George Booth, Kilmenagh, Ardboe, County Tyrone

BoothGirl,

The Valuation revision records on the PRONI site list John Booth on plot 20 in Killymenagh until 1912 when it changed to Rev WJ Booth. That was a 13 acre farm. You know John was there in the 1901 census. Tracing the records backwards, John took over as tenant sometime between 1864 and 1879. Usually farmers inherit on the death of the previous occupant. His predecessor in the records was George Booth. So that could be his father. There is 1 death in the period 1864 – 1879 in the Cookstown area. That was a George who died on 7.12.1865 aged 74. You might want to look at the death certificate on the GRONI website to see who the informant was. Perhaps it was his son John. If so, you have proof of his father. The death certificate should also tell you whether George had a wife alive at that date, and so that can help the search for her. (If she died before 1864 there won’t be a death certificate of course).  You might find a gravestone for George, which could tell you his wife’s name. You can view the original death certificate on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2.50 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Ardboe RC records only start in 1827, so you may struggle to get much further back. Getting back before 1800 can often be very difficult due to the general lack of records for the 1700s. I note you think the family may originally have been Protestant. The local Church of Ireland records start in 1775, but the Presbyterian ones don’t start till 1848. There’s a copy of the Church of Ireland records in PRONI in Belfast. You need to go in person to search them.

Thanks Elwyn. That's helpful. I'll try the GRONI record for George Booth's death. I have the record of John Booth's death and the property going to Fr William Booth but I hadn't traced it back to a George Booth. I may be wrong about the Booths being "Protestant" - they may have been Church of Ireland. In Australia we sometimes use "Protestant" as a generic term to cover a number of denominations. If I'm in Belfast some time I will check the Church of Ireland records. In the meantime I'll try PRONI for George Booth. I appreciate your generous assistance. 

Pauline 

As with Australia, in Ireland, the term Protestant means more or less any Christian denomination apart from Roman Catholic. The Church of Ireland is a Protestant church, as is the Presbyterian church.

Looking at the 1901 census of Tyrone, there were 82 people named Booth in the county. 42 were Presbyterian, 4 Methodists, 2 “Christian”, 29 Church of Ireland and 5 RC (1 of whom was your Rev William):

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/The_Rock/Drumballyhugh/1731550/

I wrote to you last December regarding my Booth Ancestors in Ardboe, specifically Kilmenagh townland. I finally got around to following your suggestion which was to get a death extract for George Booth who died in 1865. The motivation for getting the death extract was to see if it helped in tracing my ancestor, John Booth (great great grandfather) who is in the same area. I'm attaching the file that I received. I can't quite read the writing but I think that the Booth who was present at the might be listed as "cousin". I don't think that his wife's name is listed although it does say that he was married. I haven't been able to find any other leads for my John Booth beyond his birth year of around 1820. Perhaps the only option is to visit and look at the PRONI records in Belfast. Let me know if you have any other thoughts about the certificate or other leads that I could follow up. Another suggestion was to look for his gravestone which I haven't done as yet. Would they be on line? I greatly appreciate your assistance. Best wishes, Pauline 

I think the informant may have been James (shortened to Jas) but it could also be Joseph. He too lived in Kilmenagh. The wife’s name is not mentioned unless she happens to be the informant.

I looked at the post 1865 deaths and noted a Margaret Booth, farmers widow, who died 15.8.1880 aged 73 in Kilmenagh. Informant was Nathaniel Irwin also of Kilmenagh. Plus there was Jane Booth, farmer’s widow who died same place 20.6.1880 aged 97. Informant was Anne Eliza Booth of Kilmenagh.  Either might have been Georges relative.  There were 2 others that are not on-line free yet. Margaret Booth died 1871 aged 80 and Eliza Booth died 1877 aged 70. You can view either of those death certs on line for £2.50 (sterling) each on the GRONI website.

This was the only Booth household in Killymenagh in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Killycolpy/Killymenagh/1732160/

I noted a marriage on 17.2.1874 between Teresa Booth of Kilmenagh, aged 28 and Patrick Devlin of Barracks. Teresa’s father was John Booth (alive). A witness was Linda Booth. This looks to be this couple in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Munterevlin/Dru…

Lewis Booth, 24, of Killymenagh married Annie Treanor on 24.1.1884. His father was John Booth. They are not in the 1901 census and appear to have left Ireland.

