Crest, a boar passant. Sir John Jeffcott was granted these arms, with a difference, by the Heralds' College in 1833, his claim being that he was descended from this ancient family.

Some Jeffcotts seem to have come to the Co. Kerry in the time of Queen Elizabeth, with the Dennys, and there was more than one branch of the family in the neighbourhood of Tralee in the eighteenth century. The Jeffcotts of Tonareigh were the best known, and it is worth while to avoid confusion by briefly indicating their descents. Robert Jeffcott of Tonareigh (who died in 1740) had by his wife Susanna three sons-Matthew, Thomas, and Arthur (of Ballincrannig). The eldest son, Matthew Jeffcott (who died in 1720), had by his wife Mary two daughters, Mary and Susanna, and a son Thomas, who married first Jane Williams, otherwise Beesom, and secondly Mildred Conway. He died about 1740 (his son Beesom having died without issue in 1733), leaving two daughters: Catherine, who married Moses Laplant, surgeon, and Jane, who married first Dawson Blennerhassett, and secondly William Ginnis.

We are concerned in these pages with another branch of the family, the Jeffcotts of Ballinanlort (the townland is now called Ballynahoulort), a place to the north-west of Tralee, formerly Denny property.

In 1663, and also in 1667, one John Jeffcott is registered as having two hearths in Tralee, and there is mention in a Denny lease of a John

Jeffcott1 who was born in 1691. This John Jeffcott, 'the elder, of Ballinanlort,' was in business in Tralee, and he and his father are named as plaintiffs in some petty cases in 1710, 1729 and 1734. His wife was probably a Miss (? Alicia) Day,2 a sister of Edward Day, of Tralee, and aunt of the Rev John Day, of Lohercannon.

The same John Jeffcott had four sons, John, William, Robert and Edward (as well as a daughter, Anne, who married Maurice Evans). Edward, who was a saddler, married, in 1741, Mary, daughter of David Haly, of Tralee, and his name appears in 1750, 1758 and 1760; but he seems to have died without issue. Robert was born in 1721, and appears at Tralee in 1766, but he need not detain us. John, the eldest son, was born in 1711; he had a house at Tralee in 1744, and also (with his brother William) held the lands at Ballinanlort. In 1762 we find him demising certain of these lands, which had formerly been held by Rev John Day, to Michael Mulchinock, of Tralee. In 1767 he is described as 'John Jeffcott, of Lohercannon.' He appears in the Civil Bill Lists at the Kerry Assizes in 1770, 1772, 1782 and 1783 in which year he died. He left a son, John Jeffcott,3 glazier, of Tralee, who appears in 1794 and 1799, and who-in his turn-left a son John (b 1784, d 1834), who married Margaret Shea in 1803, and left a son, John.

We have more particularly to do with William Jeffcott (b 1716), the second son of John Jeffcott 'the elder.' He was associated with his brother John in holding the lands of Ballinanlort, and he was also in business in Tralee, living at 'The Rock', his name appearing in the Civil Bill Lists in 1763, 1771, 1778 and 1782. His great-grandson, Rev J J Dillon stated that his wife was one of the FitzMaurices, of Duagh, a family with which Mr Dillon was on very intimate terms in


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his youth. This was clearly Elizabeth FitzMaurice4 (b 9th July, 1727), daughter of Ulick FitzMaurice, of Duagh, by his wife Tryphena, third daughter of Capt John Blennerhassett. A family tradition describes our William Jeffcott as 'Capt William Jeffcott, JP,' but he cannot be discovered among the Justices of the Peace.

In 1782 a Civil Bill was listed by John Collis, Esq, against Robert Bernard and William Jeffcott, so that Robert Bernard, on his first appearance in Tralee, seems to have been associated in business with his future father-in-law. In 1783 Robert Bernard appears as the 'indorsee' of William Jeffcott, who died either in that year or in 1784.

The children of William Jeffcott, of Ballinanlort, and Elizabeth FitzMaurice were five in number, at least (Mary Jeffcott, who appears in 1788 as a spinster at Robert Bernard's house, may have been another, but she need not detain us).

1. Alicia Jeffcott, the eldest child of William Jeffcott and Elizabeth FitzMaurice, was born in 1756, and was married to Robert Bernard about 1785. There were four children of the marriage, of whom full particulars have been given above? Mr and Mrs Bernard lived for some years at Ballymacthomas, in the parish of Ballyseedy, near Tralee, a place of which their son, John Bernard, wrote in after life with affectionate recollection.

Ballymacthomas was leased in 1798 by Richard Yielding, of Clogher, Co Kerry, to John Jeffcott, MD, of Tralee, for three lives or thirty-one years; and Robert Bernard leased part of the place from his brother-in-law, John Jeffcott. In 1799 Dr John Jeffcott assigned his interest in the lands of Ballymacthomas to his brother William. In 1802 these lands were assigned to the trustees of William Jeffcott's marriage settlement, with a jointure of £56 to Jane Jeffcott. And in 1809 the lands were resold by order of the Court of Exchequer, and were purchased by William Bernard, a fresh grant having been made in 1804 by R C Yielding to William Jeffcott.

Alicia Bernard was the executor of her husband's will, the terms of which are not forthcoming. In 1805 she was left a small annuity by her brother William. In 1806 we find her in Mallow, with her invalid daughter, Alicia. We next find her in 1821 as one of the household of her son, Dr Bernard, at Charleville, and she lived with him until her death. She is buried in Charleville churchyard, the inscription on her tomb being: 'Sacred to the memory of Alicia, mother of Dr John Bernard, RN, who departed this life on the 20th of May, 1838, aged 84 years.'5 She was a deeply religious woman, and her son John was devoted to her.

2. Catherine Jeffcott, second daughter of William Jeffcott and Elizabeth FitzMaurice, married Thomas Madden (son of Owen Madden, of Mallow, and Miss Daly), and had two daughters:

i, Mary Anne Madden, who married James Nagle, Clerk of the crown; and

ii, Catherine Madden.

Mr Thomas Madden had a town house in Cork, and a country house near Killarney, which afterwards became the Lake Hotel.

3. John William Jeffcott, elder son of William Jeffcott and Elizabeth FitzMaurice, was born in 1760, and entered the Royal Navy as Assistant Surgeon on 19th December, 1778.

In October, 1783, he married Ann, daughter of Isaac Hoy, Esq, Sovereign of Kinsale, but she only lived for one year.

In 1784, after his father's death, George Gun, of Riversdale, leased to him 'the lands of West [sic] Ballinacourt, then held by the heirs and assigns of John and William Jeffcott, deceased, and their under-tenants, together with the appurtenances in the actual possession of the said Jeffcott family, to be held for the lives of John Jeffcott and William Jeffcott, his brother, and Jeremiah M'Carthy,6 son of Daniel M'Carthy, of Cloherbrien, at a rent of £60.' In 1785 John William Jeffcott registered his freehold at Ballinanlort, and in 1786 transferred the lands to his brother William.

For many years Dr Jeffcott served in HMS Bellerophon in the West Indies under Admiral Rodney, and afterwards in northern waters. While he was in the Baltic, the Empress Catherine II of Russia (d 1796), who had attracted to her service a group of distinguished young naval officers, requested the Admiral of the Fleet to send her an English surgeon. Dr Jeffcott was selected, and he attended her while the fleet was in those waters. The Empress presented him with some valuable jewellery. In 1810 he was appointed surgeon to the prison-ship San Damaro.


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After he retired from the Navy, he settled in the Isle of Man, about 1811, and there became surgeon to the household of the Governor. He married, as his second wife, 28th March, 1814, in Malew Church, Isle of Man, Catherine (b 1787), daughter of the Rev John Moore, Vicar of Kirk Braddan (d 1791), and widow of Captain Robert Gelling, who was an heiress, having come into the Kirk Braddan property, and having been also left a good estate by her husband. Her marriage with Dr Jeffcott was kept a secret from her uncle, Mr Quayle, until it was an accomplished fact.

Dr John Jeffcott died in April, 1824, and left three daughters, Alice (b and d 1815), Catherine (b 1818), and Anne (b 1820), and two sons, the younger William (b 1822, d 1824) and the elder John Moore Jeffcott, b 6th July, 1816. He was educated at King William's College, and was called to the Manx Bar, 9th May, 1839. He had a large legal practice, and was appointed in 1865 High Bailiff of Castletown. For many years he was an influential member of the House of Keys. He was a man of literary and artistic tastes, and an accomplished archaeologist. He died 17th May, 1892.

