Hi all,
I see Stuart managed to reply on the thread while I was typing the above post!
I still live around Clonmore, so I can do some leg work if needed. The local priest let me see the original registers, but sadly the Catholic Howell's only went back to 1880s in the ones he had at the time. I will try other sources. I actually left this side of the tree to last thinking it would be easier than the others but it is not proving to be so. The Howell families appear to have lived in the Rath/Clonmore areas since at least the 1750s. They were Protestant, and farmers. This was quite common for the area at the time. They appear to have switched religion through marriage sometime around the mid 1800's. I have no direct evidence for this accept that they suddenly start appearing on Catholic registers instead of Church of Ireland ones. I haven't done an in-depth search of the CoI registers yet, but it's next. The are 2 distinct Howell families originating from Clonmore now, one still living in the area. There are certain common Howell first names that recur in this time frame:
Richard, William, George (and to a much lesser extent, Patrick, John)
Here is an excellent site, I have met the fellow who compiles it and he is a really excellent authority:
http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/1756_commission_of_array.htm/On that page, for instance, we can see a Richard Howell from the general area (exact area not mentioned) who was at the commission of array in 1756. The page mentions:
"The Commission of Array was held nationwide in September of 1756. As this was the era of the Penal Laws, Roman Catholics were not permitted to bear arms. Consequently, the names in the following list can be assumed to be members of the Protestant faith. The Commission was held to ascertain the number of eligible men available to protect the country and to train these men in the use of firearms etc."Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Regards,
Saorog
Show Posts
