Dawson family

I assume the family was Church of Ireland (ie Anglican). If so, Castledawson was in the parish of Magherafelt and their baptism records start in 1718.  So you might find Thomas Dawson’s baptism there in 1723. E-Matris baptisms start in 1812, not sure if that is early enough. There are copies of the parish records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast. No appointment required but take photo id.

The only Dawson in Castledawson in the 1831 census was Richard who was Church of Ireland.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinsho…

I’d say he was the head of the Dawson family after which the town is named. His former home is now Moyola Park Golf Club:

https://www.moyolaparkgolfclub.co.uk/

One of his descendants was Lord Moyola, a former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.

There were plenty of other Dawson families living in the wider area around Castledawson in 1831, and obviously they are not necessarily related to the Moyola Dawson family. For example, a Thomas Dawson in Drumraney. He and his family were Catholic.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1831/Londonderry/Loughinsho…

In the 1700s, Castledawson was in the parish of Magherafelt and members of the Church of Ireland would mostly have attended Magherafelt church. However the Dawson family at Moyola had their own private “Chapel of Ease” just used by the family and its employees. That saved them the bother of going to Magherafelt and mixing with the hoi polloi.  In 1846 with population growth and other factors, it was decided to turn the Chapel of Ease into a full parish church (parish of Ballyscullion), and thereafter the residents of Castledawson would normally have attended it, instead of Magherafelt. Both the Magherafelt and Castledawson churches are still in use.  Castledawson’s records start in 1846. Copies are in PRONI.

Thank you so much for this. 

The other Thomas Dawsons were born in Monaghan, different places around there connected with Dawsongrove? One Thomas Dawson was born on 1 August 1761 in Ematris, Monaghan; his son Thomas was born on 24 January 1814 in Ematris, Monaghan. He married Margaret McHaffey in 1840 in his hometown.

So we plan to visit both Castledawson and areas around Ematris?

Hopefully there will be something there to see too?

I really appreciate you helping us. 

Melissa

Melissa,

I am not sure what the connection is between Castledawson in Co Derry and Dawson’s Grove in Co Monaghan. Perhaps just that folk named Dawson settled in each.

Looking at the 1901 census of Monaghan there were 4 or 5 households of Dawsons in the Dawsongrove electoral district. 3 were farmers and the fourth a cottier (small farmer). 3 families were Church of Ireland & 2 Presbyterian (usually indicating they were of Scottish origins). These families would have arrived in Ireland some time in the 1600s.

They lived in the townlands of Cormeen, Drumintin, Maghernakelly & Tattygare.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

Ematris is about 75 townlands, so quite a big area.

Thank you so much again!

They were in Drumintin. 

For several generations.

So hopefully that should help me narrow it down!

I notice there is a park there We could visit?

Melissa

I should just add that they left Drumintin in 1850 s during the Famine and I can't find correct census records before that? Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Melissa

Apart from some fragments all the pre 1901 Irish censuses have been destroyed, so that makes early Irish research quite challenging.

Drumintin is 263 acres in size. In the 1901 census there were 5 houses and a population of 20.  It was all agricultural land in 1901. Looking at a satellite image it’s the same today. There’s a few new houses but I doubt there’s more than 10 homes.  The Dawson farm in 1901 (plot 2 on Griffiths) still looks to be a working farm today.  Up at the end of a long lane. Why not call up and see who lives there.  There won’t be anything of great tourist interest in Dromintin, unless you particularly like hedges or fields of potatoes and silage.

There is a Richard Dawson memorial at the side of the R188. You might want to visit it. He was a local MP.

https://monaghantourism.com/listing/the-dawson-monument/

That’s close to Ematris Church of Ireland. You might want to visit that too and the graveyard.

You ask about earlier records. There aren’t so many, and some can be difficult to access.  However the tithe applotment records are on-line:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

They are a list of folk with land (in 1830 in the case of Ematris). Compiled for tithe purposes (a controversial church tax) they list all the farmers in most townlands. There were 6 Dawson farms in Drumintin in 1830: George, Richard, Mary, Edward, Thomas & Fanny. The two ladies are likely widows. Richard is unlikely to be Richard the MP.  Just someone of the same name and perhaps a distant relation of the MP.

You say your ancestors left in the 1850s during the famine. The big famine was 1845 - 1847/8,  and by the 1850s things weren’t quite so bad. Whilst the general impact across Ireland was dreadful, all I would say is that farmers weren’t hit so severely as they normally had other crops to rely on (barley, oats, plus dairy and other products, and so on). They may have lost their potatoes but they weren’t left with nothing as farm labourers were who had no other crops but potatoes. So if your family were farmers they may have seen their income drop but at the same time they probably weren’t starving. It was Ireland’s huge army of labourers who only had small plots of land on which they only grew potatoes who really suffered, and died in such dreadful numbers. 

If you are interested a contemporary description, I have attached a letter written by a farmer in Co Antrim in 1848 describing how he saw the famine. You’ll see that though he lost his potatoes (which even then he was able to recycle for starch) he kept going relying on his other crops (many of which rose in price due to demand). He wasn’t too badly off. There’s a myth that there was no food in Ireland during the famine. There was plenty of food (much of which Irish farmers exported). The problem was that the average labourer had no money with which to buy it. That’s why they starved. The Government failed to take proper action to supply food but that’s another story. But your family are unlikely to have been starving. There were other economic factors driving emigration during the 1800s. A huge population explosion, a lack of employment (Ireland has no natural resources eg oil, minerals, coal etc) and so the industrial revolution just passed it by).  The population had gone up from 3 million in 1741 to 8 million by 1841. There just weren’t jobs or land for all those folk. People had been pouring out of Ireland all through the 1800s. All the famine did was speed it up a bit.