Mary Burke's Birthplace

Early on when I started delving into my family history, a trip to the local Family History centre led to the ordering of a microfilm for the Scottish parish of Inchture. It wasn’t long before I had the joy of discovering the record of the birth of Mary Burke, my great-grandmother. She was born on 21^st August 1862 at 3h30am in the Parish of Inchture in the County of Perth, in what I had interpreted for many years as Poleavie Cotter's Houses. She was the first child born to Martin Burke from Co Mayo, and Ann Philp from Fifeshire.

In the last couple of months, to help me find out more about how to research my Scottish ancestors, I have done an excellent course through Pharos Tutors, taught by Chris Paton, called Scottish Research Online. This course has really opened my eyes to the abundant riches available on the internet for researching in Scotland.

One of the topics we looked at was Maps, and I decided to use the excellent maps found on the National Library of Scotland website to try and work out more exactly where Mary Burke was born. But much searching in the OS maps only turned up Powgavie as a place near Inchture. Looking at the handwriting more closely I realised it had a "g" and her birthplace was "Polgavie" rather than Poleavie. Powgavie and Polgavie appeared to be in pretty much the same place on different maps, but there was still a difference of spelling to reconcile. You can check out a map on the Old Roads of Scotland site.

Next, in the Ordnance Survey Name Books- Perthshire, 1859- 1862  I discovered that there was a relevant note that explained it: ‘It would appear from a correspondence with the Examiner Corpl Webster that there is some attempt made to distinguish the farm name above from the name Powgavie as applied to the houses about the little harbour or creek, but as this is only a difference in spelling the same name, I think it is better spell it alike in both cases.'

Both the old (1792) and New (1842) Statistical Accounts refer to a settlement where there is a harbour used for import and export, called Polgovie (1792)and Powgavie (1842).

Ordnance Survey Map showing Powgavie in the Parish of Inchture.
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=56.42512&lon=-3.15471&layers=1&b=1
NLS OS One Inch 1885-1900 Outline, with transparency overlay with modern map.

 
So it seems that Polgeavie and Powgavie are pretty much the same place. And today there are even self-catering cottages there that have been converted from farm houses into modern holiday homes. 

Whether these are the same cottages where Mary Burke was born would require a lot more research. It seems that some of the cotter’s accommodation of the time was very primitive, and was sometimes just a draughty lean-to on the end of the farm buildings. But she must have been born somewhere very close by. Maybe someone of the younger generation will go there one day and explore to find out more.

Ann PHILP- from Scotland

Ann Philp is my one great-great-grandparent from Scotland. She was born around 1840, in Ceres, Fife, (estimated from the 1851 census), though we have not been able to find her baptism entry.




She married Martin Burke, (originally from Co Mayo in Ireland), in February 1861, in Perth, with her residence at the time given as Abernethy. Her parents are named on her marriage entry as Thomas Philp, ploughman, and Isabella Philp, whose maiden name was Nicholson. From the 1851 census we find that Thomas Philp was born in Strathmiglo, and Isabella Nicholson was born in Ceres.

(copied from microfilm in FHC)

 Ann was the sixth child in a family that had 10 children that we know of, some of whom we know were born in Ceres, Fife, others in Dunbog, Fife, and the youngest, Fanny (Euphemia) was born in Abernethy. Ann was said to be 11 in the 1851 census, and a scholar. When her mother Isabella died in Abernethy in 1855, Ann was listed amongst her children, and was said to be 15.

By the time of the 1861 census, Ann had married Martin Burke. However, rather than appearing in the Burke household in the census, she is listed as being in Abernethy with her father Thomas, as housekeeper at the Balvaird Cot House. Her youngest sister Euphemia is also there, aged 12, as well as another female child, Isabella Forrester aged 10. (I don’t know how/if Isabella fits into the family at this stage.)

The following year, on 21 August 1862, Ann Philp became a mother, with her firstborn child being Mary Burke, my great-grandmother. The young family were living in the Parish of Inchture at this time.

Mary Burke was just a young child when the family of three embarked for Canterbury in New Zealand, and they arrived in the port of Lyttelton on the ship Mermaid, in February 1864. From the newspaper account of the voyage we read that:- During the voyage the passengers had the benefit of fine weather nearly all the way out, and, in their own language, “there was scarce one evening but they could dance on deck.” 

Ann gave birth to two more children in New Zealand. Ann Burke was born in December 1864, and a son Thomas was born in 1866.

The family were living in Burnham when Ann Philp died in March 1895, aged 53 years old. Her death entry says she died of cancer of the liver. However, her brother-in-law John Burke died just two months earlier of a cause also said to be cancer of the liver, so we must wonder whether in fact there was some infectious cause.

Ann was buried in the Darfield Catholic Cemetery in a group of four family graves, near her daughter Mary, her brother-in-law John Burke, and Mary’s husband Patrick Riordan. The four graves are amongst the oldest in the cemetery.

I’d like to acknowledge the help Maggie Gaffney (third cousin) has given me in my research about the Philp family, especially by sharing the 1851 census and the 1855 death entry for Isabella Philp nee Nicholson.

Trip Prep!

ADDENDUM- POSTSCRIPT!
Well the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.... the world is in pandemic, and my trip is not to be. Hopefully, in a few years when I retire I can do this...

I've been having a stay-cation these hols as I save for my trip over to Europe. Quite a few of the things I'll be doing have a family history reason behind them, and I have organised some 'paperwork' to take with me.

For a few places that my family came from, I can find the family address quite precisely. But for most others, it is just a 'general area' that I'll be visiting. But either way, I am really looking forward to this exploration, and recording some of it for others in the family.

Here is a bit of a (vaguely) chronological outline of where I hope this genealogical journey will take me.

-Italy- Florence- to visit the WW2 grave of Robert Clarence Fleming, my maternal first cousin once removed.
-Switzerland- Ticino- to explore Corippo, Val Verzasca, the place of my Scettrini forebears.
- France- to visit the war graves and battle places of two great-uncles who died in WW1- James Riordan and John Francis Payn.
-Jersey, St Martin- where my Payn-Mourant ancestors come from.

 

-Scotland, Perth and Fifeshire.  Perth is where my Burke/Flynn family came to when they left behind the Famine in Ireland. Fifeshire is where the Philp family came from, particularly from Strathmiglo, though they moved around. I wonder what will be at 134 High St in Perth now. I am sure it would have been a tenement then, with dozens of children playing in the street nearby.

 And then I finally reach Ireland in late June, home of the bulk of my ancestry. There are many places to go...

Strabane, Co Tyrone- for my Arbuckle family, many of whom ended up making their home in Australia.

Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, for my Heneberry origins. (Again many other descendants are in Australia.)

Kilkenny- not sure exactly which area, but possibly near the northern end of the City of Kilkenny, for the family of James Lalor.

Cullane South, Ballylanders Parish, Co Limerick. This is where my Riordans hail from. I have found maps from Griffiths which I think pinpoint their farm, and I am looking forward to visiting the area.

Ballinadrideen, south of Charleville, where my Malone grandmother came from. 

Co Mayo- Derrycraff, Aghagower- the origin of my Burke/Flinn ancestors. 

Jeremiah Malone, Ballinadrideen, my great-grandfather

So, that's the plan!