Our next monthly meeting will be take place on Wednesday 8th March in Armagh County Museum. We will start at the earlier time of 6:30pm with our Annual General Meeting, which will be followed by a talk starting at 7:30pm.

Our speaker this month is our Canadian member Sharon Oddie Brown. This year, Sharon will be speaking about Forkhill Jacksons: Kith and Kin.

Sharon will explore connections – with a dollop of humour and an unconventional approach to research – between various JACKSON families to the JACKSONs of Forkhill, including the alleged Armagh connections of Sir Thomas JACKSON (1839-1915) of Urker to Richard JACKSON of Forkhill.

Richard JACKSON of Forkhill had no children to inherit his estate, and the Forkhill Trust began thanks to bequests in his will. At the time, it took a fleet of lawyers to sort out various legal hurdles, but The Forkhill Trust continues to this day to support local charities.

Sir Thomas’ connection to the Forkhill JACKSON was claimed in 1912 when he donated money to the Forkhill Trust. The minutes of the Trust record: The Trustees thank Sir Thomas Jackson of Stansted house, Essex for helping build Creggan Schools. In his turn he thanked the Trustees for their contribution. He was a kinsman of the Founder, and was a banker in Hong Kong and had property at Urker, Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh.  

But was Sir Thomas a kinsman of Richard of Forkhill? Possibly. Were other JACKSONs of Co. Armagh also related? Probably. There are several twists and turns to this tale. Come and find out.