December 1919

Seagoe Parish Magazine.

DECEMBER, 1919.

If you wish the Ministrations of the Church

in Seagoe Parish to be maintained in the

future as in the past it will be necessary

for you to double your Subscription to the

Sustentation Fund, and also to increase

your Offerings in the Sunday Collections.

The Advent Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast

away the works of darkness, and put upon us

the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal

life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us

in great humility; that in the last day, when

he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge

both the quick and dead, we may rise to the life

immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with

thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Special Advent Services.

On November 30th, being Advent Sunday and also

St. Andrew's Day, Special Services will be held in the

Parish Church. The Preacher at Morning and

Evening Prayer will be the Rev. E. A. Bennett, M.A.,

M.C., lately Chaplain to the Forces in France and

in Mesopotamia, and at present Secretary of the

Church of Ireland Young Men's Society, Clarence

Place, Belfast. The men of the Parish are specially

asked to be present.

On Sunday mornings, December 7th, 14th and 21st,

three of the Reports of the Archdishops' (of Canterbury

and York) Committees will be brought under the notice

of the Parishioners, (the subjects being Worship"

(December 7th); “Evangelistic Work” (December 14th),

"Industrial Problems" (December 21 ^st).

“Double Your Subscription.”

"Double Your Subscription," was the practical

advice of Colonel Blacker in the address which he

gave to the people of Seagoe in the Parish Church

after Morning Prayer on Sunday, November 23rd.

He traced very clearly the beginning of the

Sustentation Fund from the days of Disestablishment

in 1870. At that time the State guaranteed to every

Clergyman a capital sum to ensure his income for

Life, but the Clergy handed over that sum to the

Representative Church Body, thus accepting an

uncertainty instead of a certainty. Seagoe Parish

unfortunately remained out, with the result that no

permanent provision was made for its future.

In 1875 Major Blacker presented £6,000 as

an endowment to provide an income for the Rector

of £800 per annum. The Curate's Income was to

be provided by the Sustentation Fund. If this

Endowment had not been given the Parish would

have had to raise at least £400 every year, or if it

desired to come under the Diocesan Scheme it would

have been necessary to provide a Capital sum of

£l,500, to bring the Parish under the scheme, and

yearly Sustentation Fund of £290. As matter of

fact the Townland Subscriptions to the Sustentation

Fund, up to 1907, only amounted to an average of

£90 per annum, and since then have averaged about

£150. Last year there were 400 subscribers to the

Sustentation Fund, and 270 of them gave 5s and

less, 165 Subscribers gave three shillings and less, most

of them less. Considering the population and prosperity

of the parish this is an unworthy and inadequate return.

Almanacs for 1920.

For the first time there will be published this year

a special “Seagoe Calendar" so that the Parish will

have an Almanac of its own. It will be printed in

two colours—Blue and Red - which with the white of

the paper will make it a Red, White and Blue

Calendar. It will contain Photographs of local

interest, and also a full Roll of Honour of the Parish

together with the Parish Motto for the year. The

price will be threepence. The Calendar will be on

sale on December 7th, and may be purchased at

Collins' Grocery Store, Edenderry.

The “Seagoe Parish Almanac" will also be on sale,

Price 2d. We advise our readers to purchase early.

The Roll of Honour.

The Roll of Honour was dedicated by the Rector

before Morning Prayer, on Sunday. November 16th.

It was placed in front of the Holy Table covered

with a Union Jack. The Dedication was "To the

glory of God and in the sacred memory of those

from this Church and Parish who laid down their

lives in the Great War, also in grateful remembrance

of all those who went forth from this Church and

Parish to take part in the great conflict for Truth

and Righteousness."

The Roll has been much admired and in its

completeness forms a notable permanent record of

what the men of Seagoe did for God and King and

Country during the great war. The Roll will be

placed in the Church Porch each Sunday for some

time, and will then be placed in some accessible

position on the walls of the Church.

A Garden of Roses.

