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Fermanagh Ulster Scots Society

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Fermanagh Ulster Scots Society

Fermanagh Ulster Scots Society exists to promote cultural, educational and social activities designed to heighten awareness of our shared Celtic origins.

24/04/2024

Mark Twain, the renowned author most famous for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, passed away on this week in 1910, on April 21.

Twain, whose real name was Samuel Longhorne Clemens, was born in the US in 1835 and, likely many at this time, came from a family of mixed English and Ulster Ancestry.

Some of Twain’s ancestry descended from near Ballynure in County Antrim. This ancestor, Edward Clements, was the "witchfinder general" who lead the witch hunt in the famous Islandmagee Witch Trial of 1711.

On his mother’s side, his great-grandfather was one Colonel William Casey, an early pioneer to the New World who helped establish the Casey/Butler Fort in Kentucky in 1789, the first permanent settlement in what is now Adair County. The Casey family had migrated to America from Ulster earlier in the century.

At the end of August 1873, Twain, on a trip to Britain & Ireland, visited Belfast. There, he stayed at the home of Francis Dalzell Finlay, founder of the Northern Whig newspaper, whose old headquarters the pub of the same name still occupies on Bridge Street, Belfast.

Twain passed away this week in 1910, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest American writers, publishing around 30 novels and 100 short stories. His Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often referred to as a Great American Novel.

03/04/2024

James Gamble, the prominent industrialist who co-founded the company Procter & Gamble, was born on this day in 1803 near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

Born to a Methodist minister, the Gamble family emigrated to America in 1819 to escape the depression in Ireland. James was initially very ill in America, but after his recovery was apprenticed to a soap-maker. For his first six months he received no pay, only his board and lodging.

Gamble soon went into business with William Procter, a candle-maker, after they became related by marriage and realised their two products, soap and candles, were made using many of the same ingredients.

The company sold its products widely, thanks to the expansion of the railways: in 1859 its sales exceeded $1 million. It was awarded contracts to supply the union armies with soap and candles during the American civil war, and in 1879 began the manufacture of Ivory soap, which became one of its most important products.

The name of Procter & Gamble has been known worldwide ever since; family members, especially James's eldest son, James Norris Gamble, oversaw its great expansion and diversification.

Among the brands that Procter & Gamble owns today are well-known names such as Febreze, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, and Fairy. The company employs over 100,000 people worldwide.

29/03/2024

On this day in 1841, Wilson Benson, a recently married shopkeeper from Belfast, emigrated from County Armagh, Ulster, to Ontario, Canada.

He lived there for a further 70 years, leaving behind a detailed autobiography of what life was like as an immigrant from Ulster to Canada at this time.

No Country contributed more to the establishment of Canada than Ireland. And of the 500,000 souls who arrived there in a constant stream in the generation before the Great Famine, the vast majority originated in Ulster.

Canadian identity continues to be characterised by this significant Ulster cultural contribution. In Ontario particularly, the Ulster presence was evident throughout a broad swathe of land stretching almost 1,000 kilometres from the Quebec border to the USA frontier at Detroit.

You can get a copy of From Ulster to Canada: The Life and Times of Wilson Benson from our gift shop at the Discover Ulster-Scots Centre in Belfast. Soon, it'll also be available on our web shop once we complete development of our new website!

10/03/2024

Castle Archdale, County Fermanagh.

This picture is a wonderful view of Royal Air Force Castle Archdale in County Fermanagh.
(Thanks very much to Luke Ed Kate)

06/03/2024

Fusilier John Stirrup of Cookstown.

Fusilier John Stirrup had been born in Enniskillen and his family moved to William Street, Cookstown when he was young.

He is shown here when serving with 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the Anzio area in March 1944.

John married and moved to England.
Interestingly he is the grandfather of Sir Graham (Jock) Stirrup who was Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Defence Staff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jock_Stirrup.
(IWM Picture)

28/02/2024

On this day in 1902, John Steinbeck, the renowned writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in California.

