IRWIN of IRELAND

History of the IRWINs of GREENVALE

in Counties MONAGHAN & LEITRIM
and the UNITED STATES of AMERICA

This IRWIN family were Presbyterians. They were farmers of

GREENVALE in Lisnagalliagh c.1860-1972, of BALLYBAY
in Acres, and of CUMRY, all in Co. MONAGHAN,
and of MOHILL in Co. LEITRIM, and in the USA

WELCOME!
Laid out on these pages is the history of our small branch of the IRWIN name in
Ireland, and more recently in North America. It encompasses the Scottish
background to our name, a pedigree of our branch and its illustrated history over
five generations. You are welcome to leave a comment on this website; if you have
any information to add to the data here please give us details using the contact
addresses given on page 16.

Two Irwin haunts in Scotland

1

Irvine Castle, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland

Drum Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Scottish Background to the Irwin/Irvine History

"Eriwine" and "Erwinne" are old English first names, derived from the "ir afon" meaning "green water" in old Celtic languages. It became the name of a parish
in Annandale in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and also in Ayrshire (where the town of Irvine has prospered). The first recorded reference in Scotland is Gilchrist,
son of Eruini, who witnessed a charter in Galloway in the 12th century. However, family tradition claims that the chief branch originated through the lay
Abbots of Dunkeld from the High Kings of Ireland. William de Irwin was a neighbour of the Bruce family and he became an armour-bearer and then secretary
to Robert the Bruce. His reward for 20 years of service was the royal forest of Drum, near Banchory, in Aberdeenshire. This then became the seat of the family.
De Irwyne, the 3rd Laird of Drum (named Alexander, as were the next 11 chiefs) accompanied the Earl of Mar in the French wars and fought at the Battle of
Harlaw in 1411. The 4th Laird was heavily involved in the negotiations which ransomed King James I from the English. James knighted de Irwyne. The
Dumfries branch rose to prominence in the 16th century - Christopher Irving of Bonshaw and a son were killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. They were
involved in Dumfries municipal affairs and their descendants are now living in Canada.
The 10th Laird of Drum staunchly supported King Charles I but, during the fighting, Drum castle was attacked and looted. An offer of a peerage was made to
the 11th Laird but he declined it when he found the king unwilling to recompense him for the destruction of the Drum estates. Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire is
now owned by the National Trust for Scotland and is regarded as one of the finest castles in Scotland. The keep is one of the three oldest surviving tower
houses in the country. See picture of the Castle (above right). The Irvine Lairds fought on the side of the Jacobites in both the 1715 and 1745 Uprisings. A
number of Irvines emigrated to Ireland - there is an Irvine Castle, Co Fermanagh, Ireland which was built by a Scottish Irvine.
In more recent times, the 22nd Laird fought in the First World War in the Grenadier Guards. Sir Robert Irvine, from the Dumfries line, was captain of the
"Queen Mary" and Sir James Irvine (from Ayrshire) was a noted chemist and a principal of St Andrews University until 1952. The Irwin clan motto is "Sub sole
sub umbra virens" which means "Flourishing in both sunshine and shade". It just happens we in Europe are experiencing a bit of shade just at the moment!
2

PEDIGREE OF THE IRWINS OF GREENVALE (Lisnagalliagh Townland)

c.1825

c. 1830

?William Irwin = Elizabeth McFadden

Samuel Irwin = Jane b. circa 1811-14

?James Irwin 1812-45 of Cumry House
b c.1804. Eight children born 1826-41
b.1801-11. Builder/Carpenter, Ballybay | Alive 1892 (Will of son James)
1845 Obituary (died of consumption aged 33)
Immigrated to USA
Leased Greenvale estate c.1860? |
________________________________________________________|_________ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_____________________
|
|
|
|
1886
|
|
1880
|
|
|

