Category: Genealogy

Ireland, Poverty Relief Loans 1821-1874
26 Apr 1841 loan 859 to Walter Baskwell, farmer, Lukane
witnesses Owen Moran, farmer, Curvey and John Basquill, farmer, Lukane

This comes from a comment on the last post. I don’t know who this Walter is. I suspect he’s the brother of “my” Michael, as he’s living in Lukane (Lackaun), which is the townland where Michael and his siblings were born. There is no way to prove that, though, at least not yet.

Confusing matters is the fact that there are two Walters who were born about the same time, in the same area. Cousins, maybe? One married Anne Kelly, emigrated to Stockport, England before the 1861 census, and died there in 1886. The other married Annie McFall and emigrated to New Zealand.

So which Walter took out the loan?

It’s also possible that both Walters, with wives named Anne/Annie, were living in the same area of Ireland, then the same area of England, at the same time. It could be Patrick and Mary Giles/Mary Scahill all over again!

I thought I’d blogged about that mess, but I can’t find the post. Maybe I dreamed it? The short story is that there were two Patrick Basquills who emigrated to England. One married Mary Giles, and the other Mary Scahill (sometimes spelled Cahill). If you are researching Patrick Basquills living in Stockport, England in the late 1800s, you need to be very careful. Otherwise you might find yourself conflating the families of Patrick the bricklayer and Patrick the hatter. Patrick the bricklayer married Mary Giles. Patrick the hatter married Mary Scahill. Patrick the bricklayer was the son of James Basquill and Mary Holland. I’m not sure who Patrick the hatter’s parents were, but most of the Ancestry trees I see him in have his parents as Patrick Basquill and Catherine Moore. I don’t think that’s correct, though, because as far as I can tell, their Patrick married a woman named Margaret Moore (strange coincidence, but they happen).

Anyway, it’s possible that some of the English census records I’d assumed belonged to Walter and Anne Kelly actually belong to Walter and Annie McFall. I need to look more closely at the information I have, to see if I can tell if there are shenanigans going on.

Today’s trawl: Ireland, Poverty Relief Loans 1821-1874 at FindMyPast.

Each loan contains three names. The first is the borrower’s, along with their occupation and townland (men over 21 years old and widowed women only, as married women were ineligible). The second and third names are the names, occupations, and townlands of the witnesses/guarantors. The loans were overseen by the Clerk of the Trustees for the Encouragement of Industry, which makes me laugh for some reason.

Loan 243 was to my great-great-great grandfather, Michael. Repayment information is on the right-hand page. I’m actually kind of shocked at how many of these loans were paid off. Considering the time period and the level of poverty in County Mayo, I would have thought there would be more defaulters.

FindMyPast, “Ireland, Poverty Relief Loans 1821-1874,” database and images, FindMyPast (www.findmypast.com/ : accessed 2 Apr 2016); Loan number 243 to Mich’l Baskquil 3 Apr 1839;

[number] 243, “Three months after date, we jointly and severally promise to pay to Mr. William Larminie, Clerk of the Trustees for the Encouragement of Industry in the County of Mayo, the sum of Two Pounds — Shillings sterling, with Interest, at the rate of Five per cent. value receied by us at Castlebar this 3rd day of April 1839. [signed] Mich’l Baskquil Farmer Ayle [witnesses] Walter Joyce Farmer Cappaharnane, Anthy Ludden Farmer Cappaharnane”

Irish Petty Sessions, Westport, County Mayo

Hanoria Gibbons of Cappahornan v. Michael Basquil of Ayle
“Assaulting her on Monday the 22nd day of May 1843”

Michael was Walter’s father and my great-great-great grandfather. This was not his shining moment, I think.

If you have Irish ancestors and you have a FindMyPast subscription, I strongly recommend looking through the Irish Petty Sessions record set. It’s occasionally sad, but often quite entertaining.

This was in my inbox this morning, from the same generous soul who shared Bridget’s and Walter’s marriage certificate and my great-great aunt Margaret’s birth certificate. It’s the death certificate for my great-great grandmother, Bridget Bourke. The informant listed, M. J. Richardson, was Walter’s and Bridget’s son-in-law, Michael. He married their oldest daughter, Ann Basquill.

