An Ulster Saga or The Early Years of the Watt-McCrossan Dynasty

Introduction

This story was initially drafted in late 2017. Three years in late August 2020, it was subject to further edits to produce the definitive version; for some eight years ago, as of late 2020, I decided to research my maternal family, which I have referred to as the Watt-McCrossan dynasty, in honour of the family’s patriarch and matriarch, namely, Thomas Watt and Jane Ann McCrossan, an Ulster dynasty which has flourished far beyond Ireland’s Ulster province, as the following story serves to attest.

An Ulster Saga or The Early Years of the Watt-McCrossan Dynasty

In generations past, it was apparently the tradition for the father of any given family to name one of his sons after himself, and so the Watt dynasty produced Thomas the farmer, Thomas the carpenter, and Thomas the boot and shoe maker.

 Little is known of Thomas the farmer other than he produced three sons, William, James and Thomas, the latter being Ron’s and my mutual great grandfather, to whom we now turn.

 My maternal great-grandfather Thomas Watt was the patriarch of an Ulster family by the name of Watt, the name Watt being of probable Scottish origin, and affiliated to the Scottish Clan Buchanan, while allegedly being a sept, or subdivision, of Clan Forbes.

 He was born in 1805 at a time what is known today as Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Bearney, a small town situated between Sion Mills and Strabane on the eastern side of the River Mourne and the old Strabane Road in County Tyrone, which is the easternmost county of the modern day country of Northern Ireland, bordering onto Donegal, which like Tyrone, is part of the bifurcated province of Ulster.

 A carpenter by trade, he died in 1899, possibly at the residence of his son in the town land of Lisnamulligan, County Donegal, which is today part of the Republic of Ireland, and is reputed to have been laid to rest in Leckpatrick Old Graveyard, about two miles from Strabane, and just outside the hamlet of Ballygorry at the junction of Ballyheather and Victoria Road. He is buried in an unmarked grave between two yew trees in the centre of the cemetery along side his wife Jane Ann.

 He was a lifelong Presbyterian, and a member as such of the 1st Donagheady Presbyterian Church, occupying pew number 69, as was the custom in those days.

 Thomas was twice married, firstly prior to 1850, and from this union, my eldest maternal great-uncle, John Watt was born, although the date is unknown, and John is believed to have emigrated to an unknown country, so nothing is known about him, while his mother is assumed to have died very young.

 Secondly, on the 1st of June 1850 (in the 2cnd Donagheady Presbyterian Church), he wed my maternal great-grandmother Jane Ann McCrossan, the matriarch of the Watt family who, born in Ireland in 1821, lived the last years of her long life in Castlefin, County Donegal. She died on the 14th of October 1905 aged 84, and was buried alongside her husband three days later at 11 am in Leckpatrick Old Burial Ground.

 As a child, she had been adopted by her grandparents, whose surname was Buchanan, making them part of Clan Buchanan, allegedly founded by Anselan o’ Kyan, one of the sons of the legendary Kings of Ulster. The Buchanans were farmers from Tivney in the tiny townland of Killyclooney, whose present population is just 768, although there’s no evidence they ever actually lived there. The townland system being of Gaelic origin, and predating the Norman invasion, while the names of most townlands are Irish Gaelic, even while some are of Norman origin.

 They had four sons, all of whom are, or rather were, great uncles of mine with the exception of my grandfather James Watt, their first son having been born William Watt possibly in Glasgow, a city which has long enjoyed links with Ulster and Ulster folk. What is certain is he ended up in the great industrial heart of the Scottish Lowlands, where he found work as a gravedigger, ultimately marrying Christina Dennison, and adopting four children.

 The second, more of whom below, was born Thomas Watt in the townland of Donaghedy, situated on the Strabane to Londonderry Road about five miles outside of Strabane itself.

 The third youngest son, my maternal grandfather, was born James Watt in February 1864. A carpenter by trade, as a young man, he left Ulster for Glasgow, Scotland, where he married my maternal grandmother Elizabeth Hazeldine of Springburn, Glasgow, at Springburn Salvation Army Citadel in October 1896.

 The fourth and youngest son, my youngest maternal great uncle, was born Robert Watt on the 25th of November 1866 . He married Rebecca Pollock, who, born into a farming family in Ballymagorry on the 21st of April 1874, would go on to reside at Killynaught, Artigarvan just outside of Strabane, dying on her birthday in 1942, some quarter of a century after her husband, who departed this earth on the 29th of August 1920 in Castlefin, County Donegal.

