I have searched birth/baptism records for John Neeson and Jane Mulholland in Ahoghill and neighbouring parishes as well as a general search in various genealogical sites without success.
1. John’s father was also John but I don’t know his mother’s name. There was a John Neeson, born 1829 in Aughterclooney, who married a Catherine Laverty in May 1856 but they sailed for Australia on 11 Nov 1856 and had a son John born 1877 (she was 44 at the time). So they are not the above John’s parents.
2. Another John, born 1876, married Catherine Neeson, born 1882. They went to England. His father, also John, son of Titus Neeson (2nd) and Betty Devlin, married Mary Mulholland 29 Nov 1873.
3. Another John, born 1834, son of James Neeson of Ballybollen, born 1786, and Rose Mulholland. His DOB would tie in with having a child in 1864. James (uncle of Titus 2nd) was the son of Titus Neeson (1st) and Susan Hardy which is as far back as I can go.
This brings me to Ballybollen and Griffith’s Valuation of 1862. Numbers on the valuation refer to properties on Griffith’s map occupied by tenants of a landlord and may not be in any particular order. They’re also hard to make out on the original maps. They are not house or road numbers so, for example, no 4 in Ballybollen townland is not 4 Ballybollen Road. The townland straddles several different roads so access to the property could be from a completely different road. Another complication is that part of Ballybollen is in Ahoghill parish, the other part in Drummaul parish. So a 4 in one parish and a 4 in the other in the same townland could be close together with the parish boundary between them.
John Neeson of Ballybollen lived at property No.4 on 3 roods of ground (not even a farm) in Ahoghill parish. Access was via the Clooney Road. His father James had a farm of 16 acres but no house at property No.4 in Ballybollen in Drummaul parish about half a mile distant. Access was via the Ballybollen Road. So it can be quite complicated to identify your ancestor’s homesteads and Griffith’s online maps don’t even show the properties for Ballybollen.
The John Neeson (born 1829) who married Catherine Laverty (sometimes Lafferty) was the son of Paddy Neeson and Nancy Darragh. Paddy was the brother of the above Titus Neeson 2nd . According to the Australian Neeson family tree Catherine was the daughter of James Laverty and Rose McIlhatton, Ballyscullion. Just to confuse matters, there is another James Lafferty and wife Rose Scullen, Ballyscullion, who had a daughter Catherine born on 12 Feb 1865.
All the Neesons of Aughterclooney and surrounding townlands stem from Titus 1st. The townland had many variations in spelling since the early 1600s. The main ones are Watercloney, Aughtercloney and Aughterclooney. They're all derived from the Gaelic language and mean the same thing. Today it's just called Cloney.
