Register of Tawnawully School, Co. Donegal 1849

Small Sources 34.  This is a list of 59 boys and 21 girls attending Townavilly (alias Tawnawully or Tawnawilly) tenantry school in 1st May 1849.  The list is  among the papers of the Commissioners of Education in Ireland, which are in the National Library of Ireland  – Ms 17,960 (3).  The Commissioners were set up in 1813 to manage ‘endowed’ schools, i.e. those that were funded by means of rent from lands they owned. A small number of schools owned such estates, either as a result of charitable donations, or ancient land-grants from the crown.  One such was Raphoe Royal School, originally established in Donegal town in 1618, but moved to Raphoe in the 1680s. It still exists as the Royal & Prior Comprehensive School. This blog concerns a separate ‘tenantry school’ established by the Commissioners for the children of tenants on their land. These lands were in Townavilly or Tawnawully, which is a District Electoral Division situated Northwest of Donegal Town and containing 14  townlands in the civil parish of Donegal.  During the 1840s, which was the decade of the Great Famine, the relatively poor land was non-productive and  little income was received from the tenants.  There were around 200 households on the estate at this time. The Annual Report of the Commissioners for 1848-49 notes that they had “… expended large sums in giving employment to tenantry, in squaring the farms, in building and establishing a school for them”.  However, they also reported that “ …we regret to be obliged to  report that the lawless spirit which so long prevailed in this mountainous district .. has again exhibited itself ….. we have determined to put at the disposal (of the agent) a sum of money by which he may assist in enabling such of the tenantry to emigrate as it is desirable to be removed from the estate”.  Their 1849-50 report further states that “… we have felt ourselves coerced, by the peculiarities of the estate and the tenantry resident thereon, to … assist several families in emigrating to America…. And we have further to state that a large number of children continue to receive gratuitous instruction at a school established for us for their benefit”.  Their report of 1853/4 seems to suggest that their efforts were successful as they note that the estate ‘.… long in an almost hopeless condition, appears now to hold out a prospect of improvement’.  It is not clear which of the children and their families emigrated as a result of the above inducements.  A search of the 1901 census found 13 men with the same names still living in the area.  These are listed below with their townland of residence and their age in 1901.  It is a reasonable presumption that at least the younger of these are the same people.  Based on their ages in 1901, they would have been aged between 9 and 19 when attending the school in 1849.

Extracts from the list are below in Figs 2 and 3.  The records of the commissioners for the estate also contain an 1812 rental, a 1798 survey, a letter (and list of tenants) of 1845, and an 1840s notebook indicating the ‘circumstances’ of each tenant in relation to supply of potatoes or other supports (see Fig 1).   Other Donegal sources in this series include records of tenants  (1750-70),  and labourers  (1750s) on the Hart Estate in Kilderry DED.

The names of the children include those whch are  common in Donegal,  such as Gallagher, Martin and McGinty and also less common names such as Timoney (herein spelled Tummony), Gallinagh and McCallion. If you are interested in information on specific families,  our e-book title ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021‘   lists 6,500  books and articles on over 2,500  Irish families.  The sources listed contain a wealth of information in the form of articles and books.

The images of the document above and below were created by Ancestor Network in the National Library of Ireland and are reproduced here through their courtesy. If you need help in following up on anything related to this source, or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements to us and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you. Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, on other tenants of this estate, or on the other documents in this folder noted above. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘SS34’ in the subject line.

Note also that we publish (in  e-book format)  ‘Tracing your Donegal Ancestors‘ by local historian and genealogist Helen Meehan – see cover illustration above.  It is available here.

Boys Names                    Persons of same name found in 1901 census

Edward Sleavin
John McAnulty
Hugh Tummoney            (usually spelled Timoney)
Francis Tummony
Patrick Tummony              Patrick Timoney 60 in Goladoo/ also 68 in Goladoo
Edward Tummony
John Martin
Bryan McLaughlin
Owen McLaughlin
John Gallagher
Charles Martin
Connel Martin                   aged 64 in Garvagh
Patrick Martin
Charles Tummoney
Connel Sleavin
Dennis McMullin
Charles Martin
George Johnstone
Edward Shiels                    aged 61 in Goladoo
Daniel Gallinagh               aged 68 in Goladoo
Patrick McGinty
Michael Martin
William McGinty               aged 60 in Garvagh
Neil Martin
Patrick Martin
Francis Cassidy

Girls on the Townavilly School books 1st May 1849.

Mary Callaghan
Margaret Martin
Susan McMullin
Ellen McGinty
Catherine Cunaghan ?
Bridget McGinty
Bridget Carlin
Ellen Tummoney
Catherine McGinty
Catherine Gallinagh
Ellen Martin
Mary McGinty
Sarah McCallion
Ann Martin
Mary Ann Johnstone
Catherine Martin
Ann Gallagher
Ann Martin
Ann Callaghan
Elisabeth Perry
Catherine McGinty

Some of the Donegal and general articles in our series on Irish Family History sources:

• Tenants in All Saints & Taughboyne parishes, Donegal 1800.
• Tenants in Kilderry, Co. Donegal 1750-70
• Register of Tawnawully School, Co. Donegal 1849
• Labourers in Muff, Co. Donegal in 1758 & 1759.
• Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
• Catholic  Church records
• Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
• Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
• Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
• How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
• Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
• 70+ blogs with unique lists of tenants, servants, residents and others from all counties.