Wakefield Family on the family estate began by Dr. Albert Wakefield

[fruitytooty]

There was no 'Catholic rule' of Ireland in the period you mention so a plot to overthrow it simply doesn't make sense.
Please read the post Shane responded to regarding my question concerning Catholic rule and trying to understand it. What religion did the Wakefield family convert to Methodism from? What was their Church parish previous to this conversion? http://www.irishmethodist.org/about/genealogy.php does not say that had to be members of mandated church-Church of Ireland-Anglican.
Open air preaching was not unusual in Ireland as it meant large crowds who couldn't all be accomodated in a church could listen to the speaker. Probably more common in the country and in places where a church building was only big enough to hold its own congregation.
http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter4.html 3rd paragraph "he preached at the door of the Rectory s the Roman Catholics present dared not go into a Protestant Church. 2nd paragraph on Wakefield's could also mean the same as the 3rd paragraph.
The Church of Ireland was the Established Church (i.e. State Church) and since people had to pay tithes they were entitled to burial in the churchyard (which is why many of them have large numbers of other religions such as Presbyterians in their graveyards). As other religions were finally allowed to hold their own services and their clergy perform weddings, etc. then they would have been likely to be less contact with the Church of Ireland.
From the book "The Parish of Aughrim and Kilconnell" by Tadhg MacLochlain, page 19, on John Wesley's visit to Galway "The last three preachers remembered by the people were Mr. Storey, Mr. Walsh and Mr. Wakefield, all natives of the parish." Maybe the prior church had problems with the Minister Wakefield. Yes I know I read the history concerning the last minister of Methodist faith that was persecuted in the early 1800's-won his case.
The trouble with information being spread over and over again is often tracing it back to a source. The book you mention "Wakefield Memorial by Homer Wakefield" seems to have been published in 1897 and the Victorians were well-known for embellishing family details in order to link back to a prominent family with the same surname, royalty, etc.
http://archive.org/details/wakefieldmemoria00wake
 
Yes I have previously disproved the niece relationship of Elizabeth Morton to John Morton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. However the Wakefield Memorial does state Galway county and where they were born-however it is quite possible that David Wakefield did move to Westmeath County where Athlone is. 1851 census lists Wades and Wakefield-no first name as landowners.And the John Wesley source does say "The descendants of David Wakefield, to the fifth generation at least, identified themselves with the followers of Wesley." This is true in America-ancestors history I do have.
Thanks for all your help and I will be trying to do a post regarding Westmeath County Wakefield's are you saying that no one should research what is in the Wakefield Memorial-and for famous people's is someone beheaded famous-shouldn't someone want to know if this is true?fruitytooty

[aghadowey]

I did not say you shouldn't research any material you've found but I would be skeptical about much of the material not only in this volume but in other books published in this period.

[fruitytooty]

I found some information at a site for John Fleming Wakefield-who is a descendant of the same family I posted on the original post. The site does not get any further for the Wakefields except there is listed a reserch  breakthrough. "35,000 soldiers were in the Battle of Boyne. In 1690 Dr Albert Wakefield dressed a wound for King William III. In appreciation granted land to Dr. Albert Wakefield in Aughrim. Leslie Wakefield now lives there." Also at the same site is a picture of the home of Robert Wakefield and it states for the sign in front "Robert Wakefield, Physician to King Born 1670 Aughrim, Galway, Ireland." This doesn't match up with what Sue found for Dr. Albert Wakefield-1690-supposingly granted land-so how did the 1670 reference and Robert Wakefield Physician to the King come about and I wonder if a few generations were confused especially in connection to the implication in a plot against Catholic rule. I tried to do an email at the site however it no longer works.fruitytooty

[heywood]

I am trying to make sense out of it myself! The original post is the family tradition handed down and is in most histories I read for the Wakefield family-beginning with the Wakefield Memorial by Homer Wakefield. A previous moderator tried to help and said all the history she saw for Wakefields stem from the same book. I have been to all sites mentioned and I believe you really need to know the religion of the person to find records. Well this is quite a different take-dual memberships in parishs, isn't it? And no one has mentioned it to me. I have seen other posts inquiring about families who say they are Protestant but records are in the Catholic parish records.
I gathered the dual membership probably meant Church of Ireland-mandated Anglician Church-that would be Espicoplian at this time-1750-1783 or from the articles I have read- it is not plain? I have been reading a lot of Irish history trying to understand all the various religious problems and I am trying to understand this plot against Catholic Rule that is behind the punishments I list in my first post. At this point I believe I was trying to figure out what parish the Wakefields belonged to since the Methodist were not permitted until 1818 to have the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion in their own preaching houses. From the John Wesley article I read the Catholics were not allowed to go into a Protestant Church. And the 1st paragraph "Nevertheless the whole congregation listened to him as he preached in the open" I assumed maybe this was also a Catholic congregation and the Wakefields were part of that congregation and this possibly is what the Wakefield memorial is talking about Catholic rule. Possibly the article is referring to a Catholic Church who did not approve of their conversion. A monastry is also mentioned in the last paragraph of the same article concerning John Wesley. Was their a monastery close by the area John Wesley visited? fruitytooty

I can offer very little in addition to agahadowey's comments really and I know very little of the history of the time. However, I have wondered about the veracity of the 'Catholic Rule' episode in the family history.