Alexander David T James 1840-92 (Will) Hugh 1842-1912 = Mary Jane Francis 1847-1916= Jane McMinn Joseph b.1851 = Mary Anne Mary Jane Margaret Elizabeth
1832-85
1835-88
b. Annaneese
Farmer at Cormeen | McFadden
Coach builder | b. Cavan
at Cumry. d.1914 | Lyttle of
b.1838 at
b.1844
b.1852
b. Acres. Annaneese
Builder, of Cumry.
& Greenvale | b.1867
of Cumry 1901 |1859
Civil Engineer of | Leitrim Annaneese. Edenanay Cumry
Working m.1883 Lizzy (1874-7 built 6 houses
(Lisnagalliagh) |
Farmer 1911 |
Derreen Lodge, | 1858-1920 m.1867. m. J Wright m.James
with James McCreary in Hall St. Ballybay;
|
_____________|______
Mohill, Leitrim.|
C. Doherty Ballybay Irwin 1889
1869-81
1856-1913 1881 Christchurch, Ballybay).
|
|
|
|
Asst Co. Surveyor|
|
| NYork 1900
from
Farmed at
Property at Newbliss
|
Samuel
Robert
Lizzie Co. Auctioneer, Farmer
Sam Hugh James Wright
Cootehill Acres, Ballybay/
Hugh Irwin: | b.1885. Carpenter Farmer, b.1891
of Lough Rynn, Dromod, Irwin Doherty. to USA 1881
(Irwin Bros) Carpenter
28 family at 1912 funeral | Sapper in WW1, (Cumry house stones 1909) .
1878 1904 |
m. Martin 1892, + Hugh & Francis
|
| awarded MSM .
|
Belfast
__________|_____________
|
_____b. Derreen, Mohill, Leitrim___________________|___________________
|
|
| 1921 in USA
|
|
|
|
1918
|
Maggie Samuel Alex
David* = Rebecca Jane (below)
| Frances Jane Samuel William Mary Kathleen = Arthur R Cox
Fitzmaurice Herbert 1893-1976.
b.1883
b.1886 Acres
1888-1960
| 1886-88 b.1888 Engineer IMechE. b.1890 Mohill | Farmer at Croghan. m. Mary L Meharg 1891-1970.
m. 1915 m.Marg E Jackson Royal Irish Rifles c.1906
|
Lieut RE in WW1. ,________________| Canada 1925-67(d)
at Bangor 1918. Both died
W. Allister, d.1959 Feragh
New York 1909
|
Bangor 1925.
Phyllis Mary b.1919. Margaret P. b.1925
at 35 Belmont Park, Belfast
Feragh______4 children__Canadian Expeditionary Force 1918 |___________ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_______________________

1818

1942

1952

Rebecca
Joseph = Margaret Mary Eliza Frances
George = Margaret
Sarah
Margaret
Mary Ann Helen Eva Hugh = May Sanderson<
Jane (Jenny)
1889-1965 | Cunningham
b.1891
1892-1973 Sanderson< 1894-1960
b.1896
b.1897
b.1899
1902-1982
b.1887
Farmer | 1894-1980.
m. Thomas Allen Married at 50. Heir to his USA 1912. m. Archie Forde, m. William m. William In USA 1922-34
New York
of Glen | 1911 Belfast
of Drumharrow. fathers Greenvale estate
Nurse
Belfast merchant McCreary, George Fox Sold Greenvale to John
1909 with
Rockcorry | dressmaker.
Went to Belfast
which he sold to brother m. W.McVitty
Mount Lodge
in 1926
Murnaghan in 1972
cousin David*
& Cootehill. |
Hugh c.1950. Dau: Jane New Jersey
Demesne
who she married 1921
|
m. Dunwoody Graham.
Son: Billy
____________________|_ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Archibald Joseph, Arthur C, George David, Irene Elizabeth = Bobby
Helen, = Harry
Eva Mildred, = Jim
Mabel, = Dr Eddie Stella = Matthew Alexander
Sam Hugh Farmer Farmer
Builder,
Jane,
Nurse | Robinson
Nurse Carleton Nurse b.1926 Wilson Nurse
Knox.
Little. Farmer of
to USA.
b.1924 (bachelor) Gloucestershire b.1919
|
Builder
Farmer, b.1930 Belfast
Freame Mount, Cootehill
m. Peggy
m. Joy b.1928
m. Ena Hoey
Kathy Dooley
Ballybay
Fannin.
Wilkin
1/3/15
Long Island
THE HISTORY OF THIS FAMILY FOLLOWS BELOW

IRWIN of GREENVALE
Background to the Greenvale/Sallyville estate
Over the centuries the fortunes of farming families in County Monaghan have been precarious to say the least. Many farmers with smallholdings barely
providing above subsistence level, were particularly vulnerable to the adversities that faced them: weather, pestilence, the vagaries of the markets, landlords and
their agents, all figure in the story of farming in Ulster. The hazards of life in County Monaghan in the early 19th century included famines in the years 1817,
1821 and 1822, and a hurricane force wind on 6th January 1839 which caused tree blow-down, fire, death and wide-scale destruction. Most damaging of all was
the severe outbreak of typhus in 1817 which carried off many victims. Some of the subsequent misfortunes visited on Ulster farmers, such as the Great Potato
Famine of the 1840s and the three years of harvest failures in the 1870s, are mentioned later.

Two separate views of Greenvale looking eastward from Ten Acre Field over Nine Acre Field and the Byre Meadow down to the Mill Stream in the valley
which forms the present eastern boundary of the farm. In the distance two miles away the ground rises to Mullananalt where there is a Wind Farm (far right).

