The Bowles of Oola, co. Limerick
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The Bowles of co. Limerick
The earliest reference I have for a
Bowles in this area is a John Bowles who is listed as a Protestant
Inhabitant of Doon parish in the
1766
Religious census of Tipperary. In that year there were
only 26 Protestant Heads of Households in Doon parish while there
were 330 Catholic families. There are no Bowles or Boles listed in
the Catholic pages.
Under the Parish of Solohead there are several entries with
illegible surnames which have been transcribed as: John ? (Prot.)
and the others Mary ?, widow Anstice ?, widow Catherine ?, Cornelius
?, Edmond ? and Nicholas ? whom are all listed as RC. There
were a few other Protestants: Thomas Bele, Edmond Benton, Robert
Bradshaw Esq. with David, John, Nathaniel and Robert Bradshaw all
listed as Protestants and one Nathaniel Bradshaw listed as RC
In the parish of Grean which lies up against Doon and Solohead
 This
would probably be the John Boles who died in 1802 at age 76 (so he
was born ~ 1726) and is buried in the Oola Cemetery.
ref. The memorial also refers to his son George and
his grandsons James and William. As the stone is in a Catholic
cemetery it's quite likely that it was John, a Protestant, who had
married a Catholic woman and founded this Catholic line of the
Bowles.
The 1826 Tithe
Applotment of Oola parish, Limerick, Tipperary PLU, Coonagh barony
(from Connor’s Genealogy):
This list of land holders appeared in the Limerick Chronicle in September and October 1832http://members.iinet.net.au/~nickred/lists/freelist2.htm
By 1832 there are still the three
Georges from 1826 at Gurtahavane plus a 4th George, simply called
George. If Big George was likely a son of one of the siblings
James, William or George Jr then simply George was likely a son of
another of the siblings. Quite likely Charles is also one of
their sons.
Over at Keelogues, there was still
only John and Laurence.
This map shows the locations of Keelogues and Gurtavahane, both are just north
of the village of Oola.
The Griffith Valuation of 1851 lists the following Bowles in this
area:
Click on either map to see a larger version The house on each lot is marked with a lower case 'a'. For each Bowles listed in Griffiths Valuation, I have circled their Lot #'s and the location of their house. I've also added a little house icon beside each of their house locations. In 1851 a George Bowles is living on Lot 1 of the townland of Keeloges and a John Bowles is living on Lot 2A and also holds another field at Lot 2B. A George Bowles also owns Lot 11 in Moanaviddoge townland. I can't mark the exact location yet as there is no Lot 11 on this map. Griffiths surveyors sometimes renumbered the lots when they surveyed and this map does not show the new numbers. There is no house on Lot 11 though so this George is most likely the George living in either Keelogues or the one living on Lot 3 in Gurtavahane. A Charles Bowles is living on Lot 1 in Gurtavahane and a William Bowles is living on Lot 2B. William also holds Lot 2A on which there is a vacant house. Note: the land area is given in A/R/P which stands for the standard units of Irish land measure: Acres, Rods and Perches. The Valuations are given in £ s p which stand for Pounds Sterling, shillings and pence.
Parish of Oola Townland of Keeloges
Parish of Oola Townland of Moanaviddoge
Parish of Oola Townland of Gortyvahane
The General Shouldham listed as their landholder would have been Major-General (Army of the East India Company) Edmund-William Shuldham, Esq. of Dunmanway, co.Cork (Dec. 1, 1778 – Nov. 17,1852). The Shuldham family, originally from Shouldham Manor, Norfolk, England acquired large landholdings in Ireland. In 1708, Edmond Shuldham of Ardtully, co. Kerry, married Mary Mac Carthy, the heiress of Mac Carthy More, and through that marriage acquired a vast estate in counties Cork and Limerick.
I don't have enough information yet to really develop a family tree for this line but I have gathered together this set of notes: Sorting out the Bowles of Oola Other Bowles references near OolaFrom the Lattin and Cullen Register (Catholic) (just south of Oola) At the 1859 baptism of Margaret, daughter of Dan Condon and Ellen Ryan, the sponsors were George Bowles and Catharine Condon. At the 1872 baptism of Johanna daughter of Ed Hanley and Bridget Maher, the sponsors were John Morrissey and Catharine Bowles.
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