Ancestors

Richard Young

Richard Young was a gentleman of Drumgoon and Lahard, in the parish of Killeshandra in County Cavan. Most of what is known of him comes from H. B. Swanzy's notes on the County Cavan militia and army lists, printed in Notes and Queries in 1924 and 1925. Swanzy worked from the Killeshandra parish registers, family marriage settlements and the index of Prerogative wills. The early generations of the family rest on his published notes.

Swanzy calls him the brother of Mrs. John Beatty and of Matthew Young of Coolbane, whose will was dated 26 December 1696 and proved in the Prerogative Court on 23 November 1697. He adds that Richard was "probably son of James Young, of Coolbane, attainted 1689." To be attainted was to be declared a traitor, with the loss of one's lands. That parentage is Swanzy's own "probably".

He was a justice of the peace, a local gentleman who sat as magistrate. A Clinton family history, The House of Glendowyn, calls him "Richard Young, of Drumgoon, J.P., living 1704". In 1708 he was an officer in Coote's Foot. Foot meant infantry, and regiments were then known by the names of their colonels.

Swanzy gives him four sons and an eldest daughter, by a wife "whose name has not been ascertained". Francis was the eldest son. James, of Lahard, was born at Belturbet. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 10 May 1703, aged 17, took his B.A. in 1708, and was buried at Killeshandra on 1 September 1775. Mathew, of Lahard, the third son, became a lieutenant in Newburgh's Dragoons. John was of Drumgoon. The daughter, Catherine, married Alexander Brooke of Dromavana, and her marriage settlement was dated 22 July 1713.

Two of his grandchildren married each other. Catherine's son, the Rev. William Brooke, Rector of Granard, married Mathew's daughter Elizabeth on 26 September 1755. Their daughter Honor married the traveller Eyles Irwin in 1778.

Richard Young was buried at Killeshandra on 14 July 1745. The index of the Prerogative wills of Ireland lists a will of "Richard, Lahard, co. Cavan, gent." in 1749, which may be his. The Prerogative Court was the Archbishop of Armagh's court, which proved the wills of people with property in more than one diocese.

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Cite: Heirology, "Richard Young (d. 1745)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/richard-young-1745-29e3cf.