But there were good years too. Following the massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) on the Continent, when Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of
Nantes in 1685, large numbers of them sought refuge in England. With them the Huguenots brought their knowledge of the manufacturing and bleaching of
linen and by 1698 some of these exiled Huguenots arrived in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. They then started the process of helping to revitalise Irelands small highquality linen trade into a thriving local industry to the benefit of many farmers. To the south of County Monaghan came members of the Breakey family (de
Brequet in French) to the Parish of Aughnamullen, four miles south-west of the town of Ballybay, where they established their linen operation in the
Townlands of Derry and Lisnagalliagh. They based themselves at Drumskelt House in Ballybay, at Millmore House in Aughnamullen and, a mile to the south,
at Millford (which no longer exists). In 1767 they leased further land to the south adjacent to the village of Latton from the Kerr family of Newcastle, County
Meath, and established suitable watercourses with dams feeding off Lough Avaghon. They built a flax mill with an expensive mill race, and established bleachgreens for comprehensive linen production. Their farm/estate was then known as Sallyville (a family name) or Greenvale.
The localised Linen trade eventually brought undreamed of wealth to those farmers able to take advantage. The Breakeys boasted that their bleach-green
stretched across the flat lands of Greenvale from the Mill south to Veldons Cross, a distance of over half a mile, all covered with linen. In November 1769
they reported thefts from their bleach-green. Because of the value and ease of sale, the newly woven linen webs which were pegged down to bleach in the sun
during the summer months were vulnerable to theft. In some places watch-houses were built to overlook bleach-greens with armed guards and vicious dogs of
a breed... little less formidable than tigers! This is not just hyperbole: from 1763 the death penalty had applied to bleach-green thieves - an indication of the
values involved. That law was not repealed until 1811.

Greenvale: Left is a view to the south east from the main farm track looking
across Mill Field to the southern boundary of the present farm. In the 18th
century Greenvale extended for a further half a mile to the south which was
used as a bleach-green and often covered completely with valuable linen.

Right is a sketch of Greenvale Farm fields from a map of 1909,

at which time the farm covered some 126 acres compared with
the present one of only 88 acres.

Meanwhile three miles away to the east of Sallyville, Hugh Jackson from Lisnaboe near Kingscourt, County Cavan, had been exploiting the flax and linen
potential of Creeve Lough with his Huguenot wife, their five sons and his son-in-law. At Creeve they had the advantage of a rapid fall of the stream from the
Lough at 300 feet high over a distance of just two miles to the Dromore river valley, and so were able to provide power without having to make major changes
to the watercourse. The Jacksons not only instigated the development of Ballybay from a village into a sizeable town but established it as a major linen market
in its own right, in competition with Monaghan and Clones, to the advantage of the Breakeys and all the other local farmers. Later the Jacksons were among the
many Presbyterian activists in the Society of United Irishmen in conflict with the Government in Dublin, and some of the wider Jackson family became
involved in the ill-fated rebellion of 1798. This event added greatly to tensions in the local community and later had implications for the Breakeys themselves.
Among the Breakey papers there is an apocryphal story about how the familys time as local linen manufacturers came to an abrupt end. They blame a Lt-Col
William Kerr of the Monaghan Yeomanry living at Farmoyle House, Mountain Lodge Demesne (probably of the same family from which the Breakeys had
leased part of their land). They have written several stories about Colonel Kerr showing him, in their eyes, to be a duplicitous scoundrel with a strong aversion
to Presbyterians! Then, due to some unknown sleight by the Breakeys, Kerr blocked the water from Lough Avaghon which powered their operation. It seems
that a long legal battle ensued in which both sides in effect lost. The upshot was that the Breakeys tenure of their Sallyville/Greenvale enterprise was ended by
1806 and leased to others (thought to be the Alderson family). According to the Breakey account, justice was eventually served as Kerr died a pauper!
Surprisingly after this debacle, the Huguenot family did not completely leave the area but retained Drumskelt, their house in Ballybay, for another 150 years
(until 1959).

The northern end of Lough Avaghon from where water flowed into the Greenvale Mill Stream.