He had married, 22nd July, 1852, Lucy Mylrea (d 16 August, 1913, aged 89 years), daughter of John Christian Crellin, of Orrisdale, Kirk Michael, formerly Captain, 6th Dragoon Guards, and had issue three sons and five daughters, viz:

(1) John Edward Jeffcott, b 14th August, 1856, educated at King William's College, a marine engineer at Vancouver, BC.

(2) William Brennus Jeffcott, b 29th December, 1857, dsp.

(3) William Lowther Jeffcott, b 17th November, 1863, educated at King William's College, d 23rd November, 1887; and

1 Elinor Catherine Jeffcott, married 14th September, 1882, Rev George FitzGerald Wintour, and had three daughters.

2 Alma Lucy Jeffcott, married 6th March, 1886, Alfred Roberts, Esq, of Chester.

3 Maud Mary Jeffcott.

4 Annie FitzGerald7 Jeffcott.

5 Charlotte Octavia Jeffcott.

4. William Jeffcott, the second son of William Jeffcott and Elizabeth FitzMaurice, was born in 1764, and became a woollen draper in Tralee. It may be that he took on his father's business; at any rate he appears frequently in the Civil Bill books at Tralee Assizes from 1784 to 1801. In 1792 he is described as 'of the city of Cork', and seems to have been associated in business there with Laurence Conner, while still keeping his establishment at Tralee. In 1794 he appears as leasing 'the house near the Gaol Bridge, Tralee', to John Jeffcott, shopkeeper, who was a kinsman.

In 1795 William Jeffcott married Jane (b 1776), the daughter of Richard Hore, of Ballinorigh, Co Kerry, who was a merchant, and owned some property near Killarney. The Hores were a Roman Catholic family, highly respected in Kerry.8 By the terms of the marriage settlement, the lands of Ballymacthomas were charged with a jointure of £56 annually for Jane Jeffcott. William Jeffcott had registered his freehold of Ballinanlort in 1785.

He died on Good Friday, 1807, and his will is among the Ardfert wills in the Public Record Office, Dublin, dated 23rd April, 1805, 'intending shortly to leave this kingdom for some time for the benefit of my health', with the codicil of 7th March, 1807. He left the agreed jointures to his wife; to his sons, as tenants in common, his lands of Ballymacthomas, his lands of Ballinanlort, his moiety of the lands of Coraghlity, his lands of Bally Rae, his tenement and premises at the Rock,9 Tralee - all of which he held under lease - and also the house in Tralee occupied by Thomas Chute, cloth merchant; with reversion to his daughters [with further reversion to his nephews, William and John Bernard];10 the lands to be charged with £1,000 for his daughters at six per cent; with £60 annually for five years for his sister, Alice Bernard, widow, and thenceforward during her life £22.15s. yearly. Failing sons and daughters, his property to his brother, John Jeffcott, and his heirs, and failing them, to his nephews, William and John Bernard. Also bequests of £20 to his natural son, Arthur Jeffcott, saddler, to be paid when out of his apprenticeship,11 and £10 to the son of John Jeffcott, glazier,12 and three guineas each to Mary, Julian and Catherine FitzMaurice,13 spinsters; executors, Dr John Jeffcott,


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Maurice Hore of Killarney, merchant, and Pierce Chute of, Tralee, printer. In the codicil he provides for his daughter Alice, born in 1806, and leaves £10 annually to his cousin-german, John Jeffcott, senior, glazier.

Subsequently Pierce Chute gave up the executorship to Jane Jeffcott. She was ignorant of business, and ran through the property all too soon, living far beyond her means. She was helped by her sons during the latter years of her life. In 1821 she was lodging in 6 Bridge Street, Tralee, with her three daughters.

The children of William Jeffcott and Jane Hore were:

(1) John William Jeffcott, b 1796, educated under a Mr Ardagh, entered Trinity College, Dublin, 21st November, 1814; BA, 1821; MA, 1825. he was called to the Irish, and then to the English Bar (Middle Temple, 1826). He was appointed Chief Justice of Sierra Leone in 1830, with a salary of £2,000 a year. In December, 1832, he was at home, voting at the Dublin University Election for the unsuccessful Whig candidates. He was knighted in 1833. In the same year he had a strange experience for a Chief Justice. When staying in Exeter, he learnt on 9th May, 1833, that an Irish doctor, (Peter Henniss, BA, 1822), of that place had slandered him to the effect that 'it was merely a blind to a respectable family (by name Macdonald) to assert that he was going to Bristol, and that he had no more a vote for Dublin University than he had'. Henniss was also said to have given publicity to a story that Sir John Jeffcott had been dismissed from his official position by Government. Sir John wrote on 10th May to Dr Henniss for an explanation, stating that he must have it at once, as he was under orders to embark at Plymouth on HMS Britomart on May 11th. Despite the intervention of friends, the matter could not be composed, and in the evening of May 10th a duel with pistols was fought between Jeffcott and Henniss on Exeter racecourse. Dr Henniss was shot in the body, below the shoulder-blade, and died on May 18th. On May 20th Sir John Jeffcott was charged, in his absence, before Mr Justice Patteson, with the death of Dr Henniss, and Mr Charles Milford and Capt George Anthony Halstead (seconds), with Mr Robert Holland, a spectator, were charged as accessories. A full account of the trial is given in the Annual Register.14 Despite the judge's charge, the jury returned a verdict of Not guilty against the three gentlemen. Sir John Jeffcott was on the high seas, and was never brought to trial. On May 31st a question was asked in the House of Commons about the matter. Mr Stanley, in reply, said the Government intended to recall Sir John as soon as possible. Daniel O'Connell said that he had known Sir John long and intimately, and that 'a more humane, kind and excellent man did not exist'. Public indignation was strong against the Chief Justice; and his brother, William Jeffcott, who had been present at the trial, wrote long afterwards (7th December, 1837) to his cousin, John Moore Jeffcott, of the difficulty which had beset the getting Sir John Jeffcott into office again, for he was obliged to resign his post at Sierra Leone. Nevertheless, the difficulty was overcome, and in 1836, Sir John was appointed Chief Justice of Adelaide, being the first judge sent to the new colony.

He took up his Australian appointment in 1837, and was created CB. He was very active in the organization of the colony, but, unhappily did not long enjoy his office. He was drowned on 12th December, 1837, at the entrance of the Murray river, by the swamping of a boat,15 when about to start on a voyage to Tasmania, where he was to have been married to Anne, daughter of William Kermode, Esq, of Mona Vale, Tasmania, a kinsman of his own, of an Isle of Man family. Jeffcott Street, Adelaide, preserves his name to this day.

2) William Jeffcott, the second son of William Jeffcott and Jane Hore, was born in 1800, and educated under Mr Donovan, of Tralee. He entered Trinity, Dublin, as a Sizar; obtained Scholarship in 1819; but did not graduate BA until 1834. On 22nd April, 1828, he was called to the Irish Bar. In 1833 his address is given as 33 Trinity College; in 1834 he took lodgings in 36 Lower Mount Street, Dublin. In 1837 he was appointed counsel to the Attorney-General, being probably a Whig or Liberal in politics.

In a few years he went out to Australia, as his brother had done, and became Judge of the Supreme Court, and then Resident Judge, Melbourne, in the Port Philip district (November, 1842-January, 1845). He came home in 1845, his Dublin address being 8 Hume Street. There is a family story that he gave up his Australian judgeship because of his unwillingness to sign death warrants. However that may be, he became Recorder of Singapore, Malacca, and Prince Edward's Island in 1849, and was knighted 29th December, 1849. Sir William Jeffcott's last advancement was to a judgeship at Bombay, a dignity which he never enjoyed, for he died at Penang (sp) on the day before the date of his appointment, 22nd October, 1855. His remains were honoured with a public funeral.

His will is dated 21st October, 1855, leaving his property to his eldest sister, Mrs Dillon, his unmarried sisters, and his nephews and nieces, the executors being Falkiner Chute Sandes, Esq, East India Company's solicitor in Calcutta, and Morris FitzGerald Sandes, Esq, of Oak Park, Tralee.


