I’ve located some records for your McNicholas family, although they don’t add much more info. I looked into several databases, because I thought I might be related to your McNicholas’s. I probably am, in fact, but apparently not closely enough that I can establish the connection. My McNicholas relatives lived a bit further east in Bohola parish, and also just across the parish boundary in Killedan parish (Kiltimagh).
First off, the townland of Boleyard is not actually in the civil parish of Bohola, but just on the western boundary in the civil parish of Kildacoomoge (Bellavary). Here’s a link to more info about the townland: https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/gallen/kildacoomoge/bellavary/boleyard/
Boleyard may, however, be in the Catholic parish of Bohola. The boundaries of the civil parishes and the Catholic parishes, which often share the same name(s), are not always identical. When the established (Protestant) church took control in the 1600’s, they initially kept the parish boundaries as they then existed, and those eventually became the civil parishes, although there were some changes later on. When Catholics were allowed to organize again starting in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s (even earlier in some places), the hierarchy established parishes based on what worked for them at the time, not necessarily following the old parish boundaries or using the older names. As a result, different kinds of records may use different names for the parishes.
There does not appear to be a townland in Bohola or Kildacoomoge (or anywhere else in Mayo) named Clooneen, although there are half a dozen Clooneen’s in County Roscommon. It may be, however, that Clooneen is a local name used in the area of Boleyard, rather than a formal townland name (sometimes referred to as a “sub-townland”), and it’s also possible that there once was a townland named Clooneen in the area, but the name stopped being used officially later on. The official townland names (some of which are quite ancient) and their boundaries were not formalized until the 1800’s, and some changes have taken place even after that. Perhaps someone from Bohola will respond who can answer that question. I couldn’t find for certain the origin of the place name Clooneen (the logainm.ie site doesn’t show it) , but it might be from the Irish cluainín, meaning “little meadow”, which may have been used in many places. Boleyard, by the way, is An Bhuaile Ard in Irish, meaning “the high cattle-fold” or “the high summer pasture”.
I found records for William and Catherine in the Family Search database, along with their nine children, although the records don’t go back earlier than that couple thus far. The records show their marriage on 3 March 1859, with the sponsors being John McEvey & Biddy McEvey. FamilySearch is operated by the LDS church, and is free to use, and the site is located here: https://www.familysearch.org ; You have to create an account to use it, but they don’t ask for much personal info, and no missionaries will contact you or anything like that. The database does not have separate family trees, and is essentially one huge tree of linked records, in which there is a single record for each person, with a unique identification number (although sometimes people unknowingly create duplicate records for the same person, which you can merge when you spot them). You can search by name, but also by that number, and the number for William McNicholas is 9V84-S7G. Once you are at that record, you will see how easily you can move up and down the tree by clicking on the names of other people who are shown.
That set of records lists all nine children of William and Catherine, but shows the eldest daughter as Sally, not Sarah, and that she was baptized 13 June 1860, shortly after the birth date which you have. Perhaps her name was actually Sarah, but she was called Sally (or vice versa). Baptismal information for all the other children is also given, as well as a birth record for the youngest child, Mary, but no marriage information is given for any of them, nor are any of their own children listed. The birth record for the youngest child, Mary, says that she was born in Clooneen in County Roscommon, but I think that was a transcription error, because it also refers to a place call “Scornford”, which I suspect is a mis-transcription of Swinford, which is the civil registration district for the Bohola area. When looking at records at the Family Search site, you can see in the right-hand column who has added specific info, and can send that person a private message. You’ll see me there (kevin45sf), because I fixed a few records, but most of the info was input by a Cathy van der Horst. You might try messaging her to see if she can add anything, but it’s possible that she was an LDS volunteer who simply added the info to the database from written records which had been transcribed by someone years ago (many records make it into Family Search that way).
As you may already know, there are parish records for Bohola available online, which you can find at this link: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0122 ; The records only go back to 1857, but that’s far enough back to cover a number of the people you mentioned, and you might enjoy looking through them, because it’s one way of noting other relatives, who may have acted as sponsors or witnesses at the family’s baptisms or weddings.
Finally, in case you’re interested, the McNicholas surname (Mac Nicoláis in Irish) is of Norman origin. It was assumed by a thoroughly Gaelicized branch of the Burke (de Burgo) family. It is believed to have originated in Ulster (in County Tyrone), but many Ulster families took refuge in Mayo after the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th Century, so it may have come to Mayo then. So, ironically, William and Catherine may have been distant relatives of one another, which is not really surprising, since many families in the area intermarried repeatedly over the centuries.
