The earliest reference to a Preston in Ulster is found in 1210 when King John granted a charter to Roger de Preston and Henry Clemence to lands in County Antrim. The Clemence family stayed in the area for hundreds of years and one of their descendants was the American author Mark Twain (real name Sam Clemen(t)s). We can find no clear record of the de Preston family line here and would welcome any information about them. 


In the 1608 plantation of Ulster, land grants were made in County Donegal. One large area of 1500 acres was let to Peter Benson. In 1616 he sublet parts of this to Henry Preston and Thomas Preston.

 

Thomas Preston, who was a member of the Preston family of Norfolk/Suffolk, was appointed King of Arms in Ulster by Charles 1st in 1633. His brother William Preston was also in Ulster at this time. We do not know at present if they had descendants who settled in the province.

 

The Ballyvalley Estate  near Banbridge in County Down was granted by James I in 1611 to John McGuinness. Later it passed to the Whyte family. There were Preston tenants on this estate. Later records in the time of Solomon Whyte show in 1728 Andrew Preston a tenant and in 1771 John Preston had 14 acres.

 

Thomas Preston (1627-1705) lived at Cloghog in County Tyrone. His daughter Mary Preston married John McRannells but she died aged only 30 in 1713 and is buried in Clonoe parish church. Her husband was said to have helped in the siege of Londonderry and to be a descendant of the Lord of the Isles.

 

The earliest record of a Preston family in County Armagh is a lease of 160 acres on the Richardson estate in Mulladry to William Preston in 1693. The lease was also for the lives of his sons Thomas and John.