1775-1854
Ballaghkeen Yeomanry Dragoon
The
Greenly/Greenley surname appears to have originated in England, in the Parish of
Titley, Herefordshire where the family owned a manor from the mid 1500s. It is
presumed that the Greenley family of Ireland and Canada are probably descended
of this family, but no direct connection or proof of relationship has been
established. The surname Greenley was extremely rare in Ireland during the
period of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and practically
nonexistent after that time as it is presently.
Up
to the 20th century, the name is most often, but not always, spelled
Greenly, and thereafter a constant spelling of Greenley is used. However, in the
text of John Greenley’s will (possibly not written by John himself) the
spelling is Greenley although his signature uses the spelling Greenly.
John
Greenly (1775-1854) & Dorothea Blake Richardson (????-1828)
According
to a Greenly/Greenley family history, published by John C. Stevenson and Louise
M. Greenley-Stevenson in 1990, soldier settler John Greenley;
is
believed to have been born about 1775 in the Townland of Knockadawk (pronounced
Knockadague), Parish of Kiltrish, Wexford County, Ireland. During the 1798
rebellion in Ireland, John Greenly served as a cavalryman in the Ballaghkeen
Yeomanry, under command of Captain Hawtrey White of the Manor of Peppardscastle.
John was severely wounded in the groin, thigh and arm and recovered in the Royal
Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin. At this time John Greenly was a tenant farmer of
the White family of the Townland and Manor of Peppardscastle. Peppardscastle was
not, at that time, an actual castle, but was the name of the area – a Townland,
comprising approximately 400 acres in the Parish of Donaghmore, County Wexford,
approximately midway between the towns of Gorey and Enniscorthy.
An
1811 map of Ballywater shows two lots leased by John Greenly while an entry in
the 1800 Journal of the Irish House of Commons strongly suggests that in
addition to his physical injuries, John Greenley suffered significant property
losses in the 1798 rebellion;
“John
Greenly: Farmer, Peppardscastle, house and buildings burned. Claim for
compensation allowed.”
The
sword carried by John Greenly during his service with the Ballaghkeen Yeomanry
Dragoons is on display at the Perth Museum.
In
1801 John Greenly married Dorothea (Blake) Richardson, a widow with three
daughters; Mary, Ann and Elizabeth. John and Dorothea Greenly had three sons,
John, Robert and James, and at least two daughters, Charlotte and Jane.
It appears that John and Dorothea
were tenants of the White family of Peppardscastle until 1816 when they sailed
with three sons and one daughter on the ship “Betty & Mary”, arriving
August 1816 at Perth, Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. This area had
just been surveyed and opened for settlement in 1815.
According
to “Transaction of Land Grant” records held by the National Archives of
Canada (MG9 D8-27 Vol Reel C5651) John and Dorothea arrived at Perth on 23
August 1816. This would suggest they left Ireland early in the spring of that
year or possibly in the summer 1815. Their arrival at Perth in 1816 also
suggests they may have been among those who responded to the British Government
“Edinburgh Proclamation” of February 1815 offering free passage, free land
and settlement support in Upper Canada. Although that scheme was aimed primarily
at Scottish Highlanders, the proclamation was also published in Ireland.
John,
Dorothea and family were amongst the very first immigrants in the Perth area,
settling land at Lot-1, Concession-2, Drummond Township … land which now forms
a part of the Town of Perth, adjacent to the intersection of Highway-7 and
Lanark Road.
The “Transaction of Land Grants”
records noted above record;
John
Granly (i.e. Greenly),
emigrant, 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 2 males over 12, 1 male
under 12, 1 female over 12, and 2 females under 12, country Ireland, ship Betty
& Mary, August 23, 1816, located September 2, 1816, Drummond Concession-2,
Lot-1/SW and June (no year written), Bathurst, Concession-10, Lot-19 SDP.
The adult male and female would be
John Sr. and Dorothea. One of the males over 12 is John Jr. (b.1801) and the
other must be Robert (b.1806) although he was actually only 10 years of age in
1816. The male under 12 is James (b.1810). The two females under 12 are
Charlotte (b.1808) and Jane (b.1813). The third female, over 12, is Elizabeth
Ann Richardson (b.c1794), John Greenly’s step-daughter.
