BOYLE
I have had less success with the Boyle roots than any other of my grandparents ancestors, McIntosh, Craig and Hackett. With the Boyle lines I hit just about all the main problems facing genealogists. For a start Boyle is a common Irish and Scottish name. I have no idea where the Boyles came from in Ireland and most Irish records were destroyed anyway, and even the records I do have are inconsistent. Unlike most of my Scottish ancestors, when it is rare to find one who could not read and write, with my Irish ancestry it is rare to find one who could.
All the information I have for my 2 x Great Grandparent James Boyle and his wife is from marriage and death certificates and it is not much but it’s the best I have for now. So far I have not been able to find the information that would enable me to build a clearer picture. I know eventually I will find the information, or most of it, but it will just take time.
JAMES BOYLE (abt. 1810- bef 1868)
James Boyle could have been born any time between 1800 and 1820 in Ireland. I have no idea where, in Ireland, but this could be the family from Roscommon. (My mother always told me that one branch of her family were from Roscommon.) He married a woman in Ireland who was called either Ann Conway or Mary O’Connell. They had at least one child in Ireland, James Boyle (my Great Grandfather) before moving to Scotland sometime before 1855. It would appear they moved to Beith in Ayrshire as daughter Margaret seems to have been born there around 1855. More than likely he would have worked either on the farms or in the coal mines. His son described his occupation as a mason on his marriage certificate but often that is a very general term.
I know no more of him other than that he had died by the time his son James married Elizabeth Morgan in Glasgow in 1868. If I can find that his daughter Margaret was born after 1855 I might be able to establish more and then even find a death certificate.
The reason why I cannot be sure of the wifes’ name is that on son James first marriage in 1868 to Elizabeth Morgan his mother is named as Ann Boyle (nee Conway) and still alive at that time. On his second marriage to Catherine Kelly in 1884 (my Great Grandmother) James mother is named as Mary Boyle (nee O’Connell) but as deceased.
More than likely the priest or registrar wrote the name as it sounded to him as James could not read and write. His mother could have been an Anne Marie and Conway could easily sound like O’Connell or O’Connelly in an Irish accent. I have checked the deaths of many Ann Boyles but so far have not found the right one. Once I do I can then look for her, and maybe even her husband in the 1851 and 1861 censuses. Then I might find the names of their parents and my 3xGreat Grandparents.
So for the moment my 2 X Great Grandparents, James Boyle and his wife, are very much a mystery to me and all I can be sure of really is that they were Irish.
JAMES BOYLE (abt 1846- 1912)
James was born in Ireland around 1846. It is probable that when he came over to Scotland with his parents they arrived in Ardrossan in Ayrshire as so many Irish did then. As yet we have no real indication of when they arrived or if he was their only child at the time. His early life is very much a mystery to us. However we can assume he was about 11 years old when his sister, Margaret, was born in Beith, Ayrshire.
The first record we have of James Boyle is when he married Elizabeth Morgan. This was on the 11th January 1868 at St. Mungo’s R.C. Chapel in Glasgow. James gave his occupation as a Foundry Labourer and that he was a bachelor and 21 years of age. He gave his father as James Boyle (deceased) and his mother as Ann Boyle (nee Conway) and James signed with an X meaning he could not read or write. Elizabeth Morgan his wife gave her age as 20 and that both her parents were dead. Her parents were a Daniel Morgan and a Selina Burns. Elizabeth also signed with an X. Witnesses were Robert Pherson and Ellen Young. James gave his usual address as 21,Middleton Place Glasgow and Elizabeth gave hers as 18 Middleton Place.
Son James was born the following year and on the 1871 census the family are now living at 6 Middleton Place in a one roomed flat. (In Glasgow this is known as a Single End) James Boyle shows as being 25 and a labourer and Elizabeth used Betsy as her name and it shows she was born in Airdrie, about 8 miles from Glasgow. Young son James was born in Glasgow and shows as 2 years old. What is remarkable is that in the small flat they also have two Irish Lodgers. One was a Michael Huey aged 25 and the other a Neil Connor aged 46. Remember this is one room only where they all cooked, slept and everything else. The toilet would have been on the landing on the common staircase with and shared by other flats. That is if they had a toilet at all and many did not at that time. Obviously there would have been no bathroom.