 Unusually, Jane Ann McCrossan’s sister Marsha also married into the Watt dynasty by wedding my great uncle James, Thomas’ brother, also a widower, and they had twin sons, William and John, born on the 30th of November 1866.

 While next to nothing is known of William Watt, there is a fair amount of information concerning his younger brother, the aforesaid Thomas, who spent much of his life in Castlederg, where he served his apprenticeship, possibly as a cobbler, in a place of business by the name of Scotts Shoes, close by to the Methodist Church, which stands to this day, ultimately starting his own business, and where he died on the 17th of August 1941, and where he was buried.

 He married twice, and his first wife Elizabeth McCrea allegedly died in childbirth, while his second was Jane Craig, matriarch of the Craig branch of the dynasty, more of whom later.

 Each evening after having closed his shop for the day, Thomas, a deeply religious man, would retire to his room to read on Christian matters. Sunday was a day of rest given over to churchgoing, with both the morning and evening services being attended, while much of the rest of the day was devoted to Bible study, and during the week, Thomas would often discuss Sunday’s sermon with his customers.

 The five children of Thomas and first wife Elizabeth, all first cousins of mine once removed, include William James Watt, who, born at Milltown, Castlederg on the 5th of October 1886, had come to Castlederg around 1876 to serve his indenture to the boot and shoe trade.

 He went to Canada around 1910, allegedly after having completed a year at university in Belfast, marrying Elizabeth Craig, possibly of Ballyfolliard, Castlederg, on the 29th of July 1912 in Macleod, Alberta. She died in Burnaby, Vancouver, in 1963, three years after her husband, who died, also in Burnaby, on the 21st of December 1960.

 Their second son, Robert McCrea Watt, was born in 1889 in the city of Londonderry, dying of tuberculosis as a very young man while training to be a teacher at Malborough College in Dublin.

 Their third son, Thomas ‘Tom’ Watt, born 27 May 1891, worked as a shop assistant before serving with the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers during the Great War. He was wounded in June or July 1917, and spent time in hospital in France with serious gunshot wounds to his right hand, which resulted in his wearing a glove to cover his wounds. Ultimately he moved to Newtownards Road, Belfast, where he established a shoe shop. He died on the 20th of August 1966, and is buried with his wife, who died two years later on the 14th of November 1968, in Clady cemetery.

 Following the death of Elizabeth, Thomas Watt married Jane Craig - a seamstress or dressmaker by trade - on the 24th of December 1900 in the Presbyterian Church, Sion Mills. They had six children, all first cousins of mine once removed.

 Their first child was born Margaret Watt on the 29th of November 1902. She married George Berkely Sloan of Rockwood, Castlederg, principal of Erganagh Primary School. George died in 1960, while Margaret outlived him by over four decades, dying at eight in the evening on the 27th of June 2004, aged 101.

 Their second, Jane (Jean) Watt, was born on the 22cnd - or 2cnd - of November 1906. She married William Chales Gailey Hamilton (1903-1979), a pharmacist, who although born in Castlederg, later moved to Tandragee, and finally to Crumlin Road, Belfast. She died aged 98 on the 31st of May 2005.

 Their third, Samuel Rutherford Watt, was born in 1909, going on to marry Margaret Elizabeth Brooks (known as Aunt Daisy) from Cottown near Raphoe in County Donegal, whom he met at a church dance, before serving as a Presbyterian minister in Carrigallen, County Leitrim, and Clontibret, County Monaghan, before retiring to Bangor, County Down. He died on the 7th of January 2003; while Daisy followed him on the 1st of November 2006. They had no children.

 Their fourth, Albert Edwin Watt, was born on the 15th of December 1911. He married Mary Maud Elliott of Enniskillen, in 1936, at Rossory Church of Ireland. She had been born just two days before her husband on the 13th of December 1911. She died in Omagh Hospital of kidney failure on the 2cnd of March 1955, and is buried in Castlederg. Her husband outlived her by nearly 36 years, and is buried in the family grave, also in Castlederg.

 Their fifth, John Robert Watt, known as Jack, was born on the 23rd of January 1915. He married Doris Miller (born on the 23rd of November 1919) from Cavan Bellaghy, County Armagh, on the 27th of July 1949.

