Pre 1850 Smiths
MAD DOG ENGLISH AND CRAZY IRISH
Searching for ancestral records in Ireland is akin to searching for the Holy Grail. The British destroyed many records after 1850 to hide their role in the death and horror of the Great Irish Famine. Later most remaining records, including census records, were transferred to the Public Records Office in Dublin.
The first Irish census was conducted in 1810 and was taken each ten years thereafter. Some Irish Counties conducted their own censuses and these records were also sent to the Public Records Office. Older tracts containing tithe information, military records and County records were also sent to and housed in the same location. Two fires destroyed most of these records. In 1922 during the Irish Civil War the Public Records Office was firebombed. Unfortunately, the only records to survive were the census records taken in 1901.
Because the census records no longer survive, Irish genealogists depend on three source records to search for ancestors: Griffith’s Valuation, Irish Tithe Applotment Records, and the 1796 Irish Flax Growers List. Later you will see references to both the Griffith’s Valuation and 1796 Irish Flax Growers List. (Yes, the Smith and McPhillips families grew flax in Ireland.)
The next statement shows how cheap I am. I did not want to pay someone a lot of money to look at old lists; therefore, I have not seen the Irish Tithe Applotment Records. The Tithe Applotment Records show landowners and those Irish who lived on land not owned by the Church of Ireland. This tithe payment began in 1823 as a result of the Composition Act of 1823 and lasted through the mid-Eighteen Seventies. Tithes were paid to the Church of Ireland, and were required even if you were a member of another church. Catholics resented this as being unfair and many refused to pay the tithe. This forced the British and Church of Ireland authorities to create yet another list. This list included all Catholics who did not pay the tithe and was a source of pride among many of these dissenting Irish. In some Irish Counties this latter list was much greater than the actual Tithe list itself.
All information found here comes from free information found through the internet. You will see reference to other lesser known Irish lists that some genealogists have found useful.
SMITH FAMILY - IN THE BEGINNING
Smith is one of the most common surnames in Ireland and is the most common surname in Ulster. Ulster includes all of what we now know as Northern Ireland including County Monaghan. Smith or MacGowan are the anglicized forms of the Irish ‘Mac an Ghabhainn’, which translates as ‘son of the smith’. For centuries blacksmiths were numerous in the old sod and they made horse shoes, farm tools, arms and other metal objects. The village smith was one of the most important members of medieval society.
There was a ‘Mac an Ghabhainn’ clan located in County Cavan near the border with County Down. County Cavan is located next to and south of County Monaghan where our Smith relations hailed. This sept (or clan) were included in the chroniclers of the O’Rilleys as one of the principal clans, or families, in the kingdom of Breffny. Some members of the ‘Mac an Ghabhainn’ clan in County Down were transplanted to County Cavan during the reign of Queen Elizabeth because they helped the O’Neills.
Eventually the name ‘Mac an Ghabhainn’ changed to MacGowan or O’Gowan. In other cases it was translated into its English form as Smith or Smyth. These names spread beyond their original counties of Cavan/Leitrim into the neighboring counties of Sligo, Donegal and even Monaghan. Originally most Smiths in County Monaghan were known by the surname O’Gowan. Although this fact is true, family lore suggests our original surname was not O’Gowan but MacGowan. The surname MacGowan can be found in early County Monaghan history, especially territory closer to County Cavan.
In the following centuries many of this family chose, or were forced, to anglicize the name to Smith or Smythe. This occurred especially during the time of English oppression of all things Irish, when the Irish could not vote, hold public office, own property, educate their children or worship as they chose. In 1465 an Act of Parliament forced the Irish living within the Pale, the area around Dublin, to take an English surname. The English believed their actions would civilize the wild Irish race. On the borders of Breffny, in County Leitrim, to the northwest in Counties Donegal and Sligo, and to the north in Counties Monaghan, Tyrone and Derry, MacGowan, or McGowan is still used in preference to Smith. One other variation I have found is Magowan, and this variation can be found in 18th century Irish records. The Irish name for County Monaghan is Mhuineacháin.
Look at the Smith family crest. There is a tradition that the MacGowans fought a major battle at night using torches, and this is represented on the family crest. The Smith family motto is ‘tenebras expellit et hostes’, which translates as ‘He expels the darkness and the enemy’. The Smith and MacGowan family crests are very similar. The only difference is that the arm, hand and torch are larger in the Smith clan, which signifies that the Smith family is the larger group.
