McGonigle and Allied Families

of County Donegal

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1766 Religious Census

I could not find this census online or listed in any book for County Donegal, but I am still looking.  This census would help bridge the information between the census documents found above and with the census substitutes of the early to mid nineteenth century.  Unfortunately, most of this information has been lost with time and only fragments remain; however, it is possible an index still exists for the baronies of Banagh and Boylagh.  I will include this information in this section when found.  In nearby Londonderry I found variations for the McGonigle surname such as McGonagle, McGonnigle and McGonigill.

This census was taken to determine the religious makeup of the Irish population.  In its original state it would have shown the head of household, religious affiliation and number of people in the residence.  In 1766, Church of Ireland clergyman were instructed by the government to compile lists of householders in their respective parishes, indicating in each case the religion of the householder. Catholics were identified as ‘Papists’.

The 1796 Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlements List

I included this census substitute although much of Donegal is not suitable for growing flax or sustaining a linen industry.  Notice the spelling variations for the surname ‘McGonigle’.  To encourage the linen industry, Parliament allotted a certain number of looms for each household in flax growing areas.  Some areas of Ireland, such as County Monaghan where the Smiths lived, showed a majority of households engaged in this industry.  In Donegal this was the not the case.

McGonagle, John  -      Kilbarron

McGonagle, John  -      Killaghtee

McGonagle, William  - Drumhome

McGonegal, Bryan  -     Rye

McGonnagle, John  -     Clonleigh

Murrin, Mary  -            Fahan Upper

Murrin, Robert  -          Fahan Upper

McCloskey, Charles  -   Clondavaddog

McCloskey, James  -     Clonleigh

McCloskey, Widow ?  - Clonleigh

McClosky, Denis  -        Clondavaddog

Timoney, Patrick  -       Drumhome 

1846 Slater's Directory

This was a business directory for portions of County Donegal, and the following names appeared in the Directory.

McGonigle, James, Apothecaries & Druggists, Main St, Ballyshannon

McCloskey, James, Apothecaries & Druggists, Main St, Ballyshannon

McCloskey, Elizabeth, Milliners & Dress Makers, Port, Ballyshanon

McClosky, John, Mr. Gentry & Clergy, Whitehouse, Killybegs & Dunkineely

Murrin, James, Draper, Killybegs, Killybegs & Dunkineely

The following are the places of worship in Killybegs according the 1846 Slater’s Directory:

Killybegs and Dunkineely

Parish Church, Killybegs - Rev William Lodge, rector

Parish Church, Dunkineely - Rev Joseph Welch, rector

Roman Catholic Chapel, Killybegs - Rev William Drummond, parish priest; Rev John O'Donnell, curate

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Dunkineely - ministers various

Tithe Applotment - 1834

The Composition Act of 1823 specified that tithes due to the Established Church, the Church of Ireland, which before had been payable in kind, should now be paid in money.

As a result, it was necessary to carry out a valuation of the entire country, civil parish by civil parish, to determine how much would be payable by each landholder. This was done over the ensuing 15 years, up to the abolition of tithes in 1838.

Not surprisingly, tithes were fiercely resented by those who were not members of the Church of Ireland, and all the more because the tax was not payable on all land; the exemptions produced spectacular inequalities. In Munster, for instance, tithes were payable on potato patches, but not on grassland, with the result that the poorest had to pay most. The exemptions also mean that the Tithe Books are not comprehensive. Apart from the fact that they omit entirely anyone not in occupation of land, certain categories of land, varying from area to area, are simply passed over in silence. Although not a full list of householders they nonetheless do constitute the only country-wide survey for the period, and are valuable precisely because the heaviest burden of tithes fell on the poorest, for whom few other records survive. 

In Munster (southern Ireland) many poor Irish simply failed to pay the tithe and their names were added to another list, Tithe Defaulters List.  In the north, most non-Anglican residents simply paid the tithe and grumbled in silence.  In Tipperary, for example, there were 9,346 names listed on the Tithe Defaulters List, but very few names appeared on this list in Northern Ireland.

