The Half Acre Cavan Town

[Neli]

They ended up in Longford in the Midlands. There are, however, references to Belfast and Armagh in various bits and pieces I have discovered and I did wonder about it. In the 1911 Census they were staying in a guesthouse in Kilnaleck where they  claimed to be from Armagh and Belfast. Perhaps they were cutely referring to their 'Time' spent there. I think they were a bit of a pair for fibbing though as they also claim to have been married in Scotland for which I have yet to find the evidence.

Did your Crumley's speak much about their time in the Half Acre?

[Stephen K]

My Crumleys never mentioned The Half Acre. Coincidentally their Grandmother & my gt grandmother was from Granard in Longford. Interestingly on my Kennedy side in 1901 they claim their religion to be Church of Ireland & they are living off the Shankill Road now the protestant side of Belfast but by 1911 they have moved to Catholic Falls Road & they now describe themselves as Catholic. I have obtained their marriage cert & they were married in a Catholic Church. I suspect lies were told so that they fitted into their immediate environment. Perhaps this is also what prompted your ancestors to bend the truth a bit.

[Neli]

I always think of Granard as a very Cavany sort of town despite it being in Longford. That probably doesn't make much sense but the people just seem more Cavan than Longford. Have you ever been? Is it just me that thinks that?
A lot of my Mums family were from thereabouts. My family have a cottage in Gowna where you can swim from Cavan to Longford and back which always tickles me.
Do you have many current links with Ireland that you can call on for support with your genealogy?

[Neli]

Ah, just checked your profile,you're in Cork so very well placed :-)
It must be great to be in Ireland with all the library and many other resources with easy reach.

[Stephen K]

Not that easy. Local libraries concentrate on local history. As you know my roots are in Belfast & Cavan both places about 5 hours drive away from Cork. The National Library & Archives & the General Registry Offices are in Dublin, a 3 hour drive so just like people living abroad I rely on the post. The only advantage living in Cork is the access I have to more experienced Irish genealogists through the Coprk Genealogy Society.

[Neli]

5 hours! What are you driving? a bike? Lol!
Humour aside though,still a lot easier than ferries or planes.
Having said that, I didn't actually find the Librarians in Cavan very helpful until you coughed up the 25 euro. I forget that maybe we are a little bit blessed over here in so far as they will do anything within their means for free. If I were from Yorkshire I would be in clover (or shamrock). Oh and added to that, they actually gave us (I brought the aunt and unc along) the completely wrong family which led me along a garden path for a while. I did wonder about the spelling variation but knew that was common enough so went along with it.
One of my Uncs is married to a Cork lady but I forget her maiden name. The wedding was amazing in a hotel overlooking the sea. I've been a couple of times, beautiful place,it's on my list of places to live when I win the lottery :-)

[hanes teulu]

Eniskillen Chronicle & Erne Packet, 28 April 1836
For the Erne Packet - Rambles and Rhymes by Dubh Diarmid - No. 3 The Green Lake
"Unpoetical as the town of C______ may seem ... Up this stony hill, a very significant name it bears, though not an overlength one "The Devil's Half Acre"; I believe the good townsmen will not dispute the propriety of the appellation. Straight up and over this formidable portion of His Satanic Majesty's dominions was once the route of the royal mail ... On those rough rocky eminences to your left, as I have been told, was erected the battery of James II, on his retreat from the North. There was warm work on the Devil's Half Acre that day ... Here too is the present fair green ... Straight on before you was the old Dublin Road by Cross Keys ..."

"C_____" - Cavan not named but a couple of references point to Cavan ie. "fair greeen" ?? and "Cross Keys" (South East of Cavan)??

[hanes teulu]

Drogheda Conservative Journal 9 Nov 1844

"... John Sheridan who admitted on his oath that he was occasionally kept and supported by one of the fair cyprians who resides on that romantic and classic portion of the suburbs of Cavan called 'College View' alias 'Mud-wall-row' alias 'The Devil's' half acre

[Grimupnorth]

These are very intresting pages re. The Half Acre.My own link being that my grandmother lived there.Her maiden name was Mary Ann White and she owned a shop ,she married twice first to John Jardine with whom she had five children William.Tomas,Jack,May and Isabella.(1900s-1920s)John Jardine was a british soldier presumably stationed in the town .Her second husband was Bobbie Owens who was killed during the war ,his grave (cwg)is in the protestant graveyard in the town .(a most forlorn little place) All three sons fought for the British during the war and i think for this reason she was burnt out of her home by the I.R.A.  and migrated north to Belfast during the 1940s.(would this incident be documented anywhere?). as a footnote, which is perhaps a family myth Mrs.White was mentioned in the lyric of the Percy French song "Are you right there Micheal are you right" i may be wrong .Although the family was scattered to the wind they allways considered themselves Cavan people and had a high regard for all in the town.