Sarah & Ellen Mulholland

Sarah,

There are 3 townlands named Eden in Co. Londonderry. One in the parish of Banagher, another in Dungiven and the last in Tamlaght O’Crilly. I don’t see one in Aghadowey, which is the board you have posted your message on. I looked at Griffiths Valuation for 1859. There were no Mulholland households listed in either of those 2 Edens but in Tamlaght O’Crilly, there were about 8 or 9 Mulholland households including an Andrew. There were also Henry, William, James senior & junior, David, Thomas, John junior & senior and Edward. That looks slightly more promising.

Andrew’s farm is on the eastern side of the modern Ballymacpeake Rd, just a mile or so west of Portglenone, near Eden Hill.

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

You don’t say what denomination your family was. Statutory registration of RC marriages started in 1864. Other denominations were recorded from April 1845 onwards. I don’t see Andrew and Matilda’s marriage listed in the civil indexes so that suggests they married prior to the above dates. In which case we are dependent on searching church records. Do you know what denomination they were? (I think they were probably Church of Ireland but you may know differently).

I looked at the PRONI wills site and I think I may have found a possible link to your family in Eden, Tamlaght O’Crilly. There is a will for an Andrew Mulholland, farmer. Now his wife is named Martha not Matilda (but one of those may have been a nickname as I see Matilda mentioned in the land records). However he has a son named Smyl(e)y. Now that’s a very unusual forename. Given that you believe Andrew’s wife’s maiden name was Smylie, that seems more than a coincidence. The will mentions sons Smyley, & James (evidently in Ireland) and 4 more overseas – John, Adam, Daniel and Frederick, as well as a daughter Margaret. (No mention of Sarah & Matilda though they may have got their portion when they migrated). The will was dated 15th January 1877 and Andrew died 19.1.1877 according to the will but 26.1.1877 according to his death certificate. He was aged 66. You can view the original certificates on-line on the GRONI website, using the “search registrations” option:

https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk

You will need to open an account and buy some credits. It costs £2 (sterling) to a view a certificate.

Probate abstract:

The Will of Andrew Mulholland late of Eden County Londonderry Farmer deceased who died 19 January 1877 at same place was proved at Londonderry by the oaths of Henry York of Eden and William Stewart of Ballymackpeake both in said County Farmers the Executors.

You can read the will on this site:

http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/will_calendars.htm

Looking at the revaluation records for Eden, I see that Andrew had plot 15 in that townland. It was a 20 acre farm, rented from the Earl of Stafford. After his death the farm passed to Matilda Mulholland in 1877 and then to James in 1878. James seems to have had the agnomen of Sydney to distinguish him from some other James Mulholland in the vicinity. Here’s James in 1901 on Andrew’s farm:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Claudy/Eden/1542379/

Here’s Smilie in 1901:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Londonderry/Claudy/Eden/1542378/

He was living on a separate farm – plot  22 – which was just over 13 acres.

Your post suggests Andrew may have owned or worked in a flax mill. Given that the Andrew I have found was a farmer, it’s more likely he grew flax (most farmers in Ulster grew some flax) which would then have been processed by his farm labourers (a back breaking job) before being turned into linen. (Originally on hand looms in the labourers cottages but later in mechanized mills).

Normally I'd suggest you search Tamlaght O'Crilly Church of Ireland baptism records for Sarah & Matilda's baptisms but unfortunately  they were destroyed in the 1922 fire in Dublin.

Hello Elwyn 

Thank you SO much for this research , I had tried to do some myself but kept hitting the proverbial" brick wall "!

The family would have been protestant , so Church of Ireland sounds about right.

There was some information that suggested that Andrew Mulholland may have had a farm/ mill in Antrim but I have been unable to substantiate this.It is more likely that he stayed on the farm that was passed onto his son. there has been a clue that Martha / Matilda was 'Matilda Margaret' - likely as her daughter was Margaret too . Am following up on that.

I will follow up on the links you so kindly shared.

Kind regards 

 Sarah 

Hello Again Elwyn

Will you believe it I have the right Andrew Mulholland & have also found family not too far away here in Australia- so thank you for all your help.I managed to trace many of Andrew& Matilda's children and yes my Sarah (not sure about Ellen yet) was a daughter.

