Parish of Tempo - Ferris family search

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Kerry,

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Tempo is in the parish of Enniskillen. There are several churches within the parish, including one at Tempo which seems likely to be the one your family attended if they lived in Tempo.

Episcop in Ireland is Church of Ireland.

The bad news is that most of Enniskillen Church of Ireland’s records were lost in the 1922 fire in Dublin. Some remain, plus there are separate records for Tempo. The following records for Tempo can be viewed free at PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast:

Tempo (Clogher diocese)

Baptisms, 1836-1954; marriages, 1837-45; burials, 1837-1944.

So that might include 2 of John & Margaret’s children.

I have a feeling Tempo may only have opened in 1837. If so, the family is likely to have attended Enniskillen prior to that. This is what exists for Enniskillen itself. Again there’s a copy in PRONI:

Extracts of baptisms, 1667-1789, marriages, 1668- 1794, and burials, 1667-1781; burials, 1879-1907 and 1941-50;vestry minutes, 1731-1920; copy deeds, 1796-9; select vestry minutes, 1871-80; register of church members, 1871 and 1946-50; preachers’ book, 1895-1928.

Extracts from baptism, marriage and burial registers, 1666-1826.

Printed copy of Old Enniskillen Vestry Book, with extracts of births, marriages and deaths, 1666-c.1797.

Extracts from vestry minutes, 1666-1912, which include some baptism, marriage and burial entries.

I know that Cochran was corrected on the emigration paperwork to Choran. However I’d suggest that the original version in Ireland was probably Cochran(e). There’s no-one in Ireland named Choran in the 1901 census whereas there are 1500 Cochrans. I would focus  any searches in Ireland on that version. (I see neither John nor Margaret could read or write so they probably weren’t going to spot any errors on the paperwork).

Cochran(e) is a common Scottish name, and given that the family were Church of Ireland and in Fermanagh, that all points to them probably being of Scottish settler origins. They’d have arrived in the 1600s.

One of the family's sponsors was John West of Pubble. He is listed in the tithe applotment records for the parish of Enniskillen in 1832, so you can tell from that he was a farmer:

http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/fermanagh/tithe-applotment-books/parish-of-enniskillen.php

He is not listed in Griffiths Valuation in 1862. 

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

However Pubble isn’t very big (there were only about 13 houses listed) and there’s a Richard West farming there instead. I think it likely John had died and Richard – his son perhaps- had replaced him. He had plot 8 which was a 34 acre farm. That farm today is on a minor road (apparently called Pubble Rd) off the Tempo Rd, near Pubble Methodist church. Possibly John Choran/Cochran worked for John West? If so, he would have lived in a small labourer’s cottage on the farm. Rent would usually have been paid by an agreed number of days work a year on the farm, though it could be paid in cash too. Otherwise he was then free to take any other work that was offered. In the quieter winter months the family may have done a bit of home weaving to raise  a little extra cash.

Another person named on the migration document is Thos. Seoles of Tempo. That’ll be an error for Scholes (a common name in Fermanagh). 

The surname Fearis is found in Fermanagh (1 family) but the more common version is Ferris.  Keep an open mind about spellings when searching the records. Half the population were illiterate but even those who could read and write weren’t consistent and so spelling of both peoples and place names varies all the time.

Dear Kerry,

My name is Anna Townsend, I am from Fermanagh and had a DNA test done by Ancestary,  Your family names have come up in a DNA match to me at third and forth cousin,  I have not been able to as yet find the link, but I am sure it was through my paternal grandmother Lizzie Kilpatrick and through her mother Elizebeth Best,  Names also connected to Ferris and Cochrane are Rutherford, Nixon and Glover these names are also linked to the villages of Lisnaskea and Brookeborough.  The villages are all within five to ten miles from each other, with my granny having been a native of Brookeborough.  The family were Protestant or Church of Ireland.   if I can remember from their emigration data their passage was paid for by a Mr Cochrane.   I do not know if we are related but if I can be of any help especially if you do visit then i shall do my best,  I live about fifteen miles from the village with my daughters partner having come from Tempo where is family still reside. 

My email is - townsendanne55@gmail.com  should you wish to contact me

Yours Truely

AnnaTownsend