Ireland Land Records: Knowles and Wallace

Ireland Land Records
Knowles and Wallace

**Ireland Land Records via Tax Surveys**
Year	County	Barony	Parish	Townlands	No. and Letters of Reference to Map	Names		Description of Tenement	Area A. R. P.	Ratable Annual Valuation		Total Annual Valuation of Ratable Property L s D	Comments	Reference No.
Year	County	Barony	Parish	Townlands	No. and Letters of Reference to Map	Occupiers	Immediate Lessors	Description of Tenement	Area A. R. P.	Land L s D	Buildings L s D	Total Annual Valuation of Ratable Property L s D	Comments	Reference No.
1857	Cavan	Clanmahon	Ballymachugh	Killyfassy	ord. S. 38-3	William Knowles	Hon. Somerset Maxwell	House, office, and land	16 00 23	11 05 00	01 10 00	12 15 00	One would presume this is where William and Jane Knowles lived. This farm was 16 acres, the Duff Castle one was slightly over 1 acre.	-
1869 to 1870	Cavan	Clanmahon	Ballymachugh	Killyfassy	-	-	William Knowles	-	-	-	-	-	In a later evaluation is a William Knowles owning property in Killyfassy. It is unknown at this time if this is the same piece of property as in 1857 or if it is the same William Knowles.	FHC Film 816799
1876 to 1881	Cavan	Clanmahon	Ballymachugh	Killyfassy	-	-	Jane Knowles	-	-	-	-	-	In the next evaluation taken about 1876-1881, William's name is crossed out and replaced by Jane Knowles.	FHC Film 816799
1885	Cavan	Clanmahon	Ballymachugh	Killyfassy	-	-	William McLean	-	-	-	-	-	By about, 1885 the property is owned by William McLean. Suggesting that Jane may have died also.	FHC Film 816799
1857	Cavan	Castlerahan	Crosserlough (Kildrumferton)	Duffcastle	ord. S. 32-3	William Knowles	Same	Land	01 01 30	00 15 00	-	00 15 00	Duffcastle was the birthplace of Jane Wallace who married William Knowles in 1847.	Vol. 3 Q941.5 R26
1857	Cavan	Castlerahan	Crosserlough (Kildrumferton)	Duffcastle	ord. S. 32-3a	William Argyle	William Knowles	House and Garden	00 01 15	00 05 00	00 10 00	00 15 00	The land in Duffcastle is probably associated with William and Jane Knowles (nee Wallace).	Vol. 3 Q941.5 R26
1857	Cavan	Castlerahan	Castlerahan	Ballyjamesduff	old Castle Street	J. and W. Wallace	Same	House	-	-	03 15 00	03 15 00	No linkage has been established with this Wallace family, but could be connected with our Jane Wallace.	Vol. 3 Q941.5 R26
1857	Cavan	Tullygarvey	Drumgoon	Cootehill	Bridge Street 30	Anne Knowles	Richard Conte (minor)	House	-	-	01 10 00	01 10 00	No linkage has been established with this Knowles family, but could be connected with our William Knowles.	Vol. 3 Q941.5 R26
1857	Longford	-	Granard	Aghabrack	ord. S. 10 & 11-2	Michael Wallace	Same	House, office, land	38 03 14	30 00 00	0015 00	30 15 00	No linkage has been established with this Wallace family, but could be connected with our Jane Wallace.	Vol. 3 Q941.5 R26
1857	Longford	Granard	Granard	Granard	The Hill 55	George Knowles	Same	House and small garden	-	-	00 15 00	00 15 00	No linkage has been established with this Knowles family, but could be connected with our William Knowles.	-

