Four Mullans from Blossom Hill

By Dave Mullan

For about twenty-five years Val Mullan in Queensland and Dave Mullan in New Zealand have corresponded about the possibility of putting together some kind of record of the four Mullan siblings who emigrated from Blossom Hill in Co. Tyrone to the other end of the world. This collaboration initially was limited to the gathering of information for a Family Tree and was prompted in New Zealand by WA Mullan who was the last direct descendant of four brothers and sisters who left Northern Ireland for better lives in the Antipodes.
A gathering of more than fifty interested family members—including the redoubtable WA Mullan in his nineties—in Redcliffe in May 2001 created a lot of interest. Pamphlets were offered and family stories shared. But the event did not produce a lot of new information. And the concentrated work needed to pull together all the material that was available could not be done at that time.
A decade and a half later, with shared online drafting and editing, there has been enough time to collate some kind of coherent story with such facts and impressions as are still available. Most of what has been discovered has been Val’s work and her prodigious output of notes has continued and the writing has progressed. In early 2106 when Dave had already gained some experience of online publishing, we began to bring together our various notes. A major family resource was becoming available for future researchers, students, and interested family members.
Obviously this process could go on for years. But we judged it better to put together some kind of document now with what we know rather than to keep fossicking around for stories which may or may not still come through from family members.
So this account focuses on the four Mullans who left Blossom Hill and the first generation after them. We believe that their stories can be assembled by other people. We are happy to record what we can for now about the four brothers and sisters who were born at Blossom Hill.
So our story begins at that modest property. It goes on to introduce other relations who preceded our four out to Australia and New Zealand and whose lives became intermingled with the four. Then, as best we can, we tell the story of each of the four in order of their age
Samuel Hood. and his sister Rebecca Campbell emigrated to Queensland. They both had several surviving children and there is now a large community of Mullans and Campbells in Australia. Jennie Chittick and Crawford Mullan both moved to New Zealand but their small families did not result in a large continuing family in that country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dave Mullan
• Release date: Jan 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781877357268

Dave Mullan

Retired Presbyter of Methodist Church of New Zealand. Passionate pioneer in Local Shared Ministry, consultant in small churches, publisher of over 100 niche market books, producer of prosumer video, deviser of murder mystery dinners and former private pilot. I trained for the Methodist Ministry at Trinity Theological College and eventually completed MA, Dip Ed as well. Bev and I married just before my first appointment in Ngatea where our two children arrived. We went on to Panmure and Taumarunui. Longer terms followed at Dunedin Central Mission and the Theological College. During this time I was also involved as co-founder and second national President of Family Budgeting Services and adviser to the (government) Minister of Social Welfare. My final four years were part-time, developing the first Presbyterian or Methodist Local Shared Ministry unit in this country and promoting the concept overseas. Retirement has brought a whole lot more opportunities and challenges. We are now living in our own villa in Hibiscus Coast Residential Village.

Book preview

Four Mullans from Blossom Hill

Val Mullan and Dave Mullan

ColCom Press, 28/101 Red Beach Road, Hibiscus Coast, Aotearoa-New Zealand 0932

[e-mail]

ISBN 978-1-877357-26-8

Copyright 2017, Val Mullan and Dave Mullan

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Thanks

The authors are grateful to Lauren Gracie, a great-great-grand-daughter of Crawford Mullan for the cover design.

The portraits

The front cover portraits, clockwise from right, are Crawford, Sam, Jennie and Rebecca. The locations of Blossom Hill and Fintona

are indicated.

Table of Contents

1 — Introduction

2 — Blossom Hill

3 — The Predecessors

4 — Samuel Hood Mullan, b.1860

5 — Rebecca (Mullan) Campbell, b.1863

6 — Jennie (Mullan) Chittick, b.1862

7 — Crawford Mullan, b.1865

1 — Introduction

For about twenty-five years the writers have corresponded about the possibility of putting together some kind of record of the four Mullan siblings who emigrated from Blossom Hill in County Tyrone to the other end of the world.

A gathering of more than fifty interested family members in Redcliffe in May 2001 created a lot of interest. Pamphlets were offered and family stories shared. But the event did not produce a lot of new information. And the concentrated work needed to pull all the material together could not be done at that time.

A decade and a half later there may be enough time to collate some kind of coherent story with such facts and impressions as are still available. Most of what has been discovered has been Val’s work and her prodigious output of notes is continuing to be developed. Together with Dave’s personal record a major family resource has become available for future researchers and interested family members.

Meanwhile, between the two of us, we think it better to put together some kind of document now with what we know rather than to keep fossicking around for stories which may or may not still come through from family members.

So this account focuses on the four Mullans who left Blossom Hill and touches only lightly on their children and other descendants. Others’ stories can be assembled by other people. We are happy to record what we can for now about the four brothers and sisters who were born at Blossom Hill.

So our story begins at the family property. It goes on to introduce other relations who preceded our four out to Australia and New Zealand and whose lives became intermingled with the four. Then, as best we can, we tell the story of each of the four in turn.