With regard to Wesley- the Methodist way of preaching - in England and I am sure elsewhere- was 'in the field' - in open spaces. This then captured the attention of workers e.g. agricultural and miners etc and I suppose because ministers of the established church (Church of England - or Ireland in this case) would not be open to their flock being converted to another faith in their own church buildings.
The Roman Catholics would not be allowed to enter any non- Catholic church as you have noted.

As you will know, there are several Wakefield family members searching on the internet. I am sure I have read in one or another that the Wakefields were in Ireland as a result of Oliver Cromwell so they would not be of the Catholic faith. Presumably, they converted to Methodism from CoI but as has already been stated, there were still ties to the established church through tithes and the need for certain ceremonies.
The article from the library re John Wesley mentions the granting of land near Bresk and the nearby monastery.
I would think that this refers to the monastery at Esker referred to here http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter10.html.

regards
heywood

[heywood]

This is interesting reading - John Wesley's diary - gives you some understanding of his preaching in the Irish Midlands.

[fruitytooty]

Amazingly I found information from a family that went to Ireland and are descendants of my Wakefields. Yes the homes were in the Wakefield Village. Pictures and info are at-do a google search-Nebeker Family History and unfortunately it includes the Wakefield Memorial-they believe is correct. Included at this site are also pictures of the Urraghry Church of Ireland where the Wakefield Family probably attended. There are also pictures of the Wade home 3/4 mile NW of Aughrim. fruitytooty

[Lisa in California]

Wow, there is certainly quite a lot of Wakefield and religious information to digest, isn't there?

(Note: my mum is descended from the Wakefields.)  When I started researching my ancestors, I was told my father's grandfather was born in England.  My mum remembers hearing my father's father say that the family was French, settled in England only long enough to anglicise the surname (a few years), then the family settled in Ontario, Canada.  It turns out that my father's greatgrandfather was born in England and that the family had lived in Essex, England for at least 116 years.  I still cannot find a tie to France.  While I listen to family tales, and accept that they may be based upon facts, I can't help but remember the stumbling block I had when I was trying to research my father's grandfather.

My ancestor, Edward Wakefield, was born c1794 in Ireland and according to records, was a shoemaker.  He sailed to America in 1839 with his wife and seven(?) children.  My ancestor was Jane Wakefield, one of Edward's daughters.  I have a copy of an obituary about Jane Wakefield Ovens and it states "...Mrs. Ovens spent her childhood in Tuam, in the south of Ireland, where she was born..."  Jane was 106 years old when she passed away and the obituary contains quite a bit of information.  Of course, it too could be incorrect, relying upon memories and relatives' information.

My mum remembers hearing Tuam mentioned when she was growing up, and never heard anything about Aughrim.  I wonder how Edward Wakefield could have afforded the voyage for his large family - did someone pay his voyage?  Did the family have money and if so, why would he have an occupation such as shoemaker? 

fruitytooty, thank you for continuing to search for leads and a huge thank you to those who have contributed to the thread.  I guess if we easily found answers to our questions about our ancestors, it wouldn't mean so much as when it takes a lot of time and effort (hope that makes sense).  I am now going to take a look at the sites recently mentioned.

[aghadowey]

Aughrim, Galway to Tuam is probably only about 20 miles.

[Lisa in California]

Hi aghadowey:

Thank you for the information.  While I did reference a map in the past, seeing your post made me think about why a Wakefield would have left his family and settle in Tuam.  If Edward Wakefield was a part of the Wakefield family whom we are referencing, his occupation may have been the reason to relocate to Tuam.  Perhaps it was easier to carry on with his trade if he moved to a larger town (Tuam).  Or, perhaps his wife, Frances Granger, was from the Tuam area.  Thank you for pointing out the distance, as I had never thought of why he (if he was part of the family) might leave the Aughrim area.

fruitytooty, I don't think it has been mentioned on this thread...do you know the occupations of your Wakefield ancestors?  Perhaps we might eventually find similarities between my Wakefields and yours, which might eventually lead to Irish clues.