Genealogy Chat

I have a baptism record which states a townland in County Mayo.....it looks like it says "Dunatas"......but I cant find this listed in any townlands list.

I have a picture of the record .....could anybody give me a second opinion.

Many thanks
Mark Rowley

Perhaps you could give the details on here and someone could look it up for you?

Hi Beverley

thank you for your message.
I dont know how to attach a picture in here so ive private messaged you the file.

I guess the only Qs I have is what does it say......and if it does say Dunatas, where is it?

Thanks
Mark

Mark
Could yo tell us the child's name and when the baptism took place?
Perhaps we could find a transcription of it somewhere which would pin point the townland.

Hi,
there were 4 sons.......3 born in county mayo, Ireland and the last one born in Grindale. ..The last sons baptism records confirm that the parents John & Catharine are from Dunatas, county mayo.......this is where im confused - there doesnt seem to be any listings of a townland with this name in Mayo..
I will message you the baptism record.
Many thanks
Mark

Hi Mark,
I hadn't realised that you had a baptism from England that stated the name of the townland.
However,I would take a guess that the Rowley family were, at best, semi literate.
The minister who baptised the child will have written down what he heard. and the place name is very possibly lost in translation

I can see the mother on the 1851 census with all 4 sons.

It may be a real shot in the dark but,
Have a look at the 1901 census in Co Mayo for families called Rowley.
Select age 70 or 80 yrs of age ( similar age to parents John and Catherine)
Note that most of them live in the same area.
All are Roman Catholic ??

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie

Hi,
I definitely agree with you about the "lost in translation" theory....
john the father died in 1850 in the Scarborough workhouse. ....the mother remarried a man called Francis Mcguire in 1857......she then dissappears from the census......

ive enquired with Scarborough library about the workhouse records to see if they registered with any birth place details

thank you for your help

if you're looking at the original image ... could 'Dun' possibly be 'Drum'?

old handwritten lower-case 'n' is often misread as 'u' and vice versa ... sometimes these things just look like a string of uuu

so just wondering whether it might be Drumada

Very true. I've just sent you the file for your thoughts

and I just spent 15 minutes messing with firefox when it crashed right after I wrote that and lost all my tabs ... grrr

I've had a quick look but my eyes are done for the day I think and it's way past bedtime ... sure does look like Dunatas :-D

doesn't seem like enough peaks and valleys for Drum... but that may be what it was meant to be by ear.

I agree, it looks like Dunatas.
Best bet would be looking for John and Catherine's marriage in Ireland or the birth of an older child, but a quick glance doesn't throw anything up.

Ive got a funnier solution. .....the registrar asked them where in County Mayo they were from and John replied "do not ask" in his irish accent........registrar wrote what they heard!

LOL at Mark.

I can't think why this info was put onto the baptismal record
The child does appear to have been born in Grindale and is entered as such on the 1851 census

Baptism for John Rowley 13 Jan1850
Under the "abode" column it says:
"Grindale ( or Dunatas, County Mayo, Ireland)"

I can only think it is because the family had only recently arrived in England?

Correct......moved over because of the potato famine in Ireland

Did John Rowley's death record provide a father's name?
Do you know Catherine's maiden name?

What about this?
Your Rowley family had a son called Owen.

Pretty sure that this an Owen Rowley in a Townland called.... Doontice!

Ireland, Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837 about On Rowley
Name: On Rowley
County: Mayo
Parish: Killasser
Townland: Doontice ****
Year: 1834

EDIT: Doontice Applotment books 1834
see page2
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=&firstname=&county=Mayo&townland=Doontice&parish=Killasser&search=Search&sort=&pageSize=&pager.offset=0

good spot -- and the Tithe Applotment Books seem to be the only place it ever existed!

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/pagestab/Mayo/Killasser/

if you click on Doontice there you find three O Rowley entries for 1834 (in Killasser parish) and can see the original images! (actually I think the three are all the same thing)

'Holds by lease from Mr Yaaffe[??] who holds by lease of lives under Colonel Jack....[??]'


when I asked for 'doontice ireland' google asked me whether I meant dentist ... or doolin, or dooneen ... but did find that one result.


edit - you edited to add the link while I was typing :-)

It's 3 separate pieces of land in Doontice, of which Owen Rowley is the tenant.
Consisting of Arable, Mountain Pasture and Red Bog

Edit
Asked my OH the other day about the 3 sections marked "Quantities In Detail"
As a land valuer, he says that it is in old measures.
Acres/Roods/Purches ..... whatever that may be!

but it's just one image, repeated three times :-)

probably really 1 piece of land consisting of three 'quantities' having those three 'qualities'?

only one rent paid for total quantity in holding

Sorry Joonie,
I did it again.... edited whilst you were adding Xxx

GL


acres / roods / perches :-)


old measures


we had to learn them when I was in Junior School, back in the 40s


40 perches = 1 rood

4 roods = 1 acre


perches and roods are still apparently used officially in Jamaica and Sri Lanka!