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Chapter 1 - Our Ancestors Homeland
County Sligo County Sligo is one of the most beautiful and often praised counties in Ireland. Indeed, this same landscape provided the inspiration for much of the poetry of William Butler Yeats, who won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1923, while his brother, Jack himself a world renowned painter, captured the beauty of Sligo on canvas. This County, located on the North West coast of Ireland, was also once the homeplace of your ancestors. The following is an outline of the many sights and places of interest to be enjoyed in this enchanting corner of Ireland. The Landscape Sligo is world renowned for its breath-taking mountain views, wealth of secluded lakes and abundance of unpolluted coastal beaches.
Mountains In the West of the County, the Ox mountains form a background to the coastal plain, while North of Sligo town the landscape is dominated by steep sided and flat topped limestone hills. The loaf shaped Benbulben is the most famous and beneath its shadows lies Drumcliffe, the burial place of W.B.Yeats. A few miles west of Sligo town is the hill of Knocknarea. The mound of stones on top of this elevation is reputed to be the burial place of the legendary Queen Maedbh. Lakes Lough Gill is surrounded by wooded hills: Glencar has in the shadows of the Dartry Mountains and has a 15m waterfall close to the lake shore. In the south and east of the County Loughs Arrow, Gara, and Talt rival one another for their beautiful and peaceful surroundings.
Chapter 2 - Our Ancestors Homeland The landlords were getting no rent from their starving tenants, and so evictions became an everyday occurrence. Also, huge price rises for even the most basic foodstuffs put them beyond the means of ordinary folk. For the large numbers of dispossessed and starving peasants there were but two alternatives, to enter the 'workhouse' or to emigrate. Emigration Before the 1820's, the majority of those emigrating did so of their own choice. They were generally classed as the moderately well to do who sought to better their lot in either the United States or Canada. Thereafter, emigration was no longer voluntary, it was a necessity for those wishing to flee from hunger, distress and misery so widespread in 19th century Ireland. Most of those leaving were young and unskilled with no other choice but to seek their fortune on a foreign shore. North America was the choice for the vast majority, but a few favoured far off Australia. Some made their way to Britain where, after a working for a time, they earned enough to pay their passage to America. In post Famine years many emigrants had their fares paid for by relatives already settled abroad.
Most of the Irish emigrants of that time had never left their homeplace and may never have seen a town or even the sea. As they started off walking towards the nearest port, they were venturing into the fearful unknown, most unaware of the unimaginable hardship that lay ahead of them. The role of Sligo Port Sligo was one of the principal emigration ports on the Western seaboard. Between the 1750's and 1850's it was the focal point for emigrants from the North-west and served as an outlet for the neighbouring counties in both Connacht and Ulster. In the heyday of mass emigration as many as six emigration ships sailed on the one tide. Between 1831 and 1851 an estimated 60,000 sailed from the port directly to America. During the 1830's emigration from Sligo was the highest for any Irish port outside of Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Derry. Its emigrant trade was double that of Limerick and four times that of Galway and Westport combined. Apart from Limerick, it was the only western port to which an emigration officer was appointed in 1835.
Chapter 3 - Your Ancestors Parish Parishes are of two kinds, civil and ecclesiastical. The civil parish, as the name suggests, is a state unit of territorial division for census and valuation purposes. The ecclesiastical parish is the normal unit of local church administration and generally embraces a number of civil parishes. Now that we know a little about the various topographical divisions encountered in Ireland we can proceed in uncovering some information on the Parish of Easky in Sligo where your ancestors resided. The Parish of Easky Easky gets its name from the river Iascach, which rises in Lough Easky and flows through several parishes, before falling into the sea to the north of Easky village. The parish has a long stretch of seaboard, along which several ruined fortresses are dotted. The bays of Killalla and Sligo are easily accessible from this area. The mouth of the river is an excellent spot for salmon fishing, but it is currently privately owned.
