[From Manx Families, A.W.Moore, MS 1889]

Stole or Stowell of Ballastowell

This name was formerly Stole, and the name of their property Ballastole. Both have now become Stowell. The family of this name was found slatted at Ballastole in Maughold at the end of the 17th century. None of them were men of any mark till we come to one Thomas,¹ who was chiefly notorious for having had 16 children (1 daughter and 15 sons) by his second wife Ann Browne (born 1739, died 1783), the eldest and only daughter ² of Robert Brown, father of the Revd Robert Brown, afterwards Vicar of Braddan. By his first and third wives, he had no issue. The eldest son John was born in 1762. He was connected with the earliest attempts at a weekly newspaper in the Island and was chiefly remarkable for several clever satirical poems on local politics. The best of these are ‘Salad’ and ‘The Retrospect,’ which, with others, were published by him ‘at a private press’ in 1795. He married Mary, the youngest daughter ⁿ⁰ of Lewis Geneste (the elder) and had issue two sons, William who married a Miss Forel and died without issue, and Joseph, a medical man, who died unmarried. John died in 1799, at the early age of 37. The second son was Thomas (born 1764 and died 1821). He was an able and active lawyer. In 1792, he published the Statute Laws and Ordinances of the Island. In 1796, he was sworn in as Acting Attorney General, and in 1804, he became Clerk of the Rolls. He build Hampton Court, Braddan, and lived there. He was married three times, (1) to Alice, eldest daughter of Lewis Geneste, whose youngest daughter married John Stowell (see above). By her he had one daughter Nessy, who married the Revd Thomas Howard, and afterwards Rector of Ballaugh. He married (2) Elizabeth, daughter of William Callow, merchant, and had issue several children all of whom died young except Elizabeth who lived (unmarried) till 1882, and Amelia, also unmarried who died before her. (3) He married Hester Clark ³ by whom he had one son Joseph Percival, who died in 1832 without progeny. The next son was Hugh, Rector of Ballaugh ⁴ (see Manx Worthies) and who married Amelia (died January 9, 1814), a younger daughter of the above William Callow and had issue Hugh, afterwards Canon of Chester (see Manx Worthies); and … who married the Revd William Gill, Vicar of Malew and had issue. She died in 1886 at the age of 87. Hugh, Canon of Chester, married in 1828 Ann Susannah Lacy Ashworth and had issue (1) Hugh Ashworth, died 1887, Vicar of Breadsall, who married Annie Isabella Lamothe (born 1835) and had issue,⁵(2) Thomas Alfred, Rector of Salford, and (3) Lucy married Mr Tayleur, and others. The next two brothers, James and William, were twins. James was the Captain of a merchant vessel. He married Ann Redfern and had issue only one of whom John married and had a son, a clergyman. William, a merchant, married Ann Hendry and had issue William Hendry and two daughters, one of whom, Cecilia, married … Phillips ⁿ¹. William Hendry was Principal and Theological Tutor of Rotherham College and afterwards of Chestnut College. The next son, Joseph, was born in 1772 and was the eighth of 15 brothers. Of the remaining seven we know nothing. A memoir of him was written by his brother Hugh, who was greatly attached to him. From it we learn that he was in early life educated by the Revd. Philip Moore at the Douglas Grammar School and as he was a clever and forward boy, he became a great favorite. On his preceptor's death in 1783, he went to the Castletown Academy, then under the charge of the Revd Thomas Castley, M.A., a man of considerable erudition. In 1792, he became tutor to Governor Shaw’s children, and in 1794, he was ordained as a preacher. He seems to have excelled as did his more distinguished brother and nephew. In 1795, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Dominic Lamothe of Castletown and had issue (1) Thomas of Ramsey, surgeon, who married Ann, daughter of William Courie, Master of Taubman’s school and had issue Joseph,⁶ Mariann,⁷ Elizabeth,⁸ Amelia,⁹ Hugh,¹⁰ Fredick. He was a surgeon in Ramsey. (2) Ann married Thomas Kewley of Castletown. (3) Betsey married the Revd. … Qualtrough, Vicar of Rushen. (4) John Lamothe, afterwards Vicar of German.

Joseph, shortly after his marriage, opened a school in Castletown, which he conducted with great success till he was appointed to the headship both of the grammar and mathematical schools at Peel. In June 1801, he was seized by typhus fever and died on the 15th of that month. John Lamothe, the son of the above, was Vicar of German from 1839 to 1881. He resigned the living in 1881 and died in the following year. He married (1) Miss Greenor [or Grunor] of Shirtyeland[?] and had 2 sons, the Rev J E and the Revd H., and 4 daughters, and (2) he married Margaret Fletcher of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

1 Edward Stoile married Anne Casement 1726 and had issue … Thomas born 1733.

2 JMO: Robert Brown & wife Ann Cosnahan had 9 children, 5 of whom were daughters.

3 JMO: 3^rd wife Hester Clark was dau of Captn Joseph Clarke & Esther Moore, born 1790, died 1850, md 1809 to Tho. Stowell. Hester & Tho are mentioned in the 1813 will of Hester’s great aunt Ann Durie Fine

4 Another son William (born 1765, died 1813) was a Captain in the Merchant Service. Newspaper giving account of his death says: ‘His active and humane exertions in all cases of shipwreck and casual misfortune have endeared his memory to the community.’

5 (1) Rev Hugh F. LaMothe, Rector of Wigton, Kents[?] and has issue Hugh Oswald Douglas, Frederick Bromfield Lamothe and Annie Isabelle. (2) Ernest Alfred married his cousin Edith Lamothe and has issue. (3) Vere Arthur.

6 Joseph married Louisa Talbot, sister of Revd Thomas Talbot and had issue Joseph, Mary, Anne, Elizabeth

7 Mariann married Thomas Kewley and had issue Revd. J. W. Rector of Armitage, Staff.

8 Elizabeth married (2) Revd. E. Qualtrough, master of Peel grammar school; her first husband was … Latham of Dublin. [md John Letham, Braddan 13 November 1827; married Rev Edward Qualtrough 11 August 1840 at KK German. No issue from either marriage. Rev Edwd Qualtrough died 17 March 1856 at Peel. He was the youngest son of Thomas Qualtrough of Kentraugh and Jane Qualtrough]

9 Amelia married the Revd. T. E. Brown, MA

10 Hugh married Ann Kelly (Baldrine, Lonan)

n0 FPC - Mary Geneste would appear to be Eldest Child

n1 FPC - two sisters were Ellen and Bellanne who ran a school at Rushen Abbey