The Bowles of Ireland

"An Irishman gets more Irish the further he gets from Ireland."

"What matters is not what their religion was, but that they came from Ireland."

(note: throughout this site, the surname Bowles generally refers to those with surnames Bowles, Boles, Bolles etc.)

After 150 to 200 or more years in Canada it can be hard to distinguish but most of the Bowles in Canada have their roots in Ireland. Catholics and Protestants, when their family is traced back to the census records of the 1800's, perhaps three quarters of these Bowles ancestors gave their Ethnic Origin as Irish. The rest were of British origin with one branch in Nova Scotia from Scotland (although possibly also via Ireland).

The Bowles surname appears in all four provinces of Ireland with significant concentrations of records in Cork, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary in Munster; in Laois (formerly Queen's county), Carlow, Dublin and Wexford in Leinster; in Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim in Connaught and in Cavan, Fermanagh, Down and Antrim in Ulster. The Bowles of Canada have their origins in all of these provinces.

See The Bowles of Ulster for counties Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Donegal, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan and Monaghan.

See The Bowles of Connaught for counties Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.

See The Bowles of Leinster for counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

See The Bowles of Munster for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, Limerick and Waterford.