Loy Connection
My granny Bridget's father (my great-grandfather on my father's side) was named Francis Loy. He was born and reared the son of a small farmer in Dorsey, South Armagh in the middle of the nineteenth century. Eventually in his adult life he came to live in and work on a farm in Ummerinvore, also in South Armagh. How this came about is a short story of its own.
Francis' brother John worked as a cook in a hotel in Armagh city. John was doing all right for himself and in the early 1870's with a contractor called Murphy, he was building a house in Ummerinvore where he planned to settle and to farm the land he had bought. (His name is in the Historical Notes (p.4) in the famous Griffiths Valuation).
This was not to be.
While at work building his new home, John fell downstairs, struck his head and subsequently died of his injuries. There was no one else to inherit the house and land, which went to Francis. The farm was of thirty-two acres, which would now be thought small but was quite large then compared to the average South Armagh holding.
In 1878 Frank married his sweetheart Catherine O'Brien from Tullyvallen. (My sister Patricia knows descendants of these O'Briens). Over the next decade the couple had six children. Their only son Terence was born in 1880. A year later their first daughter Bridget was born (my granny) - followed in 1884 by Susan and two years later by Margaret. Two more girls were born to them but sadly Mary Ann died of tuberculosis at a young age and soon after her sister Alice also died of consumption.
Before that however an even greater tragedy struck the household…
Michael Collins had a farm adjoining Frank's. Most of their respective lands lay side by side with a small river running between them. There was one point where the river and an adjacent field of Frank's separated Quill - [for by this name was Mickey Collins better known] - from a side road to which the latter wanted access. Without seeking permission Quill made a pathway, forded the river and broke down Frank's hedgerow to access the road. Frank was not to be bullied. At once he reinstated his hedge and warned Quill off in no uncertain terms.
Their friendship naturally cooled - but eventually they got back on speaking terms. In fact, they sometimes walked out together - as they did one day in 1883.
A local woman named Johnson had a child who died. Such a personal tragedy also brought financial hardship. Neighbours would organise to assist. It happened that Frank and Quill set out together to visit neighbours, appealing for donations. When they came to McCreesh's they found a ceili in progress to celebrate a christening. Being plied with alcoholic liquor the two men dallied past nightfall. When they eventually proceeded on their way Quill carried a cart-lamp (a burning candle in a glass-covered box) to show the way. They were on their way to Johnson's house to hand over the collected money - but they never arrived!
Clearly drink played its part in what happened thereafter.
Along the way they got to arguing about the access road and Quill threw Frank down a steep bank into a sheugh. He followed him down and held Frank's head under water until he drowned.
Quill proceeded home, walking in the river part of the way in an attempt to disguise his trail. Somewhere along the way he dropped his cart-lamp. His home was a mile away. At that time he lived with his brother Patrick and his sisters Ellen and Ann. It happened that there lived with them also a servant boy named Thomas Grant who slept in the loft of the adjoining outhouse. From his bed he overheard the ensuing conversation. He subsequently recounted this in evidence, finishing with Quill's proud boast - “I finished Loy tonight!”
Thomas waited to see if any of the Collins' intended to report the death or take any action but gradually the house fell silent as the occupants all retired to bed. At four in the morning Thomas Grant climbed silently down out of his loft and crossed the fields to bring his dreadful news to Catherine Loy. Carrying a lamp and accompanied by her only son, ten year old Terence she went to the scene of the murder. There was no doubt that her husband was dead. Young Terence had to fetch a cart to bring the body of his father home.
My first cousin once removed Bridget (Loy) Daly, the daughter of that young boy Terence, has conveyed these details to me. She is relating her grandfather's murder and the murder of my great-grandfather. She has been very precise. I must note though that I have searched the official records of deaths 1883-1900 for Frank Loy, without success. As will shortly become evident, this is not so unusual in itself. Frequently births, marriages and deaths went officially unrecorded, especially it seems, in our family, and more especially in South Armagh, which then (as now) was somewhat of a law unto itself. In all details which I could cross-reference, her account is accurate. (This disdain for bureaucracy and officialdom was to have a grave detrimental effect on Catherine's position - and on that of her son later - in regard to land ownership because Frank had not registered ownership and probate on the land was not established.)
Amazingly the murderer escaped punishment. Bridget cannot inform me of further details but it seems likely that under the circumstances prevailing in the area at the time, young Thomas Grant may have been “persuaded to” or indeed directly threatened to withdraw his evidence.
Frank had left no will. Nor were letters of administration lodged on the land. At the age of thirty-five Catherine was left alone in the world except for her four surviving children - (the two younger girls died soon after their father) - the eldest of them being her son Terence - and her sister. She turned to her now for help.
Catherine was unable to farm the land and without an adult male to do this for her she had to seek another way of earning a living for herself and her children. She opened a small general-provisions shop in Ummerinvore. Her unmarried sister Bridget O'Brien left home to stay with her and manage the shop. She stayed for seven years after which time she left to establish a business for herself in the town of Newry. She bought and opened a boarding house in North Street. This will shortly feature prominently in my story.