The following Subscriptions have been received

towards the planting of the Memorial Garden of Red

and White Roses at the Church. They have been

forwarded by Miss Coulsell, of Seagoe Villa, who

first suggested the Memorial, and has kindly interested

herself in it: —

Miss Coulsell £1 1 0

Mrs. Blacker 1 0 0

Mrs. Atkinson, Eden Villa 1 0 0

Mrs. Bell 10 0

Rev. Canon Archer 10 0

Mrs. Watson Walker 5 0

Mrs. Forrest 5 0

Mrs, Calvert (Dublin) 5 0

Miss Emma Walker 5 0

£5 1 0

We will be glad to receive further Subscriptions.

The estimated cost of the Garden is £12.

Subscriptions may be sent to the Rector, or to Mr. J.

Bands, Hon. Treasurer, Killicomaine Road. Owing

to the difficulty of securing labour it has not yet been

possible to begin work in preparing the ground.

A Seagoe Centenarian.

We extend our hearty congratulations to Mrs. Sarah

Lutton, of Edenderry, on having entered her

100th year. She is still, we are glad to say, in full

possession of her faculties, though naturally weak in

body. The record of her Baptism is in the Seagoe

Registers, “October 1st, 1820, Sarah, daughter to

Thomas Porter and Clarissa, his wife." It is entered

in the clear and careful writing of the Rev. John

Beatty, then Curate of the Parish. At the date of

Mrs Lutton's birth George I V. had just ascended the

Throne. She has lived through five reigns, George IV,

William IV, Queen Victoria, Edward V11 and

George V. Waterloo had been fought just six years

before. Railways had not been thought of, and the

old stage coaches rattled along the high roads. Dean

Blacker was Rector of Seagoe, and Archdeacon

Saurin was not appointed Rector until Mrs Lutton

was five years old. She has vivid recollections of

Archdeacon Saurin, and of his father, Bishop Saurin,

of Dromore. Mrs Lutton comes of a remarkably

long-lived stock, her brother, Mr Richard Porter, of

Lower Seagoe, is still strong and active at the age of

94 years. The entry of his Baptism in Seagoe

Registers is as follows — “June 18th, 1826, Richard,

son of Thomas and Clarissa Porter, of Lower Seagoe."

Their parents were married in Seagoe Church on

February 25th, 1803. Their father, Mr Thomas

Porter, was buried, according to the Seagoe

Registers, in Seagoe Graveyard, on October 7th,

1854, aged 92 years, the Rev. James A. Beers, Curate

of Seagoe, officiating at the grave. His wife, Mrs.

Clarissa Porter, was buried in Seagoe on October

13th, 1871, aged 92 years (the same month and the

same age as her husband), the Rev. R, Mac Walter,

Curate, officiating at the grave. Mrs. Lutton was

married in Seagoe Parish Church on March 9th,

1847, to Mr Andrew James Lutton, of Drumnagally

Parish of Seapatrick, and her age is still further

verified and possibly extended by the fact that at her

marriage she is entered as 27 years of age. The

recent death of Mr John Lutton, so highly esteemed

in Seagoe Parish, has been a great grief to his aged

mother, and our sympathy is extended to her in

her sorrow and weakness.

Penny—a— Week Fund.

This Fund for the Improvement and Repair of

Edenderry Parochial Hall has proved very successful.

A sum of more than £30 is already in hand. It has

been decided by the Committee to spend the money

in improving the seating of the Hall, and ensure its

proper heating. Further improvements are also in

contemplation as funds admit. We thank all who are

helping so liberally.

Our Sunday Schools.

On next Sunday (Advent Sunday) our new Sunday

School Calendar comes into force. This year it is

Course V. in the Diocesan Course and the Teachers'

Notes, which are especially good, are by the late

Archdeacon Wynne. Every Teacher should possess a

copy. Price One shilling.

SEAGOE PARISH REGISTER for NOVEMBER 1919.

Baptisms.

Coulter—November 1st, 1919, George, son of Thomas

John and Elizabeth Coulter, of Tarsan

Sponsors—Thomas Johu Coulter, Mary Campbell,

Elizabeth Coulter.

Atkinson—November 22nd, 1919, William Edward

Bunbury, son of Bunbury Archer and Alice

Kathleen Atkinson, of Hacknahay.

Sponsors—William Henry Atkinson, James Searight

Atkinson, Jane Selby Lowndes.

Marriage.

Robinson and Wilson — November 5th, 1919, Thomas

George Robinson, of Tamnifiglasson, to Margaret

Jane Wilson of Drumnagoon.

