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Woodland in Drumavish 1840's CAIN Family

KildareDonaghmore (Kildare)

Cronan, Thank you for directing me to this page, after reading a posting on another website.

To recap- My GG Granfather, Michael Cain, born July 1828, son of Barnard and Elizabeth( Mullen) Cain, arrived in Boston  Mass. July 26, 1846. His parents and another brother, Barnard, arrrived into Boston on Aug. 22, 1849 aboard the ship Hannah Eddy. Michael had the following siblings: William, b. 1831, Henry, b. 1825, Catherine, b. abt 1827. The all appear in the 1850 Milford, Mass. census.

My reasearch is 95% complete from 1850 when they arrived here in the US. I believe the family came from "Woodland" in the townland of Drumavish. WHY? Michaels' petition for ctizenship states he was born in "Woodland", his Civil War discharge papers state place of birth as County Donegal, and his pension papers state Donaghmore as his place of birth.

I am desperately searching for information on "Woodland", for example how large is it, the size of Drumavish, are there land records available? Would St. Patricks have been their church? There seems to be little if no information I can find online from here. Perhaps it's time to visit Ireland. I have searched into the nights to find more information that I can leave my grandchildren before I am gone. The family is catholic.

Are there researchers available that I can pay?

I would be so grateful for any guidance. Thank you, Elizabeth Cain

IrelandXO member

6 replies

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks very much for your post.

Now, this is both a surprise and a coincidence as my grandparents lived in Drumavish and my father was born and raised there!

Actually, there is a picture of the old Drumavish school where my grandparents lived in the list of townlands here under 'Drumavish'.

Drumavish is a small towland in the parish of Donaghmore and is situated near the villages of Crossroads and Killygordon in the east of County Donegal.

Woodland is an old English landlord's estate and is situated in Drumavish. Coincidentally, Woodland is in the process of being sold. See link   http://www.henrykee.ie/index.cfm?fuseaction=propdetails&Prop_RefId=3104

It is the former estate of James Johnston and, as far as I know, there were two gatehouses at each entrance to the estate. Maybe your ancestors lived in one of them?

St Patrick's would have been their nearest church, however, the records there only go back as far as 1840.

Are you sure they were Catholics as any Cain or Kane I know around here are protestands?

For land records try this link: http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/donegal/donaghmore.htm

Also see the other links on the Donaghmore home page.

There are no professional researchers that I know of but I will ask around.

Talk soon and send on any other information you might have.


Oh, what website did you see my other message on??

Donaghmore DonegalIrelandXO Volunteer

You sent me a message in November on ancestry.com "donegal, general"!!

I saw the information on Woodland when I googled. But not understanding the land divisions, I assumed that "Woodland" was just a smaller division of a townland. I did not realized it was the name of an estate. It CLEARLY says "Woodland in the County Donegal" on his paperwork for citizenship dated 1855. Also as I mentioned it states Donaghmore in County Donegal as his birthplace, on his paperwork for receiving his pension.

Am I barking up the right tree in thinking that the family lived there in the 1840s? Unless the family found catholisism on the ship to America, I'm am certain that was their practising religion. My GR GR Grandfather had 9 children, all baptizedin the Catholic Church in Milfod, Mass.

Once again, thank you for getting me one step closer. You mentioned your family was from Drumavish, you don't live there?? Liz

IrelandXO member

Hi again,

I'd forget where I leave half of my messages.!

I have no doubt they are from Woodland if that's what is stated on their documents.

I was just curious about the religion as the landlords of Woodland estate would have been Prostentants. Maybe your ancestors were servants in the 'big house' or lived in one of the gatehouses.

Yeah, I live about two miles from Drumavish!

C

Donaghmore DonegalIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Cronan, I received this email yesterday from Clare Robertson.

My grandfather bought woodland in the 1940s and i am in the process of
selling it.It was a 25000 acre estate with large house built in the early
1800s by a family called johnson.looking at old map there was a drumavish
village on the estate but that is long gone.hope this helps,clare

I have copied all landlords and tenants and lot #'s from Griffith's Valuation, no Cains or Kanes. There is a Patrick Keane, but don't believe he's related. All or most of the family came to America; and they were here by August of 1849. There is not a person in my family in 3 generations (which totals 70+) named Patrick. It would seem if he stayed behind one of his siblings would have named a child after him!!

My family is Catholic, all the children were baptized, and most burials were in a Catholic cemetery. The first document that lists "woodland" as his place of birth (my Gr GR Grandfather was born in 1828) was his petition for citizenship, which was dated in 1855, 9 years after he left Ireland. I believe they may have been servants, laborers, etc., and may have lived either in one of the gatehouses or the like. The Griffiths Valuaion on the property was done in 1857. It lists the following

Samuel Calhoun (landlord) James Johnston (tenant) Map Reference 1a, sheet 78

James Johnston (landlord)  William Campbell (tenant) Map Reference 1a, b, sheet 78

Both of these properties encompass Woodland. Do I understand it as a landlord owned a piece of property, and then sublet a smaller portion it and the and that personson rented a portion of theirs??? I feel as though I am so close, but so far away.

Clare's grandfather bought it from the Johnson family almost 100 years after my family left.I'm not sure where to go now, I will never know. I've looked online at graves in St Patricks, there are no Cains, the ones listed don't go back far enough; my thought is that the families didn't have money for headstones, and/or they may be unreadable.

I've rambled on long enough. Any ideas??? Thanks, Liz

IrelandXO member

Hi Liz,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

The Keane family mentioned at Woodland could very well be the same as your Cains. It was quite common for different spellings of a family name, especially when emigrating to America.

Names were very often recorded phonetically ie Gallagher was recorded as Gallacher and Kean as Cain and so on.

 

Donaghmore DonegalIrelandXO Volunteer

This message is probably too late to be of any use, but i saw this post and thought i should add a reply. The public records of northern ireland (PRONI) has a large very loosely organised set of records (8 boxes of deeds and rentals from the early to mid 1800s mostly) under the title Johnstons of ballybofey from a soliciters collection. I went through a good bit of the set tryin to find record related to a my own ancestors unsuccessfully, but i know the "drumavis" was an area that cropped up quite often in the records, along with a lot of the area SE of ballybofey (theres some 1820 or 30s rentals hidden in there for some townlands), amongst other parts of the county they owned, so it would be worth a look if you are ever there.

Proni's website is proni.gov.uk and the reference in the catalog is D2298/9. 

IrelandXO member

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