I dont seem to be able to trace much of Andrew thru PRONI so is it possible to ask whether you are able to trace him further back...I am wondering whether he inherited the farm from his father - John or James Mulholland ???

Kindest regards

Sarah

Brisbane

Sarah,

I found some gravestone transcriptions for you in Tamlaght O’Crilly Church of Ireland graveyard. There are numerous Mulhollands in the graveyard but 3 mention the townland of Eden (nos 62,112 & 114) making them more likely to be related to your family.

http://www.torrens.org.uk/Genealogy/BannValley/church/TamlaghtLCOI/Graveyard.html

I looked at the tithe applotment records for Eden for 1833, which would generally list all farmers. There were up to 11 Mulhollands farming there then: 3 Bernards (could be the same man with 3 bits of land or 3 different Bernards. Can’t say), David, Edward, Henry, James, 2 Johns, William and 1 with no name. Andrew would have been about 22 at that point so probably still on his father’s farm.

The transfer of ownership of farms wasn’t something that was routinely recorded and so finding out whether Andrew inherited from his father can be difficult. (Tradition was for the farm to go to the eldest son, but obviously that didn’t always happen).

I searched the indexes to pre 1858 wills but did not find one for this family. The 1740 Protestant census listed 4 Mulhollands in the parish (all Church of Ireland) but does not say what townland they lived in: Arthur, 2 James & Patrick.

Your Mulholland’s landlord was the Earl of Strafford. Some Strafford estate papers are in PRONI but they are not on-line. So you would need to get a researcher to go and look them up. I see from the e-catalogue that one holding is D1062/1/2 which are the rent ledgers and which are noted as referring to leases of 1733. That might be worth looking at.

You could also get a researcher to search the Registry of Deeds records in PRONI to see if any Mulholland leases are recorded there. In the 1700s you sometimes got 3 lives leases (ie a lease which lasted whilst all 3 people named in it were still alive). Those leases often explain how the 3 people are related (assuming they are related).

Thank you so much Elwyn .

Sarah

Hello Again ...

We have located 2 headstone in Tamlaght O'Crilly that are relavant.

The headstone that I would like to ask you about has as it header :

The Burying Ground of Beresford Mulhollands

a space  then

Richard(son )Mulholland

Henry

Maria

Bernard

Mary

The problem  I have is interpretation ... there does not appear to be a "Beresford Mulholland"  buried here and the name pops up 2 generations later as a grandson of Richard(son) 's....so I am wondering.... whether Beresford on the headstone refers to a maiden name of a woman who married a Mulholland ie Beresford - Mulholland . Was this a common practice back in 1822??

I know there were Beresfords around this area who owned land - is there anyway for you to find a Beresford marrying a Mulholland back in 1700's ???

Kindest regards ,

 Sarah

My guess is that with so many different Mulhollands in the parish, families differentiated between each other with additional names.  So the Beresford Mulhollands were a different strain to some of the others. Nicknames and additional names alike that are very common in towns and areas where the same surnames are common. So in Wales they have Jones the baker, as distinct from Jones the butcher and so on. So I’d guess that somewhere in the past a Beresford did marry a Mulholland. But if it was in the 1700s you are most unlikely to trace it. (There are no church records for that parish for the 1700s. Few marriages would have been in the papers in the 1700s and there’s unlikely to be any other reference to it).

Hi Sarah,  I am descended from the Mulhollands from Derry.

My grandmother was Annie Jane Mulholland daughter of Robert

"Robert Mulholland born abt 1834 (son of Henry and Maria York) and wife Nancy (Anderson from Curragh)were married in Tamlaght O'Crilley 1854. They came out to Australia on the Europa in 1855. Children born were Anne Jane, James Henry, Maria, Elizabeth, Samuel, Varnor, Beresford,Mary Elizabeth and Robert William. Robert had a younger brother Beresford who went to New Zealand. ? sister Elizabeth."

Not sure whwere I found the above.  It was early days in my research.

If you look up Trove you can see the death of Samuel Mulholland in 4 Feb 1943.

Beresford crops up again.

I don't know much about the Mulhollands as my grandmother's mother died early and she and her sister were sent to live with relatives I think in Geelong.  But they certainly came from Naranderra.  My father always said that.

I forgot to mention that that Robert was protestant if that helps.

I forgot to mention that that Robert was protestant if that helps.

I forgot to mention that that Robert was protestant if that helps.