2 HISTORY OF THE MACOUN FAMILY 



Irish to destroy the settlements, English and Scotch, that had 

 been made under James the First, of England. A great many of the 

 settlers around Maralin were killed and drowned by the Irish at 

 this time as they broke down a bridge over the river Bann near 

 Portadown and drove the settlers down to the bridge and pressed 

 them into the river, where most of them were drowned. While I 

 was in England in 1886 I saw a work called the "Forty-nine." 

 This contained a list of the men who composed a number of the re- 

 giments who served under Cromwell in 1649, when he was such a 

 terror to the Irish who had destroyed the settlers eight years before. 

 In the list I saw in England, were the names of Sir Hugh Magill, 

 Lieutenant of one of the regiments, and James Macoun, Ensign. 

 I take it that this James Macoun was the "old man" spoken of 

 above. These two men were apparently great friends, and it is 

 stated that Sir Hugh married James Macoun's sister. Sir Hugh 

 was granted a large tract of land by Cromwell and the legend says 

 that the men of Sir Hugh's regiment received land from him and 

 had to do military service for it in later years. This is possibly 

 true because our property was freehold and given by Sir John 

 Magill, brother of Sir Hugh, to James Macoun at a few shillings 

 a year forever and this lease we held when we sold before we came 

 to Canada. 



The next record in connection with the family is in 1689 or 

 '90, when Sir Hugh Magill at that date called out all the men in 

 the neighborhood of Maralin and met King James' army at Dro- 

 more with such troops as he could raise, and was defeated and 

 retreated to Coleraine, near Derry. These men were in camp 

 there all winter while the siege of Derry was in progress, and when 

 William the Third came over in the spring they joined his army 

 and marched with him to the Boyne, and in that battle one of 

 the Macouns was killed. This man was said to be the son of the 

 original James Macoun, who emigrated from Scotland. This 

 fight of Dromore is given in detail in Macaulay's history of that 

 time. While this James Macoun was with the troops at Dromore 

 his wife and two sons were left at Maralin. After the fight at 

 Dromore the French and Irish came down on Maralin and the 

 people fled to the woods, some going to Armagh and from there to 