The following lists the McCloskey, McGonigle and Murrin individuals whose names appeared on the Tithe Applotment Record for Upper and Lower Killybegs.

Tithe Applotment Record for Upper and Lower Killybegs

McCloskey     Mary, Croghlin Mor
McClosky       Anth.,             Killybeggs
McClosky       Anth.,             Tyreown
McClosky       Archb.,           Rushin
McClosky       Charles,         Faifannan
McClosky       Charles,         Meenakullilan
McClosky       James,            Killybeggs
McClosky       James,            Killybeggs
McClosky       James,            Killybeggs
McClosky       James,            Killybeggs
McClosky       John,              Carricknabohil
McClosky       John,              Carricknafews
McClosky       John,              Faifannan
McClosky       John,              Killybeggs
McClosky       John,              Killybeggs
McClosky       John,              Killybeggs
McClosky       Kenny,           Tyreown
McClosky       Patt.,               Tawna Sligo
McClosky       Patt.,               Tyreown
McClosky       John,              Killybeggs 

McGonigle    Daniel,           Rushin
McGonigle    Farigle,          Knockahenny
McGonigle    Francis,          Gortnamuck 

Murren,         Bryan,            Grany
Murren,         Patt.,               Croghlin Mor
Murrin,          Bryan,            Ceonchoe
Murrin,          Bryan,            Drumnanooe, Roscocraw & Griggog
Murrin,          James,            Drumanooe, Carragh & ?
Murrin,          James,            Drumnanooe, Roscocraw & Griggog
Murrin,          James,            Killybeggs
Murrin,          Patt.,               Killybeggs
Murrin,          Thomas,        Drumanooe, Carragh & ?
Murrin,          Thomas,        Killybeggs 

No Timoney surnames are found or listed in this survey for Killybegs Upper or Killybegs Lower. 

Townlands of Upper and Lower Killybegs:

(I copied this from a website which described these Irish administrative units.)

Civil Parishes: The Civil Parish was the original unit of administration of the medieval church in Ireland and was used right up to the end of the nineteenth century for local and central  government.  Because of this, Civil Parishes are extremely important for Irish genealogy, providing, in many cases, the only means of connecting a placename to the Roman Catholic records which cover it.

Townland: Since at least the medieval period, every county and parish has been divided into small land units known generally as townlands .  These units were formerly called by a variety of local and regional names, such as "balliboes" in parts of Ulster, "tates" in Fermanagh and Monaghan, and "ploughlands" in some southern counties.  Despite frequent enlargement and division, the basic townland pattern has survived to the present day.    Varying in size from a few acres to several thousand in area, townlands average 1.3km², large enough to contain a number of farms whose owners were kin and traditionally co-operated in various ways.  Townland boundaries are often marked by streams or deep ditches, banks and old hedges.  Numbering more than 65,000 in the 1851 Townlands Index for all Ireland, the townlands no longer have significance as units of social and agrarian life, but in a country of dispersed rural settlement where farms lack individual names, the ancient units still have use for conveying topographical information and for postal addresses.  Townlands are characteristically larger and elongated in elevated areas but dense on the lowlands, and their orientation tends to reflect the local variations in land contour.  The townland was and is the smallest officially recognised geographical unit  in rural Ireland.

Baronies: Up to the end of the nineteenth century, counties were subdivided into baronies, although they were not much used for administrative purposes and thus figure little in the  records relevant to genealogical research.  There were about 325 baronies in the whole of Ireland, with eight covering County Donegal. 

Poor Law Unions: These were the catchment areas of the workhouses set up from the 1830s on to try to deal with the most destitute.  They became the bases of the registration districts used for state records of births, marriages and deaths.  The PLUs of Donegal bear only a rough relation to the county's civil parishes, so it has been necessary to indicate each individual townland's PLU on its associated parish page. 

The following chart shows the Townlands found in Killybegs, Killybegs Lower and Killybegs Upper. 

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