A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH OPPRESSION IN IRELAND
To understand the Irish psyche it is important to understand the events that led up to the Irish Famine. The earliest anti-Catholic laws were enacted in 1558 by the British and viewed as a nuisance to most Irish at the time. Oliver Cromwell moved his troops throughout Ireland with devastating consequences. In the mid seventeenth century the population of Ireland was estimated at nearly 1,500,000. By Cromwell’s death in 1658 the Irish population was reduced by two-thirds to 500,000 souls.
In 1691 the Irish Parliament, run by Protestants, enacted the first of what became known as the Penal Laws. The full title of these laws read ‘Laws in Ireland for the Suppression of Popery’.
The Penal Laws accomplished their expected results. Within a few generations the Catholic Irish were reduced to abject poverty, were illiterate (or nearly so) and unskilled. In 1750 93% of the land was owned by non-Irish landowners and by 1770 this number was practically 100%. By the end of the eighteenth century the Irish had become a nation of tenant farmers. These laws made it illegal for priests to say Mass, Catholics to worship freely, forbade intermarriage, disarmed Catholics, and made it next to impossible for anyone other than members of the Church of Ireland to own land. Many landholding Irish converted rather than lose their estates.
Eye witness accounts to the life of the average Irish tenant farmer confirm that his life was one of desperation and deprivation. Nearly half of the rural population lived in small windowless mud cabins. Furniture consisted of a bed and some chairs--and only a very few had such luxuries. It was normal for farm animals, pigs and chickens, to sleep in the same home with the people. However, the good news was that the huts were always warm in the winter thanks to the readily available peat.
Greedy landowners increased their rental income by dividing and sub-dividing their land again and again until most families were attempting to live on less than an acre of land and paying rents double that being charged in England for a much larger plot. Since potatoes were such an efficient crop, by the late eighteenth century it was practically the only crop grown by many tenant farmers. Many never in their lifetimes had ever tasted meat or bread. Their every meal consisted of potatoes, and sometimes buttermilk.
By the end of the eighteenth century secret societies arose in Ireland. Guerrilla warfare against the landowners and gentry became more frequent. As a result, many landlords lived in permanently barricaded houses guarded by teams of sentries. By the end of the nineteenth century the Irish revolted in what became known as the Insurrection of 1798. The Irish expected French help, which never materialized, and were utterly destroyed in the process. More than 50,000 Irish were killed. Four years later in 1803 another smaller Irish rebellion was put down by British authorities.
DYING BY INCHES IN MONAGHAN COUNTY: FAMINE YEARS
The Irish famine mostly affected those who were identified as the ‘cottier’ class. This is an old medieval term which indicates the person is bound to the land owned by the feudal lord. Many Irish hired land for about 11 months out of the year on which they grew potatoes. They generally lived in substandard housing made of sod or mud and erected on waste ground or on the roadside. This becomes evident when viewing the Ordnance maps for Ireland during this period, where one can see houses erected by a roadway. Many Irish married young, many Irish married late. Family assets may include as little as a spade and a basket of seed potatoes. The Husband spent a summer working as a ‘spalpeen’ or migratory farm laborer. The wife and children many times took to the road begging. Potatoes were a low maintenance crop and one did not have to spend a lot of time taking care of this crop.
The famine hit western County Monaghan the hardest where the land was poorest, population highest and where employment opportunities were limited. In Aghabog parish the primary crop had been flax and not potato growing. The flax/linen industry did provide a means for income other than the potato; however, this source of income was not available to all who lived in the region. For many years landowners kept subdividing the land to a point where only subsistence farming was possible; therefore, potato growing became the primary crop.
The following statistical information was taken in 1841 for County Monaghan:
Number of Farms By County (1841) – Monaghan (Ulster)
Number of Farms: 28,062
Average Number of Acres: 10.19
Farms Under 20 Acres: 89.89%
Total Population: 200,442
Farm Size:
< 1 acre 2092
1 – 5 acres 6500
< 10 acres 9273
< 20 acres 7359
< 50 acres 2449
< 100 acres 287
< 200 acres 79
< 500 acres 19
> 500 acres 4
Percent in worst (4th) class housing, 1841 27.29%
Percent literate, 1841 24.90%
Farm plots in the late eighteenth century were larger. It was not until 1803 when the price of farm commodities began to slip that landlords began systematically dividing and subdividing their land for use by tenant farmers.