It must have been terrible the following year for James and his young son. Elizabeth died from phthisis at 7-55am on the 1st of September 1872. She was only 24 years old. The family were still at 6 Middleton Place and James was now working as a Gas Works Labourer. I have no idea if James had any relations or friends nearby to help him. I found no trace of James and his son for another 9 years until the 1881 census.
It is still going to be very difficult to find out more about the Boyle lineage but the information I found on the 1881 census has opened up possibilities, that could even lead to finding at least the names of the earlier Boyles, to the generation before James Boyle born abt.1810.Until I get the opportunity to search I just don’t know. On the other hand it might lead to an acceptance that it would be virtually impossible to establish any more about the Boyle ancestry.
I found James Boyle on the 1881 census living in Cambuslang, which is now in Glasgow, but then it was an independent burgh in Lanarkshire. Cambuslang is about 3 miles from the centre of Glasgow.
The census shows that James and his son were living in Rosebank St., Cambuslang which was the home of brother in law John Carrigan aged 28 and born Kilbirnie Ayrshire. He was a labourer at the steel works. His wife, and James’ sister, Margaret Carrigan showed as 25, and born Beith, Ayrshire Scotland. They had two children Peter 4, born Kilbirnie Ayrshire and Selena 9months born Cambuslang. Also shown is James Boyle (brother in law) aged 33, widower, born Ireland and working as a labourer at the steelworks. His son James aged 11, nephew, born Glasgow and a scholar is also shown so it’s a certainty that this is the James Boyle we seek. Also living in the house were three Irish steelwork labourers, Andrew Boyle 45, Micheal Harvey 46 and Patrick Tonner 36. It is not known if the Andrew Boyle staying there was a relative or not.
The next time I hit a record of James Boyle is when he is getting married to my Great Grandmother, Catherine Kelly, on 18th July 1884 at St Marys’ R.C. Chapel in the Calton , Glasgow. James gave his age as 33, so he had not aged in 3 years, and was working as a Steel Worker and lived at 11, East John St. in the Calton. His status was widow and his mothers’ name is given as Mary Boyle ms O’Connell) deceased.
Catherine Kelly was a powerloom weaver, a spinster aged 30, living at 4 Crownpoint St. Both her parents John Kelly (handloom weaver) and Bridget Kelly were deceased. Witnesses were Henry Morgan possibly James’ brother in law from his first marriage and Elizabeth Kelly who might have been Catherines’ sister. Unlike James, Catherine could read and write.
Catherine Kelly has been every bit as difficult to trace as James Boyle. Kelly too is a very common name and I have had no luck at all in finding out much about her or her parents. On the 1891 census she gave her birthplace as Glasgow but on the 1901 census she gave it as Girvan, Ayrshire. I have not yet had the opportunity of searching that area.
James Boyle and Catherine Kelly had four children in the next six years and on the 1891 census the family are shown as living at 267,Nuneaton St in the East End of Glasgow. The census shows James 45, general labourer born Ireland, Catherine 42, Cotton Weaver born Glasgow, James Boyle 20 (son from first marriage) general labourer born Glasgow and then the four children Bridget 5, Roseann 4, John 3 (my Grandfather) and Alice 1 all born Glasgow.
Son James died young at some time around this period. Again because his name is so common it is difficult to establish exactly when. It seems he may have died in strange circumstances but of that I cannot be sure. When I asked I was told it was food poisoning and then no more would be said. One day I will find out when and why.
On 29th December 1910 his son John Boyle aged 22 and a Baker journeyman married Susan Hackett. John was still living at home with his parents until they married. These are my maternal grandparents.
