JohnBowlesToWilliamBowles

The Earliest References for John Bowles of Ballickmoyler, Queens county

and the case for his connection to

William Bowles of Wingfield, co. Wexford

See The Bowles of Ballickmoyler and William Bowles of Wingfield for the full background of these two family members.

The latter page documents how John and William both leased property in Ballickmoyler, Queen's county from William Cooper and that both properties lay along the High Road leading from Ballickmoyler to the town of Carlow. While their relationship is not yet known, this page is to present my case that this was not just a coincidence and that indeed there are enough connections to constitute adequate proof that the two Bowles were directly related in some way. This is important to my family's history as the origin of William Bowles of Wingfield is known and therefore so is my ancestor John Bowles'.

What we know about John and William Bowles

John Bowles first appears in this area in 1726 when John Bowles of Carlow, shoemaker, leased a home, shop and small garden on Tullow Street in Carlow for the term of three 'lives' which was a standard lease term which allowed for a land holding to be passed from one generation to the next. In this case they included his son John, aged 5. The wording implies that John Bowles Sr. already occupied the property, probably as a renter, and was now purchasing a lease on it. (see deed memorial 51/300/33778 in (Carlow Deed Memorials).

We next find John Bowles Jr. well before 1750 at Ballickmoyler, Queen's county, about 5 miles NW of Carlow town. Deed memorial 262/115/168056 (see Ballickmoyler Deed Memorials) is for a lease signed by John Bowles of Ballickmoyler in 1750 and filed in 1767, on land in Ballickmoyler formerly in the occupation of his mother, Mary, for the term of the lives of John Bowles, his wife Anne and their oldest son Michael. From the wording in the lease it replaced an earlier lease which only had one 'life' left on it, that of John's mother Mary, indicating that John's father had recently died. The new lease was signed in 1750 to put the land in John's name after his father's passing but it didn't get filed right away as the old lease was still valid during his mother's lifetime but it was filed in 1767 after his mother's death.

The land they were leasing was owned by the Cooper family who lived at Coopers Hill Demesne just East of Ballickmoyler. See The Bowles of Ballickmoyler and The Coopers of Cooper Hill Demesne.

In 1793 a William Bowles of Wingfield, co. Wexford signed a lease with William Cooper for land in Ballickmoyler “six acres with two dwellings bounded on the north by Samuel Carrolls land, on the south by Edward Kinselaghs land, on the west by William Coopers land and bounded on the East by the High Road leading from Ballickmoyler to the Town of Carlow in as large and beneficial manner as said William Bowles now holds” “during the natural lives of the said William Bowles eldest son of said William Bowles party hereto and Daniel Murray etc.” Both John and William's holdings bordered William Cooper’s land and both were on the road out of Ballickmoyler leading to Carlow. Their memorials along with several of their neighbour's land descriptions and the lot placement, houses and acreages given in the Griffith's Survey have enabled me to locate both holdings as shown on this 1850's map.

On Feb. 16, 1813 this same plot of land in Ballickmoyler (six acres with two dwellings and bounded by Carroll’s land, Cooper’s land, {illegible name's} land and by the High Road leading to Carlow) was deeded by William Bowles of Ballickmoyler, farmer, to John Graham and his wife Lucy Graham, beloved daughter of William Bowles.

It’s safe to assume that either William Bowles of Wingfield or more likely his son William Bowles had a daughter Lucy. Also, William Bowles of Wingfield and family stayed in the Ballickmoyler area from at least 1793 although possibly earlier and until 1813. They did not just buy there from far away as an investment.

John Bowles (1.1.4 in the Bowles of Ballickmoyler Tree), his wife Ann and their family had moved from Ballickmoyler to Dunleckney, co. Carlow in about 1803. John's brother Joseph (1.1.6 in the tree) moved to open a shoemaker shop in Carlow town about then. Their brother Michael remained in Ballickmoyler until 1842.

My ancestor Michael Bowles (born ~ 1742) and his brothers John (b. ~ 1743) and Joseph (b. 1747) (all sons of John Bowles) were on the committee which built the Castletown Killabban church near Ballickmoyler in 1801 to replace the local chapel which had been burned in the 1798 rebellion. John Bowles Sr. had died shortly before that.

The list of the 20 pews in the Castletown church in 1811 has just one assigned to Bowles. Michael Bowles and William Bowles of Wingfield’s line would have both lived in Ballickmoyler at that time and there were no other C of I churches nearer than Carlow. Supposedly they shared one pew.

A Lucy Bowles of Ballickmoyler, age 78, was buried at that church in 1828. So she was born about 1750. Obviously this is not Lucy Graham but perhaps both William’s daughter Lucy and Robert’s daughter Lucy were named after this one.

A William Bowles of Ballickmoyler, age 72, was buried at that church in 1831. So that William Bowles was born about 1759. Likely William Bowles of Wingfield Jr.

An Ann Bowles of Ballickmoyler, age 70, was buried there in 1817. Born about 1747.

An Elizabeth, age 90, buried there 1846 so born 1756.

It seems quite likely to me that John Bowles and the William Bowles, farmers who were there in 1770, had all of those children: Michael, John, Ann, Joseph, Lucy, Elizabeth and William between 1742 and 1759. Of course I don’t know that all the Bowles buried at Castletown were the same family but it is likely.

So the coincidences of their land ownership in Ballickmoyler, their connection to Coopers, their church attendance and the uncommon given name Lucy in both families, would seem to make William of Wingfield and John of Ballickmoyler quite likely related.

Of course if the above has some degree of likelihood then if we also accept that William Bowles of Wingfield is certain to be Phineas Bowles' nephew then John Bowles of Ballickmoyler also connects to that line somehow. It would seem unlikely for a perukemaker turned shoemaker to be related to that very wealthy line, other than for that son John who was disinherited and told to learn a trade.