The paltry water flow near the site of the old Greenvale Mill today

Even when corn mills had replaced the flax mills a dispute with the owner of the water out-flow for your millstream could be disastrous for a farmer as it was
for the Breakeys above: William Kierans, who then owned and operated the corn mill there, which was then normally in use for six months of the year, had a
dispute with Captain Edward Colburn Mayne (1801-50) who controlled the out-fall from Lough Avaghon. As a result there was no water and the mill was
closed (Clogher Record 1987 p.356, and Griffiths Valuation 1839).
Local linen manufacture in the Ballybay area continued to flourish into the 19th century but by 1825 the influence of the new-powered factories starting up in
the Lagan valley began to be felt. By the 1830s the local linen trade was collapsing. Home-based spinners and weavers could not compete with the massive
output of the new factories. The Jacksons all left for America and many of the wealthier weavers and spinners emigrated too whilst the remainder turned their
attention to dairy and tillage farming in an effort to survive. The flourishing linen market at Ballybay died out and was replaced by markets for corn, cattle and
dairy produce. Flax continued to be produced for sale at the local markets on a smaller scale for the Lagan valley mills. But markets, and with them the size of
farms, were decreasing while unemployment rose. Then in 1845 came an even greater scourge, the Great Potato Famine (1845-47) in which Monaghan
suffered most among the Ulster counties due to its disproportionately high population, many of whom were most vulnerable to a potato shortage: these were the
unemployed (including many linen refugees), the labourers, the cottiers and the small farmers. During the famine years the County lost at least 40% of its
population of about 220,000 [Peadar Livingstone in the Monaghan Story]. In the ten years between 1841-51 the adjoining Parishes of Ballybay &
Tullycorbet lost 24% of their population. The Great Irish Faminel
The Irwin Family
The Greenvale Estate in Famine times embraced the Townlands of Lisnagalliagh, Cormeen, Corfad and Drumlood. It was in the possession of the Goodman
[actually Goodlatte] family in 1849. Round 1850 the Irwin family bought it. The Land Commission in later years divided part of it.. [History of Latton Parish
Aughnamullen West, by Seamus Drudy of Derrygooney, Latton].
So prospective farmer Samuel Irwin, described on the pedigree (pages 3 & 9) as a builder and carpenter, took over Greenvale at the tail end of the Potato
Famine. They had been years of suffering for many which are reflected in the stories of the Greenvale estate when Paupers Field, with its Mill Race and
trees, gained its name. The field still retains the name today reminding us of those unfortunate times. It is the field beyond Mill Field where Greenvales Flax
and Corn mills used to stand alongside its great welcoming Farmhouse, referred to as the Big House of which today there is no sign.
In those awful years of famine when people were dying of hunger, many of them flocked to a field near the Big House. Trees bearing large nuts were growing
in the field, and the nuts when ripe fell in their hundreds to the ground. It is said that the Pig Nuts as they were called, along with clover, saved many people
from an early grave Seamus Drudy.
However Pignuts (Conopodium Majus) are not nuts but a root or tuber of the Carrot family which can be eaten raw and are both palatable and calorific, and so
make a useful survival food - although rather small (see page 8). Pignuts are likely to have been in Paupers Field, easily identified and beneficially consumed
by the hungry. But the ripe nuts falling to the ground were probably gathered from Sweet Chestnut trees of which there is still at least one in Paupers Field.
It is said that the mill was at one time a poor house which housed six hundred paupers. A number of them died every day. This has been identified on the map
of 1909 as a large mill building (no longer standing) between Mill Field and Paupers Field overlooking the mill stream at Greenvale.

Paupers Field and some of its trees today

The carrot-like leaf of the Pignut

The Pignut itself!

The fruit of the Sweet Chestnut

Samuel Irwin and his wife Jane are the earliest Irwin ancestors of whom we have found records. Samuel was born in the first years of the 19th century and
they would have been married in about 1830. Jane was still alive in 1892 having outlived three of her six sons. The name Irwin and its numerous spellings
(Irvine, Erwin etc.) is, for obvious reasons, a common Presbyterian name in Ulster. We cannot positively identify from local records any siblings Samuel may
have had but there are two probable candidates who have been included on the pedigree (next page). They are:

William Irwin born c.1804, married to Elizabeth McFadden who had eight children between 1826-41. They emigrated to the USA.
James Irwin 1812-45 of Cumry House, who died of consumption aged only 33.

Samuel and Jane had nine children, six of them boys. The only evidence of the whereabouts of Samuel and his increasing family in the early days of the
marriage is where their children were born. This shows they were in Acres (that is Ballybay) in 1832, followed by a move to Annaneese until about 1842, then
Edenanay in 1844, and thereafter Cumry (which is closest to Greenvale). All these places are south of Ballybay and within three miles of the town.
We know no more of the parents Samuel and Jane. Of their sons, David Thomas became a farmer at Ballybay while his brother James became a successful
Ballybay builder, later working with his elder brother Alexander. The fourth son, Hugh, took over Greenvale from his father, while Francis became a coach
builder and farmer at Cumry. Then the youngest son Joseph married a girl in Leitrim and became auctioneer & surveyor for that County. All three of the
daughters married locally: Margarets children emigrated to the USA in 1881 and Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, herself went to New York in 1900. There
will be more about some of these later (at page 14) after we first follow the Greenvale trail.
8

PEDIGREE OF THE IRWINS OF GREENVALE (Lisnagalliagh Townland)

c.1825

c. 1830

?William Irwin = Elizabeth McFadden

Samuel Irwin = Jane b. circa 1811-14

?James Irwin 1812-45 of Cumry House
b c.1804. Eight children born 1826-41
b.1801-11. Builder/Carpenter, Ballybay | Alive 1892 (Will of son James)
1845 Obituary (died of consumption aged 33)
Immigrated to USA
Leased Greenvale estate c.1860? |
________________________________________________________|_________ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_____________________
|
|
|
|
1886
|
|
1880
|
|
|

