Ulster is one of four provinces that make up all of Ireland and is in the northernmost part of that country. Ulster has nine counties, six of which make up modern day Northern Ireland, the other three remain part of the Republic of Ireland.

In the very early 1600s, King James I, of England, began a massive repopulation of Ulster with mostly Scottish and English Protestants. The area was at the time largely occupied by indigenous peoples and their powerful overlords, who had been defeated and depleted in various rebellions with the crown during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This forced plantation, much of it by private means, was an effort by the king to colonize this here-to-fore troublesome area with a more sympathetic and supportive people. This population was largely increased with further immigration over the next fifty years as a result of persecutions at home by English Kings Charles I and Charles II in their effort to establish the Church of England in Scotland.

With this repopulation of Ulster, came several families with the surname Jam?son. Our particular Jameson family was one of these.

Apart from a story about a William Jameson's involvement in the 1690 Battle of Boyne and a few records here and there, very little else is known about these early Ulster Jameson families. Although research on Jam?sons in early, pre 1750, Ulster has apparently been sparse, what has been done shows most Jam?son families of that time seem to have been concentrated in the northern counties of Antrim and Londonderry - from Belfast northwestward to Londonderry city. Unfortunately, many of the early (1600s and 1700s) records from this area, were lost in a 1922 Dublin fire. Those that do remain are mostly reconstructions from a collection of various local church, municipal and some miscellaneous other records.

One group of surviving records are the 1630 Muster Rolls, which show two Jamesons in the northwestern section of County Antrim on the eastern side of the Bann River Valley and two others in the City of Londonderry in that county. This is important because, even though these records are probably incomplete, it does show a very early Ulster Jameson presence.

There are also the reconstructed Hearth Money Rolls of 1660's. These are records of taxes levied on families and based on the number of household fireplaces. Of these there are twenty two Jameson families listed in County Antrim, thirteen on the eastern banks of the Bann River, four of which were close to Coleraine and four in County Londonderry, two on the western banks of the Bann River in Coleraine Parish. Amongst these Jameson families are many with the familiar given names we recognize in our Colonial American Jameson immigrants, including Alexander, John, Thomas, etc. Any one of these could easily be our ancestors.

However, we do now know, thanks to modern genetic testing of some descendants of these Ulster Jameson families, that not all of these families are related. In fact most apparently, are not - at least not genetically.

Scott Jameson wrote in his genealogy, a section he calls "The Argyle Jamesons" about his research on the subject of these Ulster Jamesons in Nutfield. Although this work is no longer available on line, we have added a little of it here as background.[1]

"From this area of the Bann Valley came several Jamesons who migrated at various times and settled, coincidentally enough, in Nutfield, New Hampshire:[2] Jonathan Jamison, prior to 1725; William Jamison, prior to 1733; Thomas Jamison, 1746;[3] Hugh Jamison, 1746; Alexander Jamison, prior to 1746; and Elizabeth Jamison Boyd Woods, 1746. The latter four were from the larger town of Coleraine, while Jonathan Jamison was from Kilrea where a brother, Edward, lived as a farmer."

Scott goes on to say that "some evidence suggests that the father of these Jamisons was one William Jamison, a Presbyterian Scots-Irish, whose family emigrated to Ulster from Argyleshire, Scotland around 1612-19. William Jamison Sr. served during the siege of Londonderry in 1689. Research shows that they all came from the Bann Valley, lived within ten miles of each other, and emigrated, while at different times, to the same area in New Hampshire. Records also indicate that many of these same people used the same man, Robert Parkinson (of Bavagh, Londonderry Co.), as their Power-of-Attorney in Coleraine in their absence." Unfortunately, some of what Scott had written has been disproved with YDNA testing.[4] Scott himself tested as not a match with those tested from the Hugh and Thomas Jameson family. This would then prove these ancestors were not all related, particularly his William, and those ancestors from that side of the family can not be shared.

