William Genoe - Ceefin/Seefin

Dear Janice

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I have forwarded this to our Bailieborough Volunteer who will be in touch soon I hope

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Hi Janice

We had a "technical issue" yesterday with this reply so posting it not for Carmel

Best wishes

Clare 

Dear Janice,

I would know Knockbride fairly well, because that is where my own families originate. However, I had not heard of your surnames before.  I searched the http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie and found no Genno/Jenno there,  you will find 27 people with the surname Ray, but none in County Cavan, but if you wish to go through them you may find a link or something may trigger with you that this may be part of your family.  Joseph Dixon was the landowner at one time in Seefin.

I searched Griffiths Valuations & found 5 Ray's & James had land in 1857 in Pottle & Dundragon, Bailieborough.Available at this site http://www.askaboutireland.ie

I then looked up the http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie and just searched for Ray and I found 1 family in Bailieborough http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Cavan/Bailieboro/Greag…

I looked at the actual form that they completed, the Household Return Form A and on it Thomas Ray had put Wilton down as place of birth, this was crossed out and County Cavan is in its place.  Wilton is a townland close to Bailieborough.

I searched the 1911 census but could not find any Rays born in Co Cavan.  The household in 1901 was a husband and wife and his brother, with no children, they were aged between 32 & 40, so I would hope that the 3 had not died over the following 10 years so I am guessing they emigrated.

I have a transcription of the Tithe Applotments done by John Clarke and Eugene Markey and they have recorded a William Jenni and a Robert Jenni both at that time. Which looks like separate holdings.  I perused their book but no mention of either names in Photos of the Graveyard listings.

I do not have a listing of the Headstones in Bailieborough Church of Ireland & I did search the Presbyterian list but neither names turned up.  

I will ask some of my friends in Bailieborough do they have any knowledge of these name and hopefully something turns up.  Meanwhile you can look at the Parish records that have been scanned on line at Nli.ie and http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie also have Church of Ireland records that may help you, this is a subscription site, all the others mentioned are free.  If you find anything more that I can help you with please let me know.  Regards Carmel O'Callaghan.

Dear Janice,

Further to this mornings searches which went astray on my computer. (Clare is kindly sorting these for me)  I found the following: 

A William Genoe in Cootehill in the 1901 census, please see this link. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000425390/

A family of 8, they are Presbyterians, Cootehill would not be too far from Knockbride.

There are also some people with the name spelt as Jenoe in the 1901 Census

When I looked at the 1911 Census and just searched for Genoe and Cavan as the county 17 came up and they are a mixture of Catholics and Presbyterians.

I looked up the online phone directory and there are listings for Co Monaghan,with the spelling of Genoe http://www.eircomphonebook.ie  This county is next door to Co Cavan close to Cootehill, so there are possibilities that you may still have living relatives in Ireland

Hopefully the phone connections have recollections of family going to Canada & know where there ancestors are buried. 

Please let me know if this was of use to you.  Regards Carmel O'Callaghan

Hello Carmel!

First of all I must apologize. I somehow missed your reply to my post of almost a year ago. Fortunatley I've finally come across it and am so appreciative of the information you've provided. I was particularly interested in your mention of finding William and Robert "Jenni" in the Tithe Applotment Books as I had only been able to find Rober "Jenno". Is there any way that I can access this transcription online?

I'm also very interested to learn of Genoes still living in Ireland, close to where my ancestors are from. I will definitely try and contact them - although perhaps too much time has passed if my relatives left in 1837?

I have learned in the meantime that Robert Genoe William's father) and another son Moses Genoe also came to Canada so that may explain why there are no Genoe graves at Knockbride. There are some Ray stones in Bailieborough that may be Sarah's family.

Where the Genoes originated from remains a bit of a mystery but we have some family folklore that may indicate they were Huguenots from France. But if that's the case when they came to Ireland isn't known.

I'll continue the search for more information, but thank you so much for your help! Sorry it's taken me so long to find your reply.

All the best,

Janice

Janice,

Most Huguenots left France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. See:

http://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-period-of-the-revocation-of-the-edict-of-nantes-1661-1700/

In exile in Ireland, they often became Presbyterians, rather than members of the Church of Ireland, as Presbyterianism was closer to the principles of their Huguenot beliefs.