Easky in 1837 The following is an extract from Samuel Lewis's " Topographical Dictionary of Ireland " (1837). "EASKEY, a parish, in the barony of Tireragh, 11 miles (N.N.E.) from Ballina, on the road to Sligo; containing 6,124 inhabitants, of which number, 289 are in the village. This parish is situated on the north-west coast, between the entrances to the bays of Sligo and Kiliala; it includes the Point of Kinesharrow, called also Rathlee Point, and comprises 12,977 statute acres, principally under an improving system of tillage; there is a large quantity of bog. Limestone, which abounds with fossils, is found on the sea shore: much sea-weed is collected for manure. The village consists of one long street of 76 houses, and has petty sessions once a fortnight, a market on Wednesday for provisions, fairs on June 3rd and Nov. 18th, and is a chief constabulary police station; fairs are also held at Rosslee in July, and on Oct. 28th. Here is also a place of worship for Baptists. About 600 children are educated in five public schools; and at Killeenduff is a school supported by Col. Irwin, who built the school house, and endowed it with three acres of land. In the village are the ruins of the old parish church; and there are considerable remains of the old castle of Rosslee, formerly belonging to the O'Dowds, and, on the opposite side of the river, the remains of another, on the lands of Castletown. There are several Danish forts, and on the lands of Tawnanamaddoo is a seven feet high cromlech." The Split Rock In this Parish, there are a number of "erratics", one of which is known as the "Split Rock". It is located on the left hand side of the road when approaching the village of Easkey from the direction of Sligo. It is quite a large rock having been divided into two parts by some force or other, most likely during the Ice Age.
Legend, that tells us that the rock will close on any person who dares to walk through its cleft three times!!
Chapter 4 - Your Ancestors Lineage The Dyer Family of Easky Parish in County Sligo, Ireland The most common spelling of your family name occuring in our records was Dyer. We have taken this to be the correct spelling. It should be noted however that the name is spelt as Dwyer in the 1901 Census and in the marriage record of John Dwyer and Mary Gormley. Mac Dyer, -Dyer MacDuibhir: The Family Coat of Arms is displayed on th preceding page and depicts alion rampant gules between three ermine spots. Although the name is now mainly associated with Glenties in Donegal, it is also found, without the prefix Mac, in the northern parts of Connnacht, particularly in the counties of Sligo and Roscommon. The first reference to the name encountered by the renowned authority on Irish names, Edward MacLysaght, is the mention of three Mac Dyers who obtained pardons in County Sligo in 1593. He also thinks it is cognate with the well known Donegal name Devir, which usually, but not always, occurs as an O name. MacDuibhir, the gaelic Irish form given by Woulfe ( who offers no further information on the name) may be accepted as correct. The name Dyer is a standard name on our database and there are over 356 records of people sharing that surname. It was not one of the 25 most popular surnames in Sligo at the time the records held on our database were collected. Now, we will explain the research we carried out in our efforts to find out more about your family, by outlining the various genealogical sources we searched and at the end of each section, detailing our findings. At this stage we recap on the details you originally provided us with. The applicant's father, John Dyer was born
on the
26th October 1886 and died in 1937 in New York. Parents: John Dyer and Mary Gormley Siblings: Michael, Margaret and Bessie The baptismal registers for the Catholic parish of Sligo, lists eight children to this couple, of which your Grandfather John was the youngest. Listed below are your Grand Uncles and Grand Aunts:
Marriage Registers A marriage entry will indicate the date of the wedding together with the names of the contracting parties and witnesses. The church records of marriages for the parish of Easky commence in 1822. Marriages took place in the bride's Parish as they still do traditionally. These registers were checked for the union of your Grandparents - John Dyer and Mary Gormley. One such record was found, this was in the Catholic parish of Emlafad & Kilmorgan. The entry date is 15 April 1875. The details are as follows:
As the above mentioned union stated both the bride and groom's parent's names, we were then in a position to search back a further generation - for the marriage of your Great Grandparents John Dyer's & Mary Hargadon and baptismal records of their children (mainly your grandfather John Dyer) and Michael Gormley's & Winifred Drury's marriage and any children born to this couple (mainly your grandmother Mary Gormley). The union of your Great Grandparents - John Dyer and Mary Hargadon was found in the Catholic parish of Easkey on 13 December 1836. Unfortunately, the information noted was very scant, with just the bride's and groom's names, the date of their marriage and the witnesses - Patrick Oats and Honoria Hargadon, noted. The marriage record of your other Great Grandparents
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Michael Gormley and Winifred Drury was found in the catholic parish of Emlafad & Kilmorgan on 6 February 1848. Again the details are very sparce with just the Bride's and Groom's names, together with the date of their marriage and witnesses - John Gormley and Anna Waters noted. Although the marriage registers for this parish starts in 1824, the baptismal registers did not begin until 1856.Thus, only one child was found in the baptismal records with parents names Michael Gormley and Winifred Drury. This child was named Patrick and he was baptised 15 March 1869. It is possible that he is your Grandmother's (Mary Gormley) brother. |
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