Images of Dromin

There really only seems to be one church and one bar in this little village. Its still a very sleepy town despite its proximity to Dublin on the new M1 highway. The town seems fairly well to do and the scenery is lush. Some photos of the town are below. More will follow as I edit them.

St. Finian's Church as shot from the Village Saloon

This is shot from the graveyard and the ruins of St. Finian's Monastary.

The inside of St. Finian's church.

The church graveyard.

O'Baoigheallain to Baylon to Boylan to Boylen?

So I'm back from Ireland...amazing! I learned so much and will be adding new information for awhile. I think the biggest personal revelation is that my Boylan ancestors likely spoke Irish when they immigrated. I had suspected this from my previous research but it was only a theory; now I feel its confirmed. I think I read somewhere that roughly 25% of the residents of Louth were primarily Irish speakers at the time of the Famine. This was true mainly in the rural areas. Well, Dromin is definitely a rural village.

My previous clue had been that in all American records my g-g-g-g grandmother's name was Julia but in all Irish records it was Judith. Some internet research showed that both Judith and Julia came from the same Irish root.

The parish priest in Dromin (more about that in a later post) gave me more useful info. There are still members of the Boylan clan in Ireland that spell their name Baylon. Baylon is a more phonetic English translation of the Irish O'Baoigheallain. In the 1844 Ardee Union Poor Law Rate Book my g-g-g-g grandfather, Matthew, listed his last name as Baylon. I had seen this but considered it a mistake (I should know to never do that...). But in the 1854 version of the same record he listed his last name as Boylan. The Baylon spending seems a further indication of their primary language.

Finally, the priest showed me the grave of the parish priest during the 1830's in the parish cemetary. The picture to the left is of the grave of Father Magee of Dromin. Father Magee delivered his sermons in Irish at the church. This is further evidence that the Catholic population of Dromin spoke Irish.


It is interesting for me to see the evolution of this name over time as the Irish language was assaulted and replaced by English. And then how the name was further altered upon my relatives immigration to the U.S.

My Upcoming Irish Adventure

In exactly one month I will be back in Ireland - I can't wait. I will be spending a couple of days exploring Dromin from my home base in Ardee. I hope to go to mass at the local church, St. Finian's, and explore its graveyard. I hired a researcher to pinpoint the land my ancestor rented in Dromin at the time of the famine so, hopefully, I will be able to find that plot. Somewhere near the church there is a well where emigrants would go to wish for a safe return to Ireland that I also hope to visit. If all goes as planned it should be both informative and reflective.

I'm hoping the graveyard yields some clues to family mysteries pre-1800 and allows me to move my family tree back one more generation. We shall see.

Right after Dromin we will be driving through Cavan (where my DNA test seems to show my ancestors might have moved from). My two Boylan genetic "cousins" are from Kilnaleck. As luck would have it, there is a Boylan Pub in this village so I plan to stop and have a pint. It's supposedly still owned by Boylan's though I doubt I'll be so "American" as to tell them we could be related...but you never know!

I'm hoping to do some blogging from Ireland so you should be able to follow my trip and any new discoveries here.

St. Finian's of Dromin

The parish church in Dromin, Louth (where I assume my ancestors once worshipped) has a great web site that has pictures of the interior of the church, as well as historical background. Check it out: http://dunleerparish.ie/StFiniansChurch.htm

Dromin

My personal journey to find where my ancestors left during the Potato Famine ended in a place called Dromin in County Louth (or so I thought). According to a priest from the local parish it is now a very small but fairly well to do farming community with one pub and one church.

To the right is a drawing of the town center by a local artist that is on the cover of a pamphlet done by the Dromin National School Heritage Committee. The booklet is entitled "A Heritage of Dromin: Land of St. Finian's Monastic Settlement and Where Churches Were Built 'Between Two Showers of Rain.' It details much of the history of this small town from the monastic period to the post-famine era.

Interesting Dromin Tidbits:

• It was in a Dromin monastary that St. Finian and St. Columba had their falling out which led to St. Columba's exit from Ireland.
• The Church tower was added in 1847 - the year of the Famine. The booklet states "despite the exactions of the Famine, Dromin Parishioners were asked by their priest Father Thomas McGee, to contribute the funds necessary for the erection of the tower. In this respect, their efforts in erecting the church tower must stand as a monument to the faith of the Catholic People of Dromin, who gave generously despite their impovershed circumstances caused by the failure of the potato crop."
• The immigration schemes of Vere Foster brought many of Dromin's residents to America. Foster spent all of his family's money exporting Irish women (who were more employable than men) to the US for work. The girls would then send money back to their families, typically so another family member could afford passage to America and so on. My ancestors rented Foster family land during the famine leading me to wonder if my g-g-g grandfather's sister's came as part of Vere Foster's scheme. The women Foster guided to the US generally had better transportation than the typical Irish immigrant, were set up with jobs, and were left under the care of a local American priest. Foster and his girls once even stayed with a country lawyer in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, during their US travels.

This booklet has been so helpful in giving my immigrants' stories context. There is not much on the Internet about this little village so I hope this information helps someone else researching their Dromin roots.

Where It Begins...

I've been fascinated by Genealogy for over 20 years after I initially traced my family roots to Ireland. Back then I knew very little; sometimes I think I still do. When I was about 13 I ventured into Boston City Hall. A very kind woman led me into a basement vault and let me look through all the original volumes going back to the 1850's. Within two hours I had traced my family all the way back to 1858 and in the "place of birth" column it said Ireland.

Ireland had always fascinated me. My best friend's parents growing up were from Ireland. I think I was 12 when I traveled to Ireland with them. After that trip I wanted to feel a part of something. Growing up surrounded by first generation Irish Americans (and looking as stereoptypically Irish as I did) many of the kids I knew could say they were from Mayo or Limerick or Cork. My family only thought our last name, Boylen, might be Irish but noone knew for sure. Was Boylen its own clan name? Was it a derivative of Boleyn, like Anne Boleyn? Or were we actually part of the Boylan clan?

Well to make a long story short 20 years later I finally have some answers. Through a lucky break in my paper trail and with the help of DNA testing I am able to say my family is from Ireland. They are famine Irish from the village of Dromin in County Louth. And before they left they spelled their last name Boylan.

I was looking for a way to put my family information out there, connect with others who are researching similar or related families, explore what DNA genealogy can tell us about our Irish ancestors pre-1800 etc etc. If you are interested I hope you will check back occasionally. Thanks for reading!