BLACKER FAMILY OF CARRICKBLACKER


BLACKER FAMILY DESCENDANTS OF VIKING BLACKAR
The Blacker family of Carrickblacker in County Armagh are claimed as being descended from the Viking Blacar, who was a King of Dublin in early 10th century.  In 943 Blacar defeated Muirchertach mac Néill and his army, near Armagh, allegedly by the River Bann where Carrickblacker House now stands.
After his death in 946, his son, Sitric MacBlacar, succeeded him.

But the name then disappears from the Irish Annals, and reappears in Yorkshire in Wigstrum Hundred (Domesday Book) as landholders before the Norman Conquest (1066).


VALENTINE BLACKER (1597-1677)
can be traced back to William de Blakkar of Worsborough in Yorkshire who was living in 1300.
Captain Valentine Blacker moved from Yorkshire to Armagh in Ireland, the first of the Blacker family to settle in Armagh, as Commandant of Horse and Foot.
He purchased the manor of Carrowbrack from Anthony Cope, of Loughgall, in 1660.
This manor was subsequently called Carrickblacker.


WILLIAM BLACKER (1647-1732),
the grandson of Captain Valentine Blacker, son of Lt. Col. George Blacker and Rose Latham. He was a staunch supporter of King William III, and fought at the battle of the Boyne in 1690.
He married Elizabeth Stewart (1636-1678) in 1666, and they moved into Carrickblacker.
The song "Bruach Na Carraige Baine" was supposedly composed as an epithalamium or 'welcome home' song for the marriage.
They had two children.
After Elizabeth's death, William married twice more and had a further child.
In 1692 William had built the manor house of Carrickblacker.


ELIZA BLACKER (1739-1822),
daughter of William Blacker Esq (1709-1783) and wife Letitia Carey, was the great grand-daughter of William Blacker and Elizabeth Blacker (Stewart).
The song "An Raibh tu ag an gCarraig?" (Have you been at Carrick?) was composed in honour of the lady of the Blacker family, Eliza Blacker (later Lady Dunkin). This song is attributed to blind harper from Tyrone, Dominic Ó Mongain (1715-1796).


Leiutenant-Colonel WILLIAM BLACKER (1777-1855),
fifth generation descendant of William Blacker and Elizabeth Blacker (Stewart).
He was a British Army officer, Commissioner of the Treasury of Ireland, poet and author. His published work is sometimes attributed under the names Fitz Stewart or Colonel Blacker.
He wrote the poetic English translation of the song "Bruach Na Carraige Baine".


CARRICKBLACKER HOUSE DEMOLISHED
The Carrickblacker estate was purchased in 1937 by Portadown Golf Club, which demolished Carrickblacker House in 1958 to make way for a new clubhouse.


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