September 1910

Seagoe Parish Magazine.

SEPTEMBER, 1910.

The Magazine.

THE August number of the Magazine had

a very rapid sale and was soon sold out.

The Magazine is now in its fifth year of

issue, and it is a healthful sign to find it

in such demand. The monthly issue

totals 350 copies and there are seldom any copies

remaining after the first or second day of issue. The

success of the Magazine depends very largely on

those kind helpers who distribute it through the

Parish every month. Our Edenderry helpers sell a

very large number each month. Edenderry takes

about 135 copies each month, besides the copies that

are sold at Mrs. Metcalfe's in Bridge Street. We

regret that Mr. W. J. Currie recently resigned his

post as the Edenderry Distributor. Ever since the

Magazine was started he had acted in that capacity

and the present large circulation in that district is

due to his indefatigable efforts.

The following is a list of distributors

Edenderry Miss Fox.

Miss Smith.

Miss M. Atkinson.

Drumgor Mrs. McMullan.

Hacknahay Mr. George Calvert.

Carne Mr. David Murray.

Ballinacor Mr. Robert Price.

Drumnagoon Miss Maude Dickson.

Levaghery Mr. James Shephred.

Kilvergan Mr. Thos. Martin.

Seagoe School . Christina Levingston and other pupils.

N.B.—Copies of the current number of the

Magazine can be had from Mrs. Metcalfe, Bridge

Street, and those who require back numbers can

obtain them (if not sold out) from the Rector.

A large and increasing number of copies of each

month's Magazine are mailed to Parishioners abroad.

The Rector will be glad to send copies of the

Magazine by post each month to anyone writing to

him. Subscription and Postage in United Kingdom

1/6 per annum. Subscription and Postage per annum

to America and Colonies 2/-.

G.F.S, Excursion,

The Annual Excursion in connection with the

Seagoe Branch of the Girls Friendly Society was held

on Saturday, August 13th. The Associates and

Members assembled at the Parish Church at 1 0'clock.

A short service was held in which the members

heartily joined. Our destination this year was

Ardmore Rectory and the drive was much enjoyed. The

day was fine and the country looked very pretty and

when Lough Neagh came in view with its broad

stretch of calm water many were the expressions of

delight heard on all sides. The Rev R. D. and Mrs.

Patterson were ready to receive us at the Rectory and

treated the excursionists throughout the day with the

greatest hospitality and kindness. The green sward

along the shore of the lake proved an admirable

place for games and tea. In a short time " rings

were formed and games of all kinds " Hindmost of

three, Nuts in May, The Jolly Miller," etc., etc.,

were indulged in without intermission. During the

afternoon tea was dispensed by many willing helpers.

Mr. R. T. Montgomery skilfully supervised the

catering department. At seven o'clock the brakes

were brought round and before the start for home

was made the Rector called for hearty cheers for the

Rev R. D. and Mrs. Patterson, who had done so much

to make the excursion a success. The return home

was made by Silverwood and the Lurgan Road. It

was generally acknowledged that the trip had been

the most successful of recent years. Miss Armstrong

the G.F.S. Secretary for Seagoe, is deserving of

hearty congratulation for the success attained. All

the Associates and Helpers were present except Mrs

McMullan who was unavoidably absent. We noticed

among those present Mrs. Hadden, Miss McCormick,

and Miss Webb, from Canada. The excursion ought

to do much in bringing the members of the Seagoe

G.F.S. more closely together. Owing to the size of

the Parish it is necessary to work the Society in

separate sections, but on the day of the Excursion as

well as on some other occasions, all are brought

together and thus realise the unity and extent of the

work. We look forward to very happy and successful

winter session for the G.F.S. We wish it were

possible to extend its influence in the Parish. There

should be a strong branch in the Carne and

Tamnificarbet end of the Parish. Who will volunteer to

organise a branch there and help on the good work ?

Items.

Sir Robert Bredin, K.C.M.G., whose work in

China is so well known, has been spending a few

days at Portadown. He visited Seagoe Church

during his stay, and was much interested in the

improvements made since his last visit more than

twenty years ago.

The Rev. W. R. Crichton is enjoying a holiday at

Scarborough, the famous English seaside resort.

It is seldom that Seagoe has experienced such

spell of wet weather as has occurred recently.

Unless it improves we fear the crops will suffer.

Prayers for fair weather were offered in the Church

on Sunday week and last Sunday.

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

Mr. Henry Monroe, of Levaghery, has been

seriously ill. Mr. Monroe is one of our oldest and

most highly respected Parishioners, and we trust he

will be spared to a renewal of health and strength.