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(3) Catherine Jeffcott, eldest daughter of William Jeffcott and Jane Hore, was born 1801, and was a member of the Church of Ireland, her sisters being Roman Catholics, like their mother. She married William Sandys Dillon, and had issue:

1. John Jeffcott Dillon, graduated BA at Trinity, Dublin, 1861; MA, 1867; BD, 1889. Ordained in 1862, he held, among other preferments, the rectory of Aghade, Co Carlow (1872-1890), and Rathmichael, Co Dublin (1890-1912). He married Ellen, daughter of Colonel W S Snow, Madras Infantry, and dsp 1912.

2. Anna Maria Dillon, married Rev William Wallace, afterwards of Kerrymount, Foxrock, Co Dublin, and had issue:

(1) Rev William Wallace, MA, who became a Roman Catholic.

(2) Rev Alfred Francis Wallace, BD, Vicar of Ross, New Zealand, who married and had issue.

(3) Charles Wallace, d 1912.

(4) Catherine Wallace, married Dr Long; she dsp, 1915.

(5) Jane Wallace.

(6) James Nevin Wallace, BA, BAI, of Calgary, Alberta.

(7) Herbert Wallace, dsp.

(8) Henry Wallace.

3. William E Dillon, Assistant Surgeon, Royal Navy, in 1860. He joined the Livingstone Search Expedition as second in command. Having started homeward for Zanzibar, he died of fever 18th November, 1873.

4. Jane Dillon, married Joseph Kelsall, solicitor, of Dublin.

(4) Mary Jeffcott,16 second daughter of William Jeffcott and Jane Hore, born 1803. She was a Roman Catholic.

(5) Alicia Jeffcott,16 third daughter of William Jeffcott and Jane Hore, was born 1806, and dsp January, 1899, at Killiney, Co Dublin. She was a Roman Catholic. A letter from her to Mrs Kelsall (her niece), written late in life, had the following paragraphs:-

'The part of your letter I can answer is that the Stokes are all connected with me. My aunt Bess Stokes was married to the brother of Mr [Oliver] Stokes,17 who was the Barrack Master in Tralee ... My aunt Bess, my father's sister, got married to his brother ... She was a very handsome girl. They lived in Listowel, and had twenty children, all dead. The only one I ever asked for was my uncle [ie, John Jeffcott, MD]. He doted on my mother. She was a lovely girl of twenty ... A fine doctor, he was for years away, and when he heard that she [ie, Jane Jeffcott] was from Killarney, and who she was, he made my father give up business, and off they went to England for a year, and took her two children.'

The early part of this refers to her aunt, of whom the following information is available.

5. Elizabeth Jeffcott, youngest daughter of William Jeffcott and Elizabeth FitzMaurice. She was born about 1773, and married to John Stokes, Esq, of Tralee, son of George Stokes (m 1771, d 1799) and Bridget Cooke.18 He acted as agent for Mrs Jane Jeffcott, whose fortune was dissipated. They had a long family, including the following:-

(1) Alicia Stokes, b 1802.

(2) William Stokes, b 1806, afterwards a captain in the mail service of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Co.


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(3) Margaret Stokes, b 1809.

(4) Patrick Stokes, b 1810.

(5) Robert Stokes, b 1814.

(6) Edward Stokes, b 1817, d 1895. He was in the Civil Service in Dublin, and married, 1846, Jane Anne Byrne, having issue:

i. John E Stokes, d 1868.

ii. Dennis Jeffcott Stokes.

iii. William L Stokes, JP, for Limerick, d 1912.

iv. Frederick Stokes, Royal Bank of Ireland.

v. Harvey W Stokes.

(7) Eliza Stokes, b 1818.

They lived at Listowel, and as the name of John Stokes does not appear in the Census Returns of 1821, he was probably dead at that time.

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Footnotes to the above article, as given by Bernard:

1. John Jeffcott was sworn freeman of the Corporation of Tralee in 1707. 'John Jeffcott, junior', appears among those who accompanied the Provost of Tralee, when riding round the bounds of the borough, at a later date.

2. His great-granddaughter, Mrs Dillon, (see elsewhere in this article) alleged that it was her grandfather who married Miss Day; but it is plain that she was skipping a generation. She always claimed cousinship with the Days, but Kerry 'cousins' are sometimes cousins only in the third or fourth degree.

3. He seems to have married a cousin, Elizabeth Evans.

4. See elsewhere in this article for the FitzMaurice connection. In 1767 property belonging to Elizabeth Jeffcott was stolen from the garden of John Jeffcott, of Lohercannon, probably her brother-in-law.

5. The Charleville registers give her age as eighty-two years, which is probably correct.

6. This Jeremiah M'Carthy died in 1839, when the lease fell in, and the land of Ballinanlort was acquired by the Day-Stokes family, who still hold it. The place is now called Mount Hawk.

7. Presumably her second Christian name, FitzGerald, was given to mark her descent from the FitzMaurices (see elsewhere in this article), who were Geraldines:

8. John Hoare, merchant, and Maurice Hoare, gent. (respectively father and brother of Richard Hore), were among the Roman Catholics who signed and swore to the oath of allegiance at Killarney, 7th march, 1776.

9. The Rock property belonged originally to the Day family.

10. This clause is erased.

11 This Arthur Jeffcott went to America.

12 This John Jeffcott, glazier, married 1803, Margaret Shea, of Tralee, and by his will, 24th January, 1834, he left his possessions to his widow, mentioning his sons John Jeffcott and William Jeffcott, painters and glaziers (see elsewhere in this article).

13 Presumably his first cousins, daughters of John FitzMaurice, of Duagh, and Margaret Stack (see elsewhere in this article).

14 See also Millingen, History of Duelling, ii, 327 ff.


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15. See, for an account of the accident, R Gouger, South Australia (1838), p44.

16. One of these ladies was probably the 'Miss Jeffcott, of Ballymacthomas,' who is said to have 'kept house for a Dr Williams, of Dingle, a relative.'

17. ie, Oliver Stokes, who married, 1795, Elizabeth, daughter of John Day, Mayor of Cork, by his wife Margaret Hewson.

18. This Bridget Cooke was daughter of John Cooke, of Sheheniran, Co Kerry, and granddaughter of Thomas Cooke, of Paynestown, Co Kilkenny, by his wife, a daughter of Sir Robert FitzMaurice, of Ballykealy Castle, Co Kerry.

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Notes by Helen Kemp with reference to Bernard’s article and other material. (Source Letter 932)

Note: - to be read in conjunction with the texts: Dr Bernard's, R M Hague's and the newspaper cuttings

- Dates do not seem entirely logical.

- Most certainly some children have not been recorded.

1. R M Hague's genealogical information is different from Dr Bernard's; Hague, however, had access to Bernard (included in his bibliography). Did he have good reason to differ?

2. Dr Bernard speaks of 'Mrs Dillon' as having 'skipped a generation', Alicia Day being her great grandmother and not her grandmother. Hague puts Alicia as Mrs Dillon's grandmother; the date of 1703 in Table IV (Day) would make Hague's placing of Alicia more logical. Dr Bernard only says that the wife of John Jeffcott (probably b 1691) was probably Miss (Alicia?) Day.

In the newspaper cutting, Alicia's grandparents (Maurice Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Crosbie) married in 1703 (v Table IV); so Alicia could scarcely have started having children in 1711 (v. Table II).

In view of the dates and Hague's information, one possibility would seem that one could reverse the position of Alicia Day and Elizabeth FitzMaurice in Table II (the Revd J J Dillon said his great grandmother was a FitzMaurice, and it was Bernard who said it was probably Elizabeth). It may have been the Revd Dillon who confused the generations ..., Elizabeth (?) FitzMaurice being his great great grandmother and not his great grandmother.

3. Our Jeffcotts

a. Our cousins said that the John Jeffcott who married Julia King in 1796 was a cousin of the father of Sir John and Sir William (cf attached manuscript). Of course, 'cousin' does not necessarily mean first cousin. These cousins, however, always spoke of Sir John and the Manx Jeffcotts as quite close members of the family.

b. They also said 'Alicia' was a name in the Jeffcott family, but again this does not mean that an 'Alicia' was a direct ancestor.

c. Could our Jeffcotts have been descended from Robert, b 1728 (v Table II), or could Robert have had another brother called Richard: cf red in second copy of Table II?

