1 - Locating Peter Mccabe in Mid-19Th Century Ireland
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1 - Locating Peter McCabe in mid-19th century Ireland The McCabe family booklet, “The McCabes of Allanard” (published 2012), tells us towards the end of Page 1 that: “Patrick McCabe was born in Killinkere, County Cavan, Ireland in 1840 to Peter McCabe and Bridget Smith. Peter was, according to Patrick’s marriage certificate a farmer. Unfortunately at this time that is all that is known of the family in Ireland.” I have been doing my own occasional family history research (Parker and McCabe) since I retired from work in 2011. In 2012, I believe I uncovered details of exactly where Peter McCabe was farming in Ireland. I use the word “believe” because official historical records in Ireland are scarce, and there is little ability to cross-check between original documents. This makes it difficult to speak with certainty. I followed a process of elimination. I did nothing more with my “discovery” at the time, but with the McCabe reunion now approaching, it seems a good time to share this information. Census records are usually a good source of information about where a person was living, and with whom, and their occupation – and that is where I first looked. We must remember that Ireland has had a long and turbulent past. It was governed from England (seldom happily) from 1541 until 1922, when it won its independence by treaty, becoming the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland opted out of the treaty, and remained as part of the (British) United Kingdom in the same year. The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland in 1949. This troubled past partly explains the dearth of surviving official records. Many census, and other, records from 1811 to 1851 were destroyed by a fire at the Public Records Office in the Four Courts in Dublin, Ireland during the civil war in 1922. Surviving records are incomplete. The 1861 and 1871 census returns were deliberately destroyed by the government shortly after being completed. The 1881 and 1891 census returns were pulped at a time of serious paper shortages during the First World War. Page 1 November 2016 Wayne Parker Our family history booklet from 2012 tells us that Patrick McCabe was born in 1840. There is only one Peter McCabe in the surviving 1821 census records for County Cavan, and he was 9 years old. He did not live in Killinkere. There are no McCabes in the surviving 1831 census records, which record only Antrim and Londonderry (Derry) counties. The McCabes in the surviving 1841 census records lived in Killashandra Parish, County Cavan, and again, there is no “Peter”. All of the McCabes shown in the surviving 1851 census lived in County Antrim, and there is no “Peter”. McCabes are listed in the 1901 census records, and the 1911 census records, for County Cavan. Civil births, deaths and marriage records survive from 1864 and more recently. Church records are incomplete: for Protestants of the Established Church of Ireland, records exist from 1845; Catholic Church records contain many gaps. In August 2012, I had something of a windfall, when I discovered Griffith’s Valuation online. (Full title – “The General Valuation of the Rateable Property in Ireland”, but also known as the “Primary Valuation (of Tenements)”.) It is not a census. It covers who owned what land, and who rented what land, and assessed the value at which each identifiable parcel of land or property should be taxed. Only the head of each household is identified. Family relationships and other personal information were not recorded. Few women and no children are included. The poorest, who lived in makeshift or temporary hovels, were also excluded. It lists pretty much every occupier of property in Ireland. In rural areas this meant every dwelling, while in urban areas it also meant every household within multiple occupancy buildings, i.e., tenements. In the early 19th century, taxes in Ireland were based on property. The Government wanted to create a consistent system of taxation, so it tasked Richard Griffith, the director of the Valuation Office in Dublin, to carry out a Page 2 November 2016 Wayne Parker survey. The result was Griffith's Valuation – a detailed guide to the property, land and households of mid-19th-century Ireland. Griffith completed his survey of County Cavan in June 1857, only a few years before “our” Patrick McCabe came to Australia. Griffith’s Valuation records: – the townland where each occupier lived; – the name of the occupier’s landlord when relevant, i.e., the person from whom the occupier was renting (their lessor); – a brief description of the property and its acreage; – a valuation of