Property Records Comments

The land records above were taken from various property evaluations for tax purposes. The main evaluation was the 1857 Gritffith's Survey, but there were others.
Actual property and deed records may also be available.
The Newberry Library has the Griffiths Survey 1848-1864 on microfiche. It also has a book, that has some interviews with the inhabitants.
A general search was done for the indexed 1857 Griffith Survey for Knowles for Cavan County and for for Longford County.There were only four records Knowles for Cavan County, three for William Knowles and one for an Ann Knowles. There was only one Knowles, a George Knowles for Longford County.
A general search was done for the indexed 1857 Griffith Survey for Wallace for Cavan County and for for Longford County.There were only four records Knowles for Cavan County, three for William Knowles and one for an Ann Knowles. There was only one Knowles, a George Knowles for Longford County.
A general search was done for the indexed 1857 Griffith Survey for Wallace for Castlerahan and Clanmahan Baronies.One record for Wallace was found. It was for a J. and W. Wallace in Ballyjamesduff. It is unknown if this family connects to our Wallace line.
From the survey, it appears William Knowles lived in Killyfassy in a house, with an office on 16+ acres that he leased from Hon. Somerset Maxwell. The map location is S.38-3. This is in the parish of Ballymachugh, which is in southern Cavan County, bordering Longford County.
There are also two pieces of property that William Knowles owned in Duffcastle, Crosserlough (Kildrumferton). Duffcastle is the birthplace of Jane Wallace who married William Knowles in 1847, perhaps these lands came through her or her family. One of the pieces William farmed, this was a 1+ acre located at S32-3, and the other a house and garden at S32-3a, that he leased to William Argyle. It is conceivable that William and Jane lived in this leased house when they were first married and it is where our William Wallace Knowles was born. One could hypothesize that it was a smaller place and the Killyfassy property had a larger home as well as larger acreage.
Now for the confusing part. It is believed there are two William and Jane Knowles in our line and both families lived in Cavan County, so it is a little confusing as to which is which. In fact it is conceivable that they are the same family, but for now I have kept them separate.
In the family, I call William and Jane Knowles I, William I was born in 1798, probably in Scotland. He died 10 September 1879 in Killyfassy, Cavan County at age 81 and was a farmer and it is from the land records from 1869 to 1885 for Killyfassy (see above) that he was found, that his wife was probably Jane, and that he died between 1876 and 1881. His death record was found and the information that he was 81 years old suggested that he was the father of the William Knowles that married Jane Wallace.

In the family, I call William and Jane Knowles II, there is no data on when this William was born, but his wife, Jane Wallace was born about May 1819 in Duff Castle, Crosserlough (Kildrumferton). They were married in 1847 at St. Patrick's in Kildrumferton, her home parish. William at the time lived in Granard, which was in Longford, County. While it is conceivable that the 1798 William Knowles is Jane Wallace's husband and certainly this would simplify things, it is known from the 1847 Knowles' marriage record that William's father's name was William and that he was a farmer. It is also thought that there is a picture of William and Jane Knowles taken in 1884 in the William and Jane Knowles Picture Collection.
The fact that there are two William and Jane Knowles families in Cavan County makes it difficult to sort out who was living where and perhaps they were all living together at Killyfassy in 1857 through the 1880s, with the property being owned by the senior Willliam Knowles. What could be useful would be to determine if there were map coordinates on the 1869-1870 and 1876-1881 surveys to determine if it is the exact same piece of property.
William Knowles' 1847 marriage record indicated that he was recently living in Granard, Longford County. On this basis a search was done for Knowles property in Granard. The above listings show a George Knowles at 55 The Hill in Granard. No known connection is known, but it is possible George is a brother or uncle.
It is interesting to note that the owner of the Killyfassy property in 1857 is Hon. Somerset Maxwell. In 1869, R. Maxwell wrote William Wallace Knowles (1848) a testimonial letter which indicated that young William Wallace Knowles is a son of a tenant of my brother, Lord Farnham.
In an 1871 testimonial letter for William Wallace Knowles, the Vicar of Ballymchugh at Killyfassy states that William Wallace Knowles (1848) has had the management of his father's farm for a number of years.