We are glad to hear that the latest reports are more

favourable.

The Rector has been elected President of the

Edenderry Football Club on the invitation of its

members. The Club has secured a field for play at

Levaghery. We hear the Club intend amalgamating

with the Seagoe Harriers and the Physical Culture

Class. We wish the members a very prosperous

season and a win in every match.

We hope to see a flourishing branch of the Church

of Ireland Men's Society established in the Parish

this autumn.

William Freeburn has left for South Manchester,

U.S.A. He was a most regular member of

Edenderry Men's Bible Class, and will be much missed.

Before leaving he was presented by the members

with handsomely fitted Dressing Case.

South Manchester, U.S.A., is a favourite place for

emigrants from Seagoe Parish. We are beginning

to think that there are almost as many Seagoe people

there as there are in Seagoe.

We hope that those who leave our Parish for

America or elsewhere will be careful to attend the

services of the Church and to join a Bible Class in

the Parish where they happen to be. The Protestant

Episcopal Church in the United States has

Churches and Parishes everywhere. They have the

same Prayer Book, and the old prayers will bring

back Seagoe memories to those who are far away

from the old Church at home.

A letter received from a Seagoe Parishioner says,

We have no Church near us, but every Sunday we

read over the Service in our Prayer Book

and also the Lessons for the Day." This is an example

which we hope many will follow.

Seagoe School looks very bright after being painted

and decorated. The Classes are larger than we have

ever seen them before. The Cookery Classes will

resume work on September 1st.

The epidemic of Measles has, we glad to say,

subsided. The best way to ward off these epidemics

now is to let plenty of fresh air through the sleeping

rooms, and to keep the house perfectly clean;

Some of the new labourers cottages which are such

an improvement on the old mud, cabins suffer from

smoking flues. This is a great pity, and should be

corrected without delay. There is a defect in the

construction of the fireplaces. The smoke is very

disagreeable to the tenants, and destroys the

paintwork and ceilings of the cottages.

Very curious ideas prevail abroad as to the kind of

place Seagoe is. Last week the Rector received a

letter from a firm of American solicitors addressed to

" The Mayor or Chief Executive of Parish of Seagoe,

County of Armagh, Ireland." The " Mayor of

Seagoe " is a distinctly new title, and is not to be

found in the Registers of the Parish.

We hope in next month's issue to present our

readers with a portrait of an interesting old Seagoe

worthy, the late Mr. John Walker, who acted as Clerk

in Seagoe Church from 1823 to 1873. He was commonly

known as Clerk Walker " and was very

highly respected by everyone who knew him. The

Portrait will be accompanied by a sketch of his life.

Great Missionary Exhibition,

ULSTER HALL, BELFAST,

November 8th to 19th, 1910.

Arrangements for Africa and the East " the big

Missionary Exhibition to be held in Ulster Hall,

November 8th to 19th, are proceeding rapidly. Our

stewards will be getting to work again at their special

country, now that holidays are over. We hope they

will throw redoubled energy into the work of preparation,

now that the time is drawing near. Definite

knowledge alone is of any use. Contributions to the

Foreign Curio Stall have not come in as quickly as

was hoped. Will many of our readers send in a

donation, be it large or small, for this object? The

Rector will receive it, or it may be sent to the

secretary Mrs. McCance, Woodburn, Dunmurry.

The refreshment department has been well organised

by Mrs. Burgess and Miss Moore. Nearly every day

has been taken up by some parish or group of

parishes. Gifts of eatables will be most welcome

when the time comes, or even now we might begin

setting apart pots of jam for " Africa and the East "

and baking cakes. The financial result depends to a

great extent on the success of this department.

Volunteers will soon be wanted to distribute hand

bills.

Offertories for August

“She, of her want, did cast in all that she had."

Morning Evening

Aug. 7th—11th S. aft. Trinity £l 18 8 £0 12 4

Aug. 14th—12th S. aft. Trinity 1 8 5 0 9 8

Aug. 21st—13th S. aft. Trinity 1 8 11 0 12 3

Aug. 28th—14th S. aft. Trinity 1 8 10 0 11 6

Wednesdays 0 8 2

--------------------- ---------------------

Total, £6 4 10 £2 13 11

Parochial Register.

AUGUST. 1910.

Baptisms.

PARISH MAGAZINE.

“As long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord."—

Aug. 6^th —Douglas Ferguson, son of Hugh John and Dorcas Jane Stoops.

„ —George, son of Robert and Mary Hamill.

