Examination of Ann Rookeby

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2018
<23 May 1653> The examinacion of Ann Rookeby now wyfe vnto {ffrederic} Rookeby and formerly wyfe vnto Edmund Dalton L ate of Lalestowne in the County of Westmeath Esquire deceased taken the 23th day of May 1653 before John Gay and Thomas Dancer Esquires two of the Comitee of examinacions appoynted by the High Court of Justice for the Counties of East Meath & Westmeath concerning murders and Massacres
<A> The sayd Examinant being of the age of 37 yeares or neere thereabouts and being duely sworne vpon the holy Evangelists and examined, deposeth and sayth vpon her oath, That the sayd Edmund Dalton her former husband being a faythfull subiect and a sincere Protestant, was at the begining of the horrid Rebellion of the Irish in Ireland forced for safety of his lyfe to fly from his dwelling Place aforesayd vnto the Garrison of Athlone and there Lived with this examinant and his family in a sad condicion, vntill the last day of September 1642 And hearing of a Parley which was then to be had betweene Sir James Dillon and others then in rebellion and the Lo: of Rannellagh that now is, then called Capten Jones, at a place Called Cregan in the County of Westmeath, concern{ing} a settlement to be then agreed vpon betweene the Irish Rebells and the Protestant subiects, whoe were then banis{hed} from their estates and dwelling places And the sayd Examinants husband, having a good estate, in that County and being before that tyme earnestly solicited and intre{ated} by divers of his friends (as he then conceived them to b{e)} by Letres and otherwyse to goe to the sayd Parley, which sayd friends perswaded him would be for his good, Hee th{e} sayd Edmund Dalton this examinants sayd former husband too{k} his iorney thither on the sayd Last day of Septembe{r} in
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2019
in the yeare 1642 aforesayd being Saturday, with intent to see the issue of that meeting; and ryding twords the the place, was (as this examinant credibly heard) apprehended and layd hold on, and most <B> violently taken from his horse by one James mc Chrisefor Magawly of Raduffe - in the County of Westmeath gent and Oliver Magawly of Cnockineugh – in the same County gent with manny others in their company whose names the examinant knoweth not, whoe (of purpose) then Lay in wayte for him the sayd Edmund Dalton, whoe was by them kept prisoner and hindred to come to the sayd Parly though he much intreated to be brought thether in the face of the Country to speak for himself, yet they refused to bring or suffer him to goe thither but kept him prisoner that night and on the next day in the Morning being the sabath day about seaven of the Clock, tooke him to a Bush, which being not high enough to hang him vpon, They the said James Magawly and Oliver Magawly and the rest whose names are vnknowne [ ] most cruelly tyed vp his leggs and hanged him vp by the neck vpon the sayd Buish and before he was thoroughly deade tooke him downe from the sayd Buish and buried him alive in a ditch And this examinant further sayth that one Gerrott Roe Dalton of Dongolman in the sayd County of Westmeath gent was one of them that writt vnto him to goe to the sayd Parly and that the <C> sayd Gerrott had a hand in the murder of her sayd husband And this examinant further sayth not
Anne Rokeby
Deposed before vs
Jo: Gay
Thomas Dancer
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fol. 89r

2020

fol. 89v

2021

2
The examinacion of Ann
Rookeby concerning the
murder of Edmund Dalton
her first husband
by James Magawley & Oliver
Magawly