By 1911 Catherine was living in Ummerinvore with only her son Terence and her youngest daughter Margaret for company. The other two girls had gone to work in Newry.
At Christmas time of that year Catherine was very ill. Clearly her days were numbered. Her imminent death was apparent. On New Year's Day she made a will - or rather as she was both illiterate and much too ill a will was made for her. Those present at the making and witnessing of this will were not her son and daughter who lived with her but three neighbours. If either Terence or Margaret were present, neither signed the paper. This circumstance alone seems highly suspicious to me. However in addition it appears that these neighbours who had apparently won her confidence also deceived her as to the true value of her house and lands. Why they should do so was to become clear only much later.
I have personally held and read this so-called will (held at PRONI, Balmoral Ave, Belfast.) It is a single scrap of paper (one A5 sized ruled sheet torn from a writing pad) pencilled by the only one of the four persons present who could read and write ... one Michael John McCreesh of Ummerinvore. Other witnesses were Michael Collins (names familiar?) and Bernard Murphy. The scholar testified on oath that he read it back to her verbatim and gained her approval for the will. Whether the very existence of this will was made known to Terence at the time of his mother's death is uncertain. He was clearly to learn of it later. The terms were to spell ruin for him, but he would hardly have recognized this when he first found out - because Terence was illiterate.
In any case, it seems that six years later McCreesh et alia, with the power of solicitors and the law behind them eventually won Terence Loy's reluctant acceptance of the will and his signature to the authenticity of the proceedings which took place at that time. Along with the others named, he (in 1918) put his name to an Administration Bond (with will attached) charging him with executing the terms of the ill-fated will. It is uncertain whether even then he recognized that this was to bring him ruin. The will is reprinted below (and the reader will note immediately that the author of the document (McCreesh) did not himself sign the will).
Transcript:
January 1st 1912
In the name of God I Kathrine Loy make my last will and testimont I bequoth to my son Terence the farm house and Chattles by paying my lawful dets and funeral expenses as soon as possible after my death. I bequoth to my daughter Maggie 60 pounds or the three fields under the road. In three years if the money is not paid I bequoth 5 pounds to my daughter Bridget and five pounds to her child Mary Garvey to be paid in five years from this date. To my daughter Susan twenty pounds to be paid also in five years.
{testate mark}
Mrs Cathrine Loy
Bernard Murphy Michael Collins
Witnesses present
On the reverse of this will it reads:
referred to in affidavits of Terence Loy, Michael Collins and Michael John McCreesh sworn before me this 9th day of November 1918
W Starr Commissioner + T Loy and other witnesses
The land was not referred to directly in the will at all, unless the words - “the farm house and Chattles” be read as “the farm, house and Chattles”.
If it was Catherine Loy's intention on her deathbed (literally) to make proper provision for her children, this will signally failed. The circumstances were clearly suspect, and the absence of her son and heir, and of her three daughters at such a time is strange. Why only non-family members and neighbours were present - including one Michael Collins, who may well have been the killer of her husband - remains unexplained. These people did not benefit at once or directly by the terms of the will, but advantage would soon accrue to them, and it has to be wondered whether they engineered the situation.
Personally, I suspect the possibility at least that no will was made before Catherine's death - that the above witnesses, with Maggie's probable connivance and their own land-acquisition interests in mind, agreed to pressure Terence by “finding” this will of his mother's years after her death. Why would a genuine will, made on a deathbed stipulate that a period of years must elapse before different clauses become operative?
Let me say that Catherine - even in full health - would not have been aware of the value of her estate nor the extent of her liabilities. Although she was the sitting tenant she was not in possession of any title deed - an essential requirement for the purchase of land under the Irish Land Commission's Land Purchase Acts. Under these laws Irish tenant farmers throughout Ireland - as a result of the protracted Land League campaign of Michael Davitt - had won the right to purchase, over an extended period, the land they worked. In the absence of title deeds, a solicitor would attempt to establish a deed of administration and probate. The latter means the official proving of the will of a person who has died as genuine: the former means the settlement of the estate of a deceased person or incompetent person or a minor by administrators or executors.
Let me say that Catherine - even in full health - would not have been aware of the value of her estate nor the extent of her liabilities. Although she was the sitting tenant she was not in possession of any title deed - an essential requirement for the purchase of land under the Irish Land Commission's Land Purchase Acts. Under these laws Irish tenant farmers throughout Ireland - as a result of the protracted Land League campaign of Michael Davitt - had won the right to purchase, over an extended period, the land they worked. In the absence of title deeds, a solicitor would attempt to establish a deed of administration and probate. The latter means the official proving of the will of a person who has died as genuine: the former means the settlement of the estate of a deceased person or incompetent person or a minor by administrators or executors.
Terence was an uneducated man caught in an alien and confusing situation. I believe he was clearly outwitted by scheming lawyers and neighbours alike. His sister Maggie, who alone still lived with him in Ummerinvore, also cost him dearly. He would have taken some time to come to terms with his new circumstances. After the period of years as stipulated in the will, the various debts fell due.