 Jack Watt served as a Presbyterian minister in Tartaraghan near Portadown, Burt, County Donegal, and Dadoney/Glenelly, County Tyrone. When he retired from the ministry, he lived in Badoney before moving to Ballyclare.

 It might be recalled that my great uncle Thomas Watt’s first wife Elizabeth McCrea gave birth to a son, my first cousin once removed, William James Watt, in Castlederg on the 5th of October 1886. On the 31st of May 1912, he sailed from Liverpool to Canada on the Empress of Ireland in the company of his father Thomas, docking in Montreal on the 8th of June 1912, whereupon they travelled by rail to Macleod in Alberta.

 Upon his arrival in Canada, he joined the Orange Order. He was also a member of the Royal Black Institution, also known as the Royal Black Preceptory. According to my mother, my own grandfather James Watt was a member of the Orange Order in his younger days, playing fife as such in a marching band; although it’s my understanding that having become affiliated with the Salvation Army, he cut all ties with the kind of Protestantism he’d once so fervidly embraced.

 On the 29th of July 1912, he married Elizabeth Craig, known as Lizzie. Initially, they lived on 12th Street in Macleod, where William worked as a switchman for the Canadian Pacific Railway for a salary of 800 dollars a year. He suffered severe injuries after having been crushed between a train and a wall, and at one stage, there was a very real danger he’d lose an arm. However, he returned to Ireland for surgery, and so his arm was saved. Sometime between 1917 and 1919, William and his family moved from Macleod to British Columbia. Initially residing in North Vancouver, and their final resting place is believed to be the Valley Cemetery, Vancouver.

 Turning now to my own branch of the Watts of Canada, one of the sons of Thomas Watt and Jane Ann McCrossan was my maternal grandfather James Watt, born 1864, and a carpenter like his father.

 In his younger days, Jim travelled to Glasgow, Scotland, and married my grandmother, Elizabeth Hazeldine, born in Glasgow on the 8th of October 1872 to Robert Hazeldine and Isabella Ross Bellin the Springburn Salvation Army Citadel on the 2cnd of October 1896. The family returned to Northern Ireland before leaving for Canada around 1908. Their children, my maternal uncles and aunts, were as follows:

 Annie Isabella Watt, born in Glasgow on the 16th February 1898. Isa, as she was known, married John Fraser Morrison, known as Fraser, on the 12th of April 1927 in Vancouver, BC. Fraser had been born in St Anns, Nova Scotia, on the 12th of April 1927. He died on the 5th of January 1965 aged 66; while Isa passed in February 1995.

 Robert Watt, born in Toronto on the 16th of February 1898. Bob married Frances Maud Neill (born the daughter of William Maxwell Neill and Louisa Marion Powley on the 11th of July 1901) on the 15th of June 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He passed in Toronto on the 8th of March 1990.

 James Hazeldine Watt, born in Glasgow on the 17th of March 1905. Jim married Ella Miriam Beulah Hoddinott (born - the daughter of Thomas Henry Hoddinott and Florence Hollett - on the 29th of June 1906, in Orillia, Simcoe, Ontario) on the 6th of June 1934. Beulah passed on the 21st of November 1982 in Sarnia, Ontario; while Jim passed, also in Sarnia, on the 24th of January 1995.

 Catherine Booth Watt, born in Drummurphy, Ireland, on the 12th of September 1907. Cathy married Reginald George Mills (born - the son of Thomas William Ephraim and Eliza Mills, née Tichner - on the 20th of November 1908 in Lethbridge, Alberta) on the 23rd of October 1933 in Vancouver.

 My mother was born Angela Jean Elizabeth Watt on the 13th of November 1915 in Brandon, Manitoba, the only child of James and Elizabeth Watt to have been born in Canada. Angela would go on to become a successful singer, being ultimately inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame as a Pioneer. She married Patrick Clancy Halling in June 1949 in Kensington, London, and had two sons, of whom I am the elder.

 She passed away in Kingston-upon-Thames, London, on the 4th of June 2017, but the Watt-McCrossan dynasty lives on in the UK through her children and grandchildren, as it does elsewhere, for needless to say, this great Ulster dynasty doesn’t end with the present generation. And in conclusion, I would like to thank its patriarch, Thomas, and matriarch, Jane Ann, for enabling its existence in the first place.