See also Birth/Marriage/Death References for Bowles in Tipperary

Bowles in South Tipperary  (see the map below for the locations mentioned)

From the late 1700's to the early 1800's South Tipperary seems to have had the largest number of Bowles in Ireland.  It's hard to know if these were all members of the same family or if they originated from two or possibly more sources.  The fact that they were largely concentrated in one area of South Tipperary indicates that there may be a connection between many of them.  The very earliest Bowles references here go back to the late 1600's.

William Penn's "My Irish Journal" documents that on January 13, 1670 Penn attended a meeting with several Friends (i.e. Quakers), including John Boles of co. Cork and George Baker of Cashel, Tipperary, at John Fennell's house near Clogheen, co. Tipperary.  We know that Fennell's house was at Kilcommonbeg near Cahir, co. Tipperary and adjacent to the present day Swiss Cottage.   It may be significant that there are still Boles in Cahir even today.  The John Boles mentioned was a tenant of William Penn's on land near Youghal, co. Cork; I believe this to have been Thomas Boles of Kilbree, co. Cork's son John (born about 1644), see The Boles of Cork.  See William Penn's "My Irish Journal".

That is the earliest connection I can find between the Boles of Cork and the Baker family of Cashel.  In 1682 George Baker's daughter Sarah (born 1661) was married to a John Boles in Cashel.  I believe this to have been Richard Boles of Ballynalty, co. Cork's son John (born 1661), the cousin of the above John Boles.  John and Sarah had two children at Killoskehan, Tipperary and then moved on to Ballintrane, co. Carlow where five more children were born and where Sarah died in 1699.  John soon remarried and moved his family back to Tipperary sometime after 1704.  They built a Great House called Woodhouse near Magorban about 4 miles northwest of Fethard.  See The Bowles of Woodhouse.  Due to the excellent Quaker records which have survived, John's descendants are very well documented with one exception.  John's eldest son George married out of the faith and was cut out of his father's Will. Most of George's children returned to the Quaker faith and married into such prominent Quaker families as the Watsons (of Carlow), Grubbs (of Clonmel) and the Jessops (of Dublin).  However, nothing is known about one son John who disappears from family records while they still lived in Carlow.  It's possible that he was the John Bowles who settled at Ballickmoyler, Queen's county with his widowed mother Mary by the 1740's.   This is my own line, see The Bowles of Ballickmoyler.  Another of George's sons, Jonathan, had two sons, John and Richard, who I have been unable to learn much about yet.  John may be the ancestor of the Bowles of Fethard while Richard apparently settled in Youghal, co. Cork where we have a lot of stray Bowles records yet to be sorted out.  See The Bowles of Youghal.

The Religious Census of Tipperary could not have been very complete as no Bowles are listed anywhere near Fethard but the List of Freemen of the Corporation of Fethard lists six Bowles in that same period: See The Bowles of Fethard

This list does not state where Charles and David Bowles lived so it was likely within Fethard itself as was John Bowles.  Thomas and Samuel Bowles are both from co. Cork and have Freeman status with the Corporation of Fethard in order to carry on trade there.  George Bowles of Coolquill is in the Crohane area just east of Killenaule where another Protestant Bowles family lived. 

The List of Freeholders of the County of Tipperary in 1776 only includes two Bowles: ref.

Richard Bowles of Youghal is of The Boles of Cork line and his land would be in the Woodhouse area as mentioned above.  John Bowles of Fethard is as mentioned above.

Near Woodhouse is the town of Killenaule where there were Bowles living from the 1700's until the last century.  The Bowles of Killenaule may have been the origins for The Bowles of Springhill and The Bowles of Kilcooly.

Two families who were early settlers in Guysborough county, Nova Scotia, possibly had a common descent from the Boles of Tipperary.  Robert Boles of Boylston, N.S. was the son of John Boles of Fethard who was born about 1744 in Tipperary, married Grace Woods in about 1769 and raised a family in Fethard.  They may have moved to Clonmel later as their son Robert is later described as "of Clonmel" and their son Charles is later described as a "shoemaker at Clonmel".  However, this may only be a reference to Fethard being part of the Diocese of Clonmel.  David Bowles of Intervale, N.S. originally settled near Robert and was probably a close relation.  See The Bowles of Fethard, The Bowles of Clonmel and John Boles of Fethard's Family Tree for more on this family and also The Boles of Guysborough county.

One Bowles branch emigrated from Kilcooly parish (see map) in 1827 and settled in Peel county, Ontario, Canada and has a very extensive line of descendants across Canada and in the U.S.  See The Bowles of Peel County and Their Origins in Ireland for more information on this family.  Also see The Bowles of Kilcooly.

About 5 miles north of Cahir on the road to Cashel is the town of New Inn.  There are records for Bowels in the New Inn area from the 1700's who may have adopted the Bowles spelling sometime in the 1800's.  See The Bowles of New Inn

There are a lot of Bowles references in Oola parish which is just to the West of Tipperary town but which straddles the Tipperary/Limerick border.  I have included the Oola, Tipperary references on the Bowles of Oola, Limerick page.

Bowles in North Tipperary

There are just a few records (so far) for a James Bowles family living near Silvermines in North Tipperary which had one son who emigrated to Australia in 1840.  Did he have other sons?  James was a shoemaker as were the Boles of Fethard, in fact the occupation of shoemaker seems to run throughout the Boles/Bowles of Ireland as well as in Canada.   See The Bowles of Silvermines.  

There is one record for an Andrew Boles at Kilebeg near Borrisokane in North Tipperary in 1836.  This may be a descendant of the Boles of Cork line as an Andrew Boles is thought to have been the last Boles to own Woodhouse in South Tipperary in the late 1700's.   reference  

I have just a few records for Bowles near Nenagh in the 1800's.  As there are so few I have included Templemore (15 miles East of Nenagh) on The Bowles of Nenagh page.

These Bowles seem to have been mostly Protestant (Church of Ireland or Quaker) with the exception of the Boles of Fethard who settled in Guysborough, N.S. who had Protestant and Catholic descendants.  The Bowles of Killenaule were also Catholic and there was also a Catholic Bowles family at Springhill near Killenaule (about 10 miles north of the Fethard Boles above).  Their son, John married at the Gortnahoe Catholic Church in 1814 and emigrated with his family to Canada in 1826 and settled in the province of Quebec.  See The Bowles Family of Springhill.

Map of Tipperary in 1878 showing the areas connected to our Boles/Bowles ancestors: