Sources:
Genealogy of Francis WEEKES, of Providence, RI, Hempstead and Oyster Bay, LI and Collateral Lines, Compiled by Dr. Frank Edgar Weeks,
(Kipton, OH, 1938)

Thomas IRELAND and Henry Pearsall: An English Clue from Amsterdam, NYGBR Vol 121 (1990) 

The Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, 1844-1910 by Dean Crawford Smith, NEGHS, Boston, 1992

As the settling of Long Island proceeded in the 1640s, the Dutch Governor of New Netherland, William Kieft, granted a patent to the English colonists at Hempstead 16 November 1644 (Benjamin F. Thompson, History of Long Island [New York, 1839],342). At this time there were fifty "original proprietors" (land holders) and among them was Thomas Ireland (George Combes, "The Fifty Original Proprietors of Hempstead," The Nassau County Historical Society Journal, 29[Sum-Fall 1969]:24-37).

The descendants of Thomas Ireland have been treated by Joseph Norton Ireland in Some Account of the Ireland Family, Originally of Long Island, N. Y., 1644-1880 [Bridgeport, Conn., 1880] [hereinafter Ireland's Account], and by Mark Lorin Ireland in his Ireland Lineage and Supplemental Application for Membership in the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America," (1960, typescript in Family Record Manuscripts, vol. 2:91-98 at FHL) [hereinafter Ireland's Lineage ]. These records, however, deal only with the Ireland family that remained in New York. As will be shown, four of eight grandsons of Thomas Ireland immigrated to New Jersey.

Their considerable progeny have been published only to a limited degree (Sarah W. R. Ewing and Robert McMullin, Along Absecon Creek [Bridgeton, N. J., 1965]) [hereinafter Absecon Creek ] involving Amos and Joseph Ireland.

Information about the other grandsons is not found in print. This article represents an attempt to compile what is known of the New Jersey Irelands.

The origins of Thomas Ireland are undiscovered. The theory advanced by Joseph Norton Ireland attempts to place him by tracing the history of the settlement of Hempstead and, in particular, the origins of the Rev. Richard Denton. This theory seems certainly to have been derived from Thompson's History of Long Island. In a detailed monograph (Warren Charles Irelan, A Record of the Ireland Family [Absecon, N. J., n.d.] [hereinafter Irelan's Record ] another theory attempts to show Thomas Ireland of Hempstead is the 10 year old Thomas Ireland named on the passenger list of the Dorset (John Camden Hotten, ed., The Original Lists of Persons of Quality, 1600-1700 [___,1880],132). However, the strongest evidence suggests his origin in Warwickshire (Harry Macy, Jr., "Thomas Ireland and Henry Pearsall: An English Clue from Amsterdam," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record [hereinafter NYGBR ],121[1990]:74).

THOMAS1 IRELAND was perhaps a son of William Ireland by that name who was christened 1 June 1622 in Alcester Parish, Warwickshire, England (Bishop's Transcripts, Alcester Parish Records 1612-1700, MS, FHL film 246637, item 4). He died at Hempstead, New York, probably in 1668 as his will is dated 30 September 1668 (New York Historical Society Collections, 25:13) and the Town Court conveyed 22 acres of land to his widow 24 January 1669 (Benjamin Doughty Hicks, Records of the Towns of North and South Hempstead, Long Island (1654-1895), _ vols. [____, 1896] [hereinafter Hempstead TRs ]). His wife was JOAN ____, but no record of their marriage is known. She married again, on 24 August 1671 to Richard Lattin (Names of Persons for whom Marriage Licenses were issued by the Secretary of the Province of New York previous to 1784 [__, 1860],199).

Although not identified with certainty, the Thomas Ireland named in the Alcester Parish records would be "of age" to be a proprietor at Hempstead in 1644. These records show a marriage of William Ireland unto Mary Loah 10 July ___ and chronicle the christenings of 13 children to William Ireland. Only the last two christenings name both father and mother, William and Mary Ireland, and from that it is assumed that Mary was the mother of all.

Records of Thomas Ireland at Hempstead have been published in Ireland's Account and Irelan's Record to which the reader is referred for details.

