Y-DNA Marker Results Kit #30435
Notes contributed by descendent:
[See the Bowes-Bigelow Family History website for extensive descendent history.]
Michael Bowes was likely born Michael Bowe, since his marriage record in 1820 to Elizabeth Brophy names him Michael Bowe. This record was recorded in St. Mary's parish, a part of Kilkenny city.
Many of Kilkenny parishes' birth records don't begin until the 1800s. That means there are many places in Kilkenny where a Michael Bowe could've been born with no record of it. Michael was a relatively common first name used with Bowe and Bowes.
In the "Address" field of his marriage certificate it says "Grace." So far I've been unable to find any location in Kilkenny city called Grace, or any street by that name, although I have yet to scrutinize any old maps. Meanwhile, I learned that the parish of Tullaroan, 7 miles from Kilkenny city (its eastern border just 4 miles from Kilkenny city), is often referred to as Grace. I think at one point Grace was part of Freshford parish. There are no birth records for the late 1700s for Tullaroan or Freshford parishes. If one of the records found below, particularly the first, is his, it's possible he lived in Grace/Tullaroan at the time of his marriage.
In birth records available around his birth year of 1790, there are three records for a Michael Bowe in Kilkenny. Keeping in mind that his birth may not be in any available records, if it happens to be, the first of the three found shows the strongest likely connection.
1) Michael Bowe, born 5 SEPT 1791, St. Mary's Parish, County Kilkenny. This parish is just miles from where Michael Bowe married Elizabeth Brophy in 1820 (St. John's Parish). Both parishes are part of Kilkenny city. Birth year is one later than our family records which say 1790. Note that this person's mother was *Mary* Cosgrove while our Michael's wife Elizabeth's mother was *Bridget* Lanigan. In traditional Irish naming patterns, the first two daughters are named after the grandmothers. Michael and Elizabeth had two daughters named Mary and Bridget. The sons, however, do not fit any traditional naming pattern using these records. There are earlier records for this Michael's birth family in the same database.
2) Michael Boe, born 23 SEPT 1792, St. Canice's Parish, County Kilkenny. This parish is *also* just miles from where Michael Bowe married Elizabeth Brophy in 1820 (St. John's Parish). Both of these parishes are *also* part of Kilkenny city. But in this record the birth year is *two* later than our family records which say 1790. The family seemed pretty sure of the birth year because it's on his grave stone in central New York and recorded it elsewhere.
3) Michael Bowe born 14 FEB 1794, Freshford Parish, County Kilkenny. This parish borders St. Canice's to the northwest but is not part of Kilkenny city. The birth year is *four* later than our records for Michael Bowe.
This Michael and his family emigrated during and just after The Great Famine to central New York, west of Syracuse, after all his children. The family said that they emigrated from Ballyragget in Kilkenny. That's north of Kilkenny city where the marriage record was recorded. The Griffiths Valuation of the mid-1800s shows who I think is our Michael Bowes renting about 23 acres from a large landowner by the name of Kavanagh, about one mile or less from the town of Ballyragget, in the smaller town of Finnan. If this is the same Michael Bowes, he apparently added the "s" to his last name before emigrating. While there are six Michael Bowe-s and two Michael Boweses in Kilkenny in the Griffiths Valuation, I think there is a strong likelihood that the one in Finnan is ours for the following reasons:
1) Our family had said that Michael emigrated to New York about 1853 after his wife died and all his children were already settled there. According to the Griffiths valuation, Michael Bowes was no longer on the lot in Finnan by 1855.
2) The lot was then rented by a Brophy and there had been and continue to be Brophy's on the adjacent lot. Michael had married a Brophy.
3) Finnan lies between Ballyragget and Castlecomer, and Michael's son Lawrence married Margaret Kenney from Castlecomer.
4) All of the available parish records for births in Kilkenny are available in a database online. I am unable to come up with Michael's children in this database and suspect that they were all born in Ballyragget parish. Those records burned and would explain why none of the six children are in the database.