ITEMS.

Mr. William Flannigan, late of Railway Street

has been appointed Verger of Belfast Cathedral.

This is a most important and responsible post, and

we congratulate Mr. Flannigan most heartily on his

appointment. Mr. and Mrs. Flannigan, when

they resided in this Parish, were ever ready to help

in every good work, and since they went to Belfast

they have been most useful helpers in St. Mary's

Parish. Mr Flannigan was at one time a member

of Seagoe Church Lads' Brigade.

***

There has not been Funeral in Seagoe Parish for

more than two months. The season has been

remarkably healthy.

***

Lieutenant Fforde Hall, whose notes we publish,

has just returned from North Russia where he was on

active service with an English Regiment, the Royal

Fusiliers. He had a narrow escape on the River

Petchora when temporarily attached to a Cossack

Regiment. The other Russian Regiments in the

same camp mutinied and killed their British officers,

but fortunately, Lieutenant Hall's Cossack Regiment

remained loyal.

***

Mr William Major and Mr James M'Cabe have

joined the staff of Teachers in Seagoe afternoon

Sunday School.

In Northern Russia.

[Lieutenant T. Forde Hall, of the 2nd Royal

Fusiliers, who has just returned from active

service against the Bolshevists in Northern Russia,

has kindly sent us the following account of that

strange land. The notes will be continued in our

next issue.]

Comparatively few Britishers have had the experience

of a visit to this remote corner of Europe, which is

part of the vast country of Russia. It may be

interesting, therefore, to read something of it, and

of the primitive people who inhabit the frozen

wastes on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and White Sea.

The province of Archangel, where our troops

were operating against the Bolshevists, is situated

and on the border of the Arctic Circle. It presents as

desolate a picture as the eye could dwell upon. The

land is flat and marshy, crusted with snow and ice for

nine months of the year, and is wholly uncultivated.

Even for the scanty population enough grain cannot

be grown to support them. In the southern districts

of the province, along the shores of the River

Dwina, are immense forests of Pine. Bears, wolves,

and foxes are plentiful in these forests. The skin of

the fox is very valuable, and is much sought after by

the native hunter. The principal occupations of the

natives are seal fishing and the cutting down of

timber. There is no shortage of timber there, and at

the present time large quantities for shipment to

other parts of the world are stacked at the ports on

the White Sea.

The people are largely Laplanders, and are a very

simple, almost uncivilized race. Arriving in that

country from England is like going back about five

centuries. I do not think they have changed their

ways of living and national customs for at three

hundred years. In the outlying districts,

particularly in the North, they live in little villages

consisting of twenty to thirty little wooden houses

and probably two or more families in each house.

In one village I know they had never seen an ordinary

bicycle, and our troops created quite a sensation in

the settlement when they arrived on bicycles. This

was in a village near Mezen on the shores of the

Arctic Ocean. The climate is very severe. It is

subject to extremes of heat and cold. In the short

summer season, which they have for only six or eight

weeks in the year, the heat of the sun is often

oppressive. For this period the sunshine is continuous

for the twenty-four hours of the day. It seemed very

strange to be in bright sunlight at 12.30 a.m. I have

taken photographs at 1 a.m. with excellent results.

Of course, they have the other extreme in mid-winter.

For three months the sun is never seen and everything

is in complete darkness except for the glow of the

"Northern Lights." which present a wonderful spectacle

there. I did not see it at its best, but one night in

September last the sky was ablaze with these wonderful

lights. We were so fascinated with the unusual sight that

we spent most of the night gazing up at the ever-changing

colour.

Even in summer the change from heat to cold is

sometimes very rapid. If clouds shut out the sunlight,

or the Wind blows from the North, the change is so

instantaneous that a man working in shirt sleeves

is forced to, go in and search for a fur coat or other

warm garment.

The town of Archangel was the most interesting

place I found in the country, in other parts we saw

very little except dreary tracts of practically uninhabited

country and forests, occasionally coming across a small village.

