SUMMARY:
Family accounts state that this family of Vennards were also French
Huguenots that escaped from France around the time of the St. Bartholomewís
Eve Massacre of 1572, supposedly settling in England.
Over 200 years later the story picks up again with a Henry Vennard (a
carpenter from London, England, born about 1790ís) who married Jane Meek
(from Kent). Henry had a brother, Charles, who also settled in the area [see
summary below]. Henry and Jane had, at least, four children (Henry, 1831;
Thomas, 1836; Anne 18??; and Ellen 18??). When the children were young they left England for Ireland and settled in Ulster in the Townland of Mullaghmore. Mullaghmore is in the district of Newry and Mourne in Co. Down close to Carlingford Lough. It is not known why they moved to Ireland and there appears to be no immediate relatives on either side in this area of
Ulster.

The eldest son Henry became a School Master and was working in Carlingford
when he married (Mary) Jane McBurney in 1863. Henry was 32, Jane just 19
years old. Jane was a dressmaker from Moneydorragh and they married in
Annalong, close to her home in the Parish of Kilkeel, Co. Down. They
settled in Carlingford, Co. Louth and soon after their marriage Henry left
the teaching profession and, for a least the next 23 years, had a variety of
jobs from Glazier, Grocer and Painter. He and Jane had 10 children between
1864 and 1887 (Margaret Susanne, 1864; Henry, 1867; Samuel, 1869; Ellen
Jane, 1871; Florence, 1874; James, 1876; Elizabeth Anne, 1879; William
Charles, 1881; John George, 1881; and Amelia Emily, 1887). Sometime after
the birth of their last child, when Henry was 56, he became the Sexton for
the local Parish Church in Carlingford. He continued this for the rest of
his life, living at the Vicarage Lodge in Carlingford .
Henry died in 1915 (aged 84 years) in Carlingford, and was buried in the
graveyard of the Parish Church he was Sexton for. His wife, Jane, died in
1937 (aged 93 years). She too, is buried in Carlingford Church of Ireland
cemetery.
Of Henry and Janeís 10 children, 6 (Margaret, Henry, Samuel, Ellen Jane,
James and William) eventually settled in the United States (New York state).
The other four (Florence, Elizabeth, John George and Amelia Emily) remained
in Ireland. Elizabeth married Robert Woodney in 1897 and they had two
children ñ Robert (Bob) and Lucy. Bob died in 1914 in WW1 and Lucy married a William Bunting. Florence married William Bunting (father of the
previously mentioned William Bunting) the year after her fatherís death (in
1916). She was 41 years and William was a Widower, aged 45 ñ both were
living in Belfast at the time. He and Florence adopted a son, Edward
(Eddie). George became a farmer and never married. Amelia Emily became a
companion to various gentry. She travelled extensively, and eventually died
back in Ireland in 1976. The grand-daughter of Ellen Jane (who married
William Henry Elliot in Carlingford in 1903 and then emigrated to the United
States) [Barbara Buckland] still lives in New York State and is actively
researching his branch of the Vennards. The only known living descendant of
this sub-branch of Vennards still in Ireland is Eddie Bunting (the adopted
son of Florence), who settled in Belfast.

The second son of Henry and Jane, Thomas, married Margaret Graham in 1857.
He was a Labourer at the time and was still living in Mullaghmore. Thomas
became a farmer and they continued to live in Mullaghmore until the birth of
their daughter, Elizabeth, in 1872. By the time their daughter, Lucy, was
born in 1877, they had settled in Banbridge. They had at least 7 children ñ
of which 5 died when young ñ Ellen Jane (17 years in 1883), Thomas (20 years
in 1887), Margaret (15 years 1885), Lucy (6 months in 1877) and Frances (14
years in 1894). The two known surviving children were Hugh (b.1882) and
Elizabeth (b.1872), and there is talk within the family of three other
possible siblings ñ Edward, Sarah Mary and Frederick (who died in WW1).
Margaret died in 1900 (aged 54) and Thomas in 1905 (aged 69) at Dromore
Street, Banbridge, Co. Down. The descendants of their children live in the
Belfast area or England. The father-in-law [Geroge Nicol in Leeds, England]
of Hughís grandson is compiling information on this branch of the Vennards.

Anne married Edward Irwin in 1863. Anne was still living at home (in
Mullaghmore) at the time. Edward was a Labourer, also from Mullaghmore.
Nothing further is known about them, but is assumed that they continued to
live in the area.

Ellen married William Walker in 1870. William was a Seaman, and his father
a Coastguard. Ellen was living in Carlingford at the time, and this is
where she married. It is therefore possible that, between 1863 and 1870,
her father, Henry had died and that she and her mother had moved from
Mullaghmore to Carlingford (about 20 miles) to live with, or near, her
brother, Henry. Nothing further is known about Ellen and William.

Jane Vennard (nee Meek) (b. 1798). After her husbandís death Jane eventually
went to live with her son Henry in Carlingford. It was here that she died
in 1886, aged 88 years.

Charles Vennard (b. 1797) was the brother of Henry Vennard (the Carpenter).
He was in the Army and never married. He eventually went to live with his
nephew, Henry, at Carlingford. It was here that he died (in the Vicarage
Lodge) in 1871.

There are two burial plots for the Vennards in Counties Down and Louth. The
main, and original, plot is at Clonallan Glebe, close to Warrenpoint, Co.
Down, where the remaining family eventually settled (about 6 miles south of
Mullaghmore). There are, supposedly 5 people buried there ñ including two
of Henry and Jane McBurneyís children, John George and Elizabeth and their
granddaughter Amelia Emily. It could be assumed that the other two were
probably Henry (the Carpenter), his wife Jane Meek. Henry (the Sexton) and
Jane McBurney are buried in the Parish Church in Carlingford, Co. Louth.

Added information from family members:

To go to Samuel, 1869 Click Here