KERR FAMILY CHRONICLES

© Christopher Earls Brennen

CHAPTER NINE

THE ART FAMILY

The 1766 Hearth Money Rolls include William Art, a protestant, in the townland of Killybearn which is in the parish of Derryloran and about a mile due east of Cookstown, County Tyrone. By the early 1800s, there were four male Arts living in Killybearn, namely David Art, Thomas Art, James Art and John Art. These four may have been brothers but no evidence of their relationship has yet been found. According to marriage certificates, of these four Arts, John had at least two sons (David and Robert). A second member of the four, David Art, had four sons, David (born 1817), William (born 1819), Isaac (born 1823) and Richard (born 1825). This Isaac Art married his cousin Eliza Art as described below and they were the parents of William John Art who married Sarah Ann Neill (see chapter 7). This Richard Art was the great great grandfather of Eddie Kelso (eddiekelso@yahoo.co.uk) who provided much of this early history of the Art family.

  1. Thomas Art, our ancestor, was one of the four males mentioned above as living in Killybearn in the early 1800s. He was a weaver who belonged to the Derryloran Church of Ireland and married a woman called Anne. Their children:
    1. George Art, son of Thomas (weaver) and Anne Art of Killybearn, was baptized in the Derryloran Parish Church on Jun.21, 1829. On May 29, 1859, in the Parish Church of Derryloran, George Artt or Aart of full age, a bachelor and a servant of Teressan(?), Derryloran (father: Thomas Aart, farmer) was married to Elizabeth Shaw, full age, spinster, of Tullygare(?), Derryloran (father: Francis Shaw, labourer). They lived in Newbuildings, Cookstown. George and Eliza had at least eight children:
      1. Robert Art was born on Oct.23, 1859, and baptized in Derryloran Parish Church.
      2. Sarah Art was born on Jan.12, 1862. and died on Feb.3.
      3. Jane Art was born on Jul.4, 1863, and baptized in Derryloran Parish Church.
      4. John Art was baptized in Derryloran Parish Church.
      5. James Artt, son of George Artt, a farmer of Killybearn, and his wife Elizabeth was born on Jun.30, 1869, and was baptized in Ardtrea Parish Church.
      6. Thomas Artt, son of George Artt, a farmer of Killybearn, and his wife Elizabeth was born on Feb.8, 1871, and was baptized in Ardtrea Parish Church.
      7. Anne Artt, daughter of George Artt, a farmer of Killybearn, and his wife Elizabeth was born on Feb.12, 1873, and was baptized in Ardtrea Parish Church.
      8. Elizabeth Artt, daughter of George Artt, a farmer of Killybearn, and his wife Elizabeth was born on Jun.4, 1875, and was baptized in Ardtrea Parish Church.
    2. Mary Ann Art, daughter of Thomas and Ann Art of Killybearn, seems to have been baptized twice, first in the Derryloran Parish Church on Feb.10, 1831, and then in the Parish Church of Ardtrea on Mar.10, 1831.
    3. Sarah (or Sally) Art, daughter of Thomas and Ann Art of Killybearn, seems to have been baptized twice, first in the Derryloran Parish Church on Mar.7, 1833, and then in the Parish Church of Ardtrea on Apr.14, 1833. Sarah is our ancestor. On Oct.21, 1862, Sarah Aart married Thomas Neale in the Parish Church of Derryloran. The marriage certificate lists Thomas Neale as being of full age, a bachelor labourer and resident of Annahavil whose father was George Neale, a farmer. It also lists Sarah as being of full age, a spinster labourer of Killybearn whose father was Thomas Aart, a farmer. Neither Thomas nor Sarah could write and so made their mark on the certificate. The marriage was witnessed by George Artt (presumably the bride's brother) and Adam Ward. The family of Thomas and Sarah Neale (Neill) is described in chapter 7.
    4. Jane Art, whose father was Thomas Art, a farmer of Killybearn, was married to John Devlin in the Derryloran Parish Church on Jul.16, 1849.
    5. Eliza Art, whose father was Thomas Art, a farmer of Killybearn, was married to her cousin Isaac Art, a farmer, (see above) in the Derryloran Parish Church on Apr.17, 1852. Eliza and Isaac Art had two children:
      1. William John Art was born in 1852 and became a farmer in Tullygare, Parish of Derryloran. William was married twice. On Oct.24, 1908, in the Third Cookstown (later Molesworth) Presbyterian Church, he married Sarah Jane Boone, daughter of William Boone, a railwayman of Cranfield, Cookstown. After she died, widower William John Art(t) married Sarah Ann Neill, born Mar.7, 1870, the daughter of Thomas Neill, a labourer, and his wife Sarah (Art), of Clare, Cookstown. William and Sarah Ann lived just opposite the Derryloran Church in Cookstown and had no children. William John Artt died on Dec.16, 1923, at the age of 71 and is buried in Cookstown cemetery. Sarah Ann died on Aug.14, 1950, and is also buried in the Cookstown cemetery. The children of William John and his first wife, Sarah Jane:
        1. Isaac Art erected a gravestone in his parents memory in the Cookstown cemetery.
      2. David Art was born on Mar.12, 1856.

Christopher E. Brennen