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XIX. Hugh Crawford of Drumark was born about 1690. It was already known with certainty that he was a descendant of Alexander Crawford of "The Point", but whether one or two generations intervened could not be determined until the will of his father, Robert Crawford, was discovered, which set the matter at rest.
The difficulty so frequently experienced in establishing exact relationships among the early settlers in Ulster will be readily understood when one considers the condition of the country at the time. Official records of the period are few, and impart but little information. Then, during the rebellion of 1641, innumerable documents and family papers were destroyed or lost in the pillaging of the settlers' houses which went on.
Nor was this all; for organised bands of robbers infested the
country for many years afterwards, committing similar outrages
at frequent intervals.
This Hugh Crawford, we are told in an old manuscript, had a brother (qy. half-brother), who was the father of Alexander Crawford of Spamount (a place close to Dunkineely), and grandfather of David Crawford of the same place. The executors to his will, which was dated 28th February, 1760, were Thomas Crawford, Hugh Stephens, and his brother (qy. brother-in-law), John Purviance, and the subscribing witnesses were James Crawford, Hugh Crawford, and Alexander Crawford.
He was a married man, and had three sons and four daughters,
viz.:
1. James Crawford (of Donegal), of whom presently.
2. Catrean (Catherine), who married Zacheus Cochrane of Edenmore,
in the parish of Stranorlar, and had issue.
3. Bell (Isabella), who married George Knight, and had issue.
4. Hugh Crawford, to whom his father left Drumark by his will.
This Hugh married a Miss Crawford, and had by her, besides other
children, a daughter, Bell, who married a man named Neilson.
5. Jean (Jane), who married ----- Purviance.
6. Robert, who died before his father. He was a married man,
and left a daughter, Bell.
7. Mary, who died before her father, and unmarried.
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