Alexander David T James 1840-92 (Will) Hugh 1842-1912 = Mary Jane Francis 1847-1916= Jane McMinn Joseph b.1851 = Mary Anne Mary Jane Margaret Elizabeth
1832-85
1835-88
b. Annaneese
Farmer at Cormeen | McFadden
Coach builder | b. Cavan
at Cumry. d.1914 | Lyttle of
b.1838 at
b.1844
b.1852
b. Acres. Annaneese
Builder, of Cumry.
& Greenvale | b.1867
of Cumry 1901 |1859
Civil Engineer of | Leitrim Annaneese. Edenanay Cumry
Working m.1883 Lizzy (1874-7 built 6 houses
(Lisnagalliagh) |
Farmer 1911 |
Derreen Lodge, | 1858-1920 m.1867. m. J Wright m.James
with James McCreary in Hall St. Ballybay;
|
_____________|______
Mohill, Leitrim.|
C. Doherty Ballybay Irwin 1889
1869-81
1856-1913 1881 Christchurch, Ballybay).
|
|
|
|
Asst Co. Surveyor|
|
| NYork 1900
from
Farmed at
Property at Newbliss
|
Samuel
Robert
Lizzie Co. Auctioneer, Farmer
Sam Hugh James Wright
Cootehill Acres, Ballybay/
Hugh Irwin: | b.1885. Carpenter Farmer, b.1891
of Lough Rynn, Dromod, Irwin Doherty. to USA 1881
(Irwin Bros) Carpenter
28 family at 1912 funeral | Sapper in WW1, (Cumry house stones 1909) .
1878 1904 |
m. Martin 1892, + Hugh & Francis
|
| awarded MSM .
|
Belfast
__________|_____________
|
_____b. Derreen, Mohill, Leitrim___________________|___________________
|
|
| 1921 in USA
|
|
|
|
1918
|
Maggie Samuel Alex
David* = Rebecca Jane (below)
| Frances Jane Samuel William Mary Kathleen = Arthur R Cox
Fitzmaurice Herbert 1893-1976.
b.1883
b.1886 Acres
1888-1960
| 1886-88 b.1888 Engineer IMechE. b.1890 Mohill | Farmer at Croghan. m. Mary L Meharg 1891-1970.
m. 1915 m.Marg E Jackson Royal Irish Rifles c.1906
|
Lieut RE in WW1. ,________________| Canada 1925-67(d)
at Bangor 1918. Both died
W. Allister, d.1959 Feragh
New York 1909
|
Bangor 1925.
Phyllis Mary b.1919. Margaret P. b.1925
at 35 Belmont Park, Belfast
Feragh______4 children__Canadian Expeditionary Force 1918 |___________ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_______________________

1818

1942

1952

Rebecca
Joseph = Margaret Mary Eliza Frances
George = Margaret
Sarah
Margaret
Mary Ann Helen Eva Hugh = May Sanderson<
Jane (Jenny)
1889-1965 | Cunningham
b.1891
1892-1973 Sanderson< 1894-1960
b.1896
b.1897
b.1899
1902-1982
b.1887
Farmer | 1894-1980.
m. Thomas Allen Married at 50. Heir to his USA 1912. m. Archie Forde, m. William m. William In USA 1922-34
New York
of Glen | 1911 Belfast
of Drumharrow. fathers Greenvale estate
Nurse
Belfast merchant McCreary, George Fox Sold Greenvale to John
1909 with
Rockcorry | dressmaker.
Went to Belfast
which he sold to brother m. W.McVitty
Mount Lodge
in 1926
Murnaghan in 1972
cousin David*
& Cootehill. |
Hugh c.1950. Dau: Jane New Jersey
Demesne
who she married 1921
|
m. Dunwoody Graham.
Son: Billy
____________________|_ Birth dates from Peadar Murnanes records_________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Archibald Joseph, Arthur C, George David, Irene Elizabeth = Bobby
Helen, = Harry
Eva Mildred, = Jim
Mabel, = Dr Eddie Stella = Matthew Alexander
Sam Hugh Farmer Farmer
Builder,
Jane,
Nurse | Robinson
Nurse Carleton Nurse b.1926 Wilson Nurse
Knox.
Little. Farmer of
to USA.
b.1924 (bachelor) Gloucestershire b.1919
|
Builder
Farmer, b.1930 Belfast
Freame Mount, Cootehill
m. Peggy
m. Joy b.1928
m. Ena Hoey
Kathy Dooley
Ballybay
Fannin.
Wilkin
1/3/15
Long Island

