Fethard Background

The Everard family held much of the land around Fethard (under the Butlers, the Lords of Ormonde) from the 1400's.  Meanwhile, Thomas Barton of Norwich, England, had settled in Fermanagh with the Earl of Essex in 1599.  The Barton's built a profitable wine trade in Ireland, eventually founding the Barton &  Gustier wine firm in Bordeaux, France and building a considerable fortune.  In 1752, Thomas Barton's great-grandson, Thomas Barton of Curraghmore, Fermanagh, bought the Grove and Fethard interests from Sir Edmond Everard, built a new house in Fethard and settled in the town.  His only son William Barton (1723-1792) took over the management of these properties shortly after.  It would be expected that the majority of the tenants on the land the Bartons acquired would have been Catholics as the Everard family was an old Irish Catholic family.  Given the times, the Bartons would probably have brought in Protestant tenants possibly from their lands in Fermanagh.  See below for one documented link to Fermanagh for these Bowles.

The First Known Bowles Connection to Fethard

Epaphroditus Marsh was originally from Hannington, Wiltshire but settled in Fethard in the late 1600's.  He was a Member of Parliament for Fethard to the Irish House of Commons in Dublin in 1703-1713 and from 1715 until his death in 1719.  His Will of that year left £35 (quite a large sum in those days) to John Bowles of Longcott, Berkshire to settle in full any claim he may have against his estate. ref. That would indicate they had done business of some sort prior to 1719.  Longcott and Hannington are only about 6 miles apart. We also have a land deed memorial from 1734 involving a John Bowles of Lechlade, Gloucester, a Thomas Bowles of Wexford and others. ref.  Lechlade is only about 4 miles north of Hannington.  Overall this is a pretty small area.  Possibly John Bowles of Longcott in 1719 and John Bowles of nearby Lechlade in 1734 were either the same person or were closely related.  If so, there is a good possibility that the origin of both the Bowles of Fethard and of Wexford may be found in this region of England.

Bowles in Fethard

The earliest reference for Bowles in Fethard is the The List of Freemen of the Corporation of Fethard which lists six Bowles:

In that list, only Charles, David and John probably actually lived in Fethard.  If Charles and David were not previous tenants of the Everards their admittances in 1755 would be consistent with the arrival of the Barton's Protestant tenants after 1752.  Charles and David are likely also associated with The Bowles of Kilcooly.  That connection would also be through the Bartons as William Barton's son Thomas (1757-1820), who would have become the Bowles landlord in Fethard, married Mary Chambre Brabazon-Barker whose brother Chamber Brabazon-Barker was the landlord of the Bowles of Kilcooly. 

 John Bowles who was admitted 16 years after Charles and David, is probably the son of one of them.  See John Bowles of Fethard below.

George of Coolquill (near Crohane about 3 miles east of Killenaule, See The Bowles of Killenaule) is possibly also the son of either Charles or David as later generations of Bowles of Crohane used the given names John, David and Charles. 

Both Moyge and Midleton are in co. Cork and Thomas and Samuel are known to be of The Boles of Cork line.  It seems strange that two men from Cork were admitted to the Corporation but in the early 1700's a branch of the Boles of Cork settled at Woodhouse about 4 miles northwest of Fethard.  Their relatives in Cork would have obtained Freeman status in Fethard by paying an annual fee in order to carry on trade in the Fethard marketplace. 

There are records for several other Bowles branches in the area in the late 1700's to early 1800's which have descendants currently living in Canada and who may be related to the Boles of Cork. 

John Bowles of Fethard

John Bowles was born about 1744, possibly in Tipperary or in Fermanagh if his family did come to Fethard with the Bartons.  His father may have been either Charles or David Bowles who were both admitted as Freemen to the Corporation of Fethard in 1755.  John was admitted to the Corporation in 1771 at which time his occupation is given as "smith".  This could either refer to a blacksmith or a tinsmith also called a whitesmith.  In 1773 he was sworn in as a Freeman. He was a tenant of the Barton family as he is listed in the Barton Ledger of 1780 as holding land under William Barton at an annual cost of £9.19.6.  (Ref.: National Archives of Ireland MS 5876) 

He married Grace Woods in about 1769 and raised a family in Fethard.  His son, Charles, apparently kept to the family trade as the 1824 Pigot Directory of Ireland lists Charles Boles of Fethard as a smith.  Their son Robert became a shoemaker and is later described as "of Clonmel".  A Charles Bowles is described as a "shoemaker at Clonmel" in 1840.  This might be either the previously mentioned Charles having given up the smith trade and having gone into partnership with Robert or it might be a second Charles we haven't placed yet.  Both Robert and another son of John and Grace's, William, served in the Tipperary Militia.  (I have a lot of research on their service in the militia but I haven't received permission from the National Archives yet to publish the documents I would need to show to tell that story thoroughly.  There will be more to come on this subject.)

It's interesting that while Robert was serving in Galway with the Tipperary Militia, his wife, Rebecca Ryan, travelled from Tipperary to Fermanagh when she was expecting their third child, Xeon.  Robert took leave from the militia shortly after the baby's birth in Enniskillen in 1813.  However, his duty papers indicate that he gave Strabane as his destination.  Strabane is actually in co. Tyrone but not that far from the Fermanagh border.   It's also possibly not a coincidence that Robert's mother's family, the Woods, also lived in that area.  See The Woods of Fermanagh.  Rebecca may well have travelled to the Bowles and/or Woods family home while expecting her baby as her husband was away from home and she would have needed his family's care.

Their son Robert (and possibly also another relation named David) emigrated to Guysborough county, Nova Scotia in 1823.  See John Boles of Fethard's Family Tree and The Bowles of Guysborough Co. for more information on this family.

The Boles of Cork family tree includes a John Bowles born at Magorban (Mobarnon on the map) in 1744 so the above John is a very likely connection.

Other Bowles References in the Fethard area