I am over-the-moon level happy.

Census of Ireland 1911, Family of Walter Basquil and Bridget Bourke

Family of Walter Basquill and Bridget Bourke

Sometimes you look at something so many times that you stop seeing it. Tonight I had two small epiphanies.

1) I had a note scribbled during a conversation with my grandma Jeanne, about her recollection of what her mother had told her about her own family. There wasn’t much there, but the ever elusive Myles made an appearance. Grandma thought he’d been born between Margaret and Nell. He’d either died from an illness or drowned in a pond, at about three years old.

That would mean that Myles had to have been Bridget Bourke’s son, not Mary McHugh’s. It also means that I may never find any actual evidence that he existed. His life was so short that his birth and death may never have been officially registered.

It also means that the gap between Nell’s and Margaret’s births isn’t so large after all. Five years would have been a long time to go between children, for Walter and Bridget.

Which brings me to the next epiphany.

2) I took another look at the 1911 census. For one thing, I’m still trying to find Bridget’s baptismal record. I can find her siblings, but there’s no trace of her. There’s an entry in the death index for a Bridget Basquill who died in 1938, at the age of 76. That would match nicely with what I think is probably Bridget’s birth date. The 1901 census matches that birth date, but the 1911 census is a little off. Not a huge concern. Censuses are can give you a decent range and comparative ages of children, but they’re really not very good sources for actual birth dates.

But look at columns 10, 11, and 12! Column 10 has the number of years Walter and Bridget have been married, and it’s almost right on the money. Columns 11 and 12 are the interesting ones, though, and I have no idea why I missed this information the last thousand times I’ve looked at this. As of 1911, Bridget had had nine children, of which nine were living. That means, even with Myles tucked in there between Margaret and Nell, there are still three Basquills unaccounted for. For now, I’ve just added place holders, to remind me that there should be three more children to look for.

Also, this means that if this information is correct, Walter is winning the procreation race against Louis Charles Couvrette, albeit with two wives instead of Louis Charles’ one.

(The 1/2 in front of some of the children’s names, on Walter’s and Bridget’s family group screen, mean that those are half-siblings. Their mother is Mary McHugh.)

Remember the unspeakable pile of filing I was working on, a few months ago? I finally, finally, FINALLY finished it. Not before it doubled in size again a couple of times, unfortunately, but it’s done.

That means I can work on research, without feeling like I’m constantly behind. (Seriously? Some of those papers were family group sheets I made when I first started, years ago. It was BAD.)

Thanks again to the kind soul who shared Walter’s and Bridget’s marriage record, this time for sharing Margaret’s birth record. This clears up everything and is pretty convincing evidence that both her grave marker and the transcript at Pat Deese’s website are incorrect. Margaret was born 12 Jan 1890. I think this means (and I hope to be able to eventually find the actual parish record to prove it) that Pat Deese’s date is a baptismal date. This makes me suspect that all the birth dates on her site are actually baptismal dates.

Also? Margaret and I share a birthday. I had no idea.

I did some quick lunchtime trawling and within literally two minutes found my great-great grandparents’ marriage in the parish register for Castlebar. I’d found Walter’s first marriage, but not his second, to my great-great grandmother, Bridget Bourke. Also listed are their fathers, Michael Basquill and John Bourke, along with witnesses, who were cousin-y type relations (not sure of the exact relationships, as I don’t have my database in front of me).

The image is from an unindexed collection available free at FamilySearch. They have microfilmed and put online images that are not available at National Library of Ireland, because they are for events that occurred after the 1880 cut-off date.

And then a very kind soul sent me a research copy of their marriage certificate.

So in the course of a day, I went from zero documentation to having two sources.

This is what happens when your one shot at photographing a family member’s grave marker comes at the wrong time of day. Giant shadow, ahoy!

I’m also hoping I can also find the baptismal record for my great-great aunt Margaret at FamilySearch (her birth was after the 1880 cut-off). I found an extract at Pat Deese’s website with her birth date, but it does not match up with the date I have from her headstone. Her headstone says she was born in 1889, but Pat Deese’s records list her birth date as 19 Jan 1890. It’s possible that the extract is actually for a baptism, and that she was born late December 1889. Finding her in the parish register should help clear up the mystery.