Barrett Mc Caffery

Margaret,

The normal spelling of the parish is Drumragh (pronounced Drumraa) and the town of Omagh is in it. I see Patrick’s occupation as farm servant on the immigration record so that would suggest his family lived in the rural areas around Omagh rather than in the town itself. Being a weaver and a farm servant are not incompatible. Most farm labourers in Ulster did weaving when there was no farm work required. It brought in a bit of extra income. The majority of Irish linen was manufactured in the counties of Ulster. Originally on collapsible looms in labourers cottages but later replaced by more efficient water powered weaving factories.

Unfortunately the local RC parish records don’t start till 1846 so you are not likely to find any record of Patrick’s baptism or his or his parents marriage.

Griffiths Valuation (1860) lists just one Denis Barrett in Drumragh. He lived in the townland of Aghadulla on plot 22a and also had had a third share of about 10 acres of land (plot 12). Numerous other Barretts in that townland including 2 more Patricks. Numerous McCaffrey households in the townland too. There was a tendency to marry the girl next door in those days, so it’s possible Aghadulla is where your Patrick originated.

Plot 22a in Aghadulla today is on the modern Tattysallagh Rd, near the intersection with the Harpur Rd, a few miles west of Omagh. (Road names in rural Ireland were only introduced in the 1950s and prior to that your townland alone was sufficient to identify you and get a letter delivered etc). There’s a modern house on 22a now but the area is still all farmland.

https://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch

Here’s a death of a Denis Barrett from Aghadulla in Omagh workhouse in 1891. He was a 61 year old bachelor, so not Patrick’s father but a relation perhaps. He’ll likely have gone to the workhouse for free medical treatment in their hospital, rather than because he was destitute. Suspect Patrick’s father Denis died before 1864 when death registration started.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_retu…

No shortage of Barretts & McCaffreys in Aghadulla in the 1901 census. Take your pick.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tyrone/Clanabogan/Aghadulla/

Aghadulla is 559 acres. Population in 1901 was 125 people in 32 households.

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. If you have already tested your DNA with Ancestry, My Heritage or 23&Me you can upload your DNA results to Family Tree DNA for free and then join the North of Ireland Family History Society DNA Project. Simple instructions on how to do this can be found here: https://www.nifhs.org/dna/uploading-your-dna/

this is fantastic information. I have done some research regarding weaving, trying to understand how the work was done. my impression is that industrialisation was quite specific to different areas, so I need to narrow the information down. I will attempt to upload my DNA from ancestry to family tree DNA (I hope I have the IT skills to do it!) 

I'll keep you posted.

thanks

Margaret

Margaret,

In rural areas most weaving was done at home using hand loom weaving machines, such as are still used in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland to make Harris Tweed. These machines were collapsible, so as to be stored out of the way when not needed and for ease of transport should the weaver move home, as they often did, to follow the available work.

Most weavers in Ulster were labourers who earned a bit of extra money by weaving in the winter months when there wasn’t much labouring work required on farms.  This meant they had a slightly better standard of living than elsewhere in Ireland. It also gave them some ready cash (in a society that mostly operated by barter) for the things that could not be bought by barter, eg a ticket to America.

At one time weavers wove a lot of cotton but the interruption of supplies from the southern US states during the American War of Independence  in the 1770s meant they focused on other materials, notably flax (which linen is made from) and which grows well in Ireland in contrast to cotton which won’t grow at all.  They did weave other products eg calico and wool as required, but by the 1800s it was mainly linen. Linen made at home was taken to the local linen market and sold there.

As the 19^th century progressed, water powered linen mills were introduced all over Ulster. These were faster than home weavers and often made better quality material and so gradually made the home weaver redundant.  In addition, the factories also mostly employed women and children (being nimbler and cheaper) so this impacted on male employment too. At a time when farms were starting mechanise and so needed fewer labourers, the average labourer/weaver therefore faced a bleak future and so these combined changes were a major factor in many a labourer’s decision to leave Ireland during the 1800s.

A little more information on this link: https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/flax-plant.html