Likely RC Church & Cemetery For Owens Ancestors

Hello Lynne,

Concerning the older Owens children baptized in the Magheraculmoney Parish , can you provide their names and years of birth? Their years of birth may determine what R.C. Chapel they were baptized in. The Catholic Parish for Magheraculmoney was also know as Ederney/Ederny, located in County Fermanagh, near the border with the Catholic Parish of Kilskerry, County Tyrone.

Also, what were the names and years of birth of the four youngest Owens children?

In addition, preliminary research at the Shane Wilson website thus far, shows that the Kilskerry Catholic Chapel and graveyard were not locate in Kilskerry itself, but nearby. I'll have more information about this after I hear from you, as I have to do a little more research about this.

Kind Regards,

Dave Boylan

Attached Files

Hi Dave, Just back from the first family vacation since pre-pandemic. Thanks for reaching out!

I attached a pdf that illustrates the family structure with dates of baptisms, marriages and deaths when I was able to locate records. I also copied in the cover page from the baptism / marriage records that notes the parish details. For the Parish Magheraculmoney (Culmaine / Ederney) where the first two children were baptized, I am wondering if it is the Blackbog Chapel but it doesn't specify this. And I noted online that there is a Edenclaw Blackbog Catholic Cemetery but the records appear to focus on much later time periods for burials. For the last four children, the parish record cover page notes the Parish of Kilskeery (Kilskeery / Trillick). Some early records note that a church in that area served both Protest and and Catholic individuals. I believe that John Owens originated from Parish Magheraculmoney, Fermanagh and Rose McCann originated from Parish Kilskeery, Tyrone. So they likely married in her parish and the records start too late to capture their marriage.

Let me know if you have any thoughts. Thanks so much! Lynne

Attached Files

Hello Lynne,

Many thanks for writing back, and I hope you had a fantastic vacation.

Based on the Owens Family Structure that you attached, I did my own research into the children of John Owen and Rose McCann, and came up with the same Fermanagh and Tyrone baptism locations that you did for their children. This search took place at the Find My Past (FMP) website as well as the National Library of Ireland website.

To see what Catholic Churches were located in the Magheraculmony Catholic Parish, County Fermanagh, I went to a link at the Shane Wilson website called, “Catholic Parishes and Civil Parish Links - c1837,” where I found there were three Catholic chapels in the Magheraculmony (Ederny) Catholic Parish. These include the chapel in the townland of Monavreece, also known as Blackbog, which you had mentioned; the chapel in the townland of Edenticromman; and the chapel in the townland of Bannagh More. See the Shane Wilson link at: https://is.gd/7j4ZQJ

The three townlands where the chapels were located are color coded and labeled on the accompanying map. Shane Wilson also provides link coordinates to Google Maps showing the locations of where the chapels in Monavreece/Blackbog, and Edenticromman used to be located. The chapel for Bannagh More still exits, however..

The map for Monavreece/Blackbog can be found at: https://is.gd/ZtEwmX

For the map of Edenticromman see: https://is.gd/OTtOes

For the map of Bannagh More, go to: https://is.gd/34SG7L

For a Google Street View of the Bannagh More Catholic Chapel and Graveyard, see: https://is.gd/AuzNi8

The Bannagh More Chapel is called St. Mary’s. See:
https://enniskillen-nir.uk-churches.com/st-marys-rc-church-6/

There is a St. Mary’s Bannagh webpage at Find A Grave, which you can access at: https://is.gd/lgGsLI

I looked to see if anyone had submitted information about Owens or McCann burials in the St. Mary’s Church Cemetery, but found there were none. The earliest burial submission is for Ann Keown, who died in 1884.

Shane Wilson also provides map coordinates for the location of the three chapels as found on Ordnance Survey Maps from the 1837 to 1842 time period, which is the time period that Elizabeth and Edward Owens were baptized in the Magheraculmony Catholic Parish.

The Ordnance Survey Maps of the Monavreece/Blackbog R.C. Chapel, the Edenticromman R.C. Chapel, and the Bannagh More R.C. Chapel are attached to this reply. You should be able to enlarge and reduce the size of the maps once you access them.

It is unfortunate the baptism records for the Owens children do not mention the chapel where they were baptized, as you had pointed out.

The Magheraculmony Catholic Parish was also called Ederny, according to a book by Brian Mitchell called, “A Guide To Irish Parish Registers.” But as you know from the Owens Family Structure attachment you provided, the Magheraculmony/Culmaine/Ederny Catholic registers of baptism begin on August 24, 1836, while marriage records are available from November 13, 1837, too late to have recorded the baptism of John Owens.