We still have not found any real facts concerning our John Jeffcott, who married Julia King.

NB It does not seem that we are Plantagenet descendants, unless through the FitzMaurices who were also involved in this royal tale.

Helen Kemp - Paris 1995


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Sir John Jeffcott

1796 - 1837

JEFFCOTT, Sir JOHN WILLIAM (1796-1837), judge, was the eldest son of William Jeffcott, merchant, of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, and his wife Harriet Jane, née Hoare. He was educated by private tutor and at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, 1821; MA, 1825). Called to the English Bar at the Inner Temple in February 1826, he applied for a legal post in the colonies and in February 1830 was appointed chief justice of Sierra Leone and the Gambia. He carried out the duties of chief justice for two years and in April 1832 returned to England on leave, which was extended from time to time on medical grounds. In April 1833, he agreed, though in ill health, to return to Sierra Leone for a short period. On 1 May he was knighted, and was about to embark to return to Africa when, in a duel at Exeter on 11 May, he shot and mortally wounded Dr Peter Hennis, a young physician of that town. After the duel Jeffcott sailed for Africa before he could be apprehended. He was seriously ill when he reached the Gambia and, on medical advice, went to a neighbouring French settlement and thence to France, without resuming his judicial duties. The seconds in the duel were tried for murder at Exeter in July 1833 and were acquitted. A warrant had been issued for Jeffcott's arrest on a charge of murder. No one wished, however, to press the charge and it was arranged that if he returned to England and stood his trial for murder, no evidence would be tendered against him. He surrendered at Exeter Assizes in March 1834, was arraigned upon the charge of murder and, no evidence being tendered, was acquitted. He had been removed from his position as chief justice, and from 1834 to 1836 was unemployed.

In May 1836 he was appointed judge of the colony about to be founded in South Australia. On his way to the colony he spent several months as the guest of his kinsman William Kermode (qv) at Mona Vale in Van Diemen's Land, and became engaged to Kermode's daughter Anne. Reaching South Australia on 21 April 1837, he held the first criminal sessions in the province on 13 May. Having in the meantime lost all his belongings through the wreck of the ship in which they were being sent to Adelaide, he returned to Van Diemen's Lane for some months. He came back to South Australia in October and set up the Supreme Court. He supported Governor Hindmarsh in his quarrels with government officials, but was dismayed at 'dreadful dissensions' in the colony and sought a judicial post elsewhere. Having obtained leave to proceed to Hobart Town to consult with the judges there upon legal difficulties which had arisen in South Australia, he was accidentally drowned on 12 December 1837, whilst awaiting a ship to take him to Van Diemen's Land, by the upsetting of a whaleboat in the mouth of the River Murray. His body was never found. Jeffcott spent only a few months in South Australia, and could not leave any great mark upon the history of the province. He was an able lawyer, whose promising judicial career was ruined by the fatal duel; and his principal claim to distinction, perhaps, is that of being one of the few British judges ever to stand in the dock charged with murder.

The above was taken from a biographical directory. It is unclear whether he was John or John William.

Mrs Jane Dobney, writing for the Proceedings of the Royal Geographic Society of Australasia on January 10th, 1902, told of her life after she emigrated to South Australia in 1836. Her story is an interesting one but included the note:

I have clear recollections of Governor Hindmarsh and Colonel Light, and also of the First Judge, who was always called "Mr Jeff," and was very eccentric, wearing his trousers so short as to display several inches of sock above his boots.

The following is an extract taken from the book entitled 'Sir John Jeffcott - Portrait of a Colonial Judge' by R M Hague. The following pages show a newspaper article, reviewing the book.


6.BJ.10

Heraldry

In a letter to Helen Kemp in 1995, The College of Arms wrote:

Dear Miss Kemp,

A search of the College records has revealed a grant of arms dated 21st February 1833 to John William Jeffcott Esq described as His Majesty’s Chief Justice and Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court of the Colony of Sierra Leone, eldest son of William Jeffcott late of Ballymacthomas House in the County of Kerry Esq deceased. I enclose a typescript of the text of the grant which is registered here under the reference Grants Volume 39,249.

I see from William A. Shaw’s The Knights of England (1906) Vol II page 333 that John William Jeffcott, Chief Justice of the Court of Vice Admiralty Sierra Leone, was knighted on 1st May 1833. It appears, therefore, that Sir John Jeffcott came to the College of Arms to sort out the position regarding his arms immediately prior to his knighthood. You refer to the knighthood conferred on Sir John’s brother William Jeffcott. This is recorded on page 348 of Shaw’s Knights of England which states that on 29th December 1849 William Jeffcott Recorder of Prince of Wales Island, Singapore and Malacca, was knighted by Letters Patent. Sir John William Jeffcott was knighted at St James’s Palace.

As the limitations of the Patent were extended to include the other descendants of his father, his brother Sir William Jeffcott would have been entitled to the same arms. Unfortunately, no pedigree was recorded at the time of the grant and none has been recorded subsequently. It is interesting that Sir John Jeffcott thought that his ancestors came from Northamptonshire and Worcestershire. These two counties, plus Warwickshire, are quoted in R.M. Hague’s Sir John Jeffcott: Portrait of a Colonial Judge on page 1 and Warwickshire is given as the home of the Jeffcotts in your enclosure 3, which is the extract from a letter from a descendant of the Irish Jeffcotts.

The College has copies of the records of the former Ulster Office of Arms which had jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland. I have searched these records and there are no entries of the surname Jeffcott. It appears from the text of the grant in 1833 that the family had been using arms of three crescents and on a canton four cross crosslets fitchy. Fitchy means pointed at the foot and a cross crosslet is a cross with each limb crossed. These were presumably the arms on the seal referred to in the will of John Moore Jeffcott who died in 1892.

There is no motto shown on the 1833 grant. Technically, under the Law of Arms in England one may change one’s motto from generation to generation, as the Kings of Arms do not have the power to grant legal property over a group of words. It follows that different members of a family may adopt different mottoes and no official sanction is required.

We are not permitted to photograph or photocopy our records, so that I am afraid that the only way in which I could supply a picture of the arms would be by having a painting done by one of the heraldic artists working at the College, as I have not been able to find an illustration in a printed source which I could photocopy……..

Between 1530 and 1689 the Heralds went round the counties of England and Wales approximately every thirty years recording the arms and pedigrees of the principal families in each county. There is no entry in this series for any family named Jeffcott. There is also in the College a card index containing approximately 114,000 cards arranged as an Ordinary (i.e. by design) of instances of British arms in use before 1530, i.e. from circa 1240, the date of the earliest English roll of arms, to 1530. Many of these cards are different instances of the same coat of arms. This contains no coat of three crescents with cross crosslets on a canton, so there does not seem to be any medieval record of the coat claimed by the family in the early nineteenth century. Originally families assumed whatever arms they wished and if two families used the same design, there would be a case in the High Court of Chivalry to decide which family had the better right. In the 1417 King Henry V issued writs to the sheriffs of various counties stating that in future men might not assume their own arms and thereafter a right to arms could only be acquired either by proof of descent in an unbroken male line from someone using arms before 1417 or by a new grant. The King delegated the power to grant new arms to the senior heralds of Kings of Arms. During the Visitation period (i.e. 1530-1689) many arms were confirmed on the basis of use since, in theory, before 1417, although in practice some surviving instructions exist from the seventeenth century where use for a shorter period was allowed. I think therefore that the family must have invented the arms at some stage and that shortly before his knighthood Sir John Jeffcott regularised the matter by having an official grant.

The only reference I can find to a printed pedigree of Jeffcott is in a book entitled The Bernards of Kerry by J.H. Bernard (1922) on page 54. Unfortunately, the College does not have a copy of this book. You are probably aware of anything in it as reference is made to the Right Reverend J.H. Bernard Archbishop of Dublin on page 2 of Sir John Jeffcott by R.M. Hague of which you enclosed a photocopy.


