1641 Depositions

Examination of Joseph Travers

Reference: MS 836, fols 156r-160v
County: Tyrone
Date: 25/2/1653
Type: Commonwealth
Nature of Deposition: Arson, Assault, Captivity, Killing, Military Action, Multiple Killing, Robbery, Words

Print
How to Cite

fol. 156r

The examinacion of Joseph {Travers} the xxvth of ffebr 1652
<symbol> Who beeing duely sworne and examjned deposeth {and sayeth} that at the begining of the Rebellion in Ireland 2{3rd} October 1641 the examjnant liued at Tobberinesan i{n} the County of Tyrone, That on the xxviijth of oc{tober} 1641 Murtagh Quin with diuers other Rebells {came} to the examjnants house vppon pretence of searching for Armes which they sayd they did by Comission from Sir Phelym ô Neale that accordingly they tooke out of the said house some armes that the examjnant telling the said Murtagh that hee hoped hee would answeare that violence the said Murtagh tould the examjnant hee did not care for him while hee liued in Vlster and that all Ireland was in Rebellion, Th{ere?} after about an houre the examjnant was tould that Charle{mount} and Dunganon were taken the night before by Sir Phely{m } that all the Country was vpp in Ar{mes } on the said xxiijth of October the examjnant { } to knowe from him whether or noe it { } the examjnant to liue in his owne house { } Sir Phelym therevppon sent to the examjnant th{ } and his family should goe to Kynard and { } vntill they { } which the examjnant accordingly did and continued { } house there for about a fortnight after , vntill the later end of January following that { } vppon his remoueall from his house as aforesaid was pillaged of all his substance both with { }
1)

fol. 156v

with out doores but what hee then carryed with him, and a truncke or two that was concealed by a servant of his That soone after his comeing to Kynard the examjnant heard it Sir Phelym ô Neale gaue direccions for {riseing} <C> the County goe to take in the Church of Armagh then possessed by where the English were gathered for theire safegard, and that accordingly theire was a generall riseing a and that the said Sr [ Jone ] Rebells did meete the said Sir Phelim at Armagh as the examjnant heard generally reported That during the examjnants beeing at Kynard aforesaid hee saw the said Rebells carry an E ng a Scotch man out of the towne to hang him on a tree at the townes=end which th accordingly they did as the examjnant was tould in which action donell Bane mc Crolly of Kinard, now of Charlemo nt seemed to bee most actiue, <D> That the exa [ ] there was allsoe a man & a woman and a Child murdered in the said towne which woman was nurse to the said Sir Phelym and brought by the said Sir Phelyms wife out of England, and that afterwards {th}ere was scarce one a night during the examjnants {b}eeing at Kynard but there were seuerall English { ki}ll ed sometymes two, and sometymes more murdered { } in theire houses beds, Hee saith that about the first {of} January towards the [ firs t ] of { } December 1641 The said Sir Phelym ô Neale came from Charlemounte to Kynard after the takeing of Kinard Strabane and thither came to him Sir Mr Robert Maxewell <E> who li u ed who liued not farre from Kynard and the said Mr Maxwell and the examjnant came to beeing in the said Sir Phelym to his house where they discourseing the said Sir Phelym tould the said Maxwell and the examjnant the manner of his takeing of Char that on the
2)

fol. 157r

the xxijth of october in the euening hee { } <f> Charlemount (haueing sent seuerall of his par{tye} Reb{ } before to the said towne) and hee and the Lor{ } beeing at James Cookes house in the said towne {untill?} late at night the said Lord Caulfeild invited the said Sir Phelym to lye in the Castle, that night that the said Sir Phelym accordingly went thither and then [unarmed] a{nd} seised on the said Lord Caulfeild as prisoner and {told} him hee did it by the aucthority of the Parliament of Ireland, and likewise seised on the said Lo: Caulfeild{s} mother and his brothers and sisters co and kept them all prisoners, Hee likewise tould the examjnant and the said Mr Maxwell that hee had certaine intelligence that the Gentlemen of the Pale had <G> were then risen and ioyned with him ( except Barnewall of Turv y who was drinking Ale in Dublin and they could not gett him out ) that they were <G> a great while in doubt whither or noe they { } rise but (said the said Sir Phelym) if they { } hee, would haue gone to Dublin to the { } and Councell and haue proued them { } and traytors, for I would haue shewen { } confederacy with mee vnder theire own { } and seales, Hee saith that hee ha{ } said Sir Phelym say that hee had a Co{mmission from} the King for what hee did, The examj{nant} heard that the said Sir Phelym was sent fo{r } and Gentlemen of the Pale to bee theire Gen{ } to bring with him his fforces to be the seige { } from whom beeing returned hee the said Sir {Phelym} gathered the Country to the number of abou{ }
3)