Not very much is known about our particular Jameson family during this early time when they were living in Ulster and before they began leaving, during the first half of the 1700's. Nor, for that matter, do we know anything about any of our Jameson families that may have remained in Ulster after our immigrant ancestors, left Ireland. We do know that at least some in our family were from Coleraine and other parts of the Bann River valley area in the eastern most part of County Londonderry. We also know about several of our Jameson families that emigrated to early New England of which at least two, Thomas and Hugh sailed from Port Rush on the northern coast of Ireland not far from Coleraine and where the Bann River meets the North Channel. It is also known that many of the other families that can be found in early Colonial New Hampshire, amongst our Jameson immigrants, can also be found in the Bann River Valley of that time. Names like Cochran, Boyd, Rogers, McHenry and so may others. In fact, it is said that the ship "William," with Archibald Hunter master, sailing from Coleraine (April or May), arriving in Boston (August 4-11, 1718), carried what became the Nutfield founding families.

The Bann River Valley area of Ulster is one of the oldest human settlement areas in Ireland, thought to date back to the end of the last glacial age. The Bann River, the longest river in Northern Ireland, is often referred to as the dividing line between the east and western parts of Northern Ireland. The town of Coleraine in the northern part of the valley, near the mouth of the Bann River and close to the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the oldest cities in all of Ireland dating back to the time before the Picts and is said to have gotten it's name from Saint Patrick himself, who built a church there. Coleraine had been the main town of County Coleraine, which became part of County Londonderry in 1613 when Ulster began it's repopulation by the English using commercial Plantations.

We don't know when or how our Jameson family ended up in Coleraine or the Bann River Valley area. Or, for that matter when or how they came to Ulster, either. They may have originally come early to County Antrim, perhaps in the Ards peninsula, then migrated westward to the Bann area, or they may have come later as part of the Londonderry settlement, directly to Coleraine area, or perhaps to the city of Londonderry, then eastward to Coleraine. Either way, this is the only place, so far, we find any evidence of them. Following are those we do know about.

Jonathan Jameson is thought to be the oldest and most likely the first of our Jameson family to have emigrated, leaving sometime prior to 1725, He may have been with some of the earliest of those who left the Bann Valley for New England in 1718. He was a cousin of Thomas, Hugh and Alexander, who also came to New England, and was a brother to Edward who remained in Ireland.

Thomas Jamison sailed July 26, 1738 on board the ship Lime from Port Rush, Ireland. The ship arrived November 16, in Boston, of that year commanded by Capt. Gabriel Black.[3][5] There were 123 immigrants of whom nineteen were named: Thomas Jamison, Nathaniel Furber, George Marshall, William Leus, William Cox, Alexander Nesmith, Abraham Weir, Archibald Fullerton, Alexander Caldwell, William Dickey and his wife, David Griffin, Robert Griffin, John Arbuckle, George Robinson, Thomas Galt, George Galt, John Ball, and Mary Smith."[6]

It is not known when Alexander Jameson left Ulster. He is mentioned in Jonathan's 1741 will as being in Londonderry New Hampshire, so it is thought he may have sailed with Thomas in 1738. Little or nothing else is known about the Alexander Jameson, apart from what is found in his cousin Jonathan's 1741 will.[7]

On August 4, 1746, Parkinson with Hugh Jamison and Elizabeth Woods, all were aboard the ship "Molly" when it left Port Rush, Ireland. They arrived at Boston, sometime in the early fall of that year.[8]

It is known, that Hugh Jameson, Thomas Jameson, Alexander Jameson, Elizabeth Jamison Boyd Woods, and three Jameson daughters, sisters of the above people, were brothers and sisters.[7] They were also first cousins to Edward Jamison of Kilrea, Ireland whose brother, Jonathan, emigrated prior to 1725 and settled in Nutfield.[7]

It is known that Jonathan, Thomas and Hugh were cordwainers (shoemakers - historically, those that made shoes) by trade in New England. It is also known that Hugh Jameson was a cordwainer in Coleraine before leaving Ulster in 1746. Clearly, these Jamesons were a family of cordwainers.

Edward Jameson of Kilrea, Ulster, a brother to Jonathan, remained in Ireland.[7] He was said to have had ten children. His eldest son John lived in Balleystrone, Dunboe (Dumbough) Parish, County Londonderry, where he was a farmer and who, as far as we know, remained in Ireland. Unfortunately, nothing further is known of this Edward or John Jameson. There are and have been other Jamsons in Coleraine and the Bann Valley since. But there are no known details or any connections with them and our immigrant New Hampshire Jamesons.