Nichol family of Crosh townland

I think I may be able to help with that location you mentioned - Kilnaheery (c1840 OSI map) is a townland consisting of just under 660 acres, and in Clogher civil parish, to the west of the town of Garvaghy. A short distance to south in the same civil parish is the village of Newtown Saville (c1840 OSI map), which is located in Tamlaght townland.

Thanks very much for that!

not sure if you've seen the Valuation Revision Books on the PRONI website... these are in the same type of format as Griffith's Primary Valuation and continue on from the 1860s with a new Valuation book about every 10 years, showing changes in different coloured ink.

Robert Nichols is included from 1860 to abt 1885, then the occupant changes to William, along with some comment about the house '...not too high..', then around 1885 the property changes to 'in fee', which means they now owned the land,  then from 1923 a Robert George Nichols is shown.

The search is by location, enter Crosh and select Co. Tyrone, Cappagh civil parish, and a list of available revision books is displayed. There's usually an index on the first or second page, showing townlands included along with the page reference. Skip forward to the required page - look for the hand-written page number top right of each double page .

Ahhh . Thanks again. I had seen the original valuation but not the revisions. The men you list were all direct ancestors, with the last, Robert George Nicholl, being my maternal grandfather. I see the property amounted to 32 acres by the time he left from NZ in 1931.  Further back they only leased 18 acres. I visited the property in 1998, an much extended version of the house still standing. It was nice there on a sunny June day, well up the hillside north-east of Omagh. I can't imagine how they made a living for a family during miserable weather.

I see the land was originally (1860-1885) part of the estate of 'Sir Beresford MacMahon, Bart.' and sucessors William and Lionel. There is quite a bit about them on the web and I see they were based at Mountfield just up the 505. The PRONI hold some sort of land records for Sir Lionel McMahon in catalogue item LR1/50L. Apparently a 'large box'. Have you or another reader had any experience looking at such things?  I'm not likely to make it back to Belfast and was wondering about the value of getting a researcher to skim for faimly related references.

Hi I have been following with intrest the converstion and I to have a ancester on the estate of Sir Beresford MacMahon and if you find somebody to look up what in the big box I'm willing to share the cost for a researcher.

Richard Colligan 

Mary (nee Stewart) and Robert George Nichol. My maternal grandparents taken after their wedding. So Nov 1925. The imprint at bottom left says 'Leonard. The Studio.". I'm guessing Omagh?  The marriage was over in Drumragh. They then lived in Crosh, Cappagh until 1931 before moving to NZ.

Mary (nee Stewart) and Robert George Nichol. My maternal grandparents taken after their wedding. So Nov 1925. The imprint at bottom left says 'Leonard. The Studio.". I'm guessing Omagh?  The marriage was over in Drumragh. They then lived in Crosh, Cappagh until 1931 before moving to NZ.

Photos of / from the Nichol property in Crosh. All taken 1998 so a long time after the family moved to NZ. Thanks to the then owners for access.

Lastly for now, Auckland NZ newspaper clipping from June 1931 recording arrival of my mother's family from Crosh, Cappagh.

Mum is the 2 year old on her father's knee.

Richard,

Regarding the research at PRONI. I contacted PRONI off their web form requesting they lookup what I wanted. Got a canned answer today saying they "The PRONI Search Service has been inundated with queries and as a result, our usual response rate is not currently possible.  Please be patient while we deal with the outstanding requests and be assured your correspondence has been received and will be answered in due course."

I'll wait until the new year and then rethink about paying an outside researcher.

Regards,

Victor

Researcher looking for the Nichol family in Crosh townland in the MacMahon land records at PRONI struck out. I had hoped to find pre GV records for them there. Text from her results  is below.

Hello Victor – I have been able to complete the requested searches in LR1/50L in PRONI. The results have been disappointing.

This is a large box of documents – I examined the detailed listing of the contents in PRONI – LR1/50L/1/A/1-20 ;LR1/50L/1/b and LR1/50L/1/C .

Within the collection sub-headings I noted no reference to the surname Nichol[or variant] or the townland Crosh.

LR1/50L/1/A/2

All the contents of this large box were examined –

 Included was a schedule of Tenancies  - however this is dated 1904.

The full list of tenants was examined but no references were found to the surname Nichol/Nickel or variants.

I also examined the in-house detailed catalogue in PRONI and noted that Crosh House was the residence of a Porter family [ D1681/2/1]. Unfortunately no Estate records/Tenants lists/leases are extant.

Also examined were family notices taken from the Londonderry Sentinel Londonderry/Derry Journal and Tyrone Constitution for the surnames McNickle/McNicholl circa 1841-1896 – again a negative result.

Although the surname or variant does not appear in Cappagh Parish in the Tithe Applotment [ 1827] I did note an Alexander McNickle who made an application to register a Freehold in 1829 in Ruskey townland in Bodoney Lower Parish which adjoins Cappagh.

There was no Nichol [or variant] recorded in 1766 Religious Census for the Parish.

It is frustrating that  the Land Registry Box did not produce any relevant information.

Hi Victor,

I was searching in the tyrone message board and was very happy to find my Nichol family mentioned.

I am Samuel Nichol's great great grand daughter and I was wondering if the house that is mentioned above was lived in by samuel's father Robert Nichol. Samuel and your great grand father William were brothers.

Kind

Regards

Caitriona

New Zealand

Hi Caitriona,

I hadn't heard of Samuel a couple of months back , but yes he is the brother of my g-grandfather William Nichol of Crosh and so that is the house that Samuel, WIlliam and their parents lived in. My mother was born there too.

Another researcher alerted me to Samuel and that he migrated to NZ before my Nichol grandfather. I gather he had a store in Wanganui, there are some reports of it in Papers Past - theft from it or similar. A third brother, Henry, stayed behind in Omagh and had a hardware store at 20 John Street Omagh, he is there for the 1901 and 1911 census.

If you are happy to contact me directly I am at vjpaul@gmail.com

Regards,

Victor

North Canterbury

NZ