With huge legal costs added Terence (who failed in his efforts to contest the will) eventually - six years after his mother's death - had to agree to sign the administration bond, with will attached, presented to him by the solicitors of the aforementioned witnesses. By then, - indeed included in the same transaction, - under the Land Purchase Act (signed by W H Starr, Commissioner) the land was transferred to him. Even this transaction, drawn up by lawyers, has legal flaws.
I have checked this transaction in the Land Office, Great Victoria Street, and Belfast. The land is recorded in Folio 9528, Ummerinvore. Under the act, £289 was advanced on 1 May 1912 (i.e. four months after her death) in the name of Cathe Loy. The farm is of 32 acres: the Poor Law Valuation was determined at £15 X 25 (years) equal to £375. The difference between that and the advance due to the Land Commission at date of death (£289) was £86. Terence Loy signed this transaction. The rest of his mother's estate was valued as follows: household goods - estimate £2: stock in trade, if unsold £23. These two added to the former give a total valuation of her estate at 7 November 1918 of:
| Freehold | £25 |
| leasehold Property | £86 |
| Total | £111 |
From these net assets, Terence had to pay off his mother's debts and funeral expenses, his legal debts and the amounts due under the terms of the will to his sisters. It could not be done. He had to sell off his land. It is not known which of the signatories (or was it all of them) who snapped up the small parcels of land when Terence was forced to dispose of 19 of his 32 acres at prices well below their market value. Who else but neighbouring farmers anxious to increase their farm size would bid for small parcels of farmland in this remote area? Although some neighbours refused to bid, knowing the circumstances, there were others who grabbed at the chance to benefit from Terence's misfortune.
My informant and first cousin once removed, Bridget Daly (Loy), today of Mullaghbawn, tells me that after the settlement her aunt Maggie upped her demand from the £60 mentioned in the will to £200, or else Terence would have to grant her the “three fields under the road”.
There can be no doubt about the inherent unfairness of the settlement. I cannot believe this will truly represented the wishes of my great-grandmother. Not only was her son and heir ruined but the allocations to her three daughters were out of proportion. My granny, Bridget, the eldest daughter received a mere one twelfth of the sum allotted to the youngest girl Maggie under its terms (or rather one fortieth, if as believed she finally received £200) and her other daughter Susan received four times the amount that Bridget did.
From our immediate family's point of view there was an even stranger circumstance. My granny Bridget had married and was living in Newry since the turn of the century. Before her mother Catherine's death, granny had had a second child, my uncle Frank. It is known that Frank spent much of his first year of life in Ummerinvore, with his granny. Frank's elder sister is mentioned in the will to the tune of £5 - i.e. Mary Garvey. Is it likely that Catherine Loy excluded from mention in her will the child she had been practically rearing for the previous twelve months? I think not.
What became of Terence after the settlement?
I will summarise by stating that he worked hard all his life not just to provide for his wife and family but also to recover his lands. His sister Maggie who had lived with him during all those six years of wrangling since their mother's death left to settle in Newry with her newfound wealth as soon as it was over. Of the other sisters, Susan had long ago settled in Newry and married Edward Coonagh in 1909. By 1918 they had three children, Frank, Kathleen and Philip. Granny Bridget had by then two more children, Patrick (Sonny) my father and Dolly, my aunt. By 1918 my grandfather Patrick was suffering from consumption, which he had contracted the previous year. Bridget had more on her mind than the settlement of her mother's affairs.
The previous year (1917) Terence Loy at the age of 37 was married to Rose. She was a source of strength to him when his affairs were settled - to his great detriment - in the first year of their marriage. The first born of this union were twins, Bridget and Frank. The boy died at only three months of age. [It is perhaps worth noting at this point how the Christian name Francis ran in this family as it did in the McCullagh family.] The surviving girl is my chief source and the lady whose personal story I am about to focus upon - my first cousin once removed.
Terence (senior) post 1918 settled to his much-reduced farm and to his responsibilities as a husband and a father. He was determined to restore the family farm and by dint of much hard work and great determination he eventually did just that. Most of what he won back was at a hugely inflated premium on what he had received for it originally. His son Terence was from the beginning groomed to take over the farm. He did and holds it still!
In 1920 another girl Kathleen was born but she too died shortly afterwards. Terence (or Terry, more commonly known now as just T Loy) was born in 1922. T Loy took over the farming of the land when his father died. T married and had one son, Eddie, who is now himself married with four children. Apart from Bridget's two children [Michael who is married to Maureen and has one child 15 year old Angeline, - and Rosaleen, married with one girl Aisling] these people are all the survivors of this line of our family that I am aware of. T Loy's wife Rosina passed away some years ago. He is friendly now with Mrs Coleman, a widow formerly of the Meadow, some of whose children I know.
What then of his only other child, Bridget? .......... This is her story. Her wedding photo is below.
Wedding of Bridget Loy and Jimmy Daly - 1953
