The Half Acre Cavan Town

[Stephen K]

I remember the Crumley children. They were my father's first cousins but when I knew them they were all adults living in Belfast. They probably played with your relations.
The Farnhams or more correctly the Maxwells did indeed own considerable amounts of land in Cavan. Unlike many of the landed gentry they purchased the land rather than were given it. "By the end of the nineteenth century they owned 29000 acres which gave them a recorded annual rent of £13100 in 1897" http://www.nli.ie/pdfs/mss%20lists/farnham2.pdf p7. They originally purchased 7000 acres from Sir Richard Waldron who had been given it but he ran into gambling debts & had to sell the land. His wife's maiden name was Farnham hence he called the house Farnham House.

[Neli]

I don't know the Allens that well, they are the 'hidden' family. My Dad didn't even realise how many of them there were until I started my research, then he was quite excited about finding out more. Unfortunately I have not been able to find out much more beyond their time in the Half Acre.
Belfast is interesting there, did you ever find out what brought them there as I have only been able to hypothesise  between a possible link with the Allens and Belfast.

[Stephen K]

In the 1820s the people in the northern counties of Ireland supplemented their income through flax cultivation and modifying their premises to allow for the taking place of the various processes in turning flax into cloth and supplying the local linen mills. However as a result of the Industrial Revolution the cottage linen industry collapsed in 1825 as mass production was more efficient. The centre of linen production then moved to Belfast. Over the years there was a vast migration of rural people into Belfast in search of work. In 1808 circa 25000 people lived in Belfast but by 1911 Belfast had 385000 residents making it the largest city in Ireland bar none. My research has shown that the Kennedys (of whom I am one) & the Crumleys moved as a family unit to Belfast at the turn of the century in search of work. There is a very good chance that the Allens did also.

[Stephen K]

Sorry. I'm getting my ancesters mixed up. The Kennedys have no connection to Cavan. It's my grandmother's family the Bells that are from Cavan.

[Neli]

That's interesting Stephen, I actually thought it was the judicial system that brought my own lot there. Having studied the Petty sessions of the time I discovered a lot of the half acre peeps were remanded up there for crimes such as begging or drunkedness. It's nice to hear that yours had an auspicious route to the North :-)
I thought Flax growing and production was more the jurisdiction  of the rural rather than than the urban dwellers of the town however. Do tell me more, I love to hear from fellow historians :-)

[Stephen K]

Well of course it wasn't the North then. That wasn't for another 10 years. In fact Lord Farnham was one of the main people pushing for all 9 counties of Ulster to make up NI when  partition did eventually come about. Usually crimes dealt with by the Petty Sessions were as the name suggests petty in nature & dealt with locally. I wouldn't expect someone to be sent to Belfast directly from the Petty Session court. Unless you know the Allens engaged in more serious crime I would be more inclined to consider they moved to Belfast as economic migrants.

[Stephen K]

Regarding Flax growing. You are correct it is associated with rural rather than urban. Many tenant farmers in the northern counties needed the flax to supplement their income & pay their rent. With the crash in 1825 many farmers couldn't pay their rent & were evicted. They then migrated into the local town seeking non existent work. Having no money shanty towns usually evolved on the outskirts of the town. This I think is the origin of The Half Acre. I'm not sure about this hence my original post. Twenty years later the famine arrived at their door & with it further evictions from farms & more pressure on the urban areas.

[Neli]

Sad to say both my ancestors seemed to have been sent to Armagh for some indiscretion or another so I hope it wasn't that rare or I come from some really bad stock, Lol!
Their crimes seemed mostly to be begging or encouraging their children to beg, it would seem that being poor was a criminal offence in that place and time :-(
I saw other people on the same pages being sent to Australia :0 for their crimes (I forget what they were). I think they must have been having a bit of a 'crack down on crime' during the years I was looking at ;-)

[Stephen K]

Sorry I was only thinking of Belfast & the distance that is from Cavan. Armagh of course is a different story as it is much closer to Cavan & it is quite conceivable that they could have spent some time there. Remember pre 1921 Ireland was the one country & so nothing should be read into someone having a stay in an institution that today would be in a different jurisdiction. Armagh of course isn't Belfast & I still think if you have found the Allens  in Belfast it is most probable economic migration. Perhaps after their release from Armagh.