According
to the Stevenson Greenley family history;
John
Greenly was an active member of the Wesleyan Methodist Faith and one of a small
group who formed the first Methodist Church shortly after their arrival in
Perth.
On
20 January 1819, John Greenly was granted a (military) Chelsea Hospital
Out-Pension in compensation for the wounds suffered in service to the Crown. The
pension document records that his occupation, at the time of his recruitment
into the Ballaghkeen Yeomanry, was that of a “Turner” and records his
physical description as being five feet nine inches in height with grey eyes,
fair hair and a fair complexion.
In
about 1815 daughter Mary Richardson, (b. c 1791 in Ireland), married Sea Captain
William Richards (b. c1790/95) and they moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1817,
St. John New Brunswick in 1818 and later to Perth where they settled on
Concession-3 Lot-1 of Drummond Township … next door to her mother at
Greenley’s Corners. Her husband served in the British Navy during the war of
1812 and later commanded a merchantmen between London, Lisbon and the West
Indies.
After
moving to Perth Captain Richards seems to have done little farming but soon took
command of a (Tay/Rideau) canal steamer the “Enterprise”. He died at Perth
25 Oct 1854 and Mary Richardson-Richards died at Perth on 24 Dec 1861.
Dorothea’s
daughter Ann Richardson, (b. c1792 in Ireland), married John Willoughby in
Ireland, also in about 1815. They
arrived in Canada via the vessel “Atlantic” on 14 August 1817 and settled on
Concession-2 Lot-21 of Lansdowne Twp. in Leeds County, Ontario. John Willoughby
died in about 1830 and Ann Richardson-Willoughby was remarried to William Biggar
who died in 1862/63. Ann Richardson-Willoughby-Biggar died on 10 March 1872.
Dorothea’s
third daughter Elizabeth Ann Richardson, (b. c1794 in Ireland), who came to
Perth with John and Dorothea in 1816 married James Braiden of Concession-1 Lot
–5 of Lanark Township, Lanark County, Ontario on 07 April 1823. James Braiden
had arrived in Canada in 1820, also from Ireland. James Braiden died 15 Apr 1865
and Elizabeth Richardson-Braiden died 23 Oct 1875.
John
Greenly and Dorothea Blake-Richardson had five children, all of whom were born
at Peppardscastle, Wexford County, Ireland and traveled with their parents to
Canada;
John
(1801-1850) married (1840) Charlotte Brown
Robert
(1806-1889) married (1830) Elizabeth Echlin (see below)
Charlotte
(1808-1828), unmarried
James
(1810-1893) married Ann -?- and
later married Mary Morris
Jane
(1813-1844) married (1836) John Rudd.
John
Greenly died 15 Sep 1854 at Perth. Dorothea Blake-Richardson-Greenly died of
cholera 01 Aug 1828 at Perth. It is not known when second wife Jane
Poole-Greenly died.
Robert
Greenly (1806-1889) & Elizabeth Echlin (1813-1892)
Robert
Greenly was born in 1806 at Peppardscastle, Wexford County, Ireland and married
Elizabeth Echlin (1813-1892) at Perth Ontario on 23 Dec 1830. Elizabeth was the
daughter of Thomas Echlin and Sarah Deacon.
Robert
probably inherited the Greenly homestead at Greenly’s Corners as his father
John’s will of 1828 bequeathed the property at Lot-1 & Lot-4(NE),
Concession-2 of Drummond Township to him, along with one half of the livestock
and farming utensils (the other half going to his brother John). Robert,
however, was instructed in the will to pay his brother John 20 pounds toward
building a house. A later will of 1843 superseded the will of 1828, but Robert
still seems to have inherited the home property.
Robert
and Elizabeth had seven children;
John (1831-1909) married (1867) Johanna L. B. Brautigam
James (1833-1834) was unmarried
Charlotte (1836-1923) was unmarried
Jane (1839-1904) married (1898) James Spence
Mary Ann (1840-1925) married (1878) William Morris
James (1846-1920) married (1877) Isabella McInnes
Robert George (1850-1919) married (1874) Mary Eliza Burrows.
Robert
Greenly died 06 Jun 1889 at Perth, Ontario and his wife Elizabeth Echlin-Greenly
died 16 May 1892 in Bathurst Township, Lanark County.
Ron W. Shaw (2005) - mailto:[email protected]
Posted: 14 July, 2005