The Dowry system in Ireland

[YukonHall]

I am painfully putting my Irish family together - My Great Great Granfather married Margaret Kilgariff in Ballaghdereen, Mayo in 1856 (I believe).  I looked in the Phone Book and wrote to the only Kilgariff left in Ballaghdereen (well in the phone book) and she wrote back to me via her son in law - totally delighted to have a complete stranger from Canada asking her about her family for she has some memories and stories of interest to me.

The one thing in the letter that startled me was the Dowry system in place then - her father in law married his wife in 1911 and the wife brought a large amount of property to the marriage as a dowry. 

The dowry system is one of the reasons for the drop in population after the Hunger.  It seems the English finally decided to help the Irish by outlawing the division of land among the sons, so that only one could inherite.  That one would have to wait on his father's death or retirement to inherite.  A woman could only marry if she had a dowry and the families arranged the marriage.  The dowry required would be large so it wasn't unusual for only one daughter to have it (the eldest).  She'd only marry someone with property so he'd be a bit long in the tooth as would she (after waiting around for her betroth to qualify for marriage) so when they married they would have a small family.  The unmarried sibling would either remain at home as unpaid labor or go to the city (Dublin I guess) or immigrate.

Has anybody after more information on this Dowry system - its fascinating and I am trying to come to grips with it and its effect on family relationships.  It did undervalue women - couple it with the lack of young men after the First world war (and yes lots of Irish men died in that too) I can't help feeling that the countryside of Ireland would be full of Spinsters.

Frances

[Ticker]

Hi Frances

Does this article help you at all?

http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Dowry_and_Marriage

Best wishes

Ticker

[Christopher]

Hiya Frances,

There's more on the subject of dowries in an article on the Emigrant Letter (Emile) Stories website.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070703174642/http://www.emigrantletters.com/IE/output.asp?CategoryID=6587

Christopher

Sadly the Author of this Website Ruth-Ann Harris has since passed away in 2012, only an archive remains.

[crabbya]

Christopher,

That site is truly fascinating! 

Thank you,


Crabby

[Christopher]

Sometimes the Dowry system proved to be rather expensive, Crabby. One of the Magennis family of Iveagh managed to bankrupt himself by giving dowries and other gifts to all his thirteen children.

Christopher

[rebekahm28]

Irish travellers/gypsies still use the dowry, which they call the fortune. I wont say how much it stands at today, but some families want a dowry paid especially if they are wealthy and a Romany gypsy (as opposed to an Irish one) marries in.  This applies in Ireland and England, although many of the less traditional families dont bother with it.