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Boushell Familly

My name is Jeff Boushell and I am trying to trace my family origin in Ireland. Believe my great grandfather, Henry F Boushell, left Ireland for New York. Our family can be traced to Brooklyn in New York City likely arriving there in the 1880s. Have been unable to track our family back to Ireland. Unable to find family name on passenger lists.

Any help in discovering a connection to Boushell families in Ireland would be appreciated. Grandfather was Harold and father was Clinton.

Jeff Boushell

IrelandXO member

6 replies

Jeff:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Do you know the religion of the family in the 19th century? Do you have an approximate year of birth for Henry and the names of his parents? Did your great-grandfather marry in Ireland? I can see some evidence that the family was from Dublin and the surname spelling was Boshell.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Roger

Thank you for responding. Much appreciated.

The family here in the U.S. were/are Methodist. Not sure date of birth for Henry Boushell. An educated guess is around 1863. Have not been able to identify his parents. Maybe a John Boushell in the tree. I do know he married Magdalena Zinn, probably of German descent. Not sure if they married in Ireland. Believe they married in Brooklyn, NY.

I have found Boushells in Ireland but have not come up with a direct connection.

Our family were likely French Hueganots who left France with some settling in Germany and others going to Ireland.

This unfortunately is the extent of my knowledge about our family's connection to Europe.

Jeff

IrelandXO member

Jeff:

Civil registration for births started in 1864 and I don't see a Henry Boushell (or variant) birth around that time.If they were Methodists then finding records will be more difficult.

Have you considered autosomal DNA testing?

Roger

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

A great starting point, in cases such as this, is to run a search of your information through www.johngrenham.com 

 

It is quite a rare surname in the Republic of Ireland, especially when spelled Boushell. (There are 6 phonebook listings for "Boushel" but only one with the double-L.)

"Bushell" is the most common spelling (of which you will only find 12 listed in the Eircom Phonebook today!) along with Boshell, which was very much Dublin-based (and Catholic).

If you are hung up on the 'Boushell' spelling variant, the only returns in 1901 are Co. Kildare and Co Tipperary ... both Catholic.

 

Your best bet is to keep an open mind about the spelling (which was not standardised until the 20th century anyway) and to take a look at the 1901 Census for leads.

Here you will find the location of 12 Bushell familes (a mix of Protestant / Catholic) and 10 Boshell families (all Catholic).

THEN...

Run a wildcard search for any spelling variant "B*s*el*" + "Methodist"... this leads you to... (drum roll) ... 

Bousele in Co. Down (birthplace Fermanagh) ...

Bussell in Drumbad [AGHAVEA] Co. Fermanagh  (where the given name "Henry" has been handed down) ...  that's it!  

With that in mind, I'd also keep an eye out for any occurrence of "Henry" of an alternative Protestant persuasion ...

Bussell in Toolin [AGHAVEA] Co. Fermanagh "Irish Church"

Bushell in Deerpark, Fermanagh  "Church of Ireland".

I'd definitely be considering the civil parish of AGHAVEA (in the vicinity of Constitution Hill) and the townlands of Drumbad and Toolinn as starting points, if I were you.

There you will find likely ancestors in Griffith's Valuation (all tenants of the Earl of Erne) sharing entire townlands between them...

John Bushell of Drumbad (AGHAVEA)

Francis Bushell of Drumbad (AGHAVEA)

And next door "Irish Church"...

Henry Bushell of Toolin (AGHAVEA)

Thomas Bushell of Toolin (AGHAVEA)

 

Others living in the vicinity of Constitution Hill include:

James Bushell (farmer) & Mary Jane Armstrong of Aghnacloy North (registering births from 1878-1883). Son of John Bushell (25 acres in Griffiths Valuation).

John, Henry & Alice Bushell (farmers) of Aghnacloy North (unmarried siblings in 1901)

William Bushell (shoemaker) & Mary Reid of Aghnagrane (registering births from 1867-1881) – Church of Ireland 1901. Son of John Bushell (1 acre in Griffiths Valuation).

among others...

 

Hope this helps!

 

Rua

Hi Jeff, I see that your original post was 4 years ago. If you have not got the answers that you are looking for I may be able to help as by my calculations we are 3rd cousins 2x removed. Warmly Ebhanna
 

 

 

 

Oconnamb@aol.com

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