The first Presley land transaction we have in
Carlow is dated 1654 for Andrew Presley purchasing land from John
Richmond "late a soldier in Col. Henry Pritres troops". No idea if
Andrew was himself a soldier or an adventurer but more likely he was
an adventurer as most of the disbanding soldiers were selling not
buying.
Source: Michael
Purcell <carlowmike@gmail.com>
By Brendan Lawrence
Were it not for a dispute over land in 1775 in Hacketstown, Elvis
Aaron Presley might have sung with a Carlow accent and Graceland might
be nestling at the foot of Eagle Hill in Hacketstown. Uh-huh-huh.
Amazing new facts uncovered through the hard work of Carlow local
historian Michael Purcell and his American counterparts reveal that a
William Presley was forced to flee his home close to Hacketstown after
'a band of yeomen and many other evil disposed persons did riotously, routously
and unlawfully make an assault and did beat, wound and ill treat him so
that his life was greatly despaired of.’
-
- Image of the original parchment that places the
Presley family in Carlow
|
The facts, printed on faded parchment (above) records, show that the attack
took place with swords and sticks and the attackers were of the Morris,
Wilson and Maher families. Shipping records soon after this event show
that William and his brother Andrew Presley left Ireland for New Orleans
in America.
“William sought the protection of the King in Carlow,” explained
Michael Purcell, “so despite his address being in both Wicklow and
Carlow, when push came to shove he considered himself a true Carlovian,”
he added. In 1780, William and his family were living in Carolina and a
son called Dunnan was born to him. A year later, they moved to
Tennessee. William died in 1802 and his son Dunnan married twice. His
third son, also called Dunnan, was born in 1827.
Then in 1863, Dunnan junior’s daughter Rosella was born. Rosella
never married but had several children and one of these was a son called
Jessie Presley. In 1913, Jesse married Minnie Mae and they gave birth to
one Vernon Elvis Presley in 1916.
For those who might not already know, Vernon married Gladys Love
Smith in 1933 and their son Elvis Aaron Presley was brought into the
world in January 1935.
How different would Elvis’s career have been had his
great-great-great-great-grandfather William Presley not fled the
country? Imagine the songs he sang and how different they would have
been. There’s no hotel in Hacketstown so one of his biggest hits would
have been Heartbreak B&B.
Other titles that might have been altered would have been Hacketstown
Garda Station Rock, That’s alright Mammy and Viva Graiguecullen.
Source: The Nationalist Wednesday, November
12, 2008
From:
"Roger Nowlan" <RNowlan@primus.ca>
MacDowell & Hodges & PRESLEY??
Below are a
few MacDowell tid bits drawn from my hard drive using a local search.
In brief,
based upon the tipbit’s, it seems as if there was a MacDowell presence
in Co. Carlow starting in the mid-1700s (a John MacDowell).
During the 1798 time period a James MacDowell was a member of
the Hackettstown infantry.
[RN: I note
that a JOHN PRESLEY was also a member of the Hackettstown infantry.]
The James
MacDowell who was in the Hackettstown infantry in 1798 is likely the
same as the one who put his name on a list
of Protestants wishing to emigrate from counties Carlow and
Wexford in 1817.
In the
early 1820s (1821-1822) there were at least two MacDowell families in
the Bagenalstown area, a David ‘Davy’ MacDowell and family (in
Ballinkillen) and a Patrick ‘Patt’ MacDowell and family.
In 1825, a
Thomas MacDowell was the Governor of the Gaol in Carlow.
Provided by
Michael Purcell <carlowmike@gmail.com>
Hacketstown
Elvis Festival, October, 2014.
Transcription of one of the documents linking the ancestry of Elvis
Presley (yes, that Elvis) with Carlow / Wicklow.
I'm sticking in a few commas here and there and disregarding
the long medial S which was used up to the early 1800s.
20th August
1775 ~~
County of
Carlow to wit.
Andrew
Morris of Mullannashea in the County of Wicklow, yeoman, Francis
Morris of Whiterock in the said County, yeoman, Samuel Morris of
Crossin in said County, yeoman, Thomas Morris late of Hacketstown in
the County of Carlow, yeoman, William Wilson and Thomas Mathers both
late of the same in the said County, yeomen, ~~~~~~~~~with many other
evil disposed Persons and Disturbers of the Peace of our said Lord the
King, whose Names the Jurors aforesaid are ignorant of, on the
seventeenth ~ Day of
August ~~in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord
George the Third, by the Grace of God of Great-Britain, France, and
Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, with Force and
Arms, that is to say , with Swords, Sticks, and so forth at
Hacketstown ~~~ in the said County of Carlow ~~ did riotously,
routously and unlawfully assemble and associate themselves together,
and the said Persons being then and there so riotously, routously and
unlawfully assembled and associated, in and upon one William Presley a
true and faithful subject of our Lord the King in the peace of God and
of our said Lord the King then and there being did make an Assault and
him then and there did beat wound and ill-treat so that his life was
greatly despaired of and other wrongs to him then and there did
Contrary to the peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity.
No Bill
[signed]
for
self & fellows.
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