“ —Sarah Eva, daughter of James and Elizabeth Conolly.

„ —Richard, son of William and Sarah Robb.

„ —Ella, daughter of Ephraim and Ellen Macaulay.

„ —Mary Ann, daughter of Joseph and Mary Robinson.

„ —Robert, sone of William James and Jane Elizabeth Hynes.

„ —John, son of James and Sarah Jane Reid.

„ —Margaret Jane, daughter of James and Ellen Margaret Trainor.

„ —Thomas Henry, son of James Henry and Elizabeth Forsythe.

27th —Mary, daughter of John and Ellen Jane Loney.

Marriage.

" Love is of God."

Aug 11 th —Robert William Parks, Tamnifiglasson,

to Anna Jane Beckett, Tamnifiglasson.

Burials,

" Death is swallowed up in Victory."

Aug 4th —John Magee, Portadown, aged 1 year.

9th —Elizabeth Jane (Lily) McNally, Edenderry, aged I6 years.

9th —William Porter, Seagoe, aged 9 years.

12th —Robert Burrell, Bocombra, aged 60 yrs.

17th —Ellen Harte, Ballygargan, aged 18 yrs.

21^st Richard McDonald, Edenderry, aged 3 years.

22 nd —Henry John Robinson, Lisburn, aged 46 years.

29th —Anne England, Knock, aged 63 years.

Hacknahay Day School.

Important changes have taken place in this School

during the month of August. Miss Wilson, who has

acted as Principal of the School since it was opened

in August, 1908, has resigned her position owing to

her appointment to an important post in the county

Cavan. We regret very much to lose the services of

Miss Wilson who has brought Hacknahay School to

a very high state of efficiency. She has also been

very popular with the Pupils and the residents in the

District. The favourable report presented by Mr.

Worsley, the Government Inspector, after a very

close and prolonged inspection of the School is a

proof of the solid work accomplished by Miss Wilson.

We are sure we express the feelings ot all our

readers in wishing her much happiness and

success in her new sphere of work.

New Principal of Hacknahay-

Miss M. B. Stevenson has been appointed Principal

of Hacknahay School and we give her a hearty

welcome to Seagoe Parish. Miss Stevenson is a fully

qualified Teacher under the National Board. She

was educated in the Collegiate School, Celbridge, and

passed from there into the Church of Ireland Training

College, Kildare Place, Dublin. While pupil

in Celbridge she entered for the Intermediate

examinations obtaining passes in the Preparatory and

Junior grades, and a pass with Honours in the

Middle grade. She holds the Elementary and

Intermediate Certificates from the Tonic Sol-fa College

and the First Grade Staff Notation Certificate. She

obtained First Prize for Vocal Music in a

Competition at the Training College. She is qualified to

teach the Kindergarten System and to hold Cookery

Classes on the National Board system. With such

qualifications we are justified in predicting that Hacknahay

School in the near future will hold a premier

position among the schools of the District. No effort

will be spared to bring it up to the highest level of

educational efficiency.

Miss Stevenson enters upon her duties on September 1st.

Children's Flower Competition.

On Saturday, August 27th, this competition was

decided. The show of flowers was small, but very

good and representative of the whole Parish. The

following were awarded Prizes :—For Annuals

FIRST PRIZE—A Work Basket—Sarah Martin

(Edenderry). SECOND PRIZES—Pen and Pencil Case—

Jeannie Dawson (Portadown) ; Mouth Organ—Thos.

McMullan (Tarson). THIRD PRIZES—Noah's Ark—

Isabellm Best (Killycomaine). For Geraniums—

FIRST PRIZE—A Doll—May Best (Killycomaine).

We hope shortly to have a Bulb Competition.

Hyacinth Bulbs will be distributed and the children

will have an opportunity of proving their skill in the

cultivation of pretty flowers.

Nature Notes.

The Swallows which have been with us now since

April will soon be taking their departure for warmer

southern climes. It will be noticed that they are now

beginning to gather in groups on the ridges of outhouse

roofs and along the telegraph wires.

32 were counted on one roof last week. Last year Mr. Leonard

Twinem, who is now in New York, was the parishioner

who noticed the latest appearance of the

swallows in this District. The date was September

SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.

23rd. Who will see the last swallow this year ?

The birds are likely to migrate earlier owing to the

severe weather. Some day when a northerly or north

westerly wind blows they will fly away south.

Those who are interested in the stars may see the

Planet Mercury during the first few days of September

in the evening sky low down in the west near

the point of sunset. Jupiter is also to be seen low

down in the west.

Old Seagoe Notes.

