Rountree's from Armagh in Northern Ireland

[wmrountree]

Oh Hi! William Norman Rountree of County Armagh, Son of William James Rountree here

I seem to have stumbled across something very interesting. Its kinda freaky to see your fathers name appear in a thread, then to read on to find out it was someone who lived in the same county with the same name only about 140 years ago.

I just kinda skimmed over all the pages but can someone fill me in on what is so interesting about (what i think might be) my ancestors :S

[kingjohn]

Hi everyone,
Trying to find information on William John Rountree, Cabinet Maker of Richhill Co Armagh (married Mary Connolly in 1881).
John Rogers

[Castlerea]

William John Rountree is my great grandfather.

[nmt]

Hi there. I am so interested in the Rountrees from armagh as I too am a descendant. I also have the family Bible with a list of the births and deaths of Margaret Anne and Meridith Rountree's children. They had 7 children ,one of whom was Emma Rountree who was my great great Grandmother. The others were Jones,Annie Alicia, Meridith, Stephen Gilbert,Margaretta (looks as if she died at birth,)and Joseph who died at age 12yrs. All the dates tie in with the information in the Bibleso I was pretty excited. Margaret and Meridith were married in 1826. They also moved to Birkenhead in Auckland at some stage ...probably in the 1870s. I have some photographs too-not very many though.

[nmt]

Hi i am also researching this family. I am especially interested in the records on the family bible as my husband is descended fron Stephen Gilbert  one of Meredith Snr sons and it may solve a little problem regarding  Annie Alicia as one of Meredith and Margaret Annes children. Her death cert. states her father as John Rountree. Marriage cert has no Christian name for her father. She had a wonderful record of service in the Salvation Army thoughout NZ and Australia under the name of Mrs. C J Hutchinson. Can anyone help?

[Gilby]

This has been a fascinating read.

I came across this thread in my search for information about the siblings of Margaret Anne Gilbert who married Meredith Rountree (I assumed it was spelt Roundtree, but apparently not).

If Margaret Anne is who I think she is, she was the daughter of Stephen Gilbert and Ann(e) Jane/Jones.  Stephen Gilbert was the son of another Stephen Gilbert and I think Margaret Bullick.  The Gilberts were from a village called Aghagallon (near Lurgan), about 20 miles from Armagh in Northern Ireland.

Nmt, was your husband's ancestor's name Stephen Gilbert Rountree?  It would make sense for Margaret Anne to call one of her sons Stephen Gilbert in honour of her ancestors.  According to my grandfather, it had been the custom for the eldest son in the Gilbert family to be called Stephen.

I'm going to review the children of Margaret Anne and Meredith in another post because there's quite a lot of overlap and disagreement about that ...

[Gilby]

In reading the thread I made a few notes about the children of Margaret Anne and Meredith Rountree.

According to Janettekaye the children were Meredith, Joseph, George, William, Christopher and Gilbert.

Fizzyross says there are seven children: Emma (from whom he is descended), Jones, Annie Alicia, Meridith, Stephen Gilbert, Margaretta and Joseph

That gives us:

• Margaretta (died in infancy)
• Annie Alicia
• Emma
• Meredith
• Joseph (died aged 9, 12 or 14)
• Jones
• Stephen Gilbert
• William?
• George?
• Christopher?

Posters on this thread include descendants of at least three of those siblings, which is pretty good going I think.

Janettekaye had three sons listed which Fizzyross's bible doesn't mention.  Do either of you know why that might be?

[Gilby]

Some more of the information that I've gleaned from this thread, along with some of my own:

• Meredith ROUNTREE married Margaret Anne GILBERT in 1826

• Margaret Anne GILBERT was 84 when she died on 17th January 1903 in Auckland, meaning she was born in about 1819 (1818, according to an entry on Ancestry).  She was the daughter of Anne Jane/Jones (d. 1861) and Stephen GILBERT (c1780-1836) of Aghagallon, near Lurgan, Northern Ireland.  Her paternal grandparents were probably Stephen GILBERT (c1746-1825) and Margaret/Marget BULLICK (1752-1784), also of Aghagallon.

• Meredith (Of Roundtree Hill) was born c1815 at Mulladry, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.  He was the son of Jones ROUNTREE (b. 1781) and Alice (?)MULLADRY (1780-1866).

• According to Oakleigh: in 1865 Meredith ‘Rowntree’ sponsored, with others, Elizabeth Carlin, servant, of Rowntree Hill, County Armagh as an assisted passenger to New Zealand.  They arrived on the Silver Eagle on 5th March 1866.

• Meredith and Margaret Anne had 7+ children (see previous post).

• Their daughter Margaretta died in infancy.  Their son Joseph died of an accident aged 9 (newspaper report), 12 (Fizzyross' bible) or 14 (Early Northland Pioneers - J.T.Stephens) on 14th February 1867.  He was apparently buried on the family farm in Ruarangi because the roads were too bad to take him to the cemetary.

• Meredith staked himself in the abdomen while trying to draw water from a well in 1869.  He was bedridden for 20 months and died on the 11th November 1870 (6th November according to the Daily Southern Cross).  He was buried with his son Joseph with a marble headstone to mark the grave.  (Early Northland Pioneers - J.T.Stephens.)

[Gilby]

Somewhere in this thread Jones ROUNTREE (son of Meredith and Margaret Anne) is said to have married Elenor GUNSON and had by her two sons: Meredith and William James.

I am a bit confused, however by this obituary in the Northern Advocate which talks of a Jones Rountree who married a Miss Gunson and had 5 children: Norman, George, Miss S. STEWART, Miss ROUNTREE and Nurse ROUNTREE.

paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NA19210825.2.29&srpos

No mention of Meredith or William James.