Going back to your Owens Family Structure I wanted to see if I could pick up any additional information that might help me determine what County Fermanagh or County Tyrone Catholic Parish, may have been the parish of the Owens family.

One record you provided looked promising. This is the marriage of Elizabeth (Bessie) Owens, who married a fellow named McAninney in the Parish of Ederny, (aka Magheraculmony) Fermanagh, on 16 November 1876.

Marriages traditionally take place in the bride’s parish, and so I wanted to see where Elizabeth/Bessie Owens was living at the time she married. By noting her place of residence, I could then further see if she lived closer to the Catholic Chapel in Monavreece/Blackbog; the chapel in Edenticromman, or the chapel in Bannagh More.

I looked for the marriage record at the irishgenealogy.ie website and located it. The marriage is Number 18 in the marriage register at: https://is.gd/aHIsSM

Elizabeth’s husband Michael signed the register as Michael “McAiney,” though his last name is recorded as McAneny by the registrar under the “Name and Surname” column of the marriage register. The marriage record shows that both Michael and Elizabeth Owens were residing in the townland of “Tullynaguigy.” The actual spelling of this townland is “Tullanaguiggy,” in the civil parish of Magheraculmoney. See the IreAtlas entry at: https://is.gd/YH4l2w

Michael’s father is shown to be William McAneney, employed as a labourer. Elizabeth’s father is John Owens, also a labourer.

The priest who married Michael and Elizabeth was Michael Carney. The witnesses to the marriage were George Duncan and Pat Maguire.

Going over the map of the three Magheraculmony Catholic chapels noted at Shane Wilson’s website, and comparing them with Google Maps and Ordnance Survey Maps, it appears that the Monavreece Chapel, just north of Ederny and Irvinestown, would have been the closeest chapel to Tullanaguiggy.

I couldn’t find Tullanaguiggy on a Google Map, but did locate it on an townlands.ie map of Fermanagh at: https://is.gd/LpGVxk’

The town is not labeled but is highlighted in blue on the townlands.ie map.

I’ve attached an Ordnance Survey Map of Tullanaguiggy from the 1837 to 1842 time period. The map is from the GeoHive website.

I found a Google Street View of a structure that may have been the former Monavreece Chapel, located in present-day Castlederg Road. The structure has a pointed lancet window (covered over) on the outside wall facing the road. See: https://is.gd/wzeY3N

It is curious to note that Elizabeth was married in the Ederny Catholic Parish, County Fermanagh in 1876, when four of her younger siblings, born in the late of 1840s 1850s, were baptized in the Kilskerry Catholic Parish just over the border in County Tyrone.

For more information about the Ederny (Magheraculmony) Catholic parishes, go to the ederny.gaa.ie website link at: http://www.ederney.gaa.ie/pages/parishdistricthistory.aspx

Scroll down the page until you come to the subheading titled, “The Chapels.”

COUNTY TYRONE POSSIBILITIES

I next concentrated on the question you had originally posed in your query to Ireland Reaching Out on 30 June 2021. That is, where are John and Rose buried?

Your information shows they lived in Scallen, Parish of Kilskerry, County Tyrone. Kilskerry is not only a civil parish, but also a Catholic parish in County Tyrone.

To see if the Kilskerry Catholic parish church was located in Kilskerry itself or in another townland within the parish, I went back to Shane Wilson’s, “Catholic Parishes and Civil Parish Links - c1837.”

I found the Kilskerry parish church was actually located in the townland of
Stranagummer, near Maghera Lough. The Shane Wilson parish links page also shows a map of the location of the church indicated by the letter A in a red teardrop marker. See the Shane Wilson attachment.

On the Google Map coordinates provided by Shane Wilson, you can see the outline of the previous location of the Kilskerry Catholic Parish church, Magheralough Road. See the map at: https://is.gd/10wct3

The location of the church was to the right of the red marker.

Just to the southeast of the red marker where the church was located, you’ll see a green section of land on the other side of the road. I’ll get back to this in a minute.

A Google Street View of the red marker location shows that this structure is now the Magheralough Primary School. Just to the right of the school is a large foundation which may have been the location of the church. See the Google Street View at: https://is.gd/W4xtJ9

The next Google Street View shows the location of the Magheralough Cemetery, just down the road from the school. This is the cemetery where John and Rose Owen may possibly be interred. See the Street View at: https://is.gd/sxhevn

As you can se this cemetery looks to be well maintained.