fol. 157v

thousand then marcht with a parte of his Army towards Drogheda and sent an other parte of his Army vnder the comand of his brother Tirlagh ô Ne{a}le Northward vppon some other designe, Hee saith that the said Sir Phelym beeing at Kynard aforesaid he tould the examjnant that theise Rogues (meaneing some of his followers and tennants of Kynard) haue murdered by my nurse and the child whom they knew my wife loued and respected and brought her out of England, but I haue beene revenged on them for I haue hanged eight or nine of them for it, Hee <1> further saith that about the later end of January 1641 the examjnant was tould that Sir Phelym ô Neale had sent for seuerall of the Inhabitants of Kynard <I> to come to Charlemount to conduct the Lord Caulfeild from thence to Kynard aforesaid, that accordingly the said Lord Caulfeild was brought thither by {C}aptain Neale mc Kena of the Trough and Neale Modde{r O} Neale (to both wh o m the said Lo: Caulfeild was recomended more especially) and the other Inhabitants aforesaid, that {a}s the said Lord Caulfeild was entring into the Bawne of the house {of} Kynard Neale mc Kena lookeing about him asked { Jo } hn Edmund Boy ô Hugh who was then present where is your heart? wherevppon the said Edmond boy shott the said Lord Caulfeild in his backe wherewith hee fell downe dead, as the examjnant was tould by Donnogh son in law to Adam Taffe, that immediately after the said murder was comitted Neale mc Kena, Edmond Boy ô Hugh, Art Cloghola and Shane ô Makell went to the house of Sir Phelym ô Neales Stewart
4)

fol. 158r

<L> Stewart at Kynard Donell bane mc Crolly { } and there { } drinking and singing vntill about ten a { } night, and then the said Edmond boy o Hugh Art Cloghola and Shane ô Makell went in to the said towne of Kynard and there murdered as the was and a (as the said examjnant was [ ] tould) one and twenty English of the said Sir Phelims tennants and others that were come thither for safety some of whose bodies the examjnant saw the next day among whom was Mr Potter and his wife, <M> Hee saith that in Kynard aforesaid hee heard two or three of Sir Phelyms seruants in their discourse to each other say that the said Sir Phelym had not long before taken some offence against the said Lord Caulfeild for that the said Lord had a little while before his beeing murdered beeing drinking with the said Sir Phelym in Charlemont & tould the said Sir Phelym betweene rest and earnest [ tould ] that hee the said Sir Phel{im } was a traytor, Hee saith th{ } heard that the said Neale mc Ke{na } Modder ô Neale (though often after in { } <N> company) were euer questioned { } Sir Phelym for the said murder of the Lo: { } no{ } Edmond boy ô Hugh euer questioned { } although that about two monthes after hee was { } to the Goale of Armagh by Tirlagh ô Neale for steale{ing} an axe from Mr Chapple and that { } the said Edmond boy ô Hugh was rele{ } one Murphy the Goaler for whose esc{ } the said Tirlagh ô Neale comitted the Goal{ }
5)

fol. 158v

Goaler and the said Gaoler after [ ] escapeing the said Tirlagh ô Neale did hang an Englishman <O> and a Scotchman for theire negligent watching of the said Goale, and that there was allsoe an Englishe Irishman to bee hanged with them but whither or noe hee were hanged hee knoweth not, but saith that hee saw the bodies of the said Scotch and Englishman after they were hanged, Hee saith that about Midsomer 1642 Sir Phelym ô Neale haueing intelligence that there were exclamacions against him in Dublin for the murder of the said Lord Caulfeild, the said Sir Phelym did cause the aforesaid Art Cloghola and Shane ô Makell (as the examjnant was tould by some of those that came out of Ulster) to bee hanged at & euer neere Charlemount, hee saith that beeing after terrified with the {of}ten murders of the English at Kynard and that not {a}boue two or three English were left there, the examjnant made meanes to gett to Armagh supposeing that hee might bee safe there from the violence of the Comon people in regard there was some gouernment there, where hee obserued that Alexander Houenden halfe brother to Sir Phelym ô Neale haueing displact one Mr Southwicke a Protestant, Soueraigne of the said towne and did [ ] place appoint Thady Crolly an Irishman a Papist to bee Suffranie and did admininster an
6)