On Oct 3rd 1911 grandson James Boyle was born to John and Susan. It is possible that my Uncle James was the only Grandson James Boyle saw but I cannot be sure of that as I don’t know yet when his daughters married.
James Boyle died at 7am on the 9th April 1912 from acute nephritis. He lived at 242, Nuneaton St. and his wife Catherine registered the death. His death certificate said he was 60 years old yet he must have been at least 66.
On 18th December 1913 Elizabeth Boyle, my mother, was born.
Catherine Boyle (nee Kelly) died on the 19th November 1914 at 4-20pm of an intestinal obstuction and cardiac failure. She died in the Royal Infirmary Glasgow and her home address was given as 238 Nuneaton St., and the death was registered by daughter Bridget Boyle, who also lived at that address. Catherine was only 60 years of age.
Of James Boyles and Catherine Kellys other children I know very little, but I vaguely remember some of them as a child. Brigette Boyle went on to marry a man called McCrossan and they had four children , 2 boys and 2 girls. Rosanne Boyle married a man called Drumgold and I am not sure if they had children. I am not sure about Alice Boyle at all.
It is strange trying to build up a picture of an ancestor with only fragments of information. My mothers’ side never seemed to talk much of ancestors and that was quite different to my fathers’ side, so I had very little family folklore to follow when tracing my maternal ancestors. If I was to guess I would say that if the Roscommon ancestry story is true then it would have been the Boyles who came from there. I might never find out.
James Boyle (abt 1846-1912) certainly seemed to be a hardworking man. To labour on gasworks and steelworks all your life is no easy option and certainly not a healthy one. James seemed a loyal man too as he kept his son with him after his first wife died and that the son remained with him even after marrying his second wife tends to suggest they got on well. That his dead wifes’ brother was his best man suggests he kept good contact with the Morgan family. Also that when his wife was alive that they lived in at least three different houses in Middleton Place suggests they got on well enough with neighbours and the same applied to Nuneaton St with his second wife.
It is almost certain he would have lived in Irish enclaves in Glasgow. If I can find out a little more then maybe I would find he was surrounded by relatives.
John Boyle 1888 –1953
John Boyle, my grandfather, spent all of his young life, indeed until he married, living in Nuneaton St. in Bridgeton, in the East End of Glasgow. It is true he had a few different addresses in Nuneaton St. or as they would say in Glasgow he lived up a few different closes, but Nuneaton Street was his territory. Glasgow Celtic was founded in 1887 the year before he was born and Parkhead, where Celtic play now, is less than half a mile away. Nearby were steel works, dye works, leather works, chemical works and probably every type of dirty heavy industry imaginable. It was not until 1894 that a sewege treatment system was installed in Glasgow so until then raw sewege went straight into the River Clyde which was close by. The place must have stunk to a degree unimaginable today. When you combine this from the smoke from the coal fires of the thousands of packed tenements it must have been a health hazard even to breath. It was little wonder so many died young in this area.
Celtic 1887 by father wilifred
By 1914 Glasgow had 45,000 single ends, and 111,451 room and kitchens and a population over a million. Scotland 4.7 million.
1894 sewege treatment system installed – raw sewage no longer flows into the Clyde-200 die of smallpox epidemic in Glasgow in 1900-1902 Hampden park opens 1902 1918 catholic schools brought into state education system 1919 tanks in george square Glasgow
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1891 Census 644/1/071/14 267, Nuneaton St
James Boyle (h) @45 gen. lab. born Ireland
Catherine Boyle (w) @ 42 Cotton Weaver b. Glasgow
James Boyle (s) of James @ 20 gen lab b. Glasgow
Bridget boyle (d) @ 5 b. Glasgow
Roseann Boyle (d) @ 4 b Glasgow
John Boyle (s) @ 3 b. Glasgow
Alice Boyle (d) @ 1 b Glasgow
1911 Glasgow Evaluation Rolls show James Boyle surfaceman at 24 Martin St (May not be him)
(210006-696-8.65-2)
1912 James Boyle dies 9th April @ 60 address 242, Nuneaton St,
