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James Bowles of Silvermines, co. TipperaryBack to The Bowles of Tipperary ![]() Barbers of Silvermines and NenaghThe Tithe Applotment taken in this area in 1828 doesn't list a Bowles but John Barber held an 1a 3p lot on the Ballygown side of Silvermines. After that there are no further references to him in Silvermines but there are frequent references to a John Barber, dyer, on William Street in Nenagh which is just about 6 miles to the north of Silvermines and is the main market and administrative center for this region. In 1838 the Petty Session at Nenagh heard a complaint from James Sullivan that John Barber had 'refused to return a piece of stuff given him to press'. On Feb. 27, 1840 the same court heard a complaint against John Barber by a Brigitte Hogan although I can't make out the nature of the complaint.![]() James Bowles at SilverminesJames and Elizabeth may have been living at Silvermines as early as 1823. The town was part of Henry Prittie Lord Dunalley's Kilboy estate. Elizabeth Bowles is listed as being 'of Kilboy' when she was the teacher at Kilboy School in 1823 and 1824. These are the only references I can find online for the Kilboy School but a Mrs Bowles was holding the Kilboy School at Lisnageenly under Lord Dunalley in the Griffith Survey published in 1850. Note that Silvermines was a town but it wasn't a townland, in fact it was divided at Main Street with the buildings on the west side of Main Street being in the townland of Cloonanagh while those on the east side were in Ballygown South townland. See James Bowles References in the Griffith Valuation work books For Silvermines 1846-48 and the published Valuation Report of 1852 for images of the actual documents mentioned in the following. The Tipperary Emigration Index shows that James and Elizabeth's son William emigrated to Australia in 1840 along with seven other young people from Silvermines at which time Robert was already listed as a shoemaker 'of Silvermines' in one entry and 'of Kilboy' in another. When the first Griffith Valuation team visited Silvermines in 1846 there is no mention of James Bowles and his family in their workbook notes. Which is strange as either the owner or the tenant's name was listed for every house in Silvermines. I believe the Bowles were living in Martin Byrne's house on which the valuators made the note "there are two roomkeepers in this house". On their next visit in 1847 James is listed as holding a portion of Robert Young's lot in rural Cloonanagh and with a second landholding on Dublin Road, some land sub-divided from Thomas Delany's house and office, but there still isn't a house listed for him. In this visit they did not record the size of the landholdings and only the landholder is listed so this visit was not too helpful for us.Finally in the 1848 visit the Griffith team found James and his family resident in Silvermines. In fact we learn from their notes from this visit much more about his two landholdings that were listed in 1847 and that he had acquired rather a substantial house since then. He still held the portion of Robert Young's lot north of town, now described as a small 1 acre garden with no structures on it. This was probably just for growing his own family's food. The lot on Dublin Road which James held in the 1847 survey was now held by a James Deegan. However, James seems to have acquired George Byrne's estate. In 1848 four of these were occupied by James' tenants and by the time the town's valuation was published in 1852 all eight of his house lots were tenanted. His tenants and their houses were as follows. Many of his tenants were the same ones who had lived there before James acquired the lots: Lot 20 - Catharine Shanahan was resident on this lot in 1846 with 3 houses which she had sub-tenanted but she had since died and two of her houses had been combined as one 33'x19' one story house (9 1/2' high) which was now occupied by a Morgan Gleeson. It is described as an older thatched house with stone walls and was in good maintenance; Lot 21 - Same tenant. Dr Quinn of Nenagh ran a dispensary from here. It is described as a 32'x18' thatched house with stone walls of medium age (about 25 years old) and slightly decayed but in good repair; Lot 22 - Same tenant. Michael Cane; This was a 25'x19' thatched house in a similar condition to the dispensary but more in need of repair; Lot 23 - Same tenant. Judith Learney; This was a smaller 8'x19' thatched house about the age of the dispensary and in good repair; Lot 24 - John Horan occupied this house in 1846 but it was since tenanted from James by Terence Mahoney. It was a 18 1/2'x21' thatched house of medium age and in good repair; Lot 25 - The occupant of this house in 1846, George Byrne, was now deceased and his widow was now James' tenant. The house was 12 1/2'x21' similar to the previous ones in condition; Lot 26 - Same tenant. CatherineLeahy; a 20'x19' house similar to the others; Lot 27 - Same tenant. James Cane; a 16 1/2'x19 house similar to the others; Lot 28 - This was the strip of land behind the above 8 houses While he doesn't seem to have emigrated to Australia himself, it looks like many of his childen did. In their immigration paperwork he is described as “James Bowles of Kilboy” and "James Bowles, Gent." and his occupation is given as a shoemaker. Silvermines is in North Tipperary in the parish of Kilmore 4 miles south of Nenagh. Kilboy was the name of a mansion about 1 mile from the village of Silvermines. It was the seat (i.e. home but also the center of administration for the lands which he held) of Lord Dunalley the owner of the mines at that time. The statement that James was 'of Kilboy' doesn't mean that he lived at the mansion, just that he lived within the Kilboy estate which included the Kilboy Demesne (estate lands) as well as much of the surrounding land including the towns of Silvermines, Cloonanagh, Ballygown and others. ![]() ![]() Parish of Kilmore James Bowles held a 1 acre plot of land in Cloonanagh townland. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Reference for William Bowles' Emigration to AustraliaAn extract from:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maddenps/TIPPEM5.htm TIPPERARY EMIGRANT INDEX : 1828 to 1866 Surname
First
Year
Age
Native Place
Parents-names & location
Relations in the Colony
Ship of Arrival & other
details BOWLES
William 1840
20
Silvermines
James / Elizabeth
Father is a shoemaker. Ship
= Alfred
A Protestant. Known to Wm HARDY,
Lothn ?? DALY
Judith
1840 20
Silvermines
James / Bridget
HOGAN
Father = a farmer at S.
Ship = Alfred
Known to James Bowles, gent. HANLEY
Dennis
1840 19
(Tipp)
Dennis / Catherine
Father = a farmer.
Ship = Alfred
Known to James Bowles, gent. RYAN
Bridget
1840 19
(Tipp)
Frank / Judith
Father = a labourer.
Ship = Alfred
Known
to James Bowles of Kilboy The Bowles of Silvermines Family TreeJames Bowles (a shoemaker) of Silvermines m. Elizabeth Barber 1812 ref.![]() ![]() |