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Note: School Master of mathematics, Portora School, Enniskillan, Later Rector of Ballyhalbert, Co., Down. Letters typed by Robert Beckett to Francis Thomas Beckett Martin II and a letter enclosed of Walter Matthew Beckett, son of Matilda Beckett and brother to his wife Margaret Anna Beckett, daughter of Matilda Beckett and John Beckett. Francis Thomas Beckett Martin II, son of Francis Thomas Beckett Martin I, son of Thomas Beckett Martin, son of William Moore Martin (husband of Henrietta Beckett, daughter of Matthew Beckett who immigrated to America in 1823). Francis Thomas Beckett Martin II was born November 28, 1904 in Omaha, Nebraska, and died November 05, 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska. Copies of these letters From Charles Wellington Martin II, a bother of Francis , were given to Ralph J. Beckett in Ten Sleep, Wyoming, when Charles and his wife passed traveled through on a visit to their daughter, Julia Martin Videon in Bozeman, Montana. Hazelwood, Ballinderry, Co., Antrim, April. 6, 1927 My dear Cousin: I have been asked by my brother-in-law, Robert Beckett and his wife, my sister, of Rosevale, whom you saw when you visited Ballinderry, to give what little information I possess with regard to the members of the Beckett family. I have accordingly drawn out the genealogies of my great grandfathers, Matthew & Thomas Beckett, marked (A&B), which contain nearly all I know on the subject, except that I have traced only on the decent of one of Matthew's sons (William), the others being so fully traced on your own genealogical tables. If there is anything interesting to you in these papers, you owe it to my dear mother, from whose lips I took down the information about a year ago. To our great sorrow, she has since passed away from us - she died on the 3rd of March last, aged 97 - and if your letter had arrived a week or so sooner, she would have been delighted to hear again of the old friends in America, of whom she often talked, even up to the end. As an instance of her extraordinary memory, I may mention that she gave me the names of her grandfather Matthew 's nine children, and of his daughters husbands, all in perfect agreement with your own list, except that she thought Henrietta was married to Mr. Green. Is it not wonderful? When you take into account that she never had any notes to refresh her memory and that they had all gone to America ( except her father) 7 years before she was born. Her father (William Beckett) took his wife Catherine, and 11 children with him, going in the first place to Freeport to his sister and her husband Arthur Hill, until he should be able to find a new home for himself. By way of a joke, Arthur, when he helped the eleventh child into the house, said "William, have you no more children than These?" But as you correctly note on the table, he left two behind, one of these was Mary, already married, and the other )Matilda) my mother, then a child about 12 yrs of age, had lived from her infancy with Thomas and Elizabeth Beckett, her grandparents and their unmarried daughter, Mary, who could not be induced to part with her. She lived on in the house you call "the old homestead", now called "Newfield House", until a few years after her marriage to John Beckett of Aghadavy, when her uncle John became owner of Newfield, where his grandson George B. now resides. My father's people belong to another family of Becketts of whom perhaps you have never heard. Their homestead was at Aghadavy, the lands of which adjoin those of Newfield, and we have good reason to believe that they were descended from the same person, although the relationship is so distant that we cannot trace it out. The Aghadavy family did not emigrate much until recent times, but now representatives of the family can be found in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, as well as in various p laces of the great Republic of the west. With regards to tracing the history of the Becketts further back, I am sorry to tell you that Ballinderry people are at a great disadvantage in this respect, owing to the lamentable destruction of precious Records, both local and national, which has taken place. About 40 0r 50 years ago, the Ballinderry Church Registers giving the births, deaths and marriages of the Church people and others before the year 1800, and also the Records in the Estate Office at Lisburn, with the names of the owners of farms from early times (probably from 1609) were willfully destroyed by the person who had charge of them, who thought them of no value and thereby proved himself utterly unfit for the important position he occupied. Then again, countless thousands of the Irish National Records were destroyed after the Great War. The rebels fought against England till she yielded their demands, and then they fought against each other. In this latter contest they burnt down the beautiful public buildings for which Dublin was celebrated. Amongst them the "Four Courts" with their vast stores of various records, going back at least 500 years. F or example, Irish wills were deposited there; also deeds, mortgages, etc. Then there were Taxation Rolls of various sorts. From these Rolls you could have found out the names, residence, etc. of any family in Ireland in any year you required. Now this valuable source of information is destroyed. When I retired from my Church and parish ( I was rector of Ballyhalbert, Co. Down for many years) owing to bad health, I intended to study the history of my native parish, its people and the events of the past, but growing infirmity and the loss of the Records, I gave up the attempt. It is a great pity that so little can now be known of this most interesting and most beautiful district of the Country. I thank you heartily for the pleasure I derived from reading you most interesting letter. With kindest regards to yourself and family, Yours very sincerely, Walter Beckett
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