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Brawley family in Faughanvale

DerryFaughanvale (Derry)

In May this year (16-20) I’m visiting Ireland to try and visit the hometowns of my ancestors in Derry and Donegal. A few years ago I posted about the Brawley family looking for info. This is what I now know. John Brawley came to Scotland in the 1820s. His first child (that I know of) was born in Glasgow in 1827.  He appears to have 5 children with Hannah Kean. There are many variations of her name. I can’t find any further trace of her. Between 1843 and 1857 he has 6 children with a woman called Mary Ann Thornton who I believe was English. My great, great grandfather James Brawley was his 4th child with Hannah. 
John’s parents were Hugh Brawley and Mary Kean. I have found siblings Margaret, Hugh and Patrick. I believe John was born around 1797. He died in the poorhouse in Glasgow in 1859. Unfortunately that particular poorhouse register has been lost/destroyed. I’m actually making assumptions about Margaret being his sister. She was godmother to one of his children. On her marriage record it states she is from Faughanvale. She was later transported to Australia. 
John’s father Hugh is recorded as a weaver. His mother Mary Kean lived to the old age of 90 and died in Glasgow in 1862. Her parents were Daniel Kean and Margaret Haggerty. I don’t know when she came to Glasgow. First record I can find is the 1851 census when she was living with her son Hugh. 
 

I hope all this makes sense. I would love to be able to visit a townland where the family might have stayed. Any help would be much appreciated 

 

Paula

PFRae

4 replies

Paula,

I had a look at the 1831 census for Co Derry. There were about 11 Brawley/Brawly households in the county, all Roman Catholic. None in Faughanvale. However I found 3 Hugh Brolly households in Faughanvale, so I suspect one of them is probably yours.

One was in the townland of Bolies (more commonly Bolie):

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Tirkeeran/Faughanvale/Bolies/40/

Another in Cloghole:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Tirkeeran/Faughanvale/Cloghole/8/

The 3rd in Tully:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Tirkeeran/Faughanvale/Tully/8/

None of these 3 Hughs appear in the 1835 tithes for the parish, so that tends to rule them out as farmers, indicating they were probably all weavers/labourers. No Brawley/Brolly households in any of those 3 townland by the time of Griffiths Valuation in 1858. Weavers and labourers tended to move around a lot to follow the available work. They can be tricky to trace.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/derry/tithe-applotments/faughanvale-pa…

Griffiths Valuation for Faughanvale in 1858 lists a Peter Brawley on plot 3c in Craigback which was a weaver’s cottage. Owen Brawley in Upper Campsey had plot 16b which was another weaver’s cottage. William Brolly in Glebe had plot 19 which was a 9 acre farm. They were the only Brawleys I could find in the parish at that year.

Sadly the RC parish records for Faughanvale don’t start till 1863. So long after the period you need.

If Hugh was not with Mary in Glasgow in 1851 she was probably a widow (and the census should give her marital status). Death registration didn’t start in Ireland till 1864 so unless there’s a gravestone somewhere, there may be no record of Hugh’s death. Weavers’ families often couldn’t afford a gravestone and so were buried without one.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Elwyn. I really appreciate you taking the time. I think those 3 options are my best bet and I am drawn to the one in Cloghole because of the Logue neighbours. My great, great grandfather’s godmother was called Logue. Not that it’s a particularly unusual name. 
If possible I’d like to visit as close as I can to the 3 locations. Are you familiar with the areas? I will most certainly visit the parish. I believe Star of the Sea will be the local church?
Mary was a widow but whether she was on her own when she left Ireland or not I don’t think I’ll ever know. My grandparents were the first generation to have headstones. My great great grandfather James and his son Daniel are in unmarked graves but at least I know the exact spots. John would have been buried in a paupers grave. 

Again thank you. It was so kind of you to respond so quickly. If you have any tips for our trip I’d love to hear them. Some local knowledge would be very useful. 
 

Paula

PFRae

Cloghole is 186 acres. It’s not very big. In the 1901 census there were 5 inhabited houses, and a total population of 25.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Lough_Enagh/Cloghole/

In 1858 in Griffiths there were 3 farms on the townland, plus a number of labourers cottages. Perhaps 10 homes in all. (Hovels and other low value properties weren’t included so there may have been a couple of houses there not listed).

The general arrangement was that each farmer had a number of small houses on their farm for labourers to live in. Sometimes they paid their rent in cash but mostly it was by an agreed number of days work on the farm, after which they were free to take any other work that might be available eg government road building works, or labouring on other farms. When they had no work (eg in the winter months) they would weave, using the sort of collapsible looms that are still used in the Hebrides for home weaving of Harris Tweed. They could be dismantled when not needed and easily transported if the family moved.

Your family will likely have lived on one of the 4 or 5 farms on the townland in a cottage that almost certainly no longer exists. It will either have fallen down or been cleared away by later owners. Farm labourers weren’t needed much by the 1920s due to mechanisation and other changes, and their houses were often in the way, so frequently they were knocked down. Sadly Ireland is not a museum. Change happens. But you can see examples of the sorts of cottages they lived in, in the Ulster Folk Park Museum, in Cultra just outside Belfast.

https://www.ulsterfolkmuseum.org/

Today Cloghole is on the edge of the City of Derry. Business parks and some building surround it. The modern Kilnappy Rd and Cloughole Rd run through the middle of it, and Faughanvalley Golf Club is also in it. Otherwise the rest remains farmland.

Star of the Sea does indeed seem to be the local parish church today. You could e-mail the parochial office to see whether that was still the case in the early 1800s. They will be able to give you some parish history I am sure.

I live about 30 miles away so don’t know the area very closely though I have passed through it often enough. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Once again many thanks. This is so useful in planning our trip. 
 

Paula

 

PFRae

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