'Thanks Elwyn. You are being incredibly patient with this obscure query. I found the records for Theresa Booth and Lewis Booth (he died in the US) and the 1901 census as part of initial research into the family. It is getting back a generation to John Booth's parents and siblings that so far is alluding me. As you suggested I now have the death records for Jane Booth and Margaret Booth although I can't yet work out how to make use of them in my quest. I haven't purchased the death records for Margaret Booth and Eliza Booth as I'm not sure that they'll take me anywhere. In my initial research I found the RC baptismal records for the family. There is an RC baptismal record for my great grandfather George Booth (1854) which has his sponsors as George and Jane Booth and for Catherine Booth (John's youngest daughter) in 1863 when George Booth was one of the sponsors. Other people that I've spoken to have said that these records suggests that George and Jane must also have been Roman Catholics although I don't think this helps much in the search. These baptismal  records are probably not helpful but I thought I'd send them through in case they rang a bell with you. Other than that it looks like I might have hit a dead end with the search. I've found evidence of Booths in Ardboe in 1796 in the flax records (Ben, John, Hugh and Joseph) but I can't see a way of using this knowledge to connect the dots. I completely understand if you have no other suggestions and appreciate your help thus far. Everything helps piece the jigsaw together!!!

I suppose there are 2 reasons why you might want to look at Margaret & Eliza Booths deaths and that’s in the hope that one might be George’s senior’s wife. It may say “widow of George Booth, farmer” for example, or the informant might be a relative you can identify from other records. The second reason is that all the Booth families in that townland were probably related somehow and so if you can identify them all, then it’s sometimes possible to build up a bigger picture of who was who.

But getting back another generation may not be easy. Whatever denomination John was at birth, there’s only 1 church in the area with baptisms for 1820. The Presbyterian records don’t start till 1848 & RC till 1827. Only the Church of Ireland has records from 1775 onwards, and they have some gaps. So unless John was Church of Ireland, there’s not much chance of finding firm records showing his parents. If George junior was the first born then that’s a slight clue. The Irish (and Scottish) naming pattern was to name the first son after the father’s father. And we know there is a George senior of the right age whose farm passed to John.  However the couple appear to have married in 1845 and so George in 1854 doesn’t seem likely to be the first born son. Not every family followed the naming pattern of course.

Arboe Church of Ireland records are not on-line anywhere so far as I am aware. There is a copy in PRONI in Belfast but a personal visit is required to search them.

I did find this link which records John’s death in 1912. The records appear to show that his father might have been George (There’s a question mark beside it).

https://cotyroneireland.com/churchrecord/arboe-rc2.html

I also noted a possible brother to John Booth. There’s a George Booth b c 1820 s/o George who married Susan Mooney. He’s noted as non Catholic which fits with your speculation that John wasn’t born Catholic either. Incidentally if they weren’t born RC, then there would normally be an adult baptism to convert them. Often about 1 or 2 months before the marriage. Have you checked the Arboe RC baptism records for that? Adult baptisms usually stand out because there are not normally any sponsors.

I haven’t searched the Co Tyrone genealogy site thoroughly. You might want to do that to see if you can find any other references to your family.

I agree that to be sponsors at an RC baptism, they have to be RC but there’s not much more you can infer. They might be relatives, but they might not and there’s no way of saying what the relationship was.

There seems to be some sort of connection between the Elagh Booths and Kilmenagh Booths. I see an advert in the Mid Ulster Mail 23.2.1918 where James Booth of Elagh is selling land in Kilmenagh in 3 separate lots.

The Tyrone Constitution of 10.9.1886 mentions that John Booth of Kilmenagh had his entitlement to vote challenged at a local electoral court. However when the case came to be called forward it was abandoned. (This was at a time before there was a universal vote and your right to vote was linked to how much land you had and also, as is still the case today, whether you actually lived there. At a time when Irish nationalism was on the rise, every vote counted so people were quick to challenge if they thought someone was on the voters list who shouldn’t be there. The papers are full of cases where the registered voter was actually in Scotland or even Australia, but was still on the electoral register in Ireland. If there was an election someone else would often impersonate the registered voter. We finally brought in a requirement to produce identification in elections in Northern Ireland about 20 years ago, at which point 10% of the names on the electoral register vanished. That tells you how mush impersonation was going on!). I can’t tell you what the reason for the challenge was in the 1886 case because obviously it was abandoned before it came to court.

Most Irish research comes to a stop around 1800. The lack of earlier records usually means there isn’t anything left to look up. There are exceptions for folk who were very wealthy, big landowners etc, or infamous, but for the average man there are almost no records left to research. And even fewer for the average woman.

Hi Elwyn - quick question. I've purchased the death extract for Margaret Booth (died 1871, present was George Booth, Elagh) and Eliza Booth. My question is whether the death certificates hold any further information to the extracts (attached). In Australia the certificates, from very early on, include the names of the parents of the deceased. 

Pauline

Pauline,

The certificates that have is all there is to find. Scottish certificates do contain parents names but Irish & English ones do not, save occasionally for children.