Plots of land 9A & 9B and 10A & 10B in Gorteade were rented by Patrick Kane and Bernard Kane. Patrick rented 9A & 9B on his own. 10A & 10 B were rented jointly by Patrick & Bernard. Bernard also held a separate piece of land No. 11 on his own. The sharing of the land and the close proximity of the houses of Patrick and Bernard might suggest that these two persons may have been, in some way, related. However, I have no hard evidence to support that view. The family of Bernard Kane who lived in 10Bb disappeared from the townland by 1865. When I first studied this townland many years ago I assumed that Bernard had emigrated. However, I had no idea of whether he had a family or where he went. A great grandson of Bernard's, Tim Kane who now lives in Seattle, contacted me some years ago and provided me with information on Bernard's family at the time when they left Gorteade probably c.1863. Bernard's wife was Mary McKay [born c.1832]. The couple had four children Neil, James, Ann and Mary Jane baptised in Maghera Roman Catholic Parish in 1852, 1857, 1859 and 1861 respectively. Between 1861 and 1863 the family [excluding James] migrated to Gateshead in N.E. England. James is thought to have died in 1878 but I have not been able to find his death certificate. More children were born in England and eventually the family ended up in America making their way across the continent to finally settle on the west coast. My thanks to Tim for this information and there is link to a Biography of Tim's grandfather Dominic Kane/O'Kane [written by Tim] at the Case Studies link in the top menu of this website.

According to Tim, Bernard's father was called Neil and certainly Bernard's first born son bears that name. This rules out Patrick as a potential father of Bernard. Again I had no idea of who was living in Patrick's house, 10Ba. With a forename like Patick and a surname Kane or O'Kane, it is very difficult to find such a family, if there was one. I decided to see if I could find Patrick's death using the online information now available at GRONI, Belfast. The Revision Books show that Patrick's name was stroked out in 1890 and the name Michael Kane added. Initially, I searched for deaths of a Patrick Kane and a Patrick O'Kane between the years 1880 and 1890 with nil results. When I changed the year ranges to include the 1870s and concentrated on the spelling O'Kane, I found the death certificate outlined below.

Before seeing this information I thought that Patrick may have been married and, although the date 1890 in the Revision Book was a bit on the late side, was succeeded by his son Michael. Note, however, Michael Kane who was present at Patrick's death did not give details of his relationship to Patrick. In fact, for me, it raised a further question. There was a Michael Kane in No. 7 from 1883. Could this have been the Michael who was present at Patrick's death on 27th March 1877 and registered the death on the 5th April 1877?

Further evidence from a Mercers' Company Rent Ledger [PRONI: 1550/39/1 & 2] listed a Michael Kane Jun. in what is No. 7 in the Valuation Books and a Michael Kane Sen. in what is Nos. 9 & 10 in the Valuation Books. When researching the family of Archibald Kane I found that this Michael Kane Jun. was in fact Archibald's son who died in 1892 as the result of an accident aged 58. During this search I also found the death certificate of the Michael Kane Sen. spelt as O'Kane. The details from both certificates are shown below.

These two certificates solved the problem of the two Michael Kanes. You will often find situations like this in the Revision Books and as you can see - only detailed genealogical information in the form of a BDM or a Will will provide an adequate answer. Before acquiring all of this information on deaths plus the marriage information [shown below], my only knowledge of the Michael O'Kane who lived in 10Ba in 1884 came from the late Joe Doherty of Gortead. He had told me that this Michael O'Kane living in 10Ba had been to America but had returned to Gorteade. He did not have any dates of when he went to America or exactly when he returned. For some strange reason I had always seen Michael as a relatively young man returning in the later part of the nineteenth century. Once I saw his age at death I saw Michael in a different light. It looks as if he went to America probably before the Famine and lived either in Louisville, Kentucky or in the countryside around it. Joe always said that he was responsible for the rebuilding of house 10Ba as a two storey [or more likely a storey and a half] dwelling house with a slated roof - one of the few in the townland. Incidentally, the fact that Patrick was a stonemason may have an important factor in this enterprise. Also, the Mercers' Company would probably have supplied the slates. Initially I had thought that Michael had carried out this rebuilding in the 1880s. I now think that this rebuilding took place earlier. I still have no idea of the relationship between Louisville Michael and Patrick and I doubt if I ever will. Joe Doherty also mentioned that Louisville Kane was the man who brought the scythe to Gorteade. This may well have been the case. In the earlier part of the nineteenth century the sickle was probably the most common cutting instrument in the harvesting of corn and hay. The introduction of the scythe would have had a significant impact on productivity.

Mary's marriage to Michael Crilly brought a new name into the property. The 1901 Census lists Michael Crilly [No. 7] as Head of Family The above evidence shows Michael Crilly as the son-in-law of Michael [Louisville] Kane or O'Kane. Michael Crilly's wife had died in 1899 [see below]. In 1906 the house and land passed to Patrick Crilly, son of Michael Crilly and this Patrick is listed in the 1911 Census No. 20, aged 27. Known locally as Wee Paddy Crilly, he never married and lived in this property until 1956 when he died. His property was bought by Daniel O'Kane (Anthony) - the son of Anthony O'Kane of No. 13.

Click here to see photo of the ruins of 10Ba.

Copyright 2015 W. Macafee.