Val Mullan, Brisbane

Dave Mullan, Auckland

2 — Blossom Hill

William and Mary

William Samuel Mullan was born in 1824 in Fintona, County Tyrone. He married Mary Hood in the Douglas Presbyterian Meeting House, Ardstraw Parish, Co. Tyrone on 13 Aug 1856. She was five years younger and had been born in Lisnafin. They had at least seven children, three of whom did not survive into adulthood—

Margaret 1856

Elizabeth 1857

Samuel Hood 1860

Anne Jane (Jennie) 1862

Rebecca 1863

William 1864

Crawford 1865

Blossom Hill was the name of the property William Samuel occupied from as early as 1853. When their first child, Margaret, was baptized in December 1856, the family address was recorded as Mullawinny, the local Townland. The name Blossom Hill is perpetuated on present-day maps and in the Blossom Hill Lodge, Fintona 415, which stands on part of what used to be the family property.

The present day house on Blossomhill Farm includes only some of the walls of the building described in the 1901 Census—

1901 Census and Building Return

William Mullan, land holder—nine Out-Offices and Farmsteadings; Stone or Brick walls; Roof of slate, iron or tiles; five or six rooms; four windows in front of house.

Ownership?

Various census returns seem to suggest that William was not the owner of the land, as some of us have thought—he is consistently described as tenant. This would be at variance with some family traditions which suggest that the family lost the property because William and his second son Crawford put all their time and energy into maintaining the church and the lodge. The implication was that the family walked away from an agricultural and property investment goldmine. This was never the case.

Karen Patterson, of Blossomhill Farm, in 2004, was the first to blast this theory out of the marsh. Personally interested in the story of her home, she undertook to track down some of the history of the property title. She found that a landlord or over-tenant was named in census documents, suggesting that William did not own the land. Andrew Crawford appears on transfer documents in 1853 and her commentary seems to suggest that at that time William Mullan was living and working on the property. However, other records in Griffiths Land Valuation Revision Books, show an Alexander aka Alex Crawford as lessee of William Mullan’s portions of the Mullawinny townland. A Crawford is also named as landlord in census documents. It is an intriguing thought that perhaps the landlord was the source of the rather unusual name for Crawford Mullan, the fourth surviving child of William and Mary. Margaret Dalkin, of Sydney, another family member who has done considerable research is inclined to this view.

Also, research by Robert Davison—commissioned by WA Mullan—uncovered the probability that the parents of William Samuel could have been James Mullan and Margaret Crawford, thus raising the interesting possibility that William might have been quite correctly described as tenant but might well have had a family interest in the property.

Furthermore, Karen Patterson unearthed a really significant document that made it clear that in 1891 William bought the property in fee farm—as distinct from fee simple. The word fee is derived from fief, meaning a feudal landholding, not uncommon in cities and towns. The word farm is the equivalent of rent so while William paid over £350 to purchase the property, he also had to pay about £6 a year and tithes and indemnities (presumably to Andrew Crawford or his successors) in perpetuity to maintain his ownership of it.

William would be aware of the importance of attending to these responsibilities since he had obtained the property through the insolvency of the previous owner/occupier. Crawford, as the entity to whom the rent was paid, was properly described as landlord—but this is a term that has rather different connotations today. A possible parallel for William’s situation might be a person who buys a house but pays a ground rent for the land which is not included in the purchase.

While it is true that William and Mary walked off the land, it seems they did not sacrifice their primary financial investment. Again, this is contra to the Mullan tradition that they were penniless. This record, located by Karen Patterson, is of particular interest:

ABSTRACT OF TITLE:

JJK Johnston to David White (Undated, but probably 1912)

This document recites the history of the property from 1852 and records that William Mullin held it in fee farm and handed it over to Hugh Johnston in 1903 in exchange for the price he had paid for it eleven years earlier, namely £350, plus £8 interest. Hugh Johnston, however, died. This document appears to transfer the property to JJK Johnston and on to David White.

White occupied the homestead from about this time and his son, Robert, was born there. When located in Fintona in 2002, the son, Bobbie White, proved to be a most enthusiastic and helpful informant on the Blossom Hill property and the Lodge.

Blossom Hill Lodge

William Mullan was undoubtedly a committed and passionate founder of the Blossom Hill Orange Lodge which met in the family home for several decades. It was normal for a farm homestead to include a large all-purpose barn at one end and it is thought that this was the first meeting place of the Lodge. William Samuel was Grand Master for many years, including 1870 when a surviving record shows there were 25 members. His address is given as Cavan which may be an old townland name as the farm is actually situated on present-day Cavan Rd. He is also Grand Master in 1882 when his address is given as Blossom Hill. In this report the membership has gone up to 51. His son Samuel was active in Lodge life, as was the younger son Crawford whose name appears in some of the annual statistical returns of the time.

Although the WA Mullan tradition was that Crawford and his father founded the Lodge, Lewis Anderson, 89, of Fintona, demonstrated that William and a brother began the Lodge. Crawford was certainly involved in it after 1885 when his older brother Samuel left for Australia. Indeed, Crawford may have felt a customary obligation not to marry but to keep the home fires burning until his father died.

When the family left the farm to move into Fintona sometime after disposing of their interest in it in 1903, we know the Lodge went into recess for a time. But when the farm changed hands again in 1911, the new owner (Wallace) accepted the Lodge along with the property and meetings resumed in the big end room. The property again changed hands when David White bought it and he also accepted responsibility for hosting the Lodge.

His son, Robbie White, 75, of Fintona, was born