This town, which is the most northerly in Russia, is

built on the banks of the River Dwina about 40 miles

from where it enters the White Sea. The port of

Archangel is also of some importance; it is one of the

oldest in Russia, and is interesting to Ulster people as

the port from which we got a large quantity of Russian

flax before the outbreak of war. As roads are altogether

unknown in the country, the Dwina forms the great

highway for commerce from the interior. Timber, grain,

tar, used to be carried down river in large barges to the

steamers lying in the port during the summer, and sent

to all parts of the world. Owing to the troubled state of

the central parts of the country this trade is now very

small. The town of Archangel is badly built, being

scattered for about 2 miles along two zig-zag streets

running parallel to the Dwina, connected at intervals

by narrow lanes. The houses, with the exception of

four, are all built of wood. The Russian carpenters

are very skilful, and a number of the houses are

extraordinarily well built and finished, very much

resembling wooden bungalows sometimes seen in

this country. There are no paved streets. Along

the sides of the houses runs a wooden footpath,

raised about three feet from the street level, but the

centre of the streets are purely beaten tracks.

The town boasts of Electric Light, and one Electric

Tram which runs the length of the Petrogradski

(the name of the principal thoroughfare).

Girl Guides.

The Seagoe Corps of Girl Guides meets in Seagoe

School (for the present) every Monday evening at 8.

Men's Bible Class.

The Rector's Bible Class for men meets every

Tuesday evening at 8 in Edenderry Parochial Hall.

All men in the Parish are invited to join.

OLD SEAGOE NOTES.

Church Property in Seagoe. —The exact amount

of land in the Townlands of Upper and Lower

Seagoe held at any time by the Church is of interest

and importance. We take the following measurements

(in Decimals) from the Ordnance Survey Map

published in 1905 (Scale 25 inches to mile). Old

Seagoe Graveyard as in 1905, Acres, 2.193; Old

School Plot, .397; Present School Ground, .305;

Site of Present Church and Graveyard, .499; School

Master's House with adjoining Grove, .734; Garden

between House and Railway, .489. There is

remarkable uncertainty about the exact extent of the

Glebe Lands. According to the Representative

Church Body based on the Church Temporalities

figures, it is as follows: — Garden and Curtilage,

la. 3r. 34p.; Lands, 13a. 2r. 22p. Total, 15a. 2r. 16p.;

but according to Rural Council Books in Lurgan

based on Griffth's survey of 1862, the total acreage

is 17a. 0r. 15p. The Ordnance Survey approximates

to the lower estimate but it is incorrect as it includes

in the Rectory lands portions of other property.

The Finances of Seagoe in 1877. — This was a

very critical year in the Financial History of the

Parish, and but for the generosity of Major Blacker

in advancing large sums to cover liabilities it would

have been impossible to carry on the Ministration of

the Church. Here is an extract from the Vestry

Minutes for Monday, February 25th, 1877. — "Major

Blacker produced a receipt for £50, which he had

received from the Representative Body, being the

amount paid by the Board of Guardians for a portion

of land given by him to them to enlarge the

yard, which amount was placed to the credit of the

Church Endowment Fund of this Parish. He also

produced accounts showing the sum he had received

towards the payment of the sum he had advanced to

the Parish, making in all up to this date

£547 19s 10d.

The First Diocesan Synodsmen of Seagoe,

1871.—According to the Vestry Minutes of Seagoe

dated April 10th, 1871, the following were elected to

represent the Parish of Seagoe at the first Diocesan

Synod held after Disestablishment — Wolsey Atkinson,

T. Armstrong, jun., John Montgomery, Abram M'Cann,

Henry Lavery and Joseph Macoun.

The Care of Seagoe Registers, 1821 —The Rev.

John Beatty who, was Curate of Seagoe when Dean

Blacker was advanced in years, was most careful in

making entries in the Parish Registers and also in

preserving the old Registers from injury. Here is a

note which he wrote on a torn half-page of the

Baptismal Registers for 1821. — "The end of this leaf

was torn off, and several names of course lost, in

consequence of there not being a lock on the Drawer to

hinder improper persons from handling the Book."

Departure of Mr. and Mrs. Bell.

Mr Alan Bell, R.M., Mrs Bell and Miss Nicholl

will soon be leaving Seagoe to take up their

residence in Dublin. They will be greatly missed in

the Parish where they have made many friends.

Their kindness and thoughtfulness towards all with

whom they came in contact has drawn all hearts to

them. They will be followed to their new home by

the good wishes of all in Seagoe.