Notes on the Kane Family [Nos. 12Aa, 12B & 12C] in the Townland of Gorteade

Initially I thought that, like Hugh Lafferty of No. 6, the John O'Kane listed in the 1859 Griffith's and in the 1901 and 1911 Census was the same person. According to the 1901 Census John was aged 62 and in 1911 Census ghe was aged 77. This meant that he was probably born around 1834/1839. The 1911 Census also indicated that he had been married for 41 years and had 8 children, 6 of whom were still living. John O'Kane had married when he was about 34 years of age. This was normal practice for many farmers during this period. I was able to get details of his marriage from GRONI website and these are shown below.

When Married Where Married Name & Surname Age Condition Rank or Profession Residence at Time of Marriage Names of Fathers Rank or Profession of Fathers Names of Witnesses
27th February 1870 Roman Catholic Chapel of Maghera. John O'Kane Full Age Bachelor Farmer Gortade John O'Kane Farmer Dominick Convery x his mark.
Mary Ann O'Hara Full Age Spinster Farmer Upperland HJames O'Hara Farmer Jane Dimond x her mark.

I then turned to looking at the end of his life. The Valuation Revision books indicated that his son Henry took over the farm in 1921. Below are the results of a search at GRONI website. Note that , like Hugh Laffery, it is difficult to work out the actual date of birth and consequently the age of John at his marriage in 1870. The evidence below suggests that he was 21 when he married not 34 as suggested above.

Date & Place of Death Name & Surname Sex Condition Age last Birthday Rank, Occupation or Profession Certified Cause of Death & Duration of Illness Signature, Qualification & Residence of Informant When Registered Signature of Registrar
30th June 1920, Gorteade. John O'Kane Male Widower 71 years Farmer ?????? Regurgitation. Cardiac failure. Certified. Henry O'Kane [x his mark],son, present at death, Gorteade. 8th July 1920. Wm. McGowan.

I thought that John might have left a will so I did a search of the PRONI Online Wills for a John O'Kane which did not produce a result. I did the same search, this time with the surname Kane, which produced this result. Once I found this will I also did a search of GRONI site for a death certificate of John's father. The details in the death certificate are shown in the table below.

Date & Place of Death Name & Surname Sex Condition Age last Birthday Rank, Occupation or Profession Certified Cause of Death & Duration of Illness Signature, Qualification & Residence of Informant When Registered Signature of Registrar
25th March 1882, Gorteade. John O'Kane Male Married 84 years Farmer Cardine? Dropsy. Two Years. Uncertified. No medical attendant. Sarah O'Kane [x her mark], daughter, present at death, Gorteade. 13th April 1882. Wm. McGowan.

If you have read the will you will see that John O'Kane Jun. managed to produce the cash for the bequests and continued to live on this farm with his family.

John Kane or O'Kane and his father John were tenant farmers holding their house and land from the Mercers' Company. The rent of this property c.1855 was £9.9.0. It then rose to £12.17.0 by 1882. However after that date the rent had dropped to £8.18.6 by 1903 when John Jun. was able to "buy out" the property [11, 12 A, B & C] from the Mercers' Company. The purchase price of the property was £227 repaid by a fixed annuity of £7.7.7 for 65 years. When John died in 1921 the farm passed to his son Henry. By 1954 the farm had been bought by a Daniel O'Kane who was the son of Anthony O'Kane of No. 13. He was often referred to in the Valuation Books as Dan (Anthony) to differentiate him from other Daniel O'Kanes in the locality.. Locally, he was also known as Anthony's Dan.

Click here to see photographs of 12Aa taken in the 1990s. There is also an air photograph taken in the 1980s of No. 14 that includes No. 12Aa.

Copyright 2015 W. Macafee.