the land and buildings. The information about each property was cross-referenced by Griffith’s team to a special edition of the Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland, so that each individual property can be found on a map of the time. Thus, I was eventually able to locate exactly where Peter McCabe, farmer, lived in Killinkere civil Parish. (Killinkere is Cillín Chéir in Gaelic: it means little church.) It has an area of: – 15964 acres; or – 24.9 square miles; or – 6460 hectares. Below is the complete list of all McCabes in the civil Parish of Killinkere, taken from Griffith’s Valuation. The surname at the top of the list is Maxwell, and that at the bottom is McCaffrey. Page 3 November 2016 Wayne Parker It can be seen that there is only one “Peter” (shown boxed in green). He lived in the townland of Greaghnafarna (Gréach na Fearna in Gaelic: it means rough mountain-flat of the alder, or alder-wood). Greaghnafarna is in the civil Parish of Killinkere. Greaghnafarna townland has an area of: – almost 531 acres; or – 0.83 square miles; or – almost 215 hectares. Page 4 November 2016 Wayne Parker Open either the MP3, or WAV, audio file below to hear the correct pronunciation of Greaghnafarna. (Double click in one coloured rectangle.) Greaghnafarna.mp 3 MP3 WAV There is also a Greaghnafarna townland in counties Leitrim and Roscommon. These have no connection to “our” Peter. The following two maps will help us to understand where we are. Killinkere civil Parish, on the first map, is in the south-east of County Cavan, and east of Cavan city. The parish name is boxed in green, and the parish boundary is traced also in green. The second map below shows the 47 townlands within the civil Parish of Killinkere. Greaghnafarna townland is in the north-west of the civil Parish. Again, the name of the townland is boxed in green, and the boundary of the townland is traced also in green. The ruins of St Ultan’s church (mentioned in our family booklet on Page 4) are in the townland of Gallon (no. 34 on the map of townlands). Page 5 November 2016 Wayne Parker Page 6 November 2016 Wayne Parker 48. Lisnabantry From Griffith’s, we can locate the block of land on which Peter McCabe lived, as well as several other details about the land. See the following screenshot of Griffith’s Page 276, and the enlargement below it. Page 7 November 2016 Wayne Parker Page 8 November 2016 Wayne Parker According to this page of Griffith’s Valuation, other McCabes lived on adjacent, or nearby, blocks of land. They may be related to Peter. The Patrick Snr and Patrick Jnr shown are father and son, so neither of them is “our” Patrick. We can see that Peter McCabe’s block is numbered “6” on the corresponding Ordnance Survey map. Refer to the detail map extracted from Griffith’s, below. Peter McCabe lived on the block with the “6” shown on it. The block included land on both sides of the road. This land is in the northern centre of Greaghnafarna townland. (The red horizontal line across the middle is the junction of two adjacent maps.) Page 9 November 2016 Wayne Parker Buildings Trees Above is an enlargement of Block 6, extracted from the previous map. Various buildings can be seen in the middle of Block 6. The start of the old laneway that goes down the map into what was Peter McCabe’s land is at 53° 55’ 40.77” N, 7° 07’ 29.40” W in Google Earth. Following are a number of other screenshots, including some from Google Earth. Page 10 November 2016 Wayne Parker The first map is a general view of the northern part of Greaghnafarna townland. Peter McCabe’s land is in the middle of this part of the townland. The heavy orange-red lines are the borders of townlands. Peter McCabe Page 11 November 2016 Wayne Parker The aerial photo below is taken from Google Earth. The photo was taken on 8 April 2015. The bright green overlay shows the boundaries of Peter McCabe’s land as shown in Griffith’s Valuation. Page 12 November 2016 Wayne Parker The aerial photo below is extracted from the previous photo. The photo was taken on 8 April 2015. It shows details of Peter McCabe’s land as it was in April 2015. The bright green overlay showing the boundaries of Peter McCabe’s land is not included here. Page 13 November 2016 Wayne Parker The aerial photo below is taken from Google Earth – from a lower altitude, and looking ahead at an angle, to show 3D details of the land. The photo looks north west across Peter McCabe’s land. North is on the right. The photo was taken on 8 April 2015. It can be seen that Peter’s land straddles a ridge. Page 14 November 2016 Wayne Parker The aerial photo below is also taken from Google Earth – from a lower altitude, and looking ahead at an angle, to show 3D details of the land.