Person:Thomas Plowman (3)

Pg 58: "Thomas' childhood home was Newtown, Dunlavin, and on his marriage to Jane [Jackson] he made his home at Gilbinstown, property adjacent to Newtown placed at his disposal by his father. A marriage settlement now preserved in King's Inn, Dublin, was drawn up in the year 1766 and is reproduced on Plate opposite [next page, but is illegible in my copy]. Thomas and his father (or brother) William were churchwardens in the Parish of Dunlavin, and their signatures may still be seen in the Churchwarden's book, dated 1787 and various subsequent years. Tomas acted as a witness to the marriage settlement of his sister anne upon her marriage to George Spence in 1767.

"At the time Thomas and his children were living in Gilbinstown many acres of land between Kilcullen and Dunlavin belonged to the various Plowman families... They had improved the land which was their home for nearly a hundred years and added to the general prosperity of the country. This did not save them from the rebellion towards the end of the 18th centure when the land was laid waste and they were driven from their homes...A year before the Great Rebellion of 1798, as Musgrave tells us in his "History of Ireland," "rebels robbed the houses of arms from Athy to Kilcullen and Dunlavin," the very district which was the home of the Plowman families. Pg 59: "These unhappy circumstances disorganised family life in the countryside and Thomas and Jane must have been in great anxiety. The disturbances reached a climax in 1798, and Thomas and twelve sons joined the Royal Forces... The stormy period marked the end of an epoch, and saw an exodus of the Plowman families from Dunlavin. Some members of the family doubtless lost their lives while others emigrated to America.

"Thomas himself did not live long after these events, dying in 1802, while Jane his widow lived in Dublin with a widowed daughter-in-law, Anne Noble. Thomas Plowman left a large family (the names of only five of his reputed twelve sons are known)." [follows is a a list of names with spouses.]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Appleton, Eva Gertrude Plewman. A Family Tapestry: Interwoven Threads of Some Anglo-Irish Families. (Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons LTD., 1948)
   Pg 57.

   From list of children: "Bridget, b 1742, Thomas, 1745-1802, John, b 1746, Anne, b 1749, William, b 1751, Benjamin, b 1753, Mary, b 1754, Elizabeth b 1760."

2. ↑ Appleton, Eva Gertrude Plewman. A Family Tapestry: Interwoven Threads of Some Anglo-Irish Families. (Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons LTD., 1948)
   Pg 60.

   "All of their children were christened in Parish Church, Dunlavin."

3.   Appleton, Eva Gertrude Plewman. A Family Tapestry: Interwoven Threads of Some Anglo-Irish Families. (Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons LTD., 1948)
   Pg 57.

   1796 Prerogative Will of William Plowman of Newtown, Kildare, Gent.
   "to allow Testator's eldest son Thomas to receive rents..."