Laird, Guinnis Emigration in 1847

George Laird is listed in the tithe applotment records for 1835 as farming in Tattymacall, which also appears to be know as Ballygelough.

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/fermanagh/tithe-applotment-books/paris…

I think the Robert Laird who remained in Ireland and married in 1846, probably married 3 times. 1st marriage on 15.12.1846 to Mary Ford at Derryvullen Church of Ireland; 2nd on 2.6.1857 to Mary Ann Latimer at Aghavea Church of Ireland and lastly to Eliza Jane Ford on 31.3.1871 at Lisbellaw Church of Ireland. Possible death for Mary Ann Laird on 6.2.1870 aged 40, registered in Enniskillen. You would need to pay to view certificate that on the GRONI site to make sure it's the right lady. 

On the 1857 marriage the groom’s father George is noted as being a “farmer in Canada.”

Date of Robert’s death was 16.3.1873, aged 64.

Probate abstract from the PRONI wills site:

Letters of Administration (with the Will annexed) of the personal estate of Robert Laird late of Tattymacall County Fermanagh Farmer who died 16 March 1873 at same place were granted at Armagh to Richard Laird of Coolrakelly County Fermanagh Farmer a Son and a Principal Legatee.

The will itself is on-line on the PRONI wills site. He left his farm to his son Richard then aged 11. Other children were John, Henry & Mary Jane, his wife Elizabeth and her daughter Rachel (presumably by an earlier marriage) got the right to reside in the house till her death. There’s mention of sons George & Robert both in America.

By 1901 there were no Lairds in Tattymacall but there were 3 Ford(e) households:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Lisbellaw/Tattymacoll/

The Valuation Revision records show Robert Laird as farming plot 12 in Tattymacall which was a 29 acre farm. In 1876 Robert Ford took the farm over, so presumably the Laird family left then. I don’t see most of them in the 1901 census, so not sure where they went. This might be Elizabeth on her own in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Fermanagh/Maguiresbridge/Drumgoon/1359227/

She died 29.8.1910 in Maguiresbridge and the informant was her son Joseph, so not certain it’s the same family.

Derryvullan South’s early baptism and marriage records were destroyed in the 1922 fire so you may struggle to find any record of George and family in the period you need ie early 1800s.

There should be a general description of the parish in the Ordnance Survey memoirs which were written in the mid 1800s. These were re-published in the 1990s by the Ulster Historical Foundation. There are copies in PRONI in Belfast and probably in Enniskillen public library.

Wow! Thank you, Elwyn, for your detailed and informative response. Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

Encouraged by your research data, I was able to see Robert Laird's will on the PRONI website. I also followed up on the "plot 12" clue in the Griffith's Valuation records and used the Tattymacall valuation reference map to locate the actual farm at Ballygaelagh(map name)/Ballygelough(1835 applotment records name) north of Lisbellaw. Since the name Ballygaelagh overlies only two plots on the map (plots 12 and 16), I wonder if we can assume that Robert took on the family lease when his parents and siblings emigrated to Canada in 1847 when Robert was in his early 30s. 

Once again, your valuable help and time has helped us a lot. I certainly know where we will be visiting when we can arrange a visit to the Emerald Isle!

Here is the map showing Ballygaelagh.

Ballygaelagh/Ballygelagh was the name of part of the townland of Tattymacall.

It seems fairly reasonable to assume that Robert acquired his father’s farm, since that local name appears on both the tithes and Robert’s first marriage certificate. I don’t see any evidence that it was all the land in Ballygaelagh, just what is delineated as plot 12 in Tattymacall. (Plot 16 was held by Robert Renwick). If you are going to PRONI you can look the full tithe records up and it will show you the size of land that George held in 1835. You can compare that with the 29 acres, 1 rood and 35 perches in Griffiths, to see if it’s the same size. Often with those comparisons, it’s not the same which leaves you none the wiser, but sometimes it’s the same and you can then be sure it’s the same property.

Farmers didn't move around much if they could avoid it. You don't spend 30 years improving a piece of land only to throw in the towel and move to another nearby. There’s only 1 Laird property in Tattymacall in the tithes and 1 in Griffiths, and it’s pretty likely it’s the same farm though some land may have been acquired or lost depending on how successful Robert was after his father left.

I had a look in the PRONI e-catalogue to see if there are any leases or other documents relating the Laird farm but did not find any. So there is probably no paper record of the handover or any changes in size between 1835 and 1862. (There might be something in the Registry of Deeds records, if you are inclined to go through them. Can be time consuming though).  

Let us know how your visit goes.

More great research suggestions--thanks again!

Another interesting coincidence popped up when looking again at the tithe applotment index at the Irish Genealogy Hub. Jane Laird, the second-oldest child of George Laird and Rachel Guinnis, married James Robinson around 1838 in Ireland and had a daughter, Elizabeth Robinson, in Ireland around 1839 before their family emigrated to Canada (where they had four more children between 1842-1853). James and Jane are my g3grandparents. 

So, having found the Laird family in Ballygelough, I thought that I would throw the Robinson surname into the tithe applotment search engine to see if there were any Robinsons in Derryvullan. Imagine my surprise when one of the Robinson families showed the following entry: "Robinson, James T: Tattymacaul - Ballygelough Y: 1835."  The Robinsons and Lairds were close neighbours! My calculations show that my g3grandfather James Robinson would have been in his mid-20s in 1835, and I couldn't find any Robinsons in the same area when Robert Laird was farming there later. No proof of the connection, but one can imagine James Robinson marrying his neighbour who was just a couple of years younger than him (or that there is a James Sr. and James Jr. on the neighbouring farm). 

Family history research is certainly interesting!

My wife comes from Lisnaskea, not far from Tattymacall. There’s a book detailing the history of the area around nearby Galloon parish entitled something like “Meeting at Drum… Cross” (I forget the exact title) but various residents commented that in the early and mid 1800s it was normal to marry someone within “an asses bark” of where you lived (ie the distance an asses bark could be heard, say a quarter of a mile). Farmers were tied to the land by their work. They had no transport, save the odd donkey.  There was neither the time nor means to court & marry a girl who lived 30 miles away. So it was normal to marry the “girl next door.”  So that’s possibly what your ancestors did.

The bicycle arrived in rural Ireland around the 1860s and this led to major social changes. People were suddenly able to travel 20 miles with comparative ease and this led to a significant widening of the matrimonial net. (And stopped them from marrying their cousins all the time, with the health issues that that sometimes created. The disappearance of the village idiot from rural Ireland is sometimes associated with the arrival of the bicycle. Discuss, as they say).

Hello Elwyn,

I am Robert Watt and I live in Southern England and after reading all of the above I thought I would take advantage of contacting someone who knows the Lisnaskea / Aghalurcher area,                       You see I have been trying to help a disabled friend who lives in Perth, Australia to find his Trimble ancestors who came from Aghalurcher in the 1800s.

What suggestion can you make as I seem to have tried everything I can think of, I hope to visit Co. Tyrone in July / August. Thank you,    I am at     rwdwatt@gmail.com        From Robert.