Bovell, Bovil, Boval etc

The name Bovill (and variants) isn’t very common in Co Antrim. There were only 79 in the 1901 census. The majority lived around the parish of Ballyscullion Grange. Notably in Culnafay and  Ardnaglass. So not too far from Portglenone. The majority were Church of Ireland (ie Episcopalian) but there were Brethren, RC and Baptists too. Some Presbyterians (Church of Scotland) but mostly in Belfast. 1 Moravian. So an interesting mix. 

Most from the Ballyscullion area would be buried in either Ballyscullion Church of Ireland graveyard or Templemoyle which is beside it. You can view transcripts of the legible gravestones on the Braid site:

http://thebraid.com/genealogy.aspx

It tended to be farmers who had gravestones. If your family were labourers then they wouldn’t have had one, in most cases.

Ballyscullion Church of Ireland lost all its early records in the 1922 fire in Dublin so has nothing before the 1870s; Brethren in Ireland don’t baptise and so have no baptism records. Their marriages, 1845 onwards, are conducted in a Register Office, so any Brethren Bovill marriages should be in the statutory marriage records on the irishgenealogy site.  (I don't see one for Elizabeth Bovill & James Donaghey). Baptists don’t practice child baptism, and the RC records start in 1834. They are on-line on the nli site.

If James Donaghey & Elizabeth had children born in Scotland in 1855 or 1861 onwards, the date and place where they married should be on each child’s birth certificate.

But the underlying message here is that if you are looking for a birth records for Rachel (mother of  James, Rachel & Clara) the chances are none exists. If Rachel senior died in Scotland 1855 onward you should get her husband’s and her parents names from her death certificate.

Thank you for replying so quickly.  It is very interesting.  I have searched the family extensively and have followed many of them in their journeys across the world.  According to death records Rachel Bovell senior was married either to James Bovell (a farmer) or Robert Bovell.  This information was taken from her death certificate and those of her children.  (3 records name her husband as James and one as Robert).  Rachel's parents are reputed to be James Bovell (a weaver) and Agnes Bruce.

However, I seem to have caused a litttle confusion with the Donaghey family due to there being more than one James.

James Donaghey/Donachey/Donaghy senior died in 1873 in Greenock  aged 60, and his parents were reputedly John Donaghy (a schoolmaster) and Rose Ann Reid.  I am not convinced by the schoolmaster though as James's children were illiterate.  This James was married to Elizabeth Bovill the daughter of William Boval and Mary ?. She died in 1869 aged 62.  This means that she was likely to be James/Robert Bovell senior's sister as her parents differ from those of Rachel.

James and Eliza Donaghy had the following children:-

James born about 1831 and aged 20 in the 1851 census when he was with the Bovell family and was listed as their cousin. He claimed to be a handloom weaver.  I have no idea to whom he was married.  (I do not get the rest of the Donaghys in a census until 1861 and James is not with them).

Eliza born about 1842, married in Scotland in 1862 and died in England.  I have details of her children also

George also born around 1842, and also married in 1862, had two children and his wife claimed to be a widow by 1867 but I can't find his death.  He was a baker.

I am not looking to get further back in my tree as I know it is unlikely.  I would just like to know from where they came as I am very interested in the social history around people's lives

I have managed this with other branches of my family both Church of Ireland and RC so it would be nice to complete the picture.

Thank you again for your time.  It is much appreciated.

The occupations farmer and weaver point to the family coming from rural Antrim rather than Belfast (most of which is in Antrim). If you remove the Belfast based Bovills from the 1901 census, the majority of what’s left lived in Ballyscullion, plus a few others here and there. There was a James Bovill farming in Dunnygarran near Ballymena but he was still alive in 1862 so not your family. My hunch would ne that your family came from around Ballyscullion.

There’s a general shortage of records for the period you need. The 1831 & 1841 censuses were destroyed in the 1922 fire (along with Ballyscullion's church records). There are no tithe applotment records for the parish as it was originally church land (there is likely to have been a monastery there at one time, pre Reformation). So no tithes to consult. It was, and still is a farming area along the east bank of the Bann.  According to the Ordnance Survey memoirs of 1836 Ballyscullion grew mostly wheat, oats, flax and barley. There was plenty of turbary (peat). Some linen  weaving: “In the grange, in common with the surrounding district, weaving of linen was a constant source of profitable employment to every member of a farmer’s family, when their labour was not require don the farm. The employment is still continued, but the profit is now very trifling.” (As the 19th century progressed, home weaving became more uneconomic and was replaced by water powered linen factories in Belfast & Ballymena which made it much more efficiently and often to a higher standard.  One of the many factors which induced people to migrate during that period).

The OS memoir has a list of people who left Ballyscullion in 1835 & 1836. It includes Thomas Bovel 28, Millquarter, Established Church (ie Church of Ireland) to Glasgow;  William Bovel 35, also of Millquarter, Established church, to Glasgow; William Bovel, 30 Millquarter, Established church to Glasgow; Thomas Bovil, 25 Ardnaglass, Established Church to Glasgow; John Bovil, 28, Ardnaglass, Established church, to Glasgow; Elisa Bovil 20, John Bovil junior 3 died, Rachael Bovil junior 1, all of Millquarter, Established church to Glasgow.

Thank you once again.  I find it extremely interesting.  The information you have supplied seems to fit what I expect of their origins.  How lives have changed!

Invalable info from Elwyn on the name variants and history!  Thank you.  My Mother's line was "Boviall" supposedly, but I believe it was changed sometime after Joseph "Boviall" emmigration to Wisconsin in 1881.  It appears he made a trip back to Ireland and manifested again in New york with the "Bovill" spelling (which I contend is correct).  Unfortunately, previous researchers have tagged his entire line with the "Boviall" spelling.  That Bovill (or Boviall) line was from somewhere in Antrim.  Joseph's parents were David "Boviall" and Elizabeth Mitchell (actually born in Scotland).  There isn't much additional information, but you might fish a little in the Boviall line.  Thanks again!

Accurate spelling wasn’t something that folk in Ireland bothered with in the mid 1800s. Most folk were illiterate but even when they weren’t they just didn’t bother. So you need to use your common sense about the variations.  Bovill can be spelled many ways. If you get fixed on a particular spelling, you are probably not going to find your ancestors.

I’d guess that Bovill is a Huguenot name (so probably arrived in Ireland in from France the late 1690s after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes) but that would be hard to confirm.