Drew - Dillon - Drogheda, County Louth

Hello Pixie, from Ancestry John Drew, married Anne Dillon in June 1824 in Termonfeckin, Louth, this is about 5 miles east of Drogheda and has a website here http://www.termonfeckinhistory.ie/ 

There are a lot of Drew and DIllon hits on it, by the way there is a area nearby known as Dillionstown, there is a site on Louth here, http://jbhall.clahs.ie/  Records for the parish of Termonfeckin only start in 1823 so that is why we cannot locate the birth, see https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0235 a tricky read and can only be searched by month and year, 

Did they move to Drogheda after marriage or why do you mention Drogheda (Draw Heh Da) there is a You Tube video of old still photos of the place, if you want to look it is Ghosts of Drogheda, there are a number of private Facebook pages on Drogheda and Louth, apply to join, Drogehda Down Memory Lane (DDML) and DDML - Lost Family and another Drogheda Old Photos and Family Roots Finder and there is also a Louth genealogy page. 

I found 4 baptisms and the place of residence is Beaulieu, this is a townland between Termonfeckin and Drogheda, about 3 or 4 miles from Drogheda, you can search these townlands here and see on a map. https://www.townlands.ie/louth/ 

The baptisms are Margaret 15th Dec 1834; Patrick 1st July 1827; M Anne 1st Nov. 1832 and John 8th Oct 1829, there are a number of Drews born nearby but not to those parents and one is slightly mis transcribed but you should find them on the Registers NLI site I posted above. 

This is the big house in the area of Beaulieu, https://beaulieuhouse.ie/ 

Termon is the Gaelic word for a well and the name transcribes as the Well fo Feckin, this being a saints name I understand, it is also a very mild swear word in Ireland. 

When searching you will see Armagh mentioned, Armagh is the diocese including the counties of Louth and Armagh, Armagh is now in Northern Ireland and part of the UK while Louth is in the Irish Republic, so Armagh is the church region while they are geographically separate for civil purposes. 

I live about 10 miles away so if you wish to ask further feel free.

Good Luck

Pat

Hi Pixie, I could not find a baptism for Thomas either and also checked the baptism entry to see if he was by any chance baptised Patrick Thomas but just Patrick, I would be fairly certain that the marriage is the correct one, also your obituary mentions Drogheda near Dublin which to me indicates the writer was not sure of the exact location of the birth, Drogheda is 30 miles north of Dublin, that would have been a long way pre the arrival of the railway in Drogheda in 1844. You do not mention the year they left, it is likely they sailed via Liverpool but not fully as there were some sailings from Drogheda to the US and also of course Dublin, they would have had to travel about 200 milese to leave via Queenstown (now Cobh) (Cove) 

It is possible Patrick died and we would have no record, however you mention your great grandfather Thomas, what year was he born, it is very doubtful anyone born circa 1830 is your great grandfather, my earliest great grandfather was born in 1850 and I am 70 now, latest born in 1872.

I looked at Griffiths Valuation done here in 1854 and there is a John Drew in Banktown, Beaulieu, Drogheda, Banktown is close to Drogheda town, you can view it here http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ just enter Drew and Louth in the county box and you get a few only. Also the marriage would take place in the brides parish by custom and also the baptisms would take place quickly, I looked to see if any years were missing for baptisms in surrounding parishes but they exist. There are 27 Drew entries in the Tithes between 1825 and 1834 around the area of Drogheda, furtherest away are Drumcar and Mosstown, these are not 27 different people but I think the same name is the same person at a different time or place. Around the 1850s post famine there was a lot of migration from this area, I have responded to a number of queries for the area around this time. http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp 

The part about the peat fields sounds a bit of a story as they area is not particularly boggy, the land is good and the sea is close, peat or turf cutting is more likely but not exclusively found in the midlands area. 

When did the Drew family leave Ireland, who is the last or nearest ancestor you have paper records on, there is a Thomas Drew (Catholic) baptised in Dublin in 1827, father is Andrew and mother Anne Rourke, there are a number of Thomas Drew hits under church records on this free site but church records are only for Dublin; Cork and Kerry and some of them are in the military. https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ Civil records are only from 1864, Church of Ireland marriages from 1845.

Regards

Pat

Hi Pixie, a quick reply, we do not have too many volunteers in Dublin, the Dublin church records are free online here https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/ click on church and Dublin, very few church records there but Dublin is or the city. anyway.

Were your folks wealthy, House of Talbot to me means Malahide Castle, the last of them a lady died I think in New Zealand about 20 years ago, was covered in the media here. There was a realtives castle here outside Drogheda in Meath, forgotten the name. Here is a link to the castle in Dublin, now in public ownership. https://www.malahidecastleandgardens.ie/castle/brief-history/

About 15 miles north of Drogheda is Castlebellingham, town was Gernonstown until about 1800 when it became known as Castlebellingham, I do not know much about the castle as such despite being often in it, it was a hotel and restaurent for a time but is closed now or not open fulltime. https://www.bellinghamcastle.ie/history#:~:text=Bellingham%20Castle%20served%20as%20one,the%20lands%20of%20Gernonstowne%2C%20Co. 

There are still Drew family about here but not too interested in family history that I am aware. You are right about Facebook, I am on a lot of the sites and mainly people like myself hoping to hit lucky with someone who knows what they are talking about. 

Odd you should mention Dunne, I have been corressponding for over a year with a lady who contacted me through Ancestry wanting to know how I was so closely related to her, anyway we figured it with her help and we have been email buddies since, she mentioned only recently that her other side was Dunne from Laois, so I had a look to see if I could help, of course it turns out everyone in Laois is a Dunne (not really but close) the name comes from there as they were the big shots back in the day before our stroppy neighbour arrived by invitation originally it must be said. In the way life turns I was chatting to a former work colleague and she is interested in genealogy a tiny bit, turns out her granny is a Dunne from Laois and her grandad wrote a book on the name in Laois, a slim volume of less than 70 pages and more a history of the clan chiefs than a genealogical study. I have been loaned a copy if you think it may be of interest let me know, it is out of print. 

Stay Safe

Pat