6.BJ.11

Grants XXXIX page 249

To all and singular to whom these Presents shall come Sir Ralph Bigland Knight Garter Principal King of Arms and Sir William Woods Knight Clarenceaux King of Arms of the South East and West Parts of England from the River Trent Southwards send Greeting. Whereas John William Jeffcott Esquire His Majesty’s Chief Justice and Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court of the Colony of Sierra Leone eldest son of William Jeffcott late of Ballymacthomas House in the County of Kerry Esquire deceased hath represented unto the Most Noble Bernard Edward Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England One of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council that his Ancestors were seated for many Generations in the Counties of Northampton and Worcester and bore for their Armorial Ensigns “Three Crescents and on a Canton four Cross Crosslets fitchee” but it appearing on an examination of the Records of the College of Arms that the same have not hitherto been duly established He therefore requested the favour of His Grace’s Warrant for Our granting and confirming the said Arms with such variations as may be necessary to be borne by him and his descendants and by the other descendants of his aforesaid late Father with due and proper differences according to the Laws of Arms: And forasmuch as the said Earl Marshal did by Warrant under his hand and seal bearing date the sixteenth day of February instant authorize and direct us to grant and confirm such Armorial Ensigns accordingly: Know Ye therefore that We the said Garter and Claranceaux in pursuance of His Grace’s Warrant and by virtue of the Letters Patent of Our several Offices to each of Us respectively granted do by these Presents grant and confirm unto the said John William Jeffcott the Arms following that is say Ermine three Crescents two and one Azure on a Canton Gules four Cross Crosslets fitchee Or And for Crest On a Wreath of the Colours A Boar passant azure armed, tusked, and bristled, and charged on the body with the Roman Fasces erect Or as the same are in the margin hereof more plainly depicted to be borne and used for ever hereafter by him the said John William Jeffcott and his descendants and by the other descendants of his aforesaid late Father William Jeffcott with due and proper differences according to the Laws of Arms: In Witness whereof We the said Garter and Clarenceaux Kings of Arms have to these presents subscribed Our Names and affixed the Seals of Our several Offices this twenty first day of February in the third year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord William the Fourth by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c and in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty three.

Ralph Bigland Garter William Woods Clarenceaux


6.BJ.12


6.BJ.13


6.BJ.14

Sir William Jeffcott

1800 - 1855

The following item was transcribed from a biographical publication.

Modern English Biography - Frederic Boase

Jeffcott, Sir William (son of William Jeffcott of Tralee, Ireland) b 1800; educated at Trinity College, Dublin. A barrister at King's Inn, Dublin in 1828; practised in Dublin; judge of supreme court of New South Wales, then resident judge in Melbourne of Port Philip district, November 1842 to January 1845; recorder of Singapore, Malacca and Prince Edwards Island from 1849 to death; Knighted by patent 29 December 1849; appointed a judge at Bombay, October 1855; died in Bombay 23 October 1855.

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The following is an article provided by Sue McBeth and Bob Jephcott and which was published in a TJS newsletter.

The second judge of Port Phillip District, now known as Victoria, arrived in the revenue cutter 'Prince George' on 11th July 1843. He was a member of the Irish bar and had been Law Adviser at Dublin Castle. He was the brother of Sir John Jeffcott, the first judge of South Australia. He had practised for a short time in the Sydney Courts and obtained the Port Phillip appointment, because no other barrister of any standing would take it. The position paid £1500 p.a.

William was born in 1800 in Tralee, Eire, to William (1764 - 1807) and Harriett Jane Hoare. His grandfather, William John Jeffcott, was of Ballinanlort, Tralee.

William took up his quarters at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Little Flinders Street and was known to be an early riser and a great stickler for punctuality and etiquette. A Melbourne journal described him as "...bland in manners, of first rate talents and about 40 years of age."

Judge Jeffcott resigned his office towards the end of 1844 and on 4th February 1845 made his last appearance in court. He left the district on 21st February 1845 for England, aboard the 'Royal George'. On arriving in Eire, he resumed practise at the Dublin bar and remained until December 1849, when he was appointed Chief Justice of Criminal Judicature for Singapore. A knighthood was conferred on him. He died about 1852.

Sir William Jeffcott is the only judge of Melbourne for whom the Supreme Court Library has no etching or likeness. The library would like one for their collection.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________


6.BJ.15

Letters Received

Letters received in connection with this family are:

783, 881, 883, 889, 913, 919, 923, 932, 954, 1092.

Of these, the following are detailed.

-----------------------------

(881)

6th September 1994

Dear Sirs,

When in the library of the Society of Genealogists in London last week. I saw for the first time the 'Jephcott' book (1992). As I live in France, I can only go there a few times a year, and, in fact, I cannot 'keep in touch' with everything.

I greatly regretted not having been able to make a contribution to this work. I am an IRISH Jeffcott descendant, and I realise I could have given you some information. In the 1950s, I saw quite a lot of my cousins in Dublin (my mother's 2nd cousins). They were older than my mother and must have been in their 80s at the time. They told me quite a lot, wrote a lot. In enclosure 1, I quote from their letters regarding the arrival of the Jeffcotts in Ireland; elsewhere they gave the date as about 1596. They said that they believed my great great grandfather, John Jeffcott, came from Ballymacilligut; the abstract of the will of Matthew Jeffcott refers to him as 'of Tonneigh, parish of Ballymacilligut, Co Kerry, gent'. (you yourselves have referred to Matthew Jeffcott); and in the will of Dr John Jeffcott (a surgeon), he refers to his property in the same place.

Enclosure 2.

I am also enclosing the opening of Hague's book on Sir John Jeffcott. Sir John and Sir William, whom we have always known as Julia's cousins - although now I think they may have been second cousins - were highly educated and cultivated lawyers from Trinity College (v. Alumni Dublinienses) and they were evidently seeking high appointment - as colonial judges. I think Gould's book says a great deal more than I can. And colonial judges were knighted. They were seeking appointment as colonial judges and I do not believe it was a question 'of being drawn' to Australia, as you suggested.

I am sure the Irish Jeffcotts always considered themselves as gentry. They all seemed to be very well educated, and sought education for their children. The crest of the family was the wild boar passant, and the motto FAC ET SPERA. I wonder whether 'Dum spiro spero' is correct? Perhaps, too.

My great grandmother, Julia Jeffcott, had her seal (now in the possession of a first cousin). I have an impression on sealing wax: 'Fac et spera' is there as well as her initials J J.

Enclosure 3.

Sir John's uncle - Dr John Jeffcott (sometimes called Surgeon Wm J - his second was William) - married for the second time a Manx heiress. Dr John's son, John Moore Jeffcott, was High Bailiff of Castleton (I of Man), and it is interesting to note the following in his will:

To his son Edward he left 'the watch and chain which I wear and my two old family seals on one of which is engraved my coat of arms and crest and on the other the initials 'J. J.' my crest and motto 'fac et spera'.

I have never seen this coat of arms; it is unlikely that, in England, a family would have a crest without it. But as I am descended from a female Jeffcott, I would possibly just have the crest (which the females are allowed to display). I think the reference to a 'coat of arms' is interesting, especially in view of your comments thereupon.

Enclosure 4.

I am also enclosing a small table concerning the Manx Jeffcotts, as well as some monumental inscriptions.


6.BJ.16

Enclosure 5.

My great great grandfather was John Jeffcott who married Julia King in the Tralee Parish Church on 18 September 1796. He, it is said, had a merchant fleet, while Julia King's family were shipbuilders, building for the Jeffcotts. Julia King's family is supposed to have been of the same family as Jeremiah King, the famous Irish lawyer.

I am sorry I do not have the address of the Melbourne University Press where a copy of the book on Sir John can be obtained. I bought several copies 4 or 5 years ago, and I should think they are still available.

My great grandmother Julia Jeffcott and her brother Thomas emigrated to Tasmania about 1835/40. He was called an agriculturalist and managed some large farming estates in Tasmania. He did have a daughter who married but died without issue. That is, one brother remarried in Ireland. Our cousins in Dublin said the Jeffcotts were very well-to-do, but at some time they seem to have lost their money. This was probably why Julia and Thomas emigrated.

Julia has always loomed large and romantically in our lives. Contrary to any impression you have given, those Irish Jeffcotts were very well educated people, the men dashing and reckless, proud; there is an impression of a certain flamboyance.

'Barnacle House', the Jeffcott house at the Spa outside Tralee, built by my great great grandfather John Jeffcott in 1801, was burnt during the trouble in 1917, old papers and crested silver disappearing with it (our cousins always used the remaining few pieces of silver, for example, the teapot, when we visited them - and it was crested - the wild boar). But in the 1960's the land still belonged to a descendant, Dr Jeffcott Hassett, who had been a doctor attached to Mountbatten when he was Viceroy in India. I do not know whether he is still living or whether this property is still in the hands of descendants.

