Posted by: Ray Henry
Date: July 12, 2001 at 09:53:07

of 80



The following is a transcription of page ii of the 65-page typewritten manuscript prepared by Winnifred Whitehall McCall of London, Ontario (circa
1961):

Note: The remainder of this manuscript is a meticulous record of the descendants of John Tackabury (son of Nathaniel Tackabery and Sarah
Neusum) and his wife Elizabeth Belton (dau. of John Belton and Hulda Webster). This is the London, Ontario branch of the family.
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Origin of the Tackaburys

The story of the origin of the Tackabury family has two distinct and very different versions. No one, as far as we have been able to find out, has been
able to prove either version. Maybe, in time, it will be possible to be more definite.

The story that descended in our branch of the Tackaburys states that the family lived in Scotland until the migration of so many Scotch families to
Northern Ireland, in the early 17th century, settling in the Ulster section. Most of these families were of Presbyterian religion, and sought to escape
religious persecution in Scotland. They contributed a great deal to any country where they settled, as they were hard working people, and skilled
artisans of weaving.

During the period of religious uprisings and British censure of export of textiles, these people started migrating to American in great numbers, and
Scotch Irish families are scattered all over the United States and Canada. These early Irish immigrants, mainly Protestant, were cultured and
prosperous. Beginning in the 17th century, these Scotch Irish migrations continued into the 19th century, when the Tackabury family arrived in the
United States.

Another theory advanced by a different branch of Tackaberrys states that there were three Tackaberry brothers who were officers in the Army of
William of Orange, when he came from Holland in 1688. After the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland, many Catholic followers of King James fled with
him to France and their lands were confiscated. Soldiers in the Army of William of Orange were given the choice of returning to their homes or
remaining in Ireland and being given land there. The Tackaberry brothers choose to remain in Ireland and settled in three counties around Dublin:
Wexford, Carlow, and Wicklow. Since it is reasonable to suppose that all Tackaberrys, Tackaburys, and Tacaberys stem from the same branch
originally, our Wicklow Co. branch could belong to one of these brothers.

Our own branch has been traced back as far as one Nathaniel, born in Wicklow Co., probably around the beginning of the 18th century. His son,
James, born in 1732, married Elizabeth Middleton and they emigrated to Pittsburg, Pa., about 1804, bringing several children. One son of theirs,
however, Nathaniel, who had married Sarah Neusum, settled in Madison Co., New York State, in 1807 in an Irish settlement near Pratt's Hollow. At
this time John Tackabury was 3 years of age. The Beltons had also come to Pratt's Hollow, and lived about 3 or 4 miles from the Tackaburys, and
when the young people grew up, two Tackabury brothers and two Belton sisters married. As so many young people in the district married into the
same families, it becomes quite a puzzle to keep relationships straight, and that is one purpose we hope to accomplish with this booklet. Also, as
several families came from Madison Co. to London Township in the 1820s, the surnames of the pioneers in the cemeteries of Madison Co. and
London Township are often the same. Names such as Tackabury, Philpot, Belton, Webster, Tuke, Williams and Dickenson. These families were
headed by men of influence, and their contribution to the growth of this district is evident in many ways.