Bowles in Stormont county

The following families appear in our records as Bowles/Boles/Boals/Bole etc. but all lived in Osnabruck township, are of the same generation and generally seem to be related. For example each has signed as a witness at another's marriage etc. (see below) The only one we have a place of birth for is Matthew who is stated to be from Letterkenny, co. Donegal, Ireland according to his daughter, Margaret's, death registration. That is quite a specific claim and there are other records for the Boal name in Letterkenny so this is entirely possible. See The Boals of Donegal

The only family member apparently from the previous generation is Margaret. The 1906 Commemorative Biographical Record of Lambton County reports on page 579:

J. H. HUME
..... John Hume was born in Ireland and there married Margaret (Tremble) Bole, and came to Ontario in 1831.....By her first marriage, Mrs. Hume had one son James Bole who also came to Canada in 1831.

There was a James Bole in Osnabruck who was born about 1820 in Ireland who is most likely the son mentioned above.

However, there were also other Boles in Osnabruck, Matthew (b. ~ 1810 Letterkenny, Donegal, Ireland), John (b. ~ 1810-13 Ireland), Robert (b. ~ 1814 Ireland), William (b. ~ 1827 Ireland) and Dolly (b. 1820's). The families listed their religion as Church of Scotland and Presbyterian which is consistent with them coming from the north of Ireland where the British settled most of the Scottish settlers in the 1700's.

Matthew Boal was a witness at John Boal's marriage in 1840. William and Matthew both settled on adjacent farms on the New York side of the St. Lawrence River near Osnabruck. William, Margaret and Robert were all witnesses at Dolly's marriage in 1845. James and Robert were witnesses at William's marriage in 1847.

See the Boals of Osnabruck Family Tree for more information on these families.

The 1879 Directory of Osnabruck twp has:

J. Boals Con. VIII Lot 14 50 acres

R. Boals Con. VIII Lot 17 48.5 acres

Map of Osnabruck township in 1868

Link to higher quality versions of the same map (will take longer to download)

Osnabruck