Thread: William Fearon, Killowen/Rosstrevor

Looking for any information on William Fearon, farmer, born ca 1830. He was rumored to have worked on Lord Russell's estate at Seafield in village of Killowen. Had at least one child, Thomas Fearon, born 1858. Believe William may have married Bridget Farrell.

Thomas was my grandfather. He emigrated to Liverpool where he married Margaret Hughes (daughter of John Hughes, grocer, who also came from Ireland).

Any help greatly appreciated.

Bill in Canada

Statutory records of births, deaths & marriages started in Ireland on 1.1.1864 (1st April 1845 for Protestant and Non-Conformist marriages). Prior to that you are heavily dependant on church records, where they exist. (Some have been lost, some are incomplete and some are not yet on line). To use church records effectively, because there’s no centralised index, ideally you need to know the ancestor’s exact religion, townland and parish in Ireland. (Otherwise it’s a needle in a haystack).

Do you know what religion Thomas was? (I’d suspect RC). If so, you could look for his baptism in parish records. For Northern Ireland, the Public Record Office (PRONI) has copies of many of the parish registers, and has a list of those held elsewhere. www.proni.gov.uk/
It is also usually possible to order copies of the microfilmed records in to your nearest LDS library, for a small fee.

Griffiths Valuation has a record of William Feran in Ballinran (which is the townland around Killowen) in 1863 when he is renting a house, offices (outbuildings) and 7 acres of land (plot 10A on Griffiths). He was subletting to a Charles Abbott and a Mary Bradley. He is also mentioned as paying “half annual rent of coastguards watch and boat house”. A Patrick Fern lived nearby (a relative perhaps?).

www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

The properties today would be on the Killowen Rd, just to the east of the dead end road into Killowen village.

He died 28th May 1874 and left a will. The summary is:

Letters of Administration (with the Will annexed) of the personal estate of William Fearon otherwise Farren late of Ballinran County Down Farmer who died 28 May 1874 at same place were granted at Belfast to Anne Fearon of Ballinran Widow the Universal Legatee for Life. Effects £6.

You can see the will itself on the PRONI website. It mentions a son Richard, and 3 daughters, Mary, Mgt & Catherine:
PRONI Will Calendars - Search

Thank you, Elwyn! I did not know about the Will Index. I will check it out.

Thanks again,

Bill