Lower Bann Navigation Scheme; Vow

The Vow is in the RC parish of Rasharkin. I assume you have searched their baptism records? They start in 1834 and so should cover 1853.

Your theory about why the Cooney family may have been in the Vow is perfectly plausible but it’s hard to see how that could be confirmed. There were 2 or 3 schemes to improve the flow of the Bann (to improve navigation and reduce winter flooding on agricultural land on the edges of Lough Neagh, and for health reasons) but I doubt there were any records of the labourers engaged on the various schemes.

John,

It would usually be called “The Vow” locally rather than just Vow. There’s not a lot there as you say. It’s 337 acres, today almost all farms, agricultural land and some private houses. In the 1901 census there were 29 homes with a total population of 95 people. Nearly all the inhabitants were engaged in farming and the land, save for a couple of blacksmiths and a lock keeper. In earlier times there was a ferry across the Bann there but that was long gone even by 1900. There is a graveyard as you say which has been in use for hundreds of years. It’s minor claim to fame is that the Rev William Martin was ordained in it. He was the first Reformed Presbyterian or Covenanter Minister ordained in Ireland, in 1757. He didn't have a church and so used to preach in the graveyard (in the open air) and in barns and fields right across Ulster. He later organised 5 boatloads of migrants to the Carolinas, many of whom came from that general area. There’s a plaque to him in the graveyard. See photo attached.

The Vow is in Rasharkin RC parish. The parish immediately to the south of it is Portglenone. It doesn’t have any records before 1864 so if your ancestor was baptised there, unfortunately the records are either lost or were never kept in the first place (a common problem with research in the early and mid 1800s).