fol. 159r

2487
an oath to the said Thady Crilly to be{ } the said Sir Phelym and s to keepe sa he{ } Hee saith that hee obserued that when any { } <B> Protestants were to bee murdered they were gathered together by beate of drum, and sent abroad some vnder pretence of beeing p to bee quartered abroad in the Country and others to bee sent away with Convoyes and [ to ] as the examjnant heard were murdered sometymes twenty at a tyme and sometymes more, and particularly after the takeing of Drogheda by Dundalke by the English the <Q> de John Stanley of Marlestowne neere Drogheda with ffled to Armagh (as did then many others of the Gentlemen of the Pale) that the said John Stanly obseruing the number of the English at Armagh tould Sir Phelym ô Neale that they were two thicke and advised him to { } them were whereuppon the d a the { } beaten and the English gathered together { } about fforty or ffifty chosen out and s{ } <R> and murdered as the examjnant heard, and { } seuerall tymes afterwards some numbers { } Protestants were carryed away and murder{ed} of whom many were murdered in the Ch{ } Benburb, Hee saith that soone aft{ } the remaine of the said [ ] Protestants { } gathered together by beate of Drum, they m{ } into the prison under the sessions house { } Armagh, (among whom this examjnant was des{ }
7)

fol. 159v

2488
bee putt) by but by the speciall fauor of Sir Phelym ô Neale hee and Mr William ffitz=Gerrald were preserued) the said Sir Phelym beeing then sitting in Councell in the said Sessions house ouer the sa{id} <S> Gaole, that soone after within lesse then a hour the said Sir Phelym caused the Church and Goale and towne of Armagh to bee sett on fire, feareing the English partie should possesse the same who were then expected there, and that the said towne, Church and Goale were burnt, b ut that some of the townesmen b ee (seeing of some of theire neighbours in the said Goale did breake opened the doore and lett them out but they were afterwards murder{ed} in abou and about the said towne of Armagh and the County there about among whom were murdered Mr Robert Dillon and his wife Mr Starkie and his two daughters and seuerall others, to the number of neere five hundred as the examjnant beleiueth, Hee saith that the next day after the burning of Armagh the examjnant with hazard of his life went to Charlemount, and after a little stay there procured Sir Phelym ô Neales passe and soe came to Dundalke an English Guarrison, And further saith not
Joseph Trauers
{Depose}d before me
{H}en: Jones

<V>This Examinant further saith that in about July next before the breakeing out of the Rebellion, He did meete Sir Phelim ô Neale in the Castle of dublin, the parliament then there about sitting: that the said Sir Phelim calling to him this
8)

fol. 160r

2489
this Examinant told him in his [ ] privately there the King {and parliament} of England were fallen out, but we (said he) must be his { } meaneing the Parliament or his party in the Parliament of Ireland, Tha{t after?} the said Sir Phelim’s being created Earle of Tirone, there were severall <W> petitions to him from the Irish sept s in V lster for theire landes pretended theires before the plantation: in answere vnto which he did conferre on his brother Tirlogh oge o Neile the lands of Loghgall belonging to mr C ope Anthony Cope, pretended formerly to belong to Art mc Baron o Neile: And to the sept of the Quins in the Co: of Armagh he gave the lands of Magherlecough & thereabout as belonging to theire Ancestors which graunt the Examinant did se in the hands of Donogh o Quin who did shew the same to the Examinant & told him that had petitioned for the same
Joseph Trauers
Deposed before as before
Hen: Jones

64

fol. 160v

2490

The Exam. of
mr Joseph Traverse.

Y Y Y

1

Sir William Shawe [Costem]

Henry Jones

Trinity College Dublin