Joseph Reford (1794-1834)

His home, Spring Farm, was situated on the mail coach road between Londonderry and Belfast and was described in 1823 as, "a snug lodge and tolerably extensive farm (116-acres) held under the Massarene family (the Earls of Massareene) by Mr Joseph Reford, of the firm of Steen & Reford, proprietors of a bleach yard on the River Clady". The Spring Farm bleach-greens had been established by Joseph's grandfather whose family came to Northern Ireland from Devon in the mid 17th-Century.

The Irish Refords were a locally prominent Quaker family and in addition to the bleach-greens, Joseph inherited three linen mills. But, by 1823 his elder brother, Samuel, had died in New York and he had unexpectedly become head of the family business. Sensing an opportunity to seize control of the Reford's holdings, their wily business rival, William Chaine (1778-1862), invited the susceptible young heir to dinner and a 'friendly' game of cards at Ballycraigy, the Chaine family home that neighbored Spring Farm.

Oblivious to the trap he was walking into, among the other guests invited that night was a professional cards player whose true identity was kept secret from Reford. After dinner, the men withdrew, cards were dealt, and over the course of the first few hands Reford was beguiled into thinking that lady luck was on his side. But with the help of a strategically positioned mirror, Reford's 'luck' took a turn for the worse until he was dealt a seemingly unassailable hand and the young heir put everything he had on the table. The short carriage-drive back to Spring Farm that night must have felt like a bad dream. Joseph Reford had lost everything while in the course of just a few hours his rival had become the proprietor of what was now the largest linen bleaching operation in the county.

By the 1840s Ballycraigy had become "Ballycraigy Manor" and had grown from being "a neat lodge in the villa style" to a grand, sprawling Gothic pile. Reford's future on the other hand had been turned on its head and without a dime to his name he had to rely on his connections to secure an apprenticeship to a cabinetmaker in Belfast. Joseph died in 1834, and just as Ballycraigy was being remodelled and expanded to princely proportions, in 1845 Mrs Reford and her 5-children were sailing to Toronto in Upper Canada in hope of a fresh start. Joseph would be gratified to know that the Refords would perhaps have the last laugh. The senior line of the Chaine family were extinct by 1937 whereas Joseph's son, Robert Wilson Reford, went on to become a millionaire with a large family and the Robert Reford Shipping Agency continues today, the oldest of its kind in Canada.