Where in Ireland are your Boylan roots?

Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Kilnaleck, Cavan Boylan's

So after leaving Dromin we decided to travel to Kilnaleck in County Cavan before going into Northern Ireland. As I wrote before, DNA tests had shown that I was related to two separate Boylan's from Kilnaleck. Both of these Boylan's connect somewhere before the paper trail as well. Upon searching Griffith's Evaluation it became clear that Kilnaleck and the surrounding area had one of the largest numbers of Boylan's in the area. DNA had given a very strong rationale for believing my Boylan's had migrated at some point from this area to Dromin.
I knew about Boylan's Bar before I traveled to Kilnaleck. Unfortunately, when I got to town it was still to early so I wasn't able to grab a pint here. We did go the pub across the street to grab breakfast and that pub's walls were covered in football pictures; many of these pictures showed local Boylan's through the years.

This clothing store was just a few storefronts down from the Boylan Bar.



Since I had not found a single Boylan grave in Dromin I decided to go to a cemetary in Kilnaleck to take some photographs of some Boylan headstones. A local told me there was no graveyard in Kilnaleck but there were two nearby. I decided to go to the one at the Catholic Church in Crosserlough. When I got there I happened upon this stone by a happy coincidence. You see, I've been corresponding with one of my "DNA cousins" and he was a direct decendent of Matthew and Marcella Boylan. Therefore, this family is related in some way to me. The gentleman I was corresponding with had never seen the grave so I was happy to share these photos.




Here is a close up of the names.


This stone was located near the other Boylan stone as well. Maybe these images will help someone else.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

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.