Greenvale: the Irwin succession

Samuel Irwin would have been in his 40s when he leased Greenvale following the Potato Famine. It was a time when prices for sale or rental of land had
plummeted, yet the monies which had to be paid out by individual farms/estates in rent, or otherwise entailed, remained the same. Thus many Irish
farms/estates had become insolvent. The problem had been met with the introduction of the Encumbered Estates Court whereby the Government took
ownership of these properties, often divided them up, and then sold them on with a parliamentary title, free from the threat of contested ownership. Samuel, at
that time a builder and not a farmer and probably unencumbered by debt, may well have been part of one of these arrangements. Nevertheless the 1858 Griffith
Valuations show that the landlord of Greenvale in Lisnagalliah Townland was then one William Watson and his tenant David R Goodlatte; the latter had
advertised in 1852 to let Greenvale Mills. Thus it follows that, unless the farm had been sub-let to Samuel Irwin, his arrival on the scene was later than
Seamus Drudy suggested.
Records are lacking and we can only pick up the story with glimpses of Samuels son Hugh Irwin after he had taken over from his father. It was a time in
which farmers who had survived the potato famine had to continue to struggle against sudden and frequent extreme and adverse weather. The worst in a
difficult period was the failure of three harvests in succession in the years 1877-79. In the final year of the three, there were on average 2 out of 3 days of heavy
rain throughout the critical second and third quarters of the year. This caused near starvation for smallholders, cottiers and labourers, and also ruined the hay
harvest and made turf cutting impossible. In 1880 better weather in both spring and summer provided a much better harvest.

Greenvales Mill Race at the south-east corner of Paupers Field (far right).
The Mill Stream at this point is the eastern boundary of the present farm.

View north up House Meadow from where Greenvale House used to stand. See page 13.
The Mill Stream behind the trees on the right runs north into the Dromore river system

10

The first record we have of Hugh Irwin at Greenvale is in 1888 as a tenant in dispute over arrears of rent with the landlord who was Amelia Goodlatte of Moy,
Co. Tyrone (wife of the late David Richardson Goodlatte, the tenant of 1858, who died in 1873). The farm was being leased to Hugh at a yearly rental of 210.
Later the same year (1888) he was threatened with having his chattels and tenancy of Greenvale sold off due to the rent he owed (the owner was claiming
932), and this description of the farm was advertised: containing 126 statute acres, excellent Corn and Saw and Threshing Mills on the farm, situated 4 miles
from Ballybay and 2 miles from Rockcorry (Belfast Newsletter 8 Sep 1888). This Corn Mill was later described by Peadar Murnane: The water wheel was 18
foot in diameter with 5 foot wide buckets, and had two pairs of grinding stones.
In an 1892 rates assessment Hugh, who was living at Greenvale House in Aughnamullen, was confirmed as occupier of the farm (house-off-land), his new
landlord being Alfred R Goodlatte (son of Amelia). In 1894 a Land Commission Court ruled that Hughs yearly rental for Greenvale should be reduced to 130.
Rate assessments over this period for the farm of about 124 acres amounted to 101 in 1892, 5 for the Flax Mill in 1899, and 56 for the farm in 1910.
Hugh died in 1912 aged 70 following a two week illness having run the farm to the end, and was succeeded by his son George Irwin aged only 20, as the new
tenant of Greenvale.
Despite the legal difficulties Hugh Irwin (referred to below also as Granda Hugh) had in getting his rent to reflect current farming conditions, it is clear
from other evidence that his tenure of Greenvale was a success. He was a popular figure who, according to his obituary, had provided employment for a large
staff of farm hands and skilled workmen. A man of marked intelligence and force of character whose practical advice was in great demand, he could always be
relied upon to support progress and popular improvements. His whole career was marked with admirable single-mindedness and incorruptibility of purpose; he
is a sad loss to the community as a whole. Apart from large numbers of the general public, there were 28 mourners from the deceaseds Irwin family who
attended the funeral. They included relations from the Docherty, Wright, McFadden, McCreary, McMinn, Harper and Wyklin families. Granda was buried at
the First Ballybay Presbyterian church.

Paupers Field looking north across the mill stream to Aughnamullen.

Mary Jane Irwin ne McFadden.

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Southern boundary of Mill Field and the drumlin beyond

David Irwin, Royal Irish Rifles, Belfast c.1906.

Rebecca Jane (Jenny) Irwin c.1909.
David & cousin Jenny sailed for New York, May 1909

William & Maggie Allister ne Irwin

c.1917. Farmers at Feragh.

