Bowles DNA Project

The Bowles of Woodhouse

John Boles was born in Ballynalty, co. Cork on April 1, 1661, and was baptised at the Holy Trinity Church (Church of Ireland) in Cork City, the 5th son of Richard Boles and Abigail Ende.  His family were wealthy landowners but John being a younger son would not have expected to receive any significant holdings.  About 1681, John left Cork for Cashel, co. Tipperary where his brother Richard had established himself a few years before.  He married Sarah Baker there in 1682.  The Bakers of Cashel were a Quaker family and John would have converted to Quakerism then or sometime before that.  They had 2 children in Tipperary.  About 1690 they moved again and settled at Ballintrane, co. Carlow where 5 more children were born.  Sarah died in 1699 and John married a widow, Susannah Nicholson, in 1701 and had 2 more children in co. Carlow.  Also in 1701, John leased (text of the lease) some land near Magorban, co. Tipperary and in the next few years built their new home, Woodhouse, which they moved to sometime between 1707 and 1713.  Woodhouse became a registered Quaker Meeting House and John donated some land to establish a Quaker Burial Place which still exists today.  Susannah Nicholson died in 1716 and John married again, this time to a noted Quaker preacher, Abigail Craven in Limerick in 1719.  John died in 1731 and was buried in the Woodhouse Quaker Burial Ground.

For John Boles of Woodhouse's Family Tree see Richard Boles of Cork's Family Tree (John is person 5 in that tree)

John's oldest son, George, seems to have remained in Carlow when his parents and younger siblings moved to Woodhouse as his children established themselves in Carlow and in Dublin.  However, he inherited and took possession of Woodhouse on his father's death and his two youngest sons, Jonathan and Richard, established themselves in Tipperary as well.  Not much is known about their descendants except that Jonathan had two sons, John and Richard in the 1740's.  The List of Freeholders of the County of Tipperary for the Year 1776 includes John Bowles of Fethard and Richard Bowles of Youghal as a landholder in Mogirban. reference  It is possible that their descendants may be the Boles/Bowles families of the Killenaule/Fethard/Clonmel area which have been traced back to the mid 1750's but such a connection has not yet been documented. 

The chief question is whether John Boles of Woodhouse's line or any other line of The Boles of Cork are the ancestors of the large number of other Boles, Bowles and Bowels in this area.  The Bowles/Boles of Fethard, Killenaule, Cahir, Clonmel, Kilcooly and New Inn and are all quite close by.

One Bowles not yet connected to the Bowles of Woodhouse lived very close by.  On Feb. 28, 1821 George Bowles married Margaret Meagher at Clonbrogan (Catholic) which is right next door to Woodhouse.  Apparently, they were distant cousins as the registry entry shows a special dispensation for their 3 + 3 consanguinity which I believe meant they had common great-grandparents. ref.

The nearest large center to Woodhouse was Killenaule where there was also a Catholic Bowles family.  See The Bowles of Killenaule