I am actually investigating the Jeffcotts, and about five months ago I asked an Irish genealogist to do some searching for me. I shall try to reorganise my information, with copies of documents, for future transmission to you.

Please excuse this flood of information.

I remain yours truly

(Miss) Helen Kemp 1994

_____________________________________________________________________________________________


6.BJ.17

The American Connection

The following is taken from an email sent by Suzy Winters and which has been included in this section because there are so many clues to a link with this family that there must surely be a link. For instance, the Rev'd Bernard speaks of Arthur Jeffcott emigrating to USA, Arthur is a name used by the USA family for at least two generations, they were involved with thoroughbred horses - a typically Irish pastime and one which is linked with the gentry, as indeed were the Tralee Jeffcotts. The 'natural son' Arthur Jeffcott (by which description I have taken to mean his illigitimate son), named in William Jeffcott's will was a saddler giving a further link with horses. Perhaps the final clue was from a letter written by Henry Arthur Jeffcott to his two sons, where he said that his wife Mary Anne (nee Nugent) was from a family whose family tree 'is recited at considerable length in Burkes Irish Peerage.' I think that we can discount Suzy's reference to a Nuneaton connection as she seems to have taken this from a suggestion in a letter written by a seemingly unrelated P R Jeffcott in the 1950's. The big question is, did Henry Arthur really not know details of his grandfather?

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(Letter 1092)

Subj: Jeffcott Family History

Date: 4/2/00 3:39:16 AM GMT Daylight Time

From: [email protected] (Suzanne Winters)

To: [email protected]

I'm so excited to learn of the existence of your (our?) Society!

My great grandfather was Arthur Henry Jeffcott of Nuneaton [don’t think so], which I understand is very near Coventry. He married a Welsh woman named Winifred Crosdill (my great grandmother). Their five children were born in Dublin - Henry Arthur (my paternal grandfather), Rex, Vivian, Evelyn and one other daughter.

I have photographs of all of them! They emigrated from Queenstown (Cobh) about 1885 to New York City. My grandfather seldom talked about them, but he did tell me his father was a bookmaker and was very involved in Irish horse breeding and racing. I have a paper he wrote many years ago giving all of their vital data including where they are all buried.

I would like to learn more about my family and perhaps, if any of these names are familiar, I could fill in a few blanks.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Suzanne Jeffcott Winters (Suzy)

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Following this email, Suzy kindly supplied further information, some of which follows.


6.BJ.18

THE JEFFCOTT FAMILY TREE

as recorded in a letter written by Henry Allen Jeffcott c1950

To my son's Harry A Jeffcott Jr and Joseph M Jeffcott.

I will try to give you the facts as I know them, but I must plead ignorance - the result of carelessness in not recording a more accurate, and authenticated record of my forbears while those who could supply it were still living.

My father (pictured), Arthur Henry Jeffcott, was born in Ireland, in the year 1838, and came to this country with his family, my mother Winifred Crosdill Jeffcott, my sisters Winifred, Madeline, Evelyn, and my brother Reginald Joseph, and myself, Henry Arthur Jeffcott in the spring of 1887, we first lived at #108 West 43rd, Street, Manhattan, New York City, now known as the Borough of the Bronx corner of St James Place and Jerome Ave, this is one block above Fordham Road.

My father had two brothers, Joseph Matthew and Richard, the last named living in Darby Penns and was the father of Trotter, Ada, Charlotte, Winthrop, Catherine, Frances, and Joseph Henry. My Uncle Joe (Joseph Matthew) living with us he being a bachelor.

I have no knowledge of my grandparents on the paternal side, but as a very small boy visited my mother’s parents the Crosdill's.

My father and my uncle Joe were breeders, owners, and dealers in Irish and English Hunters, where cross country, or following the hounds was a favourite sport. This enterprise brought them to America because of the better market for horses, and here carried on a business, finally getting into the horse racing business, their stables were at the Jerome Park Racing Track on Jerome Ave a mile above where we lived.

Father died at Fordham in 1891 and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, he was then 53 years old. The family then moved to New York City #96 West 104th. Street, where we boarded for a year and then took an apartment in West 105th Street, Uncle Joe continuing to live with us. Mother died in this apartment on June 20th 1893 at the age of 52, and is also buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

I married your Mother Mary Anne Nugent in October 1895 who was born in Staten Island New York on the Cove Road, the daughter of John Lavelle Nugent and Catherine Nugent, her Father was born in Ireland a member of the Nugent family of County Westmeath, whose family tree is recited at considerable length in Burkes Irish Peerage.

Harry A Junior was born October 22nd, 1897 West 20th. Street, Joseph M b on December 9th, 1901 at Fordham NY on Jerome Ave at corner of Eden Ave.

So far as I know we are not related to other Jeffcotts in America, other than a family who lived in New Haven Connecticut, whom I believe were second cousins of my father, although I have had little contact with the sons of that Jeffcott, Edward and Robert, I met them when I was ten or twelve years old, and once or twice since then.

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Both the above letter and the following obituary are shown to rear of this chapter as trees 5 and 6,

but in more detail as gedcom BJ2 on the internet.


6.BJ.19

OBITUARY

Harry A Jeffcott Jr.

1897 - 1987

Harry A Jeffcott Jr, 89, of 12 E Cochran St, Middletown, died Saturday of cardiac arrest in Kent Convalescent Center, Smyrna, where he had lived for a year.

Mr Jeffcott retired in 1967 as sales manager for Delaware Beverage Co in Wilmington, after 20 years. He attended the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.

He served in the Army in Company B, 103rd Engineers of the 28th Division in World War I. He received several medals, one of which was from the French government in 1968 on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Marne.

He was co-author of a book, 'Absolutely Mad Inventions,' originally published in 1932 and published again in 1970 by Dover Publications.

The Jeffcotts' home in Middletown was built from salvaged parts of houses that were slated to be demolished. The Lewden house, built in 1736 in Newport, was rebuilt to form a wing of their house. The Jeffcotts acquired floorboards, woodwork, fireplaces and entire rooms from homes in the Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland area.

He is survived by his wife, June, two sons, Anthony of Trumbull, Conn, and John N of San Rafael, Calif; two daughters, Suzanne Winters and Melanie Jeffcott of Middletown; a brother, Joseph M of Southfield, Mich; and three grandchildren.

Pictured are Henry Arthur Jeffcott and Suzanne Jeffcott, c1941

-------------------------------

Pictured are Winifred, Henry Arthur and Reginald Joseph (Rex) Jeffcott

- Dublin c 1884


6.BJ.20

(1044)

Another American Jeffcott connection came by email from John and Dinah Jeffcott of Zephyrhills, Florida, in the USA. They provided a considerable amount of family tree information which is reproduced on family trees 7 and 8. John noted a 'missing part' of his research that would show a descendancy from the Jephcotts of Ansty (family BR). We pointed out at the time that none of us can choose our ancestors and that it was highly improbable that such a link existed.

John's family tree starts with John Jeffcott who was a surgeon in the Royal Navy, the son of Thomas Jeffcott, described as a gentleman on John's marriage certificate dated 1851. The 1851 census for Sheppey, Kent, shows him as son-in-law, married, aged 32, an assistant surgeon, born in Dingle, Ireland. In his will, he mentions his brother William and his wife Augusta, together with references to young children. John died in Cliffoney, Sligo, Ireland. His will gave no clue as to his ancestry and it may be that naval records would provide further information in due course. Perhaps the most obvious clue to earlier ancestry is the fact that he was a surgeon in the Royal Navy, there having been several surgeons in this family tree collection.

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The Australian Connection

Our initial knowledge of this family came from the following extract of a superb letter from Bruce Jeffcott, an Australian who was living in London at the time. Later, I received a letter from Margaret Stonell of Queensland, Australia, who also linked in with this family. Her letter is also shown.

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(217)

30th July 1984

Dear Mr Jephcott

For your records, my family background is as follows.

My great great grandfather lived in the village of Talgarno, North-East Victoria, Australia, when first recorded. We do not know whether he was born in Australia. In the 1860's, according to local records in Talgarno, he was active in trying to set up a school for the village children - giving land from his property for this purpose, and generally pushing his neighbours around (and making himself a little unpopular, one feels) for this purpose.