Portadown in 1641 .—Mr. Richard Bagwell in

his recently issued volumes on " Ireland under the

Stuarts " devotes some space to a record of the events

which took place at the Bridge of Portadown in 1641.

In vol. 1, page 342, he writes as follows :—

The Portadown Massacre in 1641 his been more

discussed than any other episode in the Irish Rebellion

and it has left behind it an ineffaceable

impression of horror. The victims numbered 100 or

160. The chief actor was Captain Manus O'Cahan,

but many of the sufferers had received passes from

Sir Phelim O'Neill himself. O'Cahan and his men,

Mrs. Price deposed, forced and drove all their

prisoners, and amongst them the deponent's five

children by name Adam, John, Annie, Mary, and

Jane Price, off the bridge into the water. Those that

could swim were shot or forced back into the water.

When Owen Roe O'Neill came to the country he

asked in Mrs. Price's hearing how many Protestants

the rebels had drowned at Portadown, and they said

400. If this is correct the cruel work on the Bann

must have continued for some time. They also said

that those drowned in the Blackwater were too many

to count and that the number thrust into lakes and

bogholes could not even be guessed at. On November

17th they burned the Church at Blackwaterstown

with a crowd of Protestants in it, whose cries being

exceedingly loud and fearful, the rebels used to delight

much in scornful manner to imitate them

and brag of their acts. Attempts had been made to

discredit the evidence on the ground that Mrs. Price,

and others refer to apparitions at the scene of the

Portadown Massacres. Screams and cries are easily

explained for wolves and dogs fed undisturbed upon

the unburied dead.

The Ghost at Portadown Bridge.—Mrs.

Price says she actually saw a ghost when she visited

the spot where her five children had been slaughtered,

and that Owen Roe O'Neill who came expressly to

inform himself as to the alleged apparition was

present with hig men who saw it also. It was twilight

and upon a sudden there appeared unto them a vision

or spirit assuming the shape of a woman, waist high,

upright in the water, naked, her hair dishevelled, very

white, and her eyes seeming to twinkle, and her skin

as white as snow, which spirit or vision, seeming to

stand upright in the water, divulged, and often

repeated the words, " Revenge ! Revenge ! Revenge !"

O'Neill sent a priest and a friar to question the figure

both in English and Latin but it answered nothing.

He afterwards sent a trumpet (trumpeter) to the

nearest English force for a Protestant clergyman, by

whom -the same figure was seen and the cries of

" Revenge " heard but Mrs. Price does not say she

was present on this occasion. The evidence of this.

lady shows no marks of a wandering mind, and yet it

is evident she believed in an apparition. It is quite.

possible that some crazed woman who had lost all

that was dear to her may have haunted the spot and

cried for vengeance, but in any case a belief in ghosts

was still general in those days and especially in

Ireland. The evidence as to the Massacre is.

overwhelming.

List of Churchwardens (Continued) :—

1716 —George Rodgers, of Ballyhannon.

Thomas Gibson of Moreverty.

1717 —James McMorvan (?)

Henry Mayes.

1718 —George Dixon, of Ballygargan.

John Newel, of Levaghery.

1719 —Henry Dowey, of Kinnego.

William McGowen, of Ballymacrannel.

1750 —Francis Grayson, of Boconnal.

Francis Dilworth, of Drumgor.

Seagoe in the Ice-Age.—The Rev. Professor

Bonney in his address delivered at Sheffield this week

as President of the British Association stated that

geologists believed that in the glacial epoch, the great

Irish ice-flow covered - Ireland from the south of

Lough Neagh to Galway Bay.

It is difficult to believe that at one period in the distant past the Parish

of Seagoe formed the floor of a huge glacier. The

only evidence of this state of things open to the eye

of the casual observer is to be seen at Ballinacor.

The " big stone " and also two other large granite

stones lying on the roadside near Peacefield are clearly

portions of the Mourne Mountains, and could only

have reached their present positions by being borne

along on the surface of slowly moving ice which

when it finally melted away left the big stones on the

surface of the ground.

The Blue Stone —Talking of big stones reminds

us of the " Blue Stone " which gives its name to the

District beyond Lylo. The stone is buried at the

cross roads and has been lying unseen for over

century. It seems a pity that an interesting stone

which gave its name to the District and was evidently

a remarkable natural feature of the locality should be

buried out of sight. We are sure if the residents in

the District desired it the enterprising County Surveyor,

Mr. Dorman, would permit of its being dug up

and placed in its original position. In coaching days

it was well known to the travelling public on the old

Lurgan Road.