Young Family in Killeshandra area in the early 1800's

Hello Gerry,  I have read your inquiry and would like to ask if you know if the Richard Young of Killeshandra, you refer to, is the same person as Richard Young of Lakeville?  I have studied the os map of Gartinardress in ancestry site and think it might include a reference to Lakeville Hse near Gartinadress Hse, but it is not clear & difficult to make out!  If they are the same person then I think it would make Richard Young, William Young the lawyer's father-in-law, at the very least.  Although they would probably be related in some other way, as well.  Regards P Cantley.

Hello Pam. Yes indeed, I think that you're correct about Lakeville. I was so focussed on the big houses, Lahard, Drumgoon and Gartinardress, that I missed the fact that Lakeville, in Gartinardress townland, was much larger than any of the other 3 houses and was probably much more modern and elaborate. An interesting place to look for the old maps is on the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website, in case you haven't come across it, www.osi.ie. You can view the historical maps from the 1830's (Historic 6" is very good at maximum zoom) and then for example, switch to Ortho 2005 to see a modern satellite view of the same location. Sadly, although Lakeville must have been very impressive in the 1830's with it's formal gardens, there is absolutely no trace of it on the modern satellite view. As for William Young the lawyer, his wife was Mary Clemina McAllister. Even though they lost most of their estate through enforced sale, they continued to live in Gartinardress townland, almost certainly in Lakeville. I'm enclosing copy of the notification of the sale by auction of the estate, which may be of interest to you.

Many thanks for your help and interest in this,

Gerry

Gerry,

Thank you for your advice on viewing ordance survey maps, I will have to look into that as I have had trouble viewing maps before.

I have already seen the papers ref the forced sale of the estate of Richard Young, I seen them along with details of all 15 lots of property with maps for each lot.  I understood from other papers seen or sites visited that William Young the attorney was acting for his wife in that matter i.e. it was she who had the interest in the estate.  Also the other person named, Margaret Young, whom I initially thought might have been Richard Young's wife, is referred to as a minor which made me think now that she may have been his daughter (it looks as if in 1850 she was still under 21 years of age).  I also have a newspaper notice announcing the marriage in, from memory 1838, of William Young and Mary Young daughter of Richard Young of Lakeville so from this I had concluded that Mary Clemina was Richard's daughter too.  I have not come across a McAllister reference in my search.  Do you believe William's wife was not related to Richard Young at all because I can't understand her interest in the estate otherwise. 

You had asked after Youngs of Lahard & Drumgoon but I have not looked at other strands of the Young family.  I have come to this group through working back from the Elliotts & Knights of Clones (a family engaged mainly in the legal profession & gentleman farming).   I do have another Young, Elizabeth, born about 1782, in my tree who was married into the Fitzgerald family of Clonavilla, Clones & I suspect may be related but cant trace or confirm a link).

Do you use ancestry.co.uk?  I have a tree there & have attached or filed any documents I have thought relevant into the gallery there.

regards

Pamela

Hello Gerry,

I live quite near Gartinadress and am a native of Corlis, which is the townland next to it in the Lahard direction.

The house at Gartinadress is no more and the surrounding estate lands are now covered with commercial forestry.

My late father (born 1929) and uncle (born 1922) used tell of how the estate parkland was cleared of old deciduous trees in preparation for the land's afforestation.

I'm guessing that this was in the 1920s or 1930s when the new Irish Free State was acquiring lands for commercial forestry planting, although it may have been earlier if the stories had been handed down to them by their parents.

I understand that at that time, the house had fallen into extreme disrepair owing to the poverty at that stage of the Young family and that it was demolished around then. A story is told that the last surviving member of the Young family at Gartinadress used cycle into Killeshandra every day to buy a bottle of whiskey. A sad end to a storied family estate.

I had not heard of the house being called Lakeville until I read your post, and neither was I aware of big houses at Lahard and Drumgoon.

An interesting piece of trivia about Gartinardress townland is that it straddles three postal districts, so you have various parts of it referred to as Gartinardress, Killeshandra; Gartinardress, Cornafean; and Gartinardress, Crossdoney. Woodland separates each of the three areas of the townland from each other.

Hi Tommy,

Re the house at Lakeville .... this house was inherited by Margaret Young 1802-1845, youngest daughter of Luke Magrath  who was High Sheriff of Co Cavan 1809-10.  Luke was a solicitor in Chancery from 1793, and my gggg-gpa Wm Magrath was a solicitor in Chancery from 1792.  I am convinced they must have been related.  Wm is described in the press as being 'of Comalane' - I see in your post you mention a 'Cornafean', fairly similar sounding. I wonder if you have come across either of these 2 - Wm at least was definitely part of a rather large contingent of Magraths in Cavan?

I am straw grasping, but  knowing more of the area than I certainly do, this may ring bells I don't have :-)

Irene

Hi Gerry,

I am uploading scans of two letters that may be of interest to you. One was written by John and James Reilly in 1851 to the landowners Mary Anne and Jane Young. The second was written by John Reilly and Charles Hales thirty years later, in 1881, to George Mackarness, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. He was Mary Anne's husband, and seems to have become their landlord on her death in 1873.

The letters were among a bundle of documents relating to George Mackarness that have come down to me as a (very amateur) family historian. I hope they are useful to you.

Best wishes,

Patience Jones nee Mackarness

Hello Patience,

Thank you so much for the scans of the 2 letters. I am particularly fascinated by the letter from John and James Reilly In 1851. Even though I will need some time to decipher all the handwriting, the interesting point is that they give their address as Toome townland. I live in Toome and I can trace both my fathers and mothers families in this townland, back to the early 1800’s. The Reilly/O’Reilly surname is very common in this area and there is still one Reilly family living here, with long term links to the townland. It will be interesting to research the records for John and James, to see what became of their families, so I’ll focus on that when I get a chance. Toome townland would have been on the southern boundary of the old Hamilton/Young estate, approximately 14 miles by road from the landlords home near Killeshandra.

Unfortunately, even though I have so far been unable to find confirmation, the house at Lahard where Mary Anne and Jane Young were born may sadly have been burned down during the war of independence in 1921. Many estate houses were targeted by republicans, especially if they were unoccupied, in order to prevent their possible use as military barracks. 

Best wishes with your family history research and many thanks again.

Gerry.