John Kane No. 36 in 1831 "Census"

The maps below show the exact location of the White/O'Kane house in 1831 and 1859. The house lies on the lower side of the Keady Road and the 1831 site and the 1859 site are both the same. The question is who, exactly, was the John O'Kane who was occupying the 12Aa house in 1859. At first I thought that maybe this John O'Kane could have come from any one of the townlands surrounding the upper part of Gorteade. There are plenty of marriages involving persons from these townlands, particularly Keady and Upperland. Because Kane/O'Kane was a fairly common surname in this locality during the nineteenth century, it would be difficult to identify any newcomer to this particular farm.

This house was occupied by a George White in the 1831 "Census" - House No. 17. The house was either built or rebuilt in 1789 - a plaque "To Me John White 1789" was above his door. The John White who put up this plaque was probably the father of the 1831 George White. There were Whites living in nearby townlands in 1831 - Tirgarvil, Tirnageeragh and Drummuck - see map. The name White also appears in the 1740 Protestant Householders' Returns. There are two White families listed in what I think was Tirnageeragh at that time. Notice the next townland is Gorteade and few, if any, of the 1831 family names are present in the townland at that time. George White and his family had gone from the townland by 1859. I have no hard evidence that would explain when the exodus happened and why it happened. Note that the statistics for this family are 1 male and 4 females. In other words it looks as if there were no sons to inherit the farm. Could this be the main reason? Did the daughters marry farmers who lived in the adjoining townlands or further afield? Did the family or some members of the family emigrate to America? It is difficult to find answers to these questions.

 
Exact locations of the Houses of John Kane & George White c.1830
1859 Valuation Map - a John Kane in 12A but John Kane of 1831 has gone.
 

 

Given where John Kane of 1831 was listed in the 1831 "Census", I am certain that he lived in the house I have indicated on the c.1830 map. The "Census" shows that the house contained a family of one male and one female, plus one female servant. I cannot be absolutely sure that the family female was his wife. This is always the problem with the interpretation of statistical data in the 1831 " Census". I am inclined to think that the female was his wife. Could the John of 1859 be John of 1831? I searched for the death certificate for such a John - the details of the search can be seen in the table below. The most important information in this death certificate is that this John O'Kane died in 1882 and was born in 1798. He was clearly a contemporary of Neal Kane [son of Patrick Kane] - they were probably born round about the same time. I am guessing that this John of 1831 was the son of the James [listed as Jas.] in the 1828 Tithe Book [Entry No. 848]. This entry consisted of a group of Kane tenants - Neal, Pat & Jas. Kane. I admit that much of this evidence is circumstantial and I could be completely wrong. When searching for the death of John Kane I came across the marriage of his son who is mentioned in John Sen.'s will.
 


Below is a photo of the new twentieth-century house on the exact site of the earlier house. The present day owner is the Great, Great Grandson of Archibald O'Kane [1790-1878]. A new plaque is above the front door of this house, indicating that this house was rebuilt in 1999 by the O'Cahan family. This supersedes the George White's 1789 plaque by 210 years.

Copyright 2018 W. Macafee.