Coordinates provided by Shane Wilson for the townlands of Stranagummer and Magheralough show the location of these townlands an Ordnance Survey Map from the 1837 to 1842 time period. The maps are from the GeoHive website. On the attached Stranagummer Map, the R.C. Chapel is located in the lower right-hand corner of the map.

On the attached Ordnance Survey Map of Magheralough, the R.C. Chapel is situated toward the upper right of the map. The graveyard does not exist on this map, but would eventually be located where you see the “Gravel Pit,” location just southeast of the R.C. Chapel.

A Google Map shows that the Scallen Road, Scallen, is just 2.5 miles from Stranagummer Rath, where the Kilskerry Parish Church had been located, and where the graveyard is presently situated: https://is.gd/9xjhL1

It may be that your Owens had lived in a portion of Scallen closer to Irvinestown, County Fermanagh to the west, which would have placed the R.C. Chapel and graveyard up to 3 miles away.

Irvinestown used to be called Lowtherstown.

Lynne, I can’t say for sure that John and Rose Owen are buried in the cemetery in Stranagummer/Magheralough, but they may be, given this was the location of the Kilskerry Parish Church, as far as records show.

The church which may possibly have jurisdiction over the cemetery is St. McCartan’s in Trillick. The following Google Map shows the locations of the Scallen Road, Kilskerry, Stranagummer Rath, and St. McCartan's Church, Trillick Parish: https://is.gd/JhN7oc

St. McCartan’s looks to be a relatively new church structure, perhaps built in the late 20th century or in the 21st century. The church website, including a live webcam of the interior of the church, can be found at: https://www.churchservices.tv/trillick

You can email the St. McCartan Parish Office and ask if the church has jurisdiction over the cemetery in Stranagummer/Magheralough, as your ancestors may be buried there. You can also ask if the church has a list of burials in the cemetery.

The other thing you can do is post another query to the Ireland Reaching Out Message Boards, asking if there is anyone in the Kilskerry, Stranagummer, Magheralough and Trillick area who would know anything about the cemetery and if they could possibly see if there are any Owen gravestones there.

The Find A Grave website has a page devoted to what is labeled as the “Trillick Magheralough Graveyard,” which you can access at the following link: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2616181/trillick-magheralough-grave…

This would be the graveyard just down the road from where the old Kilskerry Catholic Parish church was.

I checked to see if anyone had submitted information to Find A Grave for the Owens surname, and only found one. This is for Annie Owens, who was born in 1897 and died in 1970 at the age of 72-73. See the submission for Annie Owens at:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/166166523/annie-owens

I also checked to see if there are any submissions to the Magheralough Graveyard for the surname McCann, and found 38, the oldest being for Paul McCann, who was born December 1899 and died January 1912. See all 38 McCann submissions at: https://is.gd/LZDrYV

The submission with the earliest death date in the Magheralough Graveyard is for James Lynch, who died 13 December 1904. See the following links: https://is.gd/L0fhbz and https://is.gd/GiGX4F

Lynne, if you confirm that John and Rose Owens are buried in the Magheralough Graveyard, you can also submit information about them to Find A Grave.

On the other hand, there is the possibility that John and Rose may be buried in the Catholic cemetery in nearby Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, which is only a few miles west of Scallen. The Catholic Church in Irvinestown is called Sacred Heart. A Google Map shows the Sacred Heart Church is 2.5 miles west of the Scallen Road, Scallen, by the shortest route: https://is.gd/si32Z4

For a Google Street View of the Sacred Heart Church, see: https://is.gd/zQ82Bh

A Google Satellite View of the church shows what appears to be a cemetery in back of it: https://is.gd/D7bqZ9

The following blurry Google Street View image of the cemetery is from Castle Street, Irvinestown: https://is.gd/XTGHkA

The Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery has its own Find A Grave webpage at: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2350841/irvinestown-rc-cemetery

There is only one submission for an Owens at the Sacred Heart Find A Grave. This is for Hugh Owens, with no dates of birth or death given: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169477019/hugh-owens

There are also five McCann submissions to Find A Grave: https://is.gd/2pg6eO

The earliest Sacred Heart Cemetery submission at Find A Grave is for a Robert Homes, who died 18 February 1694: https://is.gd/TkvcOg

I am suspicious of the information that there is a grave in the Sacred Heart Cemetery that goes back to 1694. But you never know.

JOHN AND ROSE OWENS

Lynne, your records shows that John Owens died in Scallen on July 4, 1877 and that his wife Rose died in Scallen on 9 June 1890.

