CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
To date Humphry Thomson Breakey has never been directly linked to the Breakeys of Drumskelt.[1] He is not mentioned in the Memoirs of Thomas C. Breakey; his name is missing from the Registry of Children Baptised (sic) by the Rev. James Morell, although the baptisms of his siblings are included; his name does not appear on any extant chart of the Breakeys of Drumskelt. Surely it was known that Humphry Thomson Breakey was a descendant of the Breakeys of Drumskelt for on page three, Book I, of his memoirs, Thomas C. Breakey of Drumskelt (b. 1834 d. 1914) in speaking of descendants of the Balladian Breakeys reports: “By him came all the Breakeys, in County Monaghan and, I think in Ireland, except Humphry Breakey[2] and family of Monaghan, Mrs. J. Mitchell, and me and my family, and Thomas Breakey of Carnaveagh.”
The various omissions give this author pause to wonder:
1. Why did Thomas C. Breakey not account for the lineage of Humphry Thomson Breakey, as well as that of Thomas Breakey of Carnaveagh?
2. Was the omission intentional?
3. Why, in 1809, after the death of William Breakey of Drumskelt, was a conditional bond promulgated between James Breakey of Cormeen, eldest son of William of Drumskelt, and John Breakey of Drumskelt, youngest son of William of Drumskelt, whereupon John Breakey was beholden to James for the sum of £ 2680 sterling? It would seem to this author that that sum was surely a great deal of money for the time period.
4. Did James of Cormeen lend this sum to John of Drumskelt to pay off debts that existed at their father’s death?
5. Did John Breakey of Drumskelt pay off the debt to his brother?
6. Has the omission of Humphry Thomson Breakey as a Drumskelt Breakey been the result of an age-old family dispute?
The author has not attempted to answer these questions.
[1] Since early lineage lines are not accounted for, nor documented from our original Huguenot ancestor Breakeys who fought at the Battle of the Boyne, most researchers of the Breakey family will understand that this term is used to identify the two branches of Breakeys in County Monaghan who resided in their respective Townlands, and for whom documentation does exist: therefore, “The Breakeys of Balladian” and “ The Breakeys of Drumskelt” as they are known on many extant charts.
[2] Most probably this refers to Humphry John Breakey of Monaghan since the first book of the memoirs was written circa 1900, and Humphry Thomson Breakey died in 1888.