Tenants in Kilderry, Co. Donegal 1750-70

Small Sources No. 42. This is a list of 104 tenants on the Hart estate in Kilderry on the Inishowen Peninsula, Donegal in the period from the 1750s to 1780s. The estate is mainly within the Civil parish of Muff, which is also the name of the main local town. A view of the local landscape is shown above. The list in Figure 1 is from the index to part of the rental. However, the index pages for the letters T-Z are missing. Names beginning with these letters are therefore not included. The original document is in the National Library of Ireland (NLI Ms. 7885). See our article here for a detailed account of rentals and their relevance. The index is a loose document within a single large rental book that is highly disorganised and in bad condition. The rental also contains further loose documents (receipts, notes, lists of tenants etc.). The index would appear to cover only the latter half of the 18th century, whereas the full rental book also covers a later period.

Fig 1. Rental index showing tenants and references to their account page. See Fig 2. for an example of account.

The index (see an extract in the montage above, and in Figure 1) refers to the page within the rental on which the accounts for each tenant are recorded over a period of years. As example, the illustration below (Figure 2 below) shows part of the rent records of Patrick Barr in the townland of Craig from 1758-1767. As is usual in this style of rental, the rent due is on the left page and the payments on the right page. Only the top of the left page is shown below. This information is available for all of those tenants listed below, and also further tenants not included in this index.

A previous blog on labourers on this estate in 1758/9 gives information on the Hart family who owned this estate. They are the subject of a detailed family history available on Google books. At the time of this record the landlord was Rev. Edward Hart (1712-1791). The Hart family history also gives information on other local and inter-related families including the Murrays, Travers, Sampsons and Vaughans. A short history of the family and estate is also available here. Not also that Flyleaf publish ‘Sources For Irish Family History 2021′, which is a listing of some 6,500 references books, journal articles and other material on 2,500 families, including some of those found below.

There was a great divide in lifestyles between landlords and their tenants at this period. An account of this is in our blog entitled ‘Eye-witnesses to our ancestors‘ which summarises the accounts of travellers to Ireland in the period covered by this document.

Some interesting personal names are recorded on this list, including Cormick (or Cormac), Shane, Knogher, Teague and Dermot (see the previous blog noted above for some observations). Some common name abbreviations are used, including Wm. = William; Edwd. = Edward; and Robt. = Robt. Among the family names that appear, some are common in Donegal such as Barr, Connogal (which is probably a variant of McGonagle), Doherty and Loag (a variant of Logue), More unusual names occurring include Crampsie, Dooey, Gibian and Houston. If you are interested in information on specific families, some may be included in our e-book entitled ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021. This lists 6,500 books and articles on over 2,500 Irish families. The sources listed contain a wealth of information on the history and genealogy of the listed families. The full details of the book are described in one of our blogs.

Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of the estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘Donegal SS42’ in the subject line. We also publish an e-Book ‘A Guide to Tracing your Donegal Ancestors‘ by local historian Helen Meehan – see cover illustration below.

Barnet, Moses
Barr, Patrick
Barnet, Wm.

Carter, Edwd.
Carter, Wm.
Cummins, Hector
Cramsey, Daniel
Connigal, Manus (a variant of the Gaelic name McCongail, anglicised as McGonagle)
Connigal, Dermot
Connigal, Dermot
Connigal, Philip
Cummin, Sarah
Coyle, Wm.
Canan, Elinor
Cramsey, Teague
Crawford, John sen.
Crawford, John junr.

Figure 2. An example of the rent record for Patrick Barr, who rented the townland of Craig (Just South of the town of Muff) for a rent and duties of £7 pounds, 16 shillings, and 5 pence per year payable half-yearly in May and November

Deeny, Daniel
Duggan, James
Dowey, Daniel
Dogherty, Knogher
Dreenan, Shane
Dogherty, Timlin (now usually spelled Doherty)
Dogherty, Daniel
Dogherty, Timlin
Dogherty, Wm.
Dogherty, Patrick
Dogherty, Shane
Dogherty, Cahir
Deeny, Patrick
Dogherty, Hugh
Dogherty, John
Dogherty, Roger
Deeney, Matthew
Dunlap, James
Dooey, Patrick (an old variation of Duffy)
Dogherty, Cornel
Devenny, Wm.

Ewing, Wm.
Erskin, Mrs.
Erskin, John
Erskin, Eliza

French, Adam
French, Henry
Farland, Robt.

Gibian (?), Victor
Glen, Archibald
Glen, James
Glen, John
McGuire, Philip
Galagher, James (now usually spelled Gallagher)
Gregg, John
Gregg, Andrew
Gallagher, Michael
Gallaway, Victor
Gillespie, Wm.
Givin, Wm.
Gormly, John (now usually spelled Gormley)

Houston, Robt.
Harley, John
Harvey, Eliza
Hughes, John
Houton, James (a variant of Haughton only found in Donegal – see here)
Houton, Philip
Houton, Wm.
Houston, Lodowich
Hood, James
Houston, James

Johnston, John
Johnston, Francis
Joseph, Wm.
McIlln…, (McJ…?) James

Laughlin, John
Loag, Owen (now usually spelled Logue)
Loag, Cormick
Loag, Daniel
Loag, Neil
Lepper, James

Murray, John

Murray, Robt.
McMacken, Donoghy
McMacken, Philip
Miller, John
Miller, Adam
Maguire, Philip

McKeeny, Knogher
McKeeny, Chales (Charles?)
McKeeny, Wm.
McKeeny, Hugh
Kelly, Bryan
McKeeny, Hugh
Kane, Patrick

Neilion, Thomas

Platt, Wm. senr.
Platt, Henry
Platt, Wm. junr.
Platt, Thomas

Ramsay, John
Rymer, Wm.
Ross, Samuel
Read, James

Scott, Robt.
Steel, Robt.
Smart, Robt.