Island Magee rents

When I was in Ireland earlier this year I found an Estate Record which gave me a list of rents paid by the tenants on Islandmagee in 1824. Although in my haste I didn't note the name of the document or where it can be sourced, as you can see below, my notes are preceded by item numbers so I think they must come from a Viscount Dungannon Estate Book. They are as follows:

Townland of Kilcoanmore

144 Samuel McIlhago (no arrears)

    Half year due May 1824, £12.0.0 (in red ink);
    Half year due Novem 1824, £12.0.0 (in red ink);

This is the first time I have come across a tenancy in this townland on the west side of Islandmagee.  It was however next to Ballytober where Samuel's two brothers were farming, which I think helps to identify which of two possible Samuels we are talking about. He was I believe the Samuel who was farming also at Port Muck on the east side of the peninsular. He was married to Ellon McWhinney and had three children, Catherine who married Arthur Forbes, William who died at 23 and Mary who married John Fullerton.

Townland of Ballytober

149 William McIlhago (no arrears)

    Half year due May 1824, £2.10.0 (in red ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £2.10.0 (in red ink);

When I was an accountancy student red ink indicated an amount in debt, but in these accounts it appears to mean the opposite for they clearly say 'No arrears'. Perhaps it simply means 'not yet paid because its due date hasn't arrived'. The amount William paid for rent was comparatively low, presumably because it was for a small amount of land. Maybe he had other land in another townland. I think William was married, possibly to a Mary, and possibly had three children, who may have been George, who may have been married to a Catherine, Sarah who married Thomas McMurtry and William John who possibly married a Mary Jane. I'm afraid much of my reconstruction of the Islandmagee Family Tree has many 'possibles' in the early and mid 19th Century. I may one day find more certain evidence.

Also farming in Ballytober was

150 James McIlhago Junior

    Arrears due November 1823, £16.0.0 (black ink);
    Half year due May 1824, £8.0.0 (black ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £8.0.0;

It would appear that brother James was not too good a farm manager for he was in debt by a full year's rent. Maybe a brother of James was standing guarantor for him. James Junior may have been the person who was to marry a Margaret Mawhinney, who may have been a sister of Samuel's wife. On the west side of Islandmagee the next two townlands moving north were Carnspindle and Ballydown where we find two men farming who were related to our clan by marriage. They were:

Townland of Carnspindle

164 John Napier late Sam. McIlhago

    Half year due May 1824, £9.11.0 (red ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £9.11.0 (red ink);

A Samuel Senior had died in 1818 when farming at Ballylumford and Carnspindle. One of his daughters had married Mathew Aiken. Their daughter Mary who died at the young age of 20 had a son who took the name of John Napier and he seems to have taken over the farmland previously worked by Samuel, his great-grandfather. I have to say that this is a rather unlikely scenario as John could not have been more than a teenager. Perhaps there was another John Napier, of the previous generation, maybe his father?

Townland of Ballydown

181 John and James Aikin

    Half year due May 1824, £11.0.0 (red ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £11.0.0 (red ink);

Samuel who died in 1818, according to his very damaged Will, probably had a son, possibly Andrew, and three daughters. The two youngest married Samuel Barneford and Patrick Willson respectively. The daughter who married Patrick was Jennet. The third daughter, possibly Eliza, married Mathew Aiken. In addition to Mary, above, they had a son John. Mathew had twin brothers, John and James, so it is not surprising to find them farming together in Ballydown. Mathew had taken over one of Samuel's farms in the next townland, Ballylumford.

Townland of Ballylumford

214 Samuel McIlhago, now Matthew Aikin (no arrears)

    Half year due May 1824, £7.10.0 (red ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £7.10.0 (red ink);

Finally we come to Samuel, brother of William and James Junior:

Townland of Portmuck

232 Samuel McIlhago

    Arrears due Nov 1823, £7.7.0 (black ink);
    Half year due May 1824, £6.0.0 (red ink);
    Half year due Nov 1824, £6.0.0 (red ink);

Samuel farmed Portmuck in addition to Kilcoanmore. It would seem that he lived at Port Muck though Kilcoanmore was the larger, or at least the higher rent farm.