Tom McCabes Genealogy 2022

The townland of Aghinillard (H784 030) is in the northwest quadrant of the parish of Magheracloone. It is 6 kilometers west by southwest of the town of Carrickmacross. In 1841, the townland of Aghinillard consisted of 179 acres and had a population of 191 persons. In 1985, the population was 16. From Subverting Patriarchy: Irish Women, the Landlord and Emigration from the Shirley Estate, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, by Ruth-Ann M. Harris, Boston College.

A summary of what I know about McCabe Family on Aghnillard Townland based on research in the archives of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast as of Oct 2015. Recently discovered items:

1. A 1771 lease for Aghanalart Townland in Magheracloone Parish. Aghnalart (Aghnillard) is the hill where our ancestor Francis McCabe was born in 1782 The 1771 lease for the townland has only one tenant, Patrick McCabe. Without a doubt he is a relative of ours, probably a direct ancestor, and thus a likely history for us on Aghnillard is:

Patrick McCabe was living on Aghnillard some time before 1771 when this lease was recorded. This Patrick McCabe is not listed in the 1777 lease for Aghnillard but Owen & Francis McCabe are. My conjecture is Patrick McCabe died after 1771 and his two sons Owen and Francis inherited the lease. One of these two men is likely the father of our ancestor Francis born in 1782.

2. In a small book dated May 1726 a list of tenants on the Shirley Estate was compiled. There is only 1 entry for Aghnalart (Aughnalard). The second line of the entry is unmistakable Thomas McCabe was the/a major tenant on the hill Aghnalard. So our McCabes go back at least 300 years on the townland Aghnillard and probably even further back than that. So we have this history: 1726 Tenant Thomas McCabe on Aghnillard, 1771 Lease Patrick McCabe on Aghnillard, 1777 Lease Owen McCabe & Francis McCabe on Aghnillard, 1782 Francis McCabe born on Aghnilalrd ---- for sure, our ancestor, 1799 Lease Owen McCabe & Patrick McCabe on Aghnillard, About 1808 Francis McCabe Jr was born ----- our ancestor, husband of Peggy Martin, 1824 Francis McCabe has a lease on Aghnillard, 1827 Francis McCabe, old British soldier immigrated to Lindsay Ont, 1841 Michael McCabe born on Aghnillard ------ our ancestor, 1859 Michael McCabe immigrated to Lindsay to join old Francis McCabe, his grandfather, 1861 Francis McCabe Jr, wife Peggy Martin and remaining children immigrated to Ontario.

In 1809 our ancestor Francis McCabe left Aghnalard to join the British Army and fight forWellington in Spain and Portugal. In the early 1820s he was living back on Aghnillard but was also recalled twice into the British Army because of the "Irish Troubles." By 1827 he had immigrated to Canada to claim his free 100 acres (as a retired British soldier.)

I was hoping that I would find papers that would tell me the parentage of old Francis but I still haven't found enough to do so. So my latest guess, based on tenant lists from the early 1800s, and the fact that we know Francis of Lindsay had a brother named Patrick, is still the same. Old Francis' father was likely Owen McCabe of Aghnillard.

In the material you'll find a nice copy of the 1777 Lease and others. On one you can see that Owen attempted to sign his name Own Cabe .

The lease of land on Aghnillard hill was renewed in 1799. Owen McCabe was still there but the other McCabe - Francis - was not. But now Patrick McCabe was also on the list. It is possible that Patrick was the son of either Owen or Francis, the previous lessors.

In 1777 Lord Shirley's representative signed a lease for 91 Irish acres for the townland of Aughanalart sic) with a group of Irish farmers - James Byrne, John McBride, Daniel McGurvey(?), Francis McCabe and Owen McCabe. At that time the estate was trying to formalize landlord/tenant relationships after 100 years of operations. The lease was for 21 years at a rate of 31 pounds stirling. In the estate records subsequent records show that leases were continued on the townland as follows:

a. 1799 Owen McCabe, Patrick McCabe. b. 1802 Francis McCabe, Pat McCabe, Owen McCabe. c. 1824 John, Peter, Patk, Owen, Patrick&Owen and Mary McCabe. d. 1829 Peter, Owen, John, Patk (Owen), Bryan Mccabe and James Richards. (The notation for Owen in the records means that Patrick is the son of Owen.) e. undated-1820s Patk(Owen), Peter, Owen, Bryan McCabe and James Richards.

A brief reminder. Old Francis of Ops joined the British army in 1809 at the age of 32. We don't know when he returned to Magheracloone after he got out of the army in 1815. Francis left Magheracloone in 1827 to go to Ops in Ontario Canada. It is known that Francis' brother Patrick left Magheracloone about 1830 to join his brother Francis in Ops. The lease information above shows that a man named Patrick McCabe had a father named Owen. It is speculative but possible that the Francis, Patrick listed in 1802 are brothers and their father is Owen. Francis went off to war but Patk stayed in Magheracloone. We can tie Old Francis to this townland of Aughanalart because, in 1840, Francis' eldest (newly wedded) son Francis Jr. was living as a cottier, subleasing a house from his relative James Richards in this townland and Old Francis' army record states he (Francis) was from Aghnalart.

So from the data above, the hypothesis is that Old Francis' father was Owen McCabe of Aughnalart , Maghercloone Parish. By 1799 Owen's son Patk had joined him in farming the townland and by 1802 both Patk and Francis were farming on Aughnalart with Owen. The only way to prove this conjecture is to find supporting documents in the PRONI - carefully search (again) the rental and other records of the townland of Aughnalart in the Shirley Estate papers.

PRONI documents related to this story: D/3531/R/3/1,2 D/3531/M/5/1,2 D/3531/T/2/3 D/3531/T/5/1

Owen is most likely name but it could have been Owen or Francis, based on Shirley Estate records of Magheracloone found in the PRONI. See below for further details (Written 2012).