Bartholomew McKeown family and origins - County Fermanagh

[MrLevity]

Hi folks I hope this is the correct place to post this as I cannot be specific about what area of Ireland I should be focussing my attention.

I am hoping someone can help me out, point me in the correct direction or offer advice.  For some years now I have been researching my family history.  Like many of us here in Scotland our story begins in Ireland however tracing Irish ancestors hasn't been easy.  As we all know records frequently give conflicting information, are vague and are recorded by an external source who decided how to spell a name as many of our relatives couldn't read or write.

I am trying to find more information on the origins of my Great Great Great Grandfather Bartholomew McKeown born Ireland circa 1827 to James McKeown and Ann O'Neil.  I will post a quick timeline below to highlight how Bartholomew has been recorded by history:

Possibly him in 1841 census Kirkintilloch, Scotland as Bartly McCan born Ireland 1826 age 15. 

1851 census Airdrie Middle Ward, Lanarkshire, Scotland recorded as Bartholomew McEwan born Ireland 1827, age 24.  An iron stone drawer.

1854 marriages to Ann Tillison (Taylorson, Tillotson, Taylison, Tellison born Durham, England 1834).  The first service was a Church of Scotland one (Ann was COE) and his name was recorded as Bartholomew McEwan.  The second service was in St Patrick's Coatbridge a few weeks later and again McEwan was recorded by the priest.  Bartholomew was Roman Catholic.  I guess they were covering all bases!

1855 birth of son James in Coatbridge.  McEwan was recorded. 

1857 birth of Ann in Coatbridge.  McEwan was recorded.

1861 census Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, Scotland as Bartholomew McChan born Ireland 1827 age 34.  A coal miner.

1861 birth of John in Baillieston.  McKohn was recorded.  This is the first record closest to the name McKeown (phonetically at least).

1864 birth of William in Baillieston.  McKohn was recorded.

1864 death of John in Baillieston.  McKohn was recorded.

1864 death of wife Ann in New Monkland (Airdrie) fever hospital.  McEwan was recorded.

1871 census Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Barclay McEwan born Ireland 1824 age 47.  A coal miner.

1881 census Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, Bartholomew McKechon born Ireland 1809 age 72.  A coal miner.

1882 Bartholomew registered the death of his mother in law (who lived with him since his marriage) and used the surname McKeown signing the document with an X.  From this point onwards McKeown was used presumably due to his children being educated and literate but I do assume the name has always been McKeown.

Bartholomew died February 5th 1891 in Old Monkalnd Poorhouse.  My Great Great Grandfather, William McKeown, registered the death and gave Bartholomew's age as 54 (born 1837) and his parents names being James McKeown (a farm labourer) and Ann McKeown maiden name O'Neil, both deceased.

If anyone can help me discover more about Bartholomew, his parents, possible siblings and which part of Ireland they were from I would be extremely grateful.

Cheers,
Dean

[Elwyn Soutter]

1855 birth of son James in Coatbridge.  McEwan was recorded. 

Scottish birth certificates in 1855 only recorded a lot of extra information. Normally it would say where and when the parents were born. Have a good look at that certificate to see if that information is recorded.

[MrLevity]

Hi Elwyn, many thanks for you reply and help, in the course of my research I have bought very few registers of birth from Scotland's People as they tend not to contain any information I couldn't get elsewhere.  It never occurred to me that the earlier records would contain more information than the latter ones which I am now kicking myself over as I already knew the death registers contained more information from 1855 to around 1863.

Anyway I got the register of birth for James and it gives Bartholomew's place of birth as County Fermanagh and an age of 29 meaning another possible year of birth as 1826.  I actually feel like I am getting somewhere now so again many thanks.

I forgot to mention in my original post some of the resources I have been using.  Scotland's People, Irish Genealogy, Find My Past, FamilySearch, this forum and other similar ones and for the other side of my family the Ros Davies site has been invaluable.

[Wexflyer]

Fermanagh is mainly in the Catholic diocese of Clogher, with a small portion in Kilmore.

Looking at the start date for parish records, I was genuinely shocked to see that not a single one (that I looked at) was early enough to cover 1826/27.

That leaves only some very poor options:
- Do you have any information on parents names or occupations from either of the two marriages?
- Can you make a best guess on parents names from children's naming pattern?

If you knew or could guess Barty's father's name, you could then look in the tythe valuations.

About all I can suggest.

[shanreagh]

I think you have support for the names of Bart's older child(ren), at least, reflecting the names of his parents according to Irish naming patterns

1855 birth of son James in Coatbridge.  McEwan was recorded.



1st son is named after the father’s father.
2nd son is named after the mother’s father.
3rd son is named after the father.
4th son is named after the father’s eldest brother.
 

1st daughter is named after the mother’s mother.
2nd daughter is named after the father’s mother.
3rd daughter is named after the mother.
4th daughter is named after the mother’s eldest sister.

NB Many in NZ pronounce McKeown and McEwan the same way* with one denoting Irish spelling and the other Scottish very much like Mclaughlin/Mcloughlin being the same name as Mac/cLachlan though some times the 'Laughlin' is softer than 'Lachlan'.  * though having said that I have heard McCone and McKone for McKeown.