Surnames generally associated with County Monaghan include McKenna, McMahon, McGowan, McPhillips, Smith, Finnegan, Duffy, Hughes, Markey, McArdle and Mulligan.
EMIGRATING TO THE AMERICAS
Even with the prospect of no food or shelter, the Irish considered emigration as a sad event. They knew that they would never see their friends or loved ones again once they left Irish soil. In fact, it was known as the American Wake. The shipping companies provided the following list to these impoverished souls before departing Ireland
Single Man's Outfit
2 beaverteen jackets, 1 to be warmly lined,
2 ditto trowsers, 1 ditto waistcoat with sleeves,
1 ditto without sleeves,
2 duck frocks, 2 duck trowsers,
1 Scotch cap, or thresher's hat, 1 Brazil straw hat,
6 striped cotton shirts,
1 pair of boots, 1 pair of shoes,
4 handkerchieves, 4 worsted hose, 2 cotton hose,
1 pair braces, 3 towels, razor, shaving box and glass
Single Woman's Outfit
1 warm cloak with a cape, 2 bonnets, 1 small shawl,
1 stuff dress, 2 print ditto, 6 shifts,
2 flannel petticoats, 1 stuff ditto, 1 pair of stays,
4 pocket handkerchieves, 2 net ditto for neck, 3 caps,
4 night caps, 4 sleeping jackets, 2 black worsted hose,
4 cotton ditto, 2 pairs of shoes, 6 towels.
Each person would also require:-
1 knife and fork, 1 table-spoon, 1 tea-spoon,
1 deep tin plate, 1 pint tin drinking mug,
2 lbs of marine soap, 1 comb and hair brush,
1 pair of sheets, 2 pots of blacking
* 2 shoe brushes, * 1 pair of blankets, * 1 counterpane,
* 1 strong chest with lock.
* a married couple require only one set of these items.
Cost of an Outfit for Children varies with their size.
SMITH LORE – SLAYING A BRITISH OFFICER
This tale was told by Pete Smith to our father when he was a young lad. We were once MacGowans and not Smiths. A long time ago one of our ancestors shot a British Captain (Major or General depending on the number of drinks the story teller had) and killed him. He hid in the Irish bogs for almost two years evading British authorities as he had a price on his head. This ancestor had a good friend by the name of 'Johnnie John Smyth' and he used this name to sneak passage on a ship heading to America. For fear of being caught this ancestor never used his original surname of 'MacGowan', and 'Americanized' the spelling of 'Smyth' to 'Smith'.
Irish vigilante groups sprung up in Ireland in the late eighteenth century wreaking vengeance on landowners. Several well known persons were assassinated by these vigilante groups and the most famous story came out of County Roscommon. In 1847 Major Denis Mahon, landlord of a 17,000-acre estate, was assassinated following his attempt to clear 8,000 persons from his lands through eviction and assisted emigration to Canada. The policy of the British government made the landowners responsible for providing for the destitute in their own areas, making it cheaper for them to send the hungry on assisted emigration rather than pay for their upkeep in the workhouse. Mahon sent 1,000 to Canada on three ships; almost half of them died on the voyages due to a combination of their weakened state and the unsanitary conditions on the ships. History tells us that his ships were considered the worst of the ‘coffin’ ships to sail for America, and 52% who sailed died. Two people were hanged for his assassination, but the courts determined many other conspirators assisted in this crime. Even to this day no one knows who took part in this murder.
Evictions were common during the famine and many Irish tried to survive eating anything they could find including grass. Major Mahon’s murder made news all across Ireland. The Irish targeted other landlords by vandalizing property and murdering informers and anyone else they could find connected to the landlords. How many other Irish families told stories about a family member or friend who was responsible for killing a landlord? Major Mahon commanded a regiment of British dragoons.
In Smith family lore, our great great grandfather Peter Smith died of the plague during the Irish famine. In one story told by another cousin, Peter Smith could have been hanged by the British authorities for charges against the state. Unfortunately, we do not have any documents to tell us one way or the other.