ELVIS PRESELY WEEKEND: OCT 18/19 Hackestown, County Carlow, Ireland Hackestown, County Carlow, is hosting a weekend long celebration of a man whose ancestral roots are to be found amid the nearby foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. In 2008, Carlow historian Michael Purcell and his US colleagues revealed that a man called William Presley was living at the foot of Eagle Hill just outside Hacketstown in the late 18th century. He is thought to descend from an Andrew Presley, late a soldier in Col. Henry Pritres troops, who purchased land in County Carlow from John Richmond in 1654. Andrew may have been a soldier but he was probably also an adventurer; most of the disbanding soldiers were selling rather than buying at that time. In 1775, Andrews descendant William was forced to flee his Hacketstown home after a band of yeomen and many other evil disposed persons did riotously, routously and unlawfully make an assault and did beat, wound and ill treat him so that his life was greatly despaired of.’ The story, printed on faded parchment, named the attackers as Morris, Wilson and Maher. Shipping records show that William and his brother Andrew left Ireland for New Orleans soon after the attack. By 1780, William was living in South Carolina where he had a son called Dunan (Dunning) Presley before moving onwards to Tennessee. Dunan Presely was Elvis’s great-great-granddaddy. For more on the Elvis Presley Weekend, check out the Elvis Weekend Event Thats alright Mammy, as they say down in Hacketsown. For more on this, see rootsweb.ancestry/~irlcar2/William_Presley.htm Not all the Presleys left the area. As Roger Nowlan observed, a John Presley was a member of the Hackettstown infantry during the 1798 Rebellion.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 08:13:58 +0000
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