McFarland/Irwin

I am not clear from your post whether you are seeking to research the family backwards or forwards. However there is a tree on Ancestry which lists it. According to that tree, David McFarland was born 23.10.1866 at Millix Co Tyrone. He died 27.12.1930 at Bovean. Mary (Minnie) died 29.7.1937 at Bovean.

Son Robert John married in Brisbane 19.9.1934 and died 17.10.1961 in Victoria, Australia. David born 1906 died 912.1906 at Copney. George married Nellie Blair on 20.6.1934 at Moy Presbyterian.

2 probate abstracts from the PRONI wills site:

McFarland, David of Bovean Killyman Moy county Tyrone farmer died 27 December 1930 Administration W/A Londonderry 26 June to Joseph McFarland farmer. Effects £137 5s.

McFarland, Mary of Bovean Killyman Moy county Tyrone widow died 29 July 1937 Administration Londonderry 20 February to Joseph McFarland farmer. Effects £37.

So it looks as though Joseph was still farming in Bovean in 1937.  The above 2 probate files are not on-line but are held by PRONI. You can view them free there or they’ll copy them for a fee.

Thank you Elwyn.   My connection to this family is Minnie Irwin.  I have been trying with little success to find her siblings in Ireland or descendants. What I know is Minnie's parents John Irwin and Ann Jane Hughes were minors when they married in 1853 at the Moy Church.   Three of their daughters came to the US and they corresponded wtih Minnie until she died.  The sisters were Sarah b 1859 d 1931, Elizabeth b July 1862 d 1933 and Emily b 1866 d 1952.   Thinking there must have been other children besides the 4 girls.    Is there any way to find where Joseph McFarland was farming in Bovean?   John Irwin farmed there and I wonder if he took over the Irwin farm.   I found a reference to it in 1860 Griffith's Valuations.    Thanks again for all the information.

As far as children to John Irwin and Ann Jane Hughes are concerned, statutory birth registration (Vital records) started on 1.1.1864. I searched the records from that date forward and the only child I found was Emily on 12th July 1866 at Bovean. For births before 1.1.1864 you need to rely on church baptism records.  Bovean is in the parish of Killyman and the family seems to have been Church of Ireland. Killyman's baptism records start in 1745. There’s a copy in PRONI in Belfast. If you get someone to search them between 1853 and 31.12.1863 you’ll hopefully find out if there were any other children apart from the 4 girls.

You ask about Irwin properties in Bovean. Griffiths Valuation for 1860 lists both John Irwin and his father Alexander. John had plot 23AAa which was a house and garden (20 perches in size). Alexander was next door on 23AAb  & plot 24 which was a house and a combined total of 3 roods & 5 perches.  (So about three quarters of an acre). These 2 labourer’s cottages were on land owned by John Cardwell.

The Cardwell land today is on the modern Bovean Way near the T junction with Bovean Rd. Not far from Moy kitchens, though whether the two labourers cottages are still standing now is debatable. One was still there in 1929 according to the Valuation Revision records but I can’t tell you what happened after that.

https://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/SearchResults.aspx

You ask about Joseph McFarland’s farm in Bovean.  The Valuation revision records go up to 1929 and there’s no McFarland property listed then, so it looks as though they arrived after that. There is a series of records in PRONI which take the Revision records forward up to the 1960s. They are in the VAL/3 series of records and are not on-line. As with the baptism records, you would need to get someone to go into PRONI to search them to see if the McFarland farm is plots 23 & 24. (I have to say that farm is probably a fairly generous description of what sadly was less than an acre of land. It’s possible of course that the family had additional land in a nearby townland. The probate file might tell you that, if there’s an inventory of the assets.)

If you are unable to go to PRONI yourself, you could employ a researcher. Researchers in the PRONI area: http://sgni.net

Many thanks, Elwyn.   Minnie Irwin is my link to this kinship.  I've been looking for her siblings or any descendants in Ireland, but have had no luck so far. Minnie's parents, John Irwin and Ann Jane Hughes, were young when they tied the knot in 1853 at the Moy Church, as far as I can tell.   Their three daughters moved to the United States and kept in touch with Minnie through letters until her passing.  Sisters Sarah (born 1859) and Elizabeth (born in July 1862) both passed away in 1931, and Emily (born 1866) lived until 1952.   Assuming there were more kids there than just the four girls.    Is there any way to discover the exact location of the Bovean farm where Joseph McFarland worked?   I'm curious if John Irwin continued farming on the land once owned by the Irwin family.   I was able to track down a mention of it in Griffith's Valuations from 1860.    Once again, many thanks for the wealth of data you've provided. 

With regard to finding any siblings for Minnie, as I mentioned previously your best bet is to go to PRONI and search the Killyman Church of Ireland baptism records between 1853 and 1863. Those records are not on-line anywhere so far as I can tell.

You might expect there to be more children than the 4 you have found but it wasn’t uncommon for children to die young and so it’s possible that the only ones to make it to adulthood are those you have already found.

The Killyman parish records also contain burials up to 1875 so you could check them too. A personal trip to PRONI is required or you could hire  a local researcher.

With regards to locating the McFarland farm, it seems pretty likely the farmhouse was plot 23aa which as I mentioned before is on Bovean Way, not too far from Moy. There is a loop road called Bovean Rd that runs from Bovean Way in a rough rectangle. The farm was at the side of the road on Bovean Way between the two arms of Bovean Rd. You can see it on Griffiths Maps (use the slider bar in the top right hand corner of the screen to switch between the contemporary map and a modern one. There is also a satellite view which shows that the property has long been demolished.

I have attached a copy of the revision records for the townland c 1930 taken from the PRONI website  It shows that plots 23 & 24 were farmed jointly by John Irwin and Nammy Armstrong. Armstrong also had other land in plots 23 and 25. Altogether over 38 acres. The Irwin property was only 1 rood (a quarter of an acre). Yet his probate file says he was a farmer. So my guess is that he was farming the Armstrong land as well.  That land is all still working farmland today but as I say the Irwin/McFarland property is long gone.

The land is shown as “in fee” in 1930 which indicates they had bought the freehold. (Normally done via a Government arranged mortgage under the 1903 Land Act).

In the 1911 census there were 24 households in Bovean and a total population of 90.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tyrone/Drumaspil/Bovean/

You could try calling at any of the farmhouses around that area to see if anyone knowns of the Mcfarland family. I did search a newspaper site for any mention of them in Bovean but without success.