At that time the State Government was providing a free education for village children where the village provided a school and (I believe) a residence for the teacher. My ancestor had a number of children, and was obviously aware that he had much to gain from this new scheme! His name was, I believe, Edward Jeffcott. I have no idea when he died.

Talgarno is now very close to the famous Snowy River scheme and much of the land farmed by my family is under water since the 1960's. I was lucky to see it in the 1940's, and it was a beautiful area - a sort of Australian Lake District, with daffodils in the spring and roses in the summer.

My great grandfather was, I believe, called John Jeffcott. He continued to farm in the Talgarno area till quite an old man in the 1930s. He died in Melboune in, I believe, 1935 - at the age of 92 or thereabouts.

His only son, my grandfather Edward Jeffcott, also farmed in the area. He died in his early forties in or around 1922 leaving two children. Stella Jeffcott, my aunt (still living in Wodonga West, Australia, and made her first visit to the UK last year) and my father, Frederick Edward John Jeffcott. My father was 13 at the time of his father's death, his mother and sister continued to manage the farm while he attended boarding school (Geelong Grammar).

According to my aunt, in these early days it could take weeks to travel the 200 miles to Geelong from Talgarno which they did by bullock cart. So my father was very lucky to get this chance. I have no idea what caused people basically so poor to have such an interest in education. It has always amazed me.


6.BJ.21

My father was, I think, born in 1909 - April 23 strikes a bell. He was born in Albury, the nearest large town to Talgarno. He did very well indeed at school, being Head Boy, plus captain of virtually every sport you could name. I have met Sir John Hackett and Alan ("A B") Brown (Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, during the 1960's) and they were both with my father at Geelong, and still after fifty years, held him in some awe. Sufficient to say he still held two records (long jump and throwing the cricket ball) for Victoria when I went to Geelong in 1946 - though, of course, the post-war sporting craze quickly over took these records from the 1920s. During the second world war, when he was still a young man, he opened bat for the Australian Army team with Keith Miller, and, had there been test cricket during the war years, he would probably have played for Australia.

My father was an accountant by profession, but in 1946 his company sent him as Managing Director to their Indian subsidiary and I was left in Australia, also at Geelong Grammar. In 1948 the family moved to New Zealand from India (a promotion for my father, and a chance to leave a country where he had managed to pick up both amoebic and bacilliary dysentery) and in 1949 he was killed in a civil aircraft accident at the age of 41. Both grandfather and my father died at the age of 41, I am told, and both left their eldest son aged 13.

I was born in Melbourne in 1936, and came to England to Oxford in 1955. Since then I have remained in England for the most part - working in publishing, newspapers, bookselling and various retail fields. At present I run an export bookselling business specialising in the sale of academic books in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

My younger brother, Colin Jeffcott, was born in 1941. In the early 1960s he was chosen as a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar to Oxford (my mother remained in New Zealand after my father's death) and he took first class honours in Chinese before going on to Harvard to do his D Phil. He is the academic member of the family - he now lectures in Chinese at the Australian National University, Canberra.

I have always been interested to speculate on the origins of the Jeffcott family (however spelled) - some ten years ago Melbourne University Press brought out a book about Sir John Jeffcott who was a 19th Century administrator in Australia, but as he died unmarried, I doubt if there is any Australian connection! To the best of my knowledge, during my early years there was no other Jeffcott by any spelling in the Melbourne or Sydney phone books other than immediate members of my family. If they now exist, they are probably new arrivals. So it would seem that we come from a not very prolific stock - or perhaps one with a mistrust of telephones!.

Yours sincerely,

Bruce Edward Jeffcott

[see gedcom BJ4]

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(591)

12th June 1989

Dear Mr Jephcott,

I should like to give some details about my Jeffcotts. My great great grandparents, John Jeffcott and Ann Thompson [surely this should read Margaret Hilliard? - jj], were married in Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland about 1828. John was a carpenter (which is probably how he met Margaret Hilliard, whose father was also a carpenter and builder). John's father, also named John, was reputedly a clerk in the Church of England (which I guess translates as Church of Ireland). I have not attempted to follow up any of this in Tralee - yet!

John and Margaret had two daughters born to them in Ireland and then they emigrated to Australia. They arrived in Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) on 8th March 1833, aboard the SS 'William'. If all the dates I have been given are correct, then the family arrived on Eliza's birthday.

Daughter Jane was born in VDL, but the next five children were born in Maitland, NSW.

We find them next in South Australia, where the last two children were born. Lastly, gold must have lured them to Victoria, because at the time of his death, John Jeffcott was running a pub at Castlemaine, on the goldfields.


6.BJ.22

It was in Adelaide that their daughter Ann married James Plunkett (see enclosed newspaper article) eleven years later, Edward Jeffcott married James Plunkett's sister Ann.

Yours faithfully,

Margaret Stonell

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Bruce Jeffcott was a keen supporter of the Jephcott Society over the years and sent other family information, which is held on record. The following newspaper cutting was sent to me by Margaret Stonell and clearly ties in with this family.


6.BJ.23

Map of Ireland and Family Tree Series

Here follows a map of Ireland showing the Tralee area. Following this is a series of family trees. Most can be tied in to each other, although the later ones have Tralee as their common link only. It is probable that they all link up somewhere, but an absence of records, for whatever reason, has so far prevented the link being shown. What is for sure is that Tralee is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland and well worth visiting.

Family tree 9 was provided by Sue McBeth, compiled from information that she received from her own contacts. She gave the tree her reference 6/3 and it shows how the family traces its roots back to Ireland. Where her information came from is unknown to me and I cannot therefore vouch for its accuracy.

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6.BJ.24

BJ - 1 JEFFCOTT Robert Jeffcott of Tonareigh b d 1740 = Susanna | | b | m | d __________|______________ | | | Matthew Thomas Arthur of Tully of Ballincrannig b b b d 1719 d d will = Mary | | b | m | d |__________________________ | | | Thomas Mary Susan b b b d 1740? d d 1 2 = Jane = Mildred WILLIAMS CONWAY b b m m d d ___________?___________________ | | | Beesom Catherine Jane b b b d 1733 d d dsp 1 2 = Moses = Dawson = William LAPLANT BLENNERHASSETT GINNIS b b b d d d surgeon


6.BJ.25

BJ - 2 JEFFCOTT John of Ballinanlort b d registered in 1663 and 1667 as having two hearths in Tralee = Alicia ? | DAY ? | b ? | m ? | d ? see notes by Helen Kemp | John b 1691 d = | | b | m | d ___________|__________________________________________________ | | | | | John William Robert Edward Anne b 1711 b 1716 b 1721 b b d 1783 d 1784 d d d saddler = = Elizabeth = ? = Mary = Maurice | | FITZMAURICE | HALY EVANS | b | b 1727 b b | m | m see tree 4 m 1741 m | d | d d d | | dsp | |_______________________________________________________________ | | | | | | John Alicia Catherine John William Elizabeth William b b 1756 b b 1760 b 1764 b 1773? d d 1838 d d 1824 d 1807 d glazier assistant surgeon RN woollen draper 1 2 = Elizabeth = Robert = Thomas = Ann = Catherine = Jane = John | EVANS BERNARD MADDEN HOY | MOORE | HORE STOKES | b b b b | b 1787 | b 1776 b | m m 1785 m m 1783 | m 1814 | m 1795 m | d d d d 1784 | d 1849 | d d | | |_____ | _________________________________|______ | | | | | | | John John Alice Catherine Anne William see tree 3 Moore Alice b 1784 b 1816 Mal b 1815 b 1818 b 1820 b 1822 Arb d 1834 d 1892 d 1815 d 1833 Mal d d 1824 = Margaret = Lucy | SHEA | Mylrea | | CRELLIN | b | b 1824 | m 1803 | m 1852 | d | d 1913 | | | _____|_______________________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | John Eleanor Alma John William Maud Annie William Charlotte Catherine Lucy Edward Brennus Mary Fitzgerald Lowthar Octavia b b 1853 Cas b 1854 Cas b 1856 Cas b 1858 Cas b 1859 Cas b 1861 Cas b 1864 Cas b 1865 Cas d d d d 1942 Can d 1858 d 1945 Edi d 1887 d 1940 Can = George = Alfred Fitzgerald ROBERTS WINTOUR b b m 1882 Cas m 1886 d d


6.BJ.26

BJ - 3 JEFFCOTT William John b d of Ballinanlort = Alicia | DAY | b | m | d ? uncertain detail ____________________|_______________________________________ | | | | | John William William |_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b 1760 b 1764 | d 1824 d 1807 | Surgeon in Navy Merchant | | = Catherine = Harriet | | MOORE daughter of Rev'd | Jane | | John Moore | HOARE daughter of Richard HOARE | | b | b 1776 | | m 1814 | m 1795 | | d | d | | | see tree 2 | | ______________________|_______________________ | | | | | | | John William Catherine Mary Alicia Arthur * William b 1796 b 1800 b 1801 b 1803 b 1806 b 1790?? d 1837 Aus d 1855 Bombay d 1899 Kil d Knight Knight 'natural son' saddler went to USA = William Sandys DILLON b m d * William's will of 1805 refers to his 'natural son' not yet finished his apprenticeship. It is therefore assumed that he would then have been around 15 years of age and born around 1790.


