Charles Bowman family, Killinchy

I believe 'Ballyministra' is a reference to the townland of Ballyministragh, which is in Kilmood civil parish, which is to the north of Killinchy civil parish. This location fits with the death of Charles which is in Kilmood sub registration district. See the townland on the 1st Ed. OSI map - c1840  and on PlaceNamesNI.org which also includes a list of some of the various spelling variations

Many thanks! I swear, I will never get placenames/civil parishes straightened out .... the link to the map also shows 'Castlereagh', a location that shows up in other references.

This helps immensely, expands the possibilities of where the family lived beyond the original road - thanks again, Debbie

Charles in the 1901 census in Ballyminstragh. 

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Kilwood/Ballymins…

I should be able to work out where that house is/was. Let me know if you wnat me to do that.

oh gosh yes ....  I'll be there in August, and plan on spending a couple of days in the Killinchy area, so pinpointing the exact location of the house would be wonderful .. thank you so much!

Ballyministragh is a townland. A townland is an Irish administrative unit. Ballyministragh consists of 784 acres of mainly agricultural land. (There isn’t a town in the townland).

I had a look at the revaluation records for Ballyministragh around 1901. There’s no sign of Charles Bowman being listed. That could be because he didn’t live there very long or possibly because his house was of too low a value to be listed.

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/searching-valuation-revision-books

Looking at the 1901 census, I can see that his house was single story, with 2 to 4 rooms and 2 windows at the front. So a typical labourers cottage. His landlord was Mary Jane Minnnis. She is listed in the revaluation records. Her farm was plot number 8 (a 24 acre farm). So it appears that the Bowmans had a small cottage on her farm. The Minnis property today is up a dead end lane off the east of the Killinchy Rd.  It overlooked a small lough, though whether the lough is still there isn’t clear from the modern map.  The lane turns off the Killinchy Rd just south of Rose Cottage.

You can see where it is using the maps on Griffiths Valuation.

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

The Bowmans cottage is probably long gone (most fell into disuse as the need for labourers diminished) but the Minnis farm may still be there.

Ignore the house number in the 1901 census. Houses in rural Ireland didn’t have any numbers in the early 1900s (and in some areas they still don’t). The townland name was sufficient to identify you or get a letter delivered. So when the census enumerators arrived they made up their own private numbering system (which varied from census to census) but which has no relevance to Griffiths or any modern house numbers (which were generally allocated in the 1960s).

You asked about Old Meeting House Green. I don’t know the location but a Meeting House is the term used by Presbyterians to describe their church. And a green is obviously a grassy area often used for public purposes. So it’s somewhere near an old Presbyterian church. There’s a Presbyterian church in Ballyministragh, plus a Non Subscribing Presbyterian church (often known as Unitarian). So I suggest you scour the local area for old Presbyterian churches and see what you can find.

As to the origins of the name, I can’t say with absolute certainty but it is name commonly found in Scotland (there’s around 2000 of them in the 1901 Scottish census), they were Presbyterian and they lived in Co Down, which was very heavily settled by Scots in the 1600s. Presbyterianism was established in Scotland by John Knox in the 1500s and brought to Ireland by the Scots settlers. Looking at all these factors togeter, my money would therefore be on Scottish ancestry. (Well over a half the population of Co Down are of Scottish descent. It would be the most common origins for that county). 

Elwyn, thank you so much for the information you have provided! I will look at the maps for the area, and see if I can pinpoint the location of the Minnis farm, and you have narrowed down considerably where I can look for the family gravesite.

Until very recently I thought I'd run into a dead end, but thanks for irishgeneaology website (scans of original records), and the wonderful response to messages on this website, it looks as though I will be able to find and visit specific locations. Thanks again to you, and to shanew! Cheers, Debbie

Elwyn sorry to bug you about this - but I'm not able to map the Minnis property on a modern map (google maps). I tried to find Rose Cottage as a point of reference and there are a few, but none in the area. I wasn't able to find Mary Jane Minnis on the valuation map - several other first names but not hers. Debbie
 

Debbie,

Go to the Griffiths site and search under Ballyministragh & Co Down, using the placenames option. Click on the map icon at the end of the line of information. That will give you a map of the area in the mid 1800s.

You then need to increase the size using the plus buttons. That will bring the townland up on the screen. If you focus on the townland you should see Rose Cottage on the side of a significant road running roughly north west/southeast through the townland. Off to the right of that road you should see plot 8, plus plot 9 (Ballymartin lough). Plot 8 is the Minnis property.

There’s a slider bar on the top rh side of the screen. You can use that to switch from the 1800s map to a modern map. That shows you that what was the Minnis farm is up a lane near James H Fitchie’s business.

I had a look at the property today on Google Earth and I can see that the Minnis farmhouse has disappeared, along with the labourers cottages that accompanied it, one of which your family would have occupied. I can just make out the outline of where the main farmhouse stood stood at the west end of the large corn field on Google Earth.  (There are a couple of vehicles in the field collecting corn).

It looks to me as though the farm marked as plot 5 on Griffiths has now acquired the Minnis land. If visiting, you would need to speak to them to get permission to walk up to the area where your ancestors lived, which looks to be just grass now. No proper road or lane up to the site today. The site overlooks Ballymartin Lough and so that ought to make it reasonably easy to locate.

Mary Jane Minnis is shown in the revaluation records (as well as in the census). She inherited the property from Alec Minnis in 1900. Ownership transferred to Joseph Tate in 1926. (Though it appears to have been demolished today).

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni

Found it! thank you, you gave excellent instructions - and yes I will definitely get permission before traipsing anywhere. I also found one church and burying ground right by the post office that appears on modern map, so fingers crossed that it might be the family gravesite. Thanks again - Debbie

An update - I e-mailed the folks at Killinchy Church on Craigalusky Road, and got confirmation that the cemetery there is indeed the 'old meeting house green'. Again, many thanks to shanew147 and elwyn for responding to my questions, looking up information that I wouldn't have thought of, and pointing me to the right area. I don't know if there's a headstone for Charles and Jane Bowman (my great-great grandparents), but I very much appreciate the efforts to help me finding the spot....Cheers, Debbie