Moore William & Sophia Humphrys

Ross,

I think that the place in Cavan where some of the births occurred is Ballyhaise which is a small town. I assume you got Dublin and Ballyhaise from the 1856 marriage certificate. That records where the couple were each living at the time of their marriage, not their place of birth (though they might have been born in those locations too).

Tradition was to marry in the bride?s church, so it would be worth looking there for her baptism. You don?t say what denomination the couple were though it was evidently a protestant ceremony. If it was Church of Ireland, then unfortunately Castleterra doesn?t have any baptism records earlier than 1877. The earlier records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin.

What were William and Sophia?s respective parents occupations on the 1856 marriage certificate? Also what was Wm Moore?s occupation? That may enable me to trace them in Griffiths Valuation.

I can see births that match the information you have given for Thomas (regd Cavan town 1868 Vol 13, page 90), Alexander 1870 Cavan town Vol 18, page 93. Sophia, none in 1876 but there?s a Sophia Rebecca Moore 1877 Vol 18, page 95. Mary Moore, Cavan town Jul ? Sept 1878 Vol 3, page 80. If you haven?t already got them, it might be worth getting copies of those events to see what addresses the family were living at.

Elwyn

Hi Elwyn,

I do not know their occopations but they were farmers in Canada and settled in a farm area outside of town.

Do you have any idea why they would pack up their family and head to Canada? Was food or land a problem in 1879?

Thank you for the information and I will look into getting copies of these events.

Some of the farming land in Cavan is fairly boggy and not of great quality. Perhaps William came from a not a very profitable farm, and one held on a lease? Possibly they had an offer or more and better land in Canada, and land that they could buy? His occupation on the birth certificates may be a clue.

People had been pouring out of Ireland all through the 19^th century for a variety of reasons (explosive population growth, famine, lack of tenure over farming land, lack of employment etc). Probably they were aware from friends and neighbours who had gone before of opportunities in Canada that seemed better and decided to give it a go. They didn?t come back so it must have been the right decision.

On William Moore and Sophia Humphreys marriage certificate William was a farmer living in Red Hills and his father was Thomas Moore a farmer

Sophia lived in Kilnacrieve and her father was William Humphreys also a farmer.

They were married May 29, 1856 at Parish Church in th parish of Castleterra in the Co of Cavan according to the rites and ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by licence.

William Humphreys farm in Kilnacreeve (sic) is listed in Griffiths Valuation for 1857. He had plot 6 in the townland which was a farmhouse, outbuildings and 34 acres. Adjacent were 3 other Humphreys farms owned by a Benjamin,  Joseph and Eliza (likely a widow).  These farms are all just to the east of Butlersbridge today, and would not be too difficult to locate if you ever wanted to. The 4 Humphreys families are all likely to be related to each other.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

The tithe applotment records for 1826 show just one Humphreys farm there - Thomas, who had a total of 57 acres of varying quality land. So it looks as though that may have been split between his children on his death.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587416/004587416_00100.pdf

There were 3 Humphrys farms in Kilnacreeve in the 1901 census:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Cavan/Ballyhaise/Killnacreeve/

And 3 in 1911:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cavan/Ballyhaise/Kilnacreevy/

I can?t locate Red Hills townland . It may be a local name, or one that has dropped out of use, and you might need to ask locally to find it.