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Benison
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In the 18th century the Benison family were mill owners in the Ballyconnell area of county Cavan. The first family home was Mount Pleasant on the outskirts of Ballyconnell. In the 1880s, Slieve Russell House was built a little further out from the town. In the mid-19th century James Benison held land in the parishes of Tomregan and Templeport. In 1878, he owned 570 acres in county Cavan, 141 acres in county Armagh and 275 acres in county Leitrim. The Benisons had a connection with the well-known Arnold literary family when in 1890 James Benison’s daughter Josephine married, as his second wife, Tom Arnold (1823-1900), son of Dr Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School. Tom Arnold was a brother of the English poet Matthew Arnold and grandfather of Aldous Huxley. James Benison’s son John Joseph married twice, first to Marie Johnston of Arran View, county Clare and secondly to Mary Ross only child and heiress of Arthur Ellis of Slieve-an-Erin Lodge, county Leitrim and Tankerville, county Dublin. John Joseph was agent for the Lord Belmore's estate.
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