It is not clear, but I am presuming that in the earliest finding of him
Possibly him in 1841 census Kirkintilloch, Scotland as Bartly McCan born Ireland 1826 age 15.
He is by himself ie no family are recorded with him.  Who are the others with him? 

[Elwyn Soutter]

You know that Bartly’s parents were dead by 1891. Death registration in Ireland started on 1.1.1864.  If they died before that then you will probably struggle to find anything but you might find their deaths if they occurred 1864 – 1891.

A death in Fermanagh might be registered in either Ballyshannon, Clones, Enniskillen, Lisnaskea or Lowtherstown/Irvinestown (it changed it’s name in the 1870s). Searching for James McKeown, I found 14 (Ballyshannon, Enniskillen & Irvinestown) and Ann just 4 (all in Ballyshannon).  You’ll need to widen the search to include variant spellings but you could look at those deaths.  Improbable age, incorrect occupation and incorrect marital status may allow you to eliminate many of them.

A small portion of the 1821 census of Fermanagh has survived. I searched it for McKeown and variants but without success. There are 26 O’Neill (and variants). 2 named Ann(e)

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1821/Fermanagh/Derryvullan/Coolgarrow/1/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1821/Fermanagh/Derryvolland/Drumpeen/3/

Neither is the right age to be yours.

[MrLevity]

Hi Wexflyer, Shanreagh and Elwyn

Once again many thanks for all your comments and advice I can't express how much I appreciate any help and suggestions because before Elwyn's help yesterday I really felt like I was at a dead end with my 3x Great Grandfather Bartholomew.  I know enough about the records from these times not to get my hopes up too much, I might have found out everything there is to find out but I'll still try. 

I'll answer each in turn.

Wexflyer
Sadly as Bartholomew and Ann were married in 1854 they were one year too early for the statutory register of births, marriages and deaths in Scotland which go from 1855 to present.  The actual parish records are nothing more than a few lines, their names and date of marriage and the Catholic one listed two witnesses.

With respect to parents names.  Bartholomew's were James McKeown and Ann O'Neil (Ann's being Jonathan Taylorson and Mary Harrison).  I will look at the valuation records as you suggest, it is worth a try.

Shanreagh
Thank you for outlining the Irish naming patterns.  I knew names were often used through generations and indeed still are but I didn't know that there was an accepted pattern.

First born was James and Bartholomew's dad was James, then they had Mary (in my first post I mistakenly wrote Ann) and Ann's mum was Mary.  Then John was born and Ann's dad was Jonathan and lastly my 2x Great Granddad William who breaks the pattern.  I thought it strange that Bartholomew didn't name a child after himself  and I checked for any child who maybe died in infancy but none were born or recorded.  Every generation after used the name Bartholomew up until the 1950s with my dads cousin being the seventh and last Bartholomew McKeown.

With regards to the possible census appearance in 1841 Bartly McCan born Ireland 1826 age 15 appears by himself as a lodger with people I have researched and it appears are not related to me.  Why I think it might be my 3x Greatfather is because there is another 15 year old Irish lad, also a lodger, that I assume would be a friend and his surname was Caulfield,  when I pick up Bartholomew on the 1851 census he is again a lodger with a lot of people (I checked them all as well) one of them has the surname McCaul and that is why I think the 1841 census might be my Bartholomew plus I can't find any other record of Bartly McCan after 1841.

Elwyn
Firstly thank you for your knowledge of the Irish records system and regions/areas.  Obviously I am more knowledgeable with Scottish areas and when I come across a reference to a place I already know a potential parish etc but this isn't the case with the Irish locations which means a lot of poking about one different sites and looking at maps.  There is no substitute for local knowledge an example being last night after getting the Fermanagh lead I went straight onto the Irish Genealogy site and couldn't figure out why I couldn't find Fermanagh listed, I will now go and look at the specific areas you have listed ruling out any potential people based on what little I know about them.

As all of you have also pointed out I will widen my search for different spellings of the surname as it has probably evolved into McKeown from something slightly or even a lot different.

I will plod on and see what I can turn up, the new lead has stoked up the fire in me.

Dean

[Elwyn Soutter]

As all of you have also pointed out I will widen my search for different spellings of the surname as it has probably evolved into McKeown from something slightly or even a lot different.

The irishgenealogy site allows you to search using a wildcard. So you can search using James McK* and that will cover a wide range of possible names. You can obviously narrow it by location and year to a hopefully manageable number of possible entries.

You probably need to know that deaths 1864 to 1870 are not viewable on-line yet. (They haven’t been put on the system).  They are indexed but you can’t see the actual certificates on the irishgenealogy site.  You can order them from GRO Roscommon or view them on the GRONI site for £2.50 a time.

[Kiltaglassan]

If you knew or could guess Barty's father's name, you could then look in the tythe valuations.

Tithe Applotment Books
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

...view them on the GRONI site for £2.50 a time.

General Register Office (Northern Ireland) - Search registrations
https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/