Author Topic: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh  (Read 24229 times)

Offline Marcella Paget

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James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« on: Friday 21 October 11 08:03 BST (UK) »
Yes, I do realise how many James Beattys there were in 19th century Co. Fermanagh but refuse to admit defeat! This is everything I know about ours: On the 1873 marriage certificate of his son, (born in Fermanagh abt. 1842 and also named James Beatty) he is described as a "farmer" whereas the father of the bride is described as a "gentleman". From this I deduce that James Beatty senior was probably a tenant farmer, not a landowner, but a reasonably substantial one since his son caught the eye of a "gentlemans" daughter. The son's wedding was in a Presbyterian church in Dublin, so, like all the others, our James Beatty was probably of Scottish origin. I went through the whole of the Griffiths Valuation for Co. Fermanagh, and guessing that you'd need at least 30 acres to be a farmer (please let me know if you have better info. about 19th century Irish farming!) found that only about 7 James Beattys had that much land. 5 of them were within a few miles of Five-Mile-Town, and maybe some of them are the same person. 

If I were closer to Ireland I'd be happy to spend a week or two wading through Presbyterian and COI parish and land records in Dublin and Belfast, including the updates to the Griffith Valuation, trying to find out if one of those James Beattys had a son James Beatty in 1842. As I'm on the other side of the world in Australia I'd really appreciate any advice as to how to proceed from here, including any flaws you can spot in my reasoning so far.
James Beatty, Farmer, of Aghavoory, near Fivemiletown, Co. Fermanagh, 1797-1873. His son James Beatty, born Fermanagh 1842, Married Marcella Paget in Dublin 1873, had a drapery business in Ballina, Mayo approx 1860-1875 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia 1878. His brother was Archibald Beatty,  Merchant of Lisnaskea/Ballina/Liverpool.
Paget family of Knockglass, Crossmolina, Mayo, Ireland and Kinard, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, Ireland, 1600s to 1878.

Offline aghadowey

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #1 on: Friday 21 October 11 16:58 BST (UK) »
I went through the whole of the Griffiths Valuation for Co. Fermanagh, and guessing that you'd need at least 30 acres to be a farmer (please let me know if you have better info. about 19th century Irish farming!) found that only about 7 James Beattys had that much land. 5 of them were within a few miles of Five-Mile-Town, and maybe some of them are the same person. 

Afraid that's incorrect- 10 acres or less was sufficient for farming at that time and quite often those who had a large amount of land actually had poorer land than someone with a smaller farm. Tp judge the quality of the land involved you'd need to look at both the acreage and the valuation.

Have you searched PRONI Will Extracts yet? some of the wording of the actual Wills are also available to view. There are several James Beattie's from Fermanagh listed.
http://applications.proni.gov.uk/DCAL_PRONI_WillsCalendar/WillsSearch.aspx
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline Marcella Paget

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #2 on: Friday 21 October 11 23:19 BST (UK) »
Thanks for your quick reply aghadowey, and it's great to get advice from someone with better local information. I guess I'd better trawl over the Griffiths Valuation again, taking relative value into account and with a lower target acreage. Thanks for the PRONI link. I knew of the resource, but hadn't realised it took you to the actual image of the will which is fabulous. I'll explore it further online and wring all the info out of it that I can.

It's probably worth mentioning for anyone else who is interested in this family, that it probably included Archibald as well as James as forenames. Also, according to my grandfather Archibald Beatty, his grandfather (James Beatty senior, the subject of this thread) had been a very strong swimmer and "used to swim across Sligo Bay with Captain [Matthew] Webb". If so, this must have been in the few years after 1873 when our James must have been at least in his 50's. It's on the record that Webb swam across Killala Bay - I don't know about Sligo Bay.
James Beatty, Farmer, of Aghavoory, near Fivemiletown, Co. Fermanagh, 1797-1873. His son James Beatty, born Fermanagh 1842, Married Marcella Paget in Dublin 1873, had a drapery business in Ballina, Mayo approx 1860-1875 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia 1878. His brother was Archibald Beatty,  Merchant of Lisnaskea/Ballina/Liverpool.
Paget family of Knockglass, Crossmolina, Mayo, Ireland and Kinard, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, Ireland, 1600s to 1878.

Offline fermanaghroots

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 16 November 11 22:09 GMT (UK) »
On the 1873 marriage certificate of his son, (born in Fermanagh abt. 1842 and also named James Beatty) he is described as a "farmer" whereas the father of the bride is described as a "gentleman".

What was his wife's name?


Offline aghadowey

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 16 November 11 22:50 GMT (UK) »
What was his wife's name?

Irish marriage certificates do not list mothers' names so perhaps Marcella won't know this information.
Away sorting out DNA matches... I may be gone for some time many years!

Offline fermanaghroots

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 17 November 11 13:00 GMT (UK) »
What was his wife's name?

Irish marriage certificates do not list mothers' names so perhaps Marcella won't know this information.

I mean the husband and wife, not the mother(fathers wife).

Offline Marcella Paget

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 19 November 11 02:01 GMT (UK) »
Hi KDDA,
The son married my alias, Marcella Paget (it's in the small print at the bottom of my messages) Are you also descended from a James Beatty?
James Beatty, Farmer, of Aghavoory, near Fivemiletown, Co. Fermanagh, 1797-1873. His son James Beatty, born Fermanagh 1842, Married Marcella Paget in Dublin 1873, had a drapery business in Ballina, Mayo approx 1860-1875 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia 1878. His brother was Archibald Beatty,  Merchant of Lisnaskea/Ballina/Liverpool.
Paget family of Knockglass, Crossmolina, Mayo, Ireland and Kinard, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, Ireland, 1600s to 1878.

Offline fermanaghroots

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 19 November 11 08:48 GMT (UK) »
No, not descended but I know several people with a James Beattie in their family tree.  These ones are descended from the townlands of Greaghacapple and Folum Little (Dresternian, Clankelly, Co Fermanagh)  I don't know if your aware but there are a few different spellings ie Beattie, Beatty, Beattee

Have you any clues as to what townland they come from?  I'm in the general area, so give me a shout if you need something checked out.  (Ill hopefully get around to it eventually!!)

Offline Marcella Paget

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Re: James Beatty of Co. Fermanagh
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 08 May 12 06:52 BST (UK) »
Sorry KDDA, I somehow managed to miss your reply so am extremely late responding!
No, we have no idea where in Fermanagh other than clues from the Beattys (of whatever spelling) in Griffiths Valuation. As I said, many seem to have lived around Five Mile Town. Thanks very much for the offer of help, I'll let you know if I can ask anything specific at some stage. We are considering trying DNA testing in case it can narrow down the search.
Cheers
James Beatty, Farmer, of Aghavoory, near Fivemiletown, Co. Fermanagh, 1797-1873. His son James Beatty, born Fermanagh 1842, Married Marcella Paget in Dublin 1873, had a drapery business in Ballina, Mayo approx 1860-1875 and emigrated to Victoria, Australia 1878. His brother was Archibald Beatty,  Merchant of Lisnaskea/Ballina/Liverpool.
Paget family of Knockglass, Crossmolina, Mayo, Ireland and Kinard, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo, Ireland, 1600s to 1878.