Sarah Irwin c.1919 went to the USA,

married William McVitty of Fairhaven, NJ

Granda Hugh and his wife Mary Jane ne McFadden had nine children of whom three were boys (see Pedigree on page 9). On Hughs death in 1912, the
eldest son Joseph had his own farm at Glen Rockcorry and the youngest Hugh (junior) was only ten, so George at 20 had to shoulder the full burden of the
family farm. We have no more than snippets of information about this final phase of the Irwin tenure of Greenvale which was shared between George and his
younger brother Hugh, and was to last for 60 years. Clearly George made some early changes: the rate assessment of 1917 commented that the Flax and Saw
mills were almost ruins and the rate was reduced accordingly. In 1925 the rate for the farm, still about 124 acres in size, was again assessed at 56. At some
stage after that, the Irwins appear to have become the owners rather than the tenants of the farm. Meanwhile Georges younger brother Hugh (junior) had left
for America in 1922 where he became a successful ice salesman. After 12 years Hugh returned home to Ireland to help brother George.
In 1942 when George was fifty he married Margaret Sanderson and they had a daughter Jane. He had been running the farm for over 30 years and they
wanted to move away so he sold Greenvale to his brother Hugh who had accumulated the money in the States with the help of his first cousin David Irwin in
New York. Soon after, Hugh married Margaret Sandersons sister May and they took up residence on their farm. Some twenty years later in 1972 when Hugh
Irwin was 70 he sold Greenvale to John Murnaghan (photos page 16). John was a local builder like Samuel Irwin the first of the family to farm Greenvale.
John allowed Hugh and May to continue to live in their house on the farm, and May to stay there after Hugh died. Today Greenvale extends to 88 acres: this is
a 30% reduction on its size of 126 acres in the 19th century. From the limited records that are available the lost fields must have been sold off after 1925.
[John Murnaghan generously gave us access to maps of Greenvale (see page 5) and allowed us to take the photographs of the current farm used in this article]
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Cumry House today, overlooking the Dromore river valley, two miles south-west
Greenvale House, the homestead of the Irwins of Greenvale which stood
of Ballybay. This used to be the home of builder Samuel and Jane Irwin from c.1850
by the Mill Stream at the centre of their farm. It was occupied in turn by Granda
(and possibly before that of Samuels brother James who died in 1845). By 1901, Samuels
Hugh and Mary Irwin and their nine children, until 1912 when their son George
5th son Francis, the coachbuilder and farmer, lived here with his wife Jane McMinn and
took over the farm on the death of his father. George sold the farm to his brother
their sons Samuel and Robert whose names are engraved on stones in the building
Hugh in about 1950 and it was bought in 1972 by John Murnaghan. See view page 10.

Samuel and Jane Irwins children (continued from page 8)

While Hugh, the fourth son of six, took over the Greenvale estate from his father, his elder brother James (like his father before him) was running a successful
building business under the name IRWIN BROTHERS in and around Ballybay from his home at Cumry. James had the occasional help of his younger brother
Francis, a coach builder, also living at Cumry. In 1869 James recruited his oldest brother, Alexander living at Cootehill, to work for his firm full time, which
he did for twelve years until he was nearing fifty. In that time Irwin Brothers acquired some significant local contracts for instance building groups of new
houses in Ballybay 1874-77 and tackling major work required on Christchurch 1881. Meanwhile the second brother, David Thomas had a farm at Acres
(Ballybay).
Misfortune struck the three eldest brothers, Alexander, David Thomas and James, in turn: all of them died soon after their fiftieth birthdays. Neither James nor
Alexander had children and the Irwin Brothers came to an abrupt end. David Thomas left his farm, a wife, Lizzie McCreary, and three young children aged
5,2 and 1. Lizzie faced, did she but know it, with 25 years of widowhood, rose magnificently to the occasion, running the farm and bringing up her children
single-handed. At her large funeral in 1913 it was said that since the death of her husband she had efficiently managed an extensive farming business and
remained extremely popular with all creeds and classes. Her genial amiable disposition endeared her to everybody. Her two elder children became farmers at
Feragh: daughter Maggie married William Allister in 1915, and son Samuel Alexander married Margaret Jackson in 1916. Each couple had four children
and we are currently in touch with a granddaughter of Samuel Alexander Denise Burley in Leicester.
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David Irwin, Canadian Expeditionary

