Records update

As it was recently my birthday, the update is quite small this time. I've updated the Ulster Covenant page with 11 more records, all from the North Armagh Parliamentary Divisions, which had somehow managed to evade inclusion in the previous update. All 95 Richardsons from that division are now in the file.

Records update

Just updated the Ulster Covenant page with 114 more records, taking it to a total of 260 records. This focuses on the Richardsons found in the three Armagh Parliamentary Divisions. More to come.

Richardsons of Bessbrook

The Richardsons of Bessbrook are most famous as being magnates of the Ulster linen trade in 19th century Ireland, and the founders of the model linen village, Bessbrook. They are also regarded as one of the main Quaker families of Ulster.

Origins

The following is from The Richardsons of Bessbrook, A Quaker Linen Family, a small book released by John Bradley to detail the story of the Richardsons of Bessbrook. It was created in response to the launch on 4th April 2009, of a scholarly business study into the Richardsons of Bessbrook, by Richard S. Harrison.

The only official written record on these Richardsons is titled Bessbrook. It was published in 1945 by the family itself to mark the 100th anniversity of them in Bessbrook.

The beginnings of these Richardsons in Ireland are sketchy, however it is claimed that members of a Richardson family from Warwickshire, England, settled in the Loughgall area of County Armagh.

From these Richardsons it is claimed a Zachary Richardson, settled in the townland of Eagerlougher, near to the village of Loughgall itself, and that the Richardsons of Bessbrook descend from him.

What is known for definate is that Jonathan Richardson, Zachary's son, converted from the Established Church to Quakerism in 1660.

Family Tree

This is only a start on the Richardsons of Bessbrook family tree, and will be expanded upon.

• John Richardson (1719-1759) (m. 1753) Ruth Hogg (1719-1817)
• Jonathan Richardson (1756-1817)
• James Nicholson Richardson I
  (1781-1847)
• John Grubb Richardson (2nd son of ten)
  (13 November 1813 - 1890)
• James Nicholson Richardson III
  (7 February 1846 - 11 October 1921)
• Thomas Richardson (born after 1813)
• Jonathan Richardson