Steinbeck's maternal grandfather, Samuel Hamilton, was from the Ballykelly area of Londonderry. At age seventeen he travelled to the United States, where a year later he married Elizabeth Fagen, born in the US but whose family also hailed from Ulster.

John Steinbeck was a prolific writer, authoring 33 books during his lifetime, including 16 novels. Many of these novels have become classics of English and American literature, such as Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and East of Eden.

Though Steinbeck was only two when his grandfather died, he had a life-long fascination with the man and his Ulster roots. In August 1952, Steinbeck visited Scotland and Northern Ireland with his wife Elaine, stopping off at what he regarded as his ancestral homeland.

Steinbeck recalled driving through Ballykelly "without knowing it was there", but at Limavady the locals turned him back. He recalled: "I guess I had thought of Ballykelly as a town; it isn’t - it’s what they call in Texas 'a wide place in the road.'" However he described Ballykelly as "the seat of my culture and the origin of my being and the soil of my background".

His popular novel Of Mice and Men takes its name from Robert Burns' famous poem To A Mouse, from the line that states "The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley".

24/02/2024

On this day in 1816, Charles Inglis, the Ulster-Scot who became the first Anglican bishop in North America, passed away.

Inglis was born to the Reverend Archibald Inglis, rector of Glencolmcille and Kilcar, a remote parish in southwest County Donegal, Ulster, into a family of Scottish ancestry.

Inglis became rector of Killybegs, Donegal, but in 1755 he sailed to America before his 21st birthday and worked as a teacher.

After he had taught for three years at a Church of England school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Inglis obtained the required testimonials to enable him to be admitted to holy orders in England. Ordained deacon and priest by the bishop of Rochester on 24 Dec. 1758, the young cleric returned to America as missionary to Dover, Delaware, where he served for six years.

On 11 August 1787, George III created the Diocese of Nova Scotia by Letters Patent, and named Inglis its first bishop, where he preached at St. Paul's Church in Halifax.

Charles' son John Inglis also became Bishop of Nova Scotia, in 1825, having been ordained by his father in 1801.

02/02/2024

100 years ago this week, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States who had Ulster-Scots roots on both sides of his family, passed away.

Wilson was born to a Presbyterian minister in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia in 1856, growing up during the Civil War and Reconstruction era.

Wilson’s paternal grandfather James Wilson emigrated from Strabane in North Tyrone in 1807, while his maternal grandfather the Rev Thomas Woodrow was a native of Paisley in Scotland who moved to America in 1835 to take up a Presbyterian congregational charge in Ohio.

James Wilson, just before emigrating, had undergone an apprenticeship at Gray's Print Shop in Strabane. Another previous employee of the shop was one John Dunlap, who printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Woodrow Wilson obtained a doctorate in history and political philosophy, leading him to teach at several colleges before becoming president of the prestigious Princeton University. Princeton itself was founded by Scottish-born Church of Ireland minister William Tennent in 1746, so Ulster-Scots heritage prevailed throughout it.

Wilson would go on to become the governor of New Jersey in 1911 before becoming President in 1913. He would be the president that lead the United States into the Great War in 1917, securing victory for the Allies, and would be a leading architect of the League of Nations following its denouement.

Wilson passed away on February 3rd 1924, 100 years ago this Saturday. He is buried in Washington National Cathedral, being the only president whose final resting place lies within the nation's capital.

28/01/2024

Smuggling During the Second World War.

This is an entry from the Pettigo Customs, Eire, Seizures Book.

Entry Number 4 from 5.15PM on 22nd January 1944 shows that a Customs Patrol spoke with Leslie Garland, 1495718, Royal Air Force, St. Angelo, Enniskillen who was found to be in possession of 6 Pairs of Ladies Pantihose valued at £1.
(Thanks very much to Selwyn Johnston)

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