DIVINE PROTECTION
DIVINE PROTECTION
Dinah W. Goff
It has often occurred to me that I ought to
leave some little memorial of the preservation
extended by our Heavenly Father to my beloved
parents and the family, as well as of the re-
markable faith and patience with which they were
favoured, under circumstances of a very peculiar
and distressing character.
It was about the middle of the Fifth Month,
1798, that the county of Wexford, in Ireland,
became a scene of open rebellion, headed by
B----- H-----, a protestant gentleman, and two
Roman Catholic priests, John Murphy and Philip
Roche (Murphy was a chief instigator to cruelty
and murder; he pretended to catch the flying
bullets of the royalist troops, but was at
length killed by a cannon ball. Roche, though
more humane, was finally hung.) The aims of the
insurgents were various; some were more cruelly
disposed than others; all determined to liberate
themselves by force of arms from the unequal yoke,
as they believed it, of the British Government,
and to become a free people; some to bring all
Ireland to Catholicism, etc.
About ten days before the rebellion broke
out, a Roman Catholic gentleman who resided near
called on my father, and desired to speak to him
in private. He then informed him that the county
would, in the course of a few days, be in a state
of general insurrection. My father replied that
he could not credit it, for that he had frequently
heard such rumours. The gentleman assured him
that he knew certainly it would be so, and that
he had procured a vessel, now lying at Duncannon,
to convey himself and family to Wales, and that,
as a friend, he gladly offered acconmodation to
our household. My father thanked him for this
act of friendship, but said that it felt to him
a matter of great importance to remove from the
position allotted him by Providence, yet that he
would consider of it, and consult his wife. After
having endeavoured to seek best wisdom, my dear
parents concluded that it was right for them to
remain at home, placing their dependence and con-
fidence in Him who alone can protect, and who has
promised to preserve those that put their trust
in him.
The estate and spacious mansion, called Hore-
town, occupied by my parents Jacob and Elizabeth
Goff and the family, were situated about ten miles
from each of the towns of Wexford and New Ross.
The rebels formed two camps, at Carrickburn and
Corbett Hill, one on each side of the house, at
distances of two and five miles from it. This
central position caused a constant demand on us
for provisions, with which the insurgents were
daily supplied, and they often said that they
spared the lives of the family for that purpose.
A day or two after the conmencement of the
rebellion, two carts were brought to our door, and
the cellars emptied of all the salt provisions,
beer, cider, etc., which were taken off to the
camp. Fourteen beautiful horses were turned out
of my father’s stables, and mounted in the yard
by two or more of the rebels on each. Some, which
had not been trained, resisted by plunging; but
their riders soon subdued them, running their pikes
into them, and otherwise using great cruelty.
Much of our cattle they also took off, and orders
were sent each week from the camp at Carrickburn,
to have a cow and some sheep killed, which were
sent for at stated times.
Soon after the general rising and arming of
the people in the county of Wexford, (Keightley
remarks: "It was In the county of Wexford that
the rebellion really raged -- a county which would
probably have remained at rest, had not the people
been goaded into rebellion by the cruelties in-
flicted by the military and the self-styled loyal-
ists. It was here only that priests appeared among
the rebels, and that murders on a large scale were
perpetrated by them" History of England, vol iii)
we were roused one morning by the sound of cannon
at a distance, and quickly heard that-there had
been an engagement at a place called "The Three
Rocks," on the mountains of Forth near Wexford,
between the yeomanry and the rebels. After a
severe conflict, the former were put to flight,
with great loss of life; sixty or seventy were
buried in one grave.
Two of my cousins named Heatly, whose mother
had married out of our society, were officers in
that corps, and escaped to our house under cover
of the darkness of night. On their arrival, they
found that their father and mother, and seven or
eight children, had been turned out of their com-
fortable home, and had also fled for refuge to my
father’s where they were affectionately received.
We had all retired to rest when these young officers
arrived. The thankfulness of their parents, who
had never expected to see them again, passes all
description: they were much affected, and immediately
returned thanks, on the bended knee, for the
preservation of their children. For some days the
two young men remained in the house, hiding from
room to room, sometimes under the beds; as there
was a frequent search for anus and Orangemen by
the rebels. Some of the chiefs of these, having
information of their being with us, called demand-
ing them to surrender, and offering them the United
Irishmen’s oath. This however they resolutely re-
fused, saying they had taken the oath of allegiance
to their sovereign but a few days before, and would
never perjure themselves. On this, one of the
rebels laid his hand on his sword, and in great
irritation said, were it not for the respect they
had for Mr. Goff, and that they did not wish to
spill blood in his hall, their lives should be the
forfeit of their refusal. At length my cousins
left our house by night, intending to make their
way to Ross, and took shelter in the cottage of
an old Roman Catholic nurse employed by the family;
but by her they were betrayed, and handed over to
the rebels, who took them prisoners to the camp.
The lives of these interesting young men were, how
ever, remarkably preserved, after they had endured
much hardship in prison.
QUEST, P.O. Box 82, Bellefonte PA 16823
E-mail: quest@quaker.org