6.BJ.27

BJ - 4 JEFFCOTT Robert b d = ? | | b | m | d |_________ | | John Thomas b b d d = Julia | KING | b | m 1796 | d |____________________ | | | Richard Thomas Julia b b b 1814? d d d Helen Kemp was descended from her great grandmother Julia Jeffcott, daughter of John and Julia, but details were never provided. Arb Arbory, Isle of Man Aus Australia Can Oak Bay, BC, Canada Cas Castletown, Isle of Man Edi Edinburgh Kil Killiney, Co Dublin Mal Malew, Isle of Man


6.BJ.28

BJ - 5 JEFFCOTT |____________________________________________ | | | Arthur Joseph Richard Henry Matthew b 1838 Ireland b b d 1891 Fordham, NY d d emigrated to USA 1887 unm = Winifred = | CROSSDILL | | b 1845 | b | m | m | d 1894 NY | d ____________|______________________________ | | | | | | Henry Winifred Madeleine Reginald Evelyn see tree 6 Arthur Joseph Margaret (Maude) (Rex) b 1875 Dub b 1869 b 1870? b b 1873 d d 1927 NY d 1912 d d 1910 = Mary | Ann | NUGENT | b 1878 NY | m 1895 | d |__________________ | | Harry Joseph Allen M b 1897 NY b 1900 d 1986 d 1987 dsp = June | b | m 1936 |___________________________________________ | | | | Suzanne Anthony Mary John Jacquith Melanie Nugent b 1937 b 1939 b 1942 b 1954 1 2 = William = Ralph = ? L | F | KNOWLES | WINTERS | b 1935 | b 1938 | b m | m | m | | Joseph * John Matthew Fennimore (Jeffcott) b 1971 b 1977 1 2 = June = Julie | Marie Kathleen | SMITH BREEN | b b 1973 Ohio | m m | Dylon Michael b 1992 Ohio * Joseph changed his name to Jeffcott


6.BJ.29

BJ - 6 JEFFCOTT |_____________________________________ | | | Arthur Joseph Richard Henry Matthew b 1838 Ireland b b d 1891 Fordham, NY d d emigrated to USA 1887 unm = Winifred = | CROSSDILL | | b 1845 | b | m | m | d 1894 NY | d | see tree 5 | __________________________________|_________________________ | | | | | | | Trotter Ada Charlotte Winthrop Catherine Frances Joseph Henry b b b b b b b


6.BJ.31

BJ - 8 JEFFCOTT ________________|______________________________________________ | | | | Elizabeth William Mary Kate Augusta Thomas Baldock b 1852 Sheerness b 1854 Sheerness b 1857 b 1858 d 1901 Ware d 1923 Export, Florida, USA d 1921 Barnsley d 1945 Governess Schoolmaster = Georgiana = James | MORRISON DYMOND | b 1856 b 1836 | m 1880 Faversham district m | d 1915 Burton on Trent d 1910 __________________________|__________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | Robin Leslie Brian Darcy Norman Wilfred Eric Eric Arthur Oscar Guy Leonard George Ronald b 1881 BOT b 1882 BOT b 1884 BOT b 1885 BOT b 1887 BOT b 1893 BOT b 1894 BOT d 1901 Ven d 1967 Sou d 1859 USA d 1958 Por d 1929 Lon d 1959 Lon d 1925 Mac 1 2 = Maud = Myra = Dorothy STEADMAN | MITCHLEY | SMITH b 1886 | b 1887 | b 1894 m | m 1925 Por | m d 1922 | d 1968 Por | d 197- Lon ________________________| | | | | | Audrey Maureen Pamela John Joan Patricia Rosalie b 1925 Por b 1927 Por b 1927 Por b 1931 Lon 1 2 = Brian = Peter = Francis = Roland Hamilton John Oliver David BEVAN SMITHERS David OWEN CLEAR b 1924 Nea b 1921 Eng b 1916 Por b 1924 Cap m 1946 Por m 1949 Por m 1950 Por m 1960 Por d 1981 Sun d 1954 Por d 1973 Bul Key to Places Atl Atlanta, Georgia BOT Burton on Trent Bul Bulowayo, Rhodesia Cap Cape Town, S Africa Chi Chicago, Illinois Col Columbia, S Carolina Eng Engcobo, S Africa Lak Lakeland, Florida Lon London Los Los Gatos, California Mac Macclesfield Mob Mobile, Alabama Mor Morristown, Tennessee Nea Neath, South Wales Ori Orinda, California Por Port Elizabeth, South Africa Rid Ridgewood (Bartow), Florida San Sangully, Florida SBe S Bethlehem, Florida Sou Southampton Sun Sun City, Bophuthatswana Tam Tampa Ven Ventnor, Isle of Wight Zep Zephyrhillis, Florida


6.BJ.32

BJ - 9 JEFFCOTT John b d = Ann | THOMPSON | b | m | d | John b 1800 Ireland d 1874 Victoria, Australia carpenter = Margaret | HILLIARD | b 1808 Ireland | m 1828? Ireland | d 1873 Victoria, Australia ______________________|_________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | Eliza Ann Jane Martha Edward William John Thomas Margaret Robert William Mary b 1829 b 1831 b 1834 b 1837 b 1839 b 1842 b 1844 b 1846 b 1849 b 1851 d 1915 d 1901 d 1884 d 1838 d 1933 d 1926 d d 1941 d 1850 d 1932 unm = John = James = John = Ann = Mary = Annie LAITY PLUNKETT POWNING | PLUNKETT | Ann | Lucilla | | Grace | CARTER | | BOWDEN | b b b | b | b | b m 1847 m m 1855 | m 1862 | m | m 1878 d d d | d | d | d _____________________| _____________|________ | | | | | | | | Rosa Sydney Edward Margaret Emma Mary Robert Emma G John b 1863 b 1865 b 1868 b 1877 b 1878 b 1881 b 1879 d d 1935 d 1915 d d d 1881 = Edith = Ethel = James = Ada | Sarah | LEWIS | Douglas | H | | SCOTT | PEARSALL | b | b b 1862 | b | m | m m 1897 | m 1919 | d | d d | d | |__________ | | | | | William Stella Frederick Albert James Rose Edward John John b 1899 Vic b b 1909 b 1922 d 1948 unm = = = Patricia | | | SARGEANT | | b | b ____________| | m | m 1956 Vic | __________________| _______________________|_____ | | | | | | | Ken Bruce Colin Robert John Sydney Catherine Edward William Andrew Davis Anne b b 1936 Melbourne b 1941 b 1957 b 1959 b 1962 b 1965 see also Sue McBeth tree 6/3


6.BJ.33

BJ - 10 JEFFCOTT Joseph b d = Alice | | b | m | d |_____________________________________ | | | Robert William b Tralee d = Barbara | Margaret | | b NZ | m | d | |__________________________ | | | Vincent Valerie Robert Joseph Dora William Leo b 1930 NZ b 1933 NZ b = Maureen | M | FIDLER | b 1938 NZ | m 1958 NZ |__________ | | Suzanne Alan Mary Robert b 1960 NZ b 1962 NZ information provided by Vincent and Maureen Jeffcott of Christchurch, New Zealand, through Sue McBeth - family 6/2

family bj the jeffcotts of ireland - one-namejephcott.one-name.net/tjs/tjsbj.pdfmemory of alicia,...

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