I found their individual death register entries at the free irishgenealogy.ie website.

The death record for John shows the causes of death were, “Chronic Asthma 12 Months. Bronchitis 1 Month. Certified.” The person who was present at the death of John and who reported John’s death to the registrar was Peter Heley, whose residence was Drumharvey. So you do not have to go to your files looking for the death record, you can access it at the following link. John’s death is the first one in the register at Number 393: https://is.gd/b2g3II

Do you know who Peter Heley was? Drumharvey is only 2.2 miles northwest of the Scallen Road, Scallen, by the shortest route: https://is.gd/J4jbC5

The death register entry for Rose shows she too died of “Bronchitis 10 Days. Certified.” The person who was present at the death, and who reported the death to the registrar was Ann McBride, of Scallen. Do you know who Ann McBride was?

The death register entry for Rose can be accessed at: https://is.gd/iZBekM

Her death is the second entry in the register at Number 197.

In many cases the children of the deceased or relatives of the deceased were present at the deaths of the parents, and reported the deaths to the local registrar, but not in the case of John and Rose Owen. I wonder why?

The question I have is, did John and Rose have anyone in their family who would be able to afford a grave marker for them in the cemetery where they are buried. It may be that possibility that John and Rose do not have a grave stone.

There is evidence however that John and Rose Owens did have members of their family in the area when John died in 1877 and when Rose died in 1890. This would be their daughter Elizabeth, who married Michael McAiney in 1876.

The Owens Family Structure attachment shows that Elizabeth (Bessie) had died at Irvinestown on 27 December 1920. Bessie’s death record, which I found at the irishgenealogy.ie website shows she died in Castle Street, Irvinestown on that date, and that at the time of death she was an 84 year old widow who had been a housekeeper. The cause of death was “Bronchitis. 2 days. Certified.” The person who was present at the death and who reported the death to the registrar was Rose’s daughter, Rose Magee, whose residence was Irvinestown. The register that records the death of Bessie “McAninney,” can be accessed at the following link: https://is.gd/Yv4OyE

Bessie’s death is Number 381 in the register.

A Google Map shows the location of Castle Street in Irvinestown: https://is.gd/YaOMun

The next link will bring you to a Google Street View of Castle Street in Irvinestown: https://is.gd/5Grdpr

After learning that Bessie McAninney’s daughter Rose Magee was present at her death, I looked for Rose’s marriage record at the irishgenealogy.ie website and found it. The record shows that Rose Anne McAninney married Patrick McGee on 19 November 1903. The Roman Catholic Chapel where the married is recorded as, “Lisarov,” though I could find no Catholic Chapel by this name. At the time of marriage both Rose and Patrick were “of full age.” Patrick had been a bachelor and Rose a spinster at the time of marriage. Patrick’s occupation was “Car-driver.” His residence at the time of marriage was Irvinestown. His father is Patrick McGee, a labourer.

Rose’s occupation at the time of marriage was, “General Servant.” Her residence at the time of marriage was also Irvinestown. Her father is Michael McAninney, a labourer. The clergyman who married Patrick and Rose was Patrick McQuaid, C.C. The initials C.C. stand for, “Catholic Curate.” The witnesses to the marriage were John McManus and Maggie Healy. The marriage is Number 73 in the register at: https://is.gd/4OSoIO

A man named Peter “Heley” was present at the death of John Owens in 1877. The question is, were Peter Heley and Maggie Healy were related?

The other question I have is, are the Owens, McAninney, and McGee/Magee families buried in the same cemetery? Hopefully time will tell.

Best of Luck with your research Lynne.

Dave

SOURCES:

Owens Family Structure Attachment
Find My Past
Shane Wilson: Catholic Parishes and Civil Parish Links - c1837.
Find A Grave
Ordnance Survey Maps from GeoHive
A Guide To Irish Parish Registers, by Brian Mitchell
irishgenealogy.ie
Google Maps
Google Street Views
Google Satellite View
ederny.gaa.ie website
Trillick Catholic Church Website
IreAtlas Townland Data Base
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ATTACHMENTS:

Black Bog Ordnance Survey Map
Edenticromman Ordnance Survey Map
Bannagh More Ordnance Survey Map
Tullanaquiggy Ordnance Survey Map
Shane Wilson Kilskerry Parish Information
Ordnance Survey Map of Stranagummer
Ordnance Survey Map of Magheralough
Ordnance Survey Map of Scallen