Force 1918

Jenny and David Irwin, New York,

about 1950

Margaret Mary Irwin ne

Cunningham, with Stella and Jacky

Joseph Irwin with daughter Irene c.1922

Immigrants to the USA

Lizzies younger son David Irwin took a different path to his brother and sister. He first enlisted in the Royal Irish Rifles at the age of 18. He immigrated to
New York in 1909 accompanied by his first cousin Rebecca Jane (Jenny) who was the eldest child of Granda Hugh. Jennys younger sister Sarah aged 17
joined her in 1912 (very fortunately not sailing on the Titanic!). With the First World War being waged in Europe, David enlisted in the Canadian Army on 12
September 1917, joined the 1st Central Ontario Regiment for his training and then became part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the last year of the war.
In the 1920 census in New York, Jenny and her cousins Susan and Emily Wilkin were maids to 90 year old Emily Southmayd in Manhattan. David, who
married Jenny in 1921, worked for an ice company in New York and by 1942 had his own business. In 1925 Jennys brother Hugh was staying with them and
driving for an ice company: he returned home to Ireland in 1934 a wealthy man. David, who had helped him, died in Brooklyn in 1960. Jennys sister Sarah,
who meanwhile had qualified as a nurse in England, returned to America in 1919 and later married William McVitty of Fairhaven, New Jersey, an avid
wildfowler. They had a son Billy. Sarah died in 1960.
Other members of the wider family who immigrated to America include Granda Hughs nephew, James Wright and his family in 1881, and Hughs youngest
sister Elizabeth and her husband James Irwin in 1900. The most recent immigrant to the USA was Granda Hughs grandson Archibald Samuel Hugh Irwin,
a landscape gardener, who settled in Long Island, married Peggy Fannin and they had a daughter Margaret with whom we are in touch. See Pedigree at page 9
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Samuel and Jane Irwins younger sons (continued from page 13)
Francis Irwin, fifth son of Samuel and Jane was a coach builder working from his home at Cumry House where he and his wife Jane McMinn brought up
their children Samuel , Robert and Lizzie. Francis also helped his elder brother James, the builder, until the latters early death in 1892. In the Census of 1911
when Francis was in his 60s he describes himself as a farmer. This was probably on his younger son Roberts farm. Samuel worked with his father on the
coaches as a carpenter. His technical abilities were recognised in Feb 1915 soon after the start of hostilities in WW1 when Samuel joined the Army as a Sapper
in the Royal Engineers. He served continuously on the Western Front in France and Belgium for over 2 years taking part in 7 major battles. He was wounded
just before the end of the war and awarded the Meritorious Service Medal <Click for an illustrated account of his time on the Western Front. See also page 17.
Joseph Irwin, Samuel and Janes youngest son, married a Leitrim girl, Mary Anne Lyttle, and settled near Lough Rynn at Derreen Lodge, Dromod, working
for Leitrim County. He arrived there as a civil engineer and was made Assistant County Surveyor with large responsibilities for land and the sale and letting
of houses, in which capacity he was frequently a prosecution witness in the law courts having himself prepared the case. Clearly admired for his competence,
the roles of County Auctioneer and Valuer were added to him. When in 1884 this Pooh-Bah had his left hand amputated after a shooting accident, he also
received the sympathy vote, and was described as much respected as a man of integrity and of amiable demeanour. But there was a reaction to his increased
influence. He was accused of trespass, then of causing an obstruction while holding an auction, and finally had to defend himself in a long running case of
slander relating to his so-called corruption - for which he engaged two QCs. The sorry saga is all laid out in the pages of the Leitrim Advertiser. Even when
later Joseph became a farmer, he was faced with a charge of failing to report sheep scab. Needless to say the Courts, in which he was a familiar sight, almost
always found in his favour. He and Mary Anne had four children: Samuel William, the elder son, became an engineer like his father. He was commissioned
into the Royal Engineers in 1915, was twice wounded in France, finished WW1 at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and qualified for IMechE membership.

Joseph & Margaret Irwin Joseph

Archibald
and their children (right)
Mabel,
Stella

Arthur
George
Irene Helen Eva Mildred

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Archies wife Peggy Fannin

and daughter Margaret

George David Irwin marries Ena Hoey

Derreen Lodge, Mohill, Lough Rynn was the home of

Joseph Irwin 1849-1915 of Leitrim Council. See page 15.

Mabel Knox, George Irwin, Eva Wilson, Helen Carleton Freame Mount farm, Cootehill, in the 1970s. Home of Stella
Stella Little, Kathy Dooley ne Robinson, Irene Robinson
Little and her husband Matthew and their four children

(Left) John Murnaghan bought Greenvale in 1972 from

(Right) Hugh Irwin (junior) in hat

Joseph Irwin marries Joy Wilkin

Archibald Mabel Arthur

George
Helen Stella
Eva
Irene

THIS HISTORY WAS PREPARED BY Stella Little ne Irwin of Freame Mount, Cootehill, Ireland, with the help of members and friends of the Irwin
family of Greenvale in Lisnagalliagh Townland, County Monaghan, and in the United States of America.
E-mail: stellalittle1@eircom.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1327045967
Revision date: July 2015
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Sapper Samuel IRWIN, Royal Engineers, during the Great War ( from page 15)
On the anniversary of this disastrous conflict we have prepared an illustrated account of Samuels time in France and Belgium
1915-18, for which he was awarded the MSM . Click on http://www.scribd.com/doc/162284157/SAMUEL-IRWIN
The Imperial War Museum has the story of Samuel Irwins life at https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2057414#timeline

Samuel Irwin and sister Lizzie (left) with their

mother Jane, ne McMinn, in about 1935

The German Spring Offensive of 21 March 1918

forced Samuels unit into a fighting withdrawal
of some 40 miles. Pictured: German soldier throwing
a hand grenade during this operation.

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IRWIN CLAN REGALIA

ON SALE with other items of Irwin regalia on the official USA-based website
of CLAN IRWIN at http://clanirwin.org/index.php which includes the IRWIN DNA Study.

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