Robert Rowan Ballymoney

Billy,

The Coleraine Chronicle of 6th Sept 1856 has an advert placed by Robert for the sale of his “long established Grocery, Wine & Sprit concern” at 63 Main St, Ballymoney. 

The Belfast Commercial Chronicle of 2nd Feb 1828 list Robert Rowan of Ballymoney as selling Black & Green Tea and Coffee (supplied by the East India Tea Company).  You have your Robert as born 1824. However the next newspaper article in 1861 says he had been in business for “upwards of 40 years.”  This suggests to me that he was born earlier than 1824. More likely around 1800.

The Banner of Ulster 19th March 1861 reports a case involving a dispute between Robert Rowan and a Mr Steen who had been working for him, selling good in Milltown (near Ballymoney). Steen was accused of embezzling but was acquitted. Steen then brought a civil claim against Robert for damages of £300. Steen “had been brought up a weaver and also carried out carpentry business in the same shop in the town of Ballymoney. The goods of a person who had been in debt to Mr Rowan came into the possession of that gentleman, who wished Steen to take in hand the disposal of those goods, the latter being charged to him only the wholesale price, he engaging to make weekly returns of the proceeds. Steen was also to become liable for half the rent and taxes of the house he occupied, and the remainder of the proceeds were to be Steens. Steen commenced to sell the goods and entered the sales in a kind of passbook, but they amounted to upwards of £400 before Steen was able to obtain any regular statement from Mr Rowan as to what he was charging for them, or to say any other particular. At length some matters arose, and Mr Rowan said he considered Steen only as his servant, not his agent. Steen on this applied to a solicitor, who advised him to get a settled statement of accounts from Mr Rowan before he would make any further returns. The plaintiff acted on that advice, the result of which was that Mr Rowan charged him with embezzlement of property, had him arrested and he was tried before the magistrates, where the charge was dismissed and he was set at large. Mr Rowan in the meantime had forced himself into the shop of Mr Steen and taken possession of the whole of the goods that were in it.”

Robert’s evidence was that Steen was his servant, not an agent and that he was wasting the property he had been asked to sell. He said that Steen was behind with his payments till he was deficient “by a very large amount.”

The case was adjourned. The outcome reported on 23rd March 1861 in the Coleraine Chronicle was that Steen was awarded £60 damages.

The name Rowan is not very common in the Ballymoney area and I notice there’s no Rowan household there in Rev Park’s 1817 census of the town and parish. So did Robert’s family come from elsewhere?

Robert is listed in Griffiths Valuation and the Revision records for Main Street Ballymoney till 1866 when his property changed to James Hamill. That indicates he left or died around that time. I don’t see a death record for him and suspect he died before 1864 (which is when death registration began).

There is also an entry for Robert Rowan in Ballybrakes who had plot 16P a shop, house & garden. Possibly a connection?

What denomination was the Rowan family? Do you know?

Billy,

I got details of the newspaper articles from the British Newspaper Archive:

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

I had a look for a death certificate for Robert Rowan in 1867 but could not find one. However a death then ties in with the date he disappears form Griffiths.  Dorothy Arthur is very knowledgeable about graveyards in the Ballymoney area so I think you can rely on the information you have got from her.

You say that William was possibly born in Portpatrick c 1780. So perhaps Robert also came from there? That could account for the surname not being common in the Ballymoney area.

I did search the Church of Scotland baptism records for Portpatrick (they go back to at least 1770) on Scotlandspeople but did not find any Rowan families in the town. Likewise none there in the 1841 census, though there were some Rowans in other parts of Wigtownshire. Not many though.

Portpatrick was until the 1850s the main ferry port for sailings to Ireland (it’s only 20 miles cross to Donaghadee) and so it would have been very easy for someone from that area to make their way to Ireland. Flora Orr is a very Scottish name so perhaps she came from Scotland too (though again I don’t see a marriage in the on-line records). Scottish names and Ballymoney are a bit tricky. Most of the population in and around Ballymoney originated in Scotland in the 1600s, and so most have Scottish names anyway. She could be local. There was a Mrs Flora Orr in Ballymoney town in Rev Parks 1817 census (but no unmarried Flora Orr).

You could search Ballymoney church records for Robert & Flora’s marriage and the baptisms of George Washington and any other children. Many of the population were Presbyterian. Ballymoney 1st Presbyterian church has records from 1817 onwards and Ballymoney 2nd from 1835 onwards. I don’t think they are on-line anywhere but there are copies in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. A personal visit is required to view them.

I looked in the modern phone directory. There is just 1 Rowan in the Ballymoney area (postcode BT53). He is a company director. No phone number or address is given. So it remains a very rare name locally.