The brief will of Thomas Ireland is recorded (New York Historical Society Collections, 25:13) as follows:

The last Will and Testament of Thomas Ireland of Hempstead, being weake in his body, but sound in his understanding.First, I commend my soule to God.Secondly, I do give to my eldest daughter, Joan, one cowe, besydes what she is already possessed of, to be delivered when she departeth from living with her mother.And also, I do give to my second daughter, Jane, D10, to be paid her when she is full eighteene years of age, besyde what she is already given to and
nominated hers.Also I give to my sonne Thomas, my housing and lands with all ye priviledges thereunto belonging, he to have ye said housing and lands at ye decease of my wife, or if my wife do marry again, he is to have them when he comes to be one and twenty years of age, besydes what he hath in nomination already with my other children.Also I give to my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, D20, to be paid to her when she comes of age, that is of eighteen years of age, besydes what is already nominated to her with ye other children.All ye rest of my estate I do give to my wife, she paying my debts out of it. I leaving my wife Executrix of this my will, to order things becoming to it.

Hempstead, the 30th of September, 1668.
Witnesses: Jonah Fordham, John Smith
Thomas
his T.I. mark
his x mark
Ireland

Thomas was probably the brother of Samuel Ireland who settled in Wethersfield, CT about the same time. Samuel and his wife Mary, aged 32 and 30, arrived on the ship Increase in 1635. Samuel Ireland had no sons. Thomas was perhaps a youngerbrother in Samuel's house. Dissensions arose among settlers at Wethersfield and a body went to Stamford, CT. Another division sent seceders to Long Island, at Hempstead.

Thomas Ireland was granted 150 acres of land in 1647, as well as receiving other privileges in the use of pasture and meadow-land. That he occupied a place of high esteem and respectability among the prominent citizens of the community iscertain, for he was allowed to conduct an inn, or house of entertainment for travelers, a privilege granted only to men of the most estimable character. Thomas Ireland was evidently a man of remarkable honesty and square dealing, for in 1659,he makes complaint of Richard Brudenell, keeper of an inn, for his deceitful and dishonest dealings with his guests, and sustantiates the testimony by producing no less than 6 witnesses.

Thomas Ireland purchased of Joseph Scott, January 16, 1663, a dwelling house and barn in Hemptead, with all the land belonging thereto. Five years later, in 1668, the town court granted him an additional 22 acreas of land. The date of hisdeath does not appear on extant records, but his will was dated 1668.

==
Genealogy of Francis WEEKES, of Providence, RI, Hempstead and Oyster Bay, LI and Collateral Lines, Compiled by Dr. Frank Edgar Weeks, Kipton, OH, 1938, Located at the NY Public Library  Thomas IRELAND and Henry Pearsall: An English Clue from Amsterdam, NYGBR Vol 121 (1990)  The Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, 1844-1910 by Dean Crawford Smith, NEGHS, Boston, 1992
=
First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodsridge Olde East New JerseyPage 107

JAMAICA, QUEENS COUNTY, LONG ISLAND.

The relationship of the original and first settlers of the Town of Jamaica, Queens Co., Long Island, is so intimate and had such an important bearing on early New Jersey history that a short account of this settlement must be included in this volume. If, for no other reason than being evidentiary of the origin of Daniel Denton and Luke Watson, who were the grantees in the famous conveyance of 1664, its inclusion would be necessary; but, in addition, many other names familiar in early New Jersey history reappear among the families of Piscataway and Woodbridge, and therefore, their origins previously in the town of Jamaica, Long Island, and before that, Connecticut and New England, renders this account most important.The earliest story of the town of Jamaica commences with the orders andwarrants for its settlement issued by Governor Peter Stuyvesant, March 21, 1656, and which were reaffirmed by a more ample and more imposing document in the year 1660. The authority for this settlement is to be found in theHistory of Long Island from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, byPeter Ross (1902), pp. 548, et seq., to which should be added the source ofhistory set forth in Thompson's History of Long Island, (Vol. III. p. 219,et. seq.)

The volume, Records of the Town of Jamaica, Long Island, New York,1656-1751, by Josephine C. Frost (1914) 3 Vols., being an actualtranscription of the town records, is most authoritative. To thisbibliography should be added that most important and much older volumeentitled "Two Centuries in the History of the Presbyterian Church, jamaica,Long Island, being the Oldest Existing Church of the Name in America, by  James M. Macdonald, (1862), which contains many of the earlier records.

 From these authorities, it appears that March 10th., 1656, dated at Hempstead, a petition was addressed to Gov. Peter Stuyvesant beseeching rights to settle at Jamaica, which was signed by the fourteen original settlers,

"Robert Jackson
  Nicholas Tanner
  Nathaniel Denton
  Richard Everit
  Rodger Linas
  Daniel Denton
  John Lazar
  Abraham Smith
  Thomas Ireland
  Thomas Carle
  Edward Sprag
  John Roades
  Andrew Messenger
  Samuel Mathews

 From N.Y. Col. MSS. VI; 336, 337." (Macdonald, p. 27.)
=
Abstracts of Wills Vol I 1665-1707
 From The New York Historical Society Collections, this 1892 volume features abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogates Office, City of New York, from 1665 to 1707. Bibliographic Information: Abstracts of Wills Vol I 1665-1707, The New York Historical Society, 1892.

