Melvyn & Sharron Pearson |Tandragee|Co Armagh BT62

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RETURN TO IRELAND

To carry on, James and Ellen lived for several years in Opawa, Christchurch and for some reason, best known to themselves decided to up sticks and return to the fair County of Ireland, Armagh. In fact James may have departed before Ellen to reconnoitre and organise a ‘nest' for Ellen and family.

James father Isaac was if you can recall, a farmer so possibly a death or event had led to James inheriting the farm as it is known that he did have a smallholding on return in the Kilmore region, meaning we were landowners at one time and lost it at another time, for landowners now we certainly are not.
 

Ellen and her three children, Isaac Abbott, John James and Anne Winifred set sail for Ireland in about 1900 . My uncle Wee Icky again relates the only stories I have about the journey. As Anne Winifred was of a swarthy and foreign complexion the sailors on board nicknamed her Gyp as she bore the similitude of a Romany Gypsy with the ‘’…most striking eyes that you can imagine. The name stuck with her throughout her life and friends and colleagues always referred to her as Gyp.
One erstwhile account, which may or may not be entirely true, was of the child who died at birth mentioned. This event apparently took place aboard ship when Ellen gave birth to a male who subsequently died. Rather than bury the child at sea the boat docked at Tenerife where the infant was interred. I have since found the death registered in Banbridge and will place a link some time soon.

The infant was christened Francis Douglas Tenerife Pearson, a bit of a mouthful but the storey goes the child was named after the ships captain, the purser and the place of burial. As to which of the two first names was which I don’t know. I would like to think that this account, handed down was in fact a true explanation and surely there must be a certain amount of truth in it as there is fewer reasons for the tale’s fabrication.

With the Pearson family now back in Armagh, they took up residence at Lambs Row, Mullalelish, Richhill, named after the Lambs, yet another Quaker family, who traded and grew fruit and vegetables. Lambs Row was a small row of terraced houses located adjacent to the Ballybray River, Ballyhegan, Richhill. James was still employed as a gardener and worked in that capacity in the grounds of Tandragee Castle.

Tandragee Castle now famed for the manufacture of that well-known nibble, the crisp, and bagged under the trade name Tayto. The castle was once the stronghold of the O’Hanlons who were in effect the rulers or chiefs of what is now County Armagh in cahoots with the O'Neill's. The O’Hanlons left during the Flight of the Earls in Elizabethan times and one famous son Redmond O’Hanlon returned to terrorise the English in the Tandragee Area a few years later, by becoming an infamous highwayman. Redmond was according to legend betrayed by his brother and murdered in his sleep. His body was laid to rest in Ballinabeck Graveyard sited on the Scarva Road, Tandragee, County Armagh. A wee bit of local history for you.