Who lived in the Civil Parish of Buolick?

I thought it might be helpful to look at the Tithe Applotment and Griffith Valuations for the areas we are interested in particularly because those records are the best census records we have available for the 1800s in Ireland. There are two locations to find these, but the most complete set of records is at The National Archive of Ireland, and the records are online. You can see the actual handwritten records, and these records are among the earliest we have for that time period.

In Ireland, we have two kinds of Parishes: we have the Roman Catholic parishes (of which Gortnahoe in the Diocese of Ferns is one) and we have the Civil Parishes which were determined by the Church of Ireland. When looking through land records we need to use the Civil Parishes. The towns of particular interest to us with regards to Ellen's family are found in the Civil Parishes of Buolick and Kilcooly. Both of these Parishes are in the Barony of Slievardagh. Other Civil Parishes in this Barony include the neighboring Civil Parish of Ballingary.

According to https://www.johngrenham.com/ Maher is the most common surname in Buolick, with Cormick second; in Kilcooly, Maher is the third most common surname while Cormick is not listed on the top 10 surnames. 

The Townlands of Buolick include: Ballinastick, Bawnreigh, Bawnveigh, Bolynamiclane, Buolick, Cloonamicklin, Coolnamounragh, Foylacamine, Graigeemane, Gurteen Lower or Lower Gurteen, Kilbough, Knockloe, Littlefield, Mellisane, Pointstown, and Upper Gurteen. 

The Townlands of Kilcooly include: Ballinunty, Bawnlea, Blackcommon, Crossoges, Deerpark, Derryvella, Garransilly, Glengoole, New Birmingham, Glengoole South, Graigeheesha, Grangecastle, Grangecrag, Grangehill, Kilbrannel, Kilcooly Abbey, Knockatooreen, Lisduff, New Hall, New Park, Renaghmore, Sallybog, and Springfield.

In this post, we will look at the records for the Civil Parish of Buolick; in the next post, we will look at the Civil Parish of Kilcooly.

According to Griffiths Valuations 1850, Patrick Maher owned land in Ballinunty that he leased to other tenant farmers. Much of the rest of the land in Ballinunty, belonged to Ambrose Going, Esq. This is of great importance, because this Patrick Maher (who married Bridget Mulhall) was not a poor tenant farmer. But, again, we will look at that more deeply in the next post.

According to Griffiths Valuations of 1850, there were two Patrick Mahers living in the Civil Parish of Buolick. One was a Patrick Maher of Ballinastick, who was leasing land from an Edward Cormack. A Fennel Cooke Esq owned most of the other land in Ballinastick. The land that was allotted to Patrick Maher was not even an acre and consisted of a house and a garden. We can assume that this Patrick Maher is the Patrick Maher married to Bridget Mullally. If you recall, the Mahers in Ballinastick were close to the Cormacks, as the sponsors for weddings and baptisms were almost always composed of at least one Cormack. The other Patrick Maher lived in the township of Craigaman (sp), and leased over 56 acres from Edward Cooke, Esq. This Patrick Maher also leased a house to a Mary Carey. But, let's go make 20 years and look into the Tithe Applotments for 1828.

In the 1828 Valuations of Ballynastick (this is how it was spelled in 1828), there is no Maher. The land is primarily owned by Nathaniel Cooke, Esq. There are, however, two separate listing for a  Patrick Maher in Mellisane, along with a few Mulhalls. It is not clear if this is for two different Patrick Mahers, or two separate entries for one Patrick Maher, as it refers to two different plots of land. You can see the actual page here: http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587409/004587409_00257.pdf  Nearly all of the land in Mellisane is also owned by Nathaniel Cooke Esq.  

Other names in the 1828 Valuations of Ballinastick include: James Mullally, Thomas Cormick, Edmund Cormick, Andrew Cormick, Patrick Cormick, and John Dalton. The Cormicks managed the vast majority of the land; far more than any other family. Again, no Maher. Names in Mellisane: Edmund Cormick, Timothy Maher, John Mulhall, Edmund Mulhall, and Patrick Maher. 

You can read about the Cooke family, who owned the land in Buolick, here: http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=3240  These are the Cookes of Kiltinan Castle.