Abstracts of Wills Vol I 1665-1707 Page 53.--THOMAS IRELAND, Hempstead. Leaves to eldest daughter Jane, one Cow, and o10 when she is 18.
To son Thomas "all Housing and lands," to youngest daughter Elizabeth o20 when 18. Makes wife (not named) executrix. Dated September 30, 1669.
Witnesses, Jonah Fordham, John Smith, Sr.
=
Abstracts of Wills Vol I 1665-1707
Page 348.--EDWARD WHITE. In the name of God, Amen, the 9 day of November, 1706. I, Edward White, of the town of Oyster Bay in Queens County, being very sick and weak. I leave to my eldest son, Simon White, my house and home lot of land whereon it stands, bounded on the south to Jacob Wright's land, and on the east to the highway, and on the north to the meadows, Together with that parcel of land whereon my barn stands, bounded all round with highways; Also my share of salt meadow, and all the lands which I have laid out joining to John Townsend's land, nigh to Henry Weeks; Also one right and a half in the undivided lands in the Old Purchase of Oyster Bay. I leave to my second son, Joseph White, one lot of land which I have lying in the town, and joining to Nathaniel Coles home lot, together with one half of all my land at the Plains and Plains edge, and a share of salt meadow lying in the home meadow, on the west side of the meadow I leave to his brother Simon; Also one right and a quarter of land in the undivided lands in the Old Purchase of Oyster Bay. I leave to my youngest son, Robert White, my lot of land joining to his uncle Simon Cooper's lot, in the Town,m and the other half of my land at the Plains and Plains edge; Also my other share of meadow lying in the home meadows, and a right and a quarter of the
undivided lands in the old Purchase of Oyster Bay. I leave to my five daughters, Judith, Abigail, Martha, Mary and Anne, o20 each when of age. I leave to my wife Mary the rest of the movable estate and make her sole executor. I also give to my wife Mary all the meadow ground at the south, which I bought of Thomas Ireland, to sell and dispose of to pay debts and legacies. She is also to have the use of all houses and lands to bring up the children.

Witnesses, Robert Cooper, Simon Cooper, John

Page 431
=
Abstracts of Wills Vol I 1665-1707
Page 466
NICHOLAS TANNER, of Rusdorp (Jamaica), September 2, 1658. My will is if it please God to take me away (yf I doe not otherwise alter) that my son John Tanner, living in Tolspidle in Dorsetshire, England, shall have o30. But if my son cannot be procured to come over, or not heard of, the town where I live shall have the use of the same for their general good, provided they put in security to send it to my son, or if he shall come over to fetch it. Legacies to Thomas Ireland, "Richard Everard's children," "Roger Tiner's boy," and "John Rode's youngest boy," "Bethiah Mills shall have a cow and a calf, and she and her mother shall have o10 to buy them clothes. Henry Pearsall's children shall have 5 shillings. [The rest [Page 466/467] is torn and lost.] Endorsed "Quietus, June 23, 1669." (Not recorded.)
=
Long Island Genealogies
Page 177
BIRDSALL FAMILY.
1679. Thomas Ireland sold to Nathan Birdsall land at Jerusalem, called Birdsall's Swamp.
=
Long Island Genealogies
Page 296
JONATHAN SMITH (had sister Abbie Carpenter of Snarlington) m. 1st and had Sylvanus, m. Jane Ireland, dau. of Thomas; lived at Bethpage.
=
Abstracts of Unrecorded Wills, Vol XI, Prior to 1790
Page 155
In the name of God, Amen. January 2, 1728. I, JOHN IRELAND, of Oyster Bay, Queens County, carpenter, being sick and weak. I make my wife Sarah, executor, and I leave her all lands, messuages, and tenements, so long as she doth bear up the name of her husband, John Ireland. And all my creatures, except 2 jades and 4 cows for my children. I leave to my daughters, Mary and Sarah, each a bed and a cupboard. I leave to my son John, when of age, one new [Page 155/156] worsted suit of clothes, and a pair of new wash leather breeches. All debts to be paid. After the death or marriage of my wife, all my estate is to be sold, and divided among my seven children, born, and one not born. But the boys are to have o4 each more than the girls. (Not named.) I make Benjamin Simmons, of Westbury, and John Dinge, executors, after the death of my wife.

Witnesses, David Rogers, John Blackhead, William Crumly. Endorsed, "August 28, 1729."