Baptism conundrum – James Mahon

Patrick Mahon and Jane Cavanagh/Kavanagh were my third great-grandparents. They married in the parish of Swords, Co. Dublin, on 12 September 1819 and baptised seven of their children there.[1] My direct ancestor was their son James. I’d always believed James was one of the twin boys, born in July 1823. Now, I’m not so sure.

Infant mortality was high back then. And, when a child died, it was customary for their name to be given to the next child born with the same gender. So, it’s always prudent to examine the register for subsequent baptisms. And, I did. 

Name	Baptism date	Godfather	Godmother
Elizabeth Mahon	2 Aug 1821	-	Catherine Fagan
James Mahon	10 Jul 1823	James Mahon	Eleanor Mahon
John Mahon	10 Jul 1823	Peter Ratcliffe	Catherine Owens

Gap 6½ years

Mary Mahon	21 Jan 1830	Pat Cavanagh	Catherine Donnelly
Christopher Mahon	30 Dec 1832	James Dennis	Mary Dunne
Michael Mahon	04 Oct 1835	John Casey	Margaret Mahon
Patrick Mahon	24 Oct 1841	Jack Cave	Catherine Murphy

Another baby James Mahon was baptised in the parish, on 8 June 1827. His parents were James Mahon – not Patrick – and Jane Kavanagh. John McGlew and Jane Owens sponsored his baptism. My first thought was wrong father, wrong family! 

Baptism of James Mahon, 8 Jun 1827, Register of Swords Parish

But, the more I think about it now, the more I suspect this James was my ancestor, with his father’s name incorrectly recorded. Such mistakes did happen, sometimes. And, if my hypothesis is correct, it would help explain the otherwise large gap between the birth of the twins in 1823, and the birth of Mary in 1830.

Neither Mahon nor Cavanagh were particularly common surnames in Dublin, not that that would rule out the possibility of a so-called couple marrying, twice – but it would constitute a small coincidence, especially if the bride’s name was Jane, in both instances. Plus, no other mention of the couple James Mahon and Jane Kavanagh was found in the area, or elsewhere.

If this was my second great-grandfather’s baptism, it might also shed some light on why he claimed he was seventy years old in the 1901 census, when John, his supposed twin, was listed as seventy-eight.[2] James, born in 1827, would have been seventy-three at the time of the census, and people often rounded their age to the nearest ten years.

However, when James died, two years later, on 2 December 1903, his son-in-law, Michael Byrne, reported he was seventy-eight years old.[3] This is a better 'fit' for James, the twin born in 1823, who would have been seventy-nine. Stated ages were notoriously unreliable, so it’s near impossible to draw a final conclusion.  

I don’t suppose there’s any way to ever know, for sure, which is the correct baptism record for my ancestor.  What do you think?

[1] Swords parish marriage register, microfilm 06616/06, National Library; Swords parish baptism register, microfilm 06616/07 and 06616/07, same.
[2] James Mahon, Yellowwalls, Malahide, Dublin, Census of Ireland, 1901, National Archives; John Mahon, same.
[3] Death of James Mahon, Balrothery, 1903, Irishgenealogy.ie.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Dwellings in pre-famine Malahide

Ever wondered what living conditions were like for your ancestors about two hundred years ago, in Ireland? If you did, in the mid-1830s, the then government conducted a survey known as the Poor Inquiry, and it may contain the answer. Basically, they interviewed clergymen, landowners and other parish representatives across the country and sought their opinions on the condition of the labouring classes. So, to build a picture of what my ancestor’s home was like in the parish of Malahide, Co. Dublin, I consulted their report.[1]

My paternal GGG-grandparents, Patrick Mahon (c.1784-1865) and Jane Cavanagh, were married on 12 September 1819, in Swords.[2] Patrick was an agricultural labourer, and by 1848, if not earlier, he leased a small three-acre holding in the townland of Yellow Walls.[3] Their son, my GG-grandfather, James Mahon, was baptised on 10 August 1823, also in Swords, where the Catholic parish church for Malahide was situated.[4] So, Patrick, Jane and James were alive at the time of the Poor Inquiry.

‘Three farm labourers waiting to be hired for work’ 
Samson Towgood Roch (1757-1847) on Wikimedia commons

Responding to questions on the condition of dwellings in Malahide, Revd Francis Chamley, the Anglican clergyman, confirmed they were ‘mostly slated, or well thatched’… ‘in every instance having bedsteads and comfortable bedding’.  Ian Batty, Esq., a Justice of the Peace, added they were ‘clean and comfortable’.  In contrast, the Parish Priest of nearby Howth and Baldoyle, Revd James Young, said the homes in his parish were ‘generally very poor and badly furnished, the poor inhabitants often obliged to lie on straw.’ So, from this report, and in the opinion of the Protestant class, who no doubt favoured the status quo, the people of Malahide lived in relative comfort in the early nineteenth century.[5]

Looking at why this may have been so, in 1783, Col. Richard Talbot established a very successful cotton mill at Yellow Walls. It had a dramatic effect on the area, enriching the inhabitants and doubling the population.[6] However, the Talbots got into financial difficulties and in the early nineteenth century the mill was abandoned. This immediately cast the population of local weavers into poverty.[7]

Many weaver families were forced to emigrate, leaving behind their better-built cottages. Those that remained sought work as agricultural labourers - just like Patrick Mahon. In his answers to the Poor Inquiry, Revd Chamley estimated that Malahide’s labouring population included 'about sixty farmers’ men, and probably about thirty men who were formerly weavers’.[8] So, it is feasible that Patrick Mahon was originally a weaver, and his family were initially drawn to Yellow Walls by the cotton industry.

Map showing no house! 
John Taylor’s Map of the Environs of Dublin 1816, (Dublin, 1989)

I grew up in the same house, built by my Mahon ancestors in Yellow Walls. It was a stone house and, by 1901 at least, it had a slate roof. The cottage originally had four rooms, with a fireplace in each room. It is not clear when exactly it was built. Taylor’s map of 1816 shows no building on the site, but Patrick Mahon leased a house there by 1848.[9]

The 1841 census paints a somewhat bleaker picture of the housing conditions in rural Malahide, especially for the 22 per cent of families residing in 'mud cabins' with only one room. A further 30 per cent of families lived in better built cottages, also made of mud, but these had up to four rooms and windows.[10] It is therefore possible that Patrick Mahon’s house of 1848 had mud walls and a thatched roof, and our stone house was built later.

Sources:

1. Poor Inquiry (Ireland), pt i, Reports on the state of the poor, with supplements containing answers to queries, H.C. 1836 (36-37), first report, supplements to appendix D and E, accessed DIPPAM.
2. Church marriage record, accessed RootsIreland.ie.
3. Griffith’s Valuation, 1848, accessed Ask aboutIreland. 
4. Church baptism records, Swords, Mf P.6616, National Library of Ireland.
5. Poor Inquiry, Appendix E, pp 53-54.
6. John D’Alton, The history of the county of Dublin, Dublin, 1838, p. 195; Samuel Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Ireland, ii, London, 1848, p. 299.
7. D’Alton, History of Dublin, p. 196.
8. Poor Inquiry, appendix D, p. 53.
9. Griffith’s Valuation, 1848.
10. Report of the commissioners appointed to take the census of Ireland for the year 1841, H.C. 1843 (504) xxiv, 1, p. 26.

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© 2014 Black Raven Genealogy