Back to The
Coopers of Coopers Hill, Queens county or
The Coopers of County Carlow and
Dublin
For more on the deed memorials mentioned on
this and the above two pages see The
Coopers of co. Carlow, Queens county and Dublin Deed Memorials
While there were many prominent Cooper families
in Ireland's history, my specific interest is with my
Bowles of Ballickmoyler's
landlords, The Coopers of Coopers Hill, Queens county.
The earliest records I have been able to trace for that line was
in the late 1600's
in
co. Carlow,
the neighbouring county to the east of Queens county. Edward
Cooper, son of Thomas Cooper of Newtown co. Carlow, bought the lease to
the townlands of Sreagh, Cadagh and Ballymoyler (Shragh now Coopers
Hill, Cuddagh now Cloydah and Ballickmoyler) in 1714. He soon
relocated to Shragh where he established his Coopers Hill Demesne and
leased the rest of his land to tenants including my ancestor John
Bowles' parents some time before 1740.
Edward Cooper had adopted the faith of the
Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 1690's and raised his family in the
Quaker faith. However, there were other Coopers in that same area
in Carlow who remained in the Church of Ireland, which would likely have
created a rift within a family. It seems to have at first. A
Thomas Cooper of Templepeter, co. Carlow worked as a tithe
collector
for the Templepeter parish from 1697 to 1705. A
tithe was the fee payable by every farmer in a parish, regardless of
their faith, to support the C of I parish church and its priest.
People of the Quaker faith would not pay tithes so the tithe
collectors would seize whatever produce (sheep, cattle, grain etc.) from
the Friend's farms that they decided would cover the tithes owed.
These seizures were supported by law and could be enforced by military
support if needed. As the Friends were peaceful they would allow
the seizures and merely have them recorded in their meeting's minutes as
their 'sufferings'. The sufferings for the Carlow Meeting record
Thomas Cooper's seizures in Templepeter and Gilbertstown parishes from
John Boles and Robert Lecky both close associates of Thomas and Edward
Cooper of Clonegah near Newtown. Clonegah was in the neighbouring
parish of Agha and likely partly in Fenagh parish as Thomas and Edward
Cooper had seizures made by the tithe collectors from both of those
parishes. See Cooper
Family Members On Both Sides of the Tithe Seizures in co. Carlow
However, relations between the two Cooper lines
seems to have survived that period as the two had frequent contact over
the years. So many that there must have been a very close familial
connection between them although, so far, I can only speculate what the
connection was.
See The Early Roots of the Coopers of Coopers
Hill in county Carlow, A Coopers Line of Carlow and Dublin, Connections
Between the Two Cooper Lines, A Proposed Family Tree for the Coopers of
Carlow and The Coopers of co. Carlow, Queens county and Dublin Deed
Memorials
but in this case the C of I Coopers
maintained a close connection to the Quaker Coopers.
under construction