Maurice and William Nolan Drombeg Townland 1800's

Hi Chris,

I think it's likely that Maurice Nolan was a driver of animals of some sort, as in a herder.  If he was only 16 at the time it sounds like a plausible occupation.  Regarding his not paying rent, wouldn't his older brother William have been the leaseholder?

Regarding education in early nineteenth-century Ireland, I think it really depended on your circumstances.  Literacy in Ireland was certainly high by the late nineteenth century and was already rising significantly by the middle of the century.  It's possible that the two sons received a level of education due to their father's position in the arm

Chris,

Attached is the civil death record for William Nolan. Shows he was a farmer. It's not unusual for him to have a different occupation earlier in life....maybe that one didn't work out. Regarding what his son said about him...I have a similar story in my own family with my Irish immigrant relatives. My great grandmother wrote the obituary for her father in law (my great great grandfather) who worked as a miner in Butte, MT. She wrote that he graduated from Oxford and spoke seven languages! He originally hailed from Easkey, Sligo; and came to the US with his much younger brother after his wife died. So, tall tales are just that.

Regards,

 

Hello Chris,

Although there is often the image that many Irish in the early nineteenth century were illiterate and uneducated, this is not completely true as there were certainly means of education.  In the early nineteenth century hedge schools proliferated throughout the country and although they varied enormously in quality they did often provide a basic foundation in the three Rs and other subjects.  It is also possible that these two brothers received some form of education through their father's connection with the army or from a religious source.  They were perhaps born too early to be affected by the introduction of a national education system in the 1830s.

There is a William Nolan, married to Mary and with three daughters; Katie, Ellen and Hanoria, in Drombeg in the 1901 census (https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kerry/Shronowen/Drombeg/1422612/).  Is this person related to your William?  This William is dead by the 1911 census but we can see the sisters, Ellen and Hanoria, living with their married sister Catherine (Katie), now a Mrs John Downes but still at Drombeg (https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Kerry/Shronowen/Drombeg/274315/).  

As for Maurice's profession as a 16-year-old, it's possible that he's a driver of animals as the old sense of driver can be a synonym for drover.

Regards,

 

Patrick Collins

Thank you Carolyn and Patrick for your replies.  Yes this is my Williams family in Drombeg.  There were only 8 families in Drombeg and only one Nolan family, in that time period from 185O's until William died in 1904.

It has crossed my mind that son Rev Denis exaggerated his father's qualifications and that perhaps he  worked in a shop and did their accounts which has been elaborated to 'a merchant and accountant'.

I did not know that 'Driver' could also mean 'Drover'...this in itself now has me wondering that if Maurice was a Drover who was he Droving for.  Also I had not thought that perhaps William received an education thru the Army.

One of my stumbling blocks is not finding a war pension for Williams father Denis Nowlan, so after 1834 I don't have any info on where they went as young boys.  The 89th Reg went to the West Indies after 1834 but I don't know if they went or not.  The one war pension for a 'Denis Nowlan' is not their father, as that Denis was in the 86th Reg and in the West Indies when my family was in India.

Also Patrick, my apologies for wrongly reading your Tipperary message about John McGrath.  I had understood he was in NZ between 1906 and 1911, hence my 1908 electoral roll suggestion!

Kind Regards

Chris in NZ

 

Sorry Chris, I didn't realise you were the same Chris who responded on my previous query.  Yeah, looking for someone who went to New Zealand and came back again seems to be very difficult to trace but hopefully I might get some information at some point.

Regarding the occupation of driver, it could have been doing it for his parents or even a neighbour, although if it was listed as his occupation at that point in time it's likely he was receiving some kind of payment for it, otherwise why state it at all.

On your search for military records, I encountered a similar situation with earlier nineteenth-century records when trying to find members of the Royal Irish Regiment on my father's side.  We could only track down one great-granduncle (Cornelius Ryan) who served in India in the 1890s but his brother (Patrick) was also in the RI and was stationed at the Curragh in Kildare when his younger brother signed up.  Their father (Timothy Ryan) was also in the regiment but I cannot find anything regarding him.  While we found a nice service record for Cornelius (but not a pension record) we don't know what happened to him after the 1911 census, yet Patrick, who I can't find a military record for, I know much more about as I know he got married and was a postman in Cashel, Co. Tipperary.  So there are ups and downs on the record front.

Regards,

 

Patrick