McGowan, Martin

1824 - 1908  (84 years)    Has 2 ancestors and 13 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	McGowan, Martin
  Born	20 Mar 1824	Crossmolina, Mayo, Connacht, Ireland
  Gender	Male
  Biography	Martin McGowan and Mary Coyne were married in 1846 at the Roman Catholic church in Islandeady, a small village on the road between Castlebar and Westport in County Mayo, Ireland. Church records list Patrick McGowan and Bridget Chambers as the witnesses. Patrick was, no doubt, Martin's brother, and Bridget was probably Mary's married sister or a close friend. The McGowan's in the Islandeady and Castlebar area at that time were tenant farmers, raising potatos to pay for the rent on the land and to feed their families. For most people in western Ireland, potatos were the primary and often the only food. The average family farm was so tiny that potatoes were the only crop that would suffice to feed a family. When the crops were good, an adult man might eat 14 pounds of potatoes each day. But the potatoes that year were rotting in the field. Potato blight had been discovered the previous fall of 1845. It is a water mold that is thought to have originated in South America and was brought to Ireland on potatoes used to feed passengers on Clipper ships from the US. That year, it affected only a portion of the crop and most people had enough food to get through the winter. But by the time Martin and Mary were married, the blight had ruined nearly the entire crop across the whole of Ireland and wiped it out in County Mayo. The goverment reacted by importing large quantities of corn from the US. For those who could afford it, corn meal was a poor substitute for potatoes. It was hard to cook, difficult to digest, and caused diarrhea. Most of all, it lacked the belly-filling bulk of the potato. It also lacked Vitamin C, which led to scurvy, a condition previously unknown in Ireland due to the normal consumption of potatoes rich in Vitamin C. Out of necessity, the Irish grew accustomed to the corn meal. But by June 1846 supplies were exhausted and starvation became widespread. The following spring after two years of blight, many people chose to eat the seeds they had for food rather than trust that they would grow. Ironically, there was no blight that year, but neither were there any crops. As a Dr. Daly reported from Newport in May 1847, without enough food the weakened population became easy targets for disease: 'Fever, dysentery and diarrhoea are greatly on the increase, beginning with vomiting, pains, headache very intense; coming to a cnsis in about seven days, relapsing again once or twice, from which death occurred through mere debility or diarrhoea, caused and kept up by bad food, principally Indian meal, supplied to them in small quanitities, and which they invariably swallow after only a few minutes boiling and sometimes cold and raw. The greatest mortality is among the labourers, men and women, on public roads, in cold, wet, boggy hills'. Without crops, tenent farmers were unable to pay the rent on their lands. In the beginning, many landlords were compassionate and reduced rents. Others were not so kind. Sir Roger Plamer owned 90,000 acres in the area, and might very well have been the McGowan's landlord. The local newspaper, The Telegraph, reported how: at Islandeady his 'crowbar invincibles', pulled down several houses, and drove forth the unfortunate inmates to sleep in the adjoining fields. On Thursday we witnessed the wretched creatures endeavouring to root out the timber of the houses, with the intention of constructing some sort of sheds to screen their children from the heavy rain falling at the time. The pitiless pelting storm has continued ever since, and if they have survived its severity, they must be more than human beings'. The potato failed again in 1848 and there was partial failure in 1849, but by that time Martin and Mary had escaped to Canada. By 1851 when their first child was born in Canada, estimates are that one million Irish people had died and another million had emigrated. Martin and Mary would have made the Atlantic crossing in 1847 on a ship like the 'Elizabeth and Sarah'. It sailed from Killala for Quebec with 276 passengers. By the end of the voyage, 8 weeks later, 42 persons had died due to overcrowding, lack of food and water and unsanitary conditions.
  Died	12 Dec 1908	Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I156706	1FamilyTree
  Last Modified	12 Oct 2015

  
  

  Father	McGowan, Peter,   b. Abt 1780, , , , Ireland ,   d. Bef 1880, Crossmolina, Mayo, Connacht, Ireland  (Age ~ 99 years)
  Mother	Chambers, Bridget,   b. Abt 1780, Newport, Mayo, Connacht, Ireland ,   d. Bef 1880  (Age ~ 99 years)
  Family ID	F52992	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Coyne, Mary,   b. 15 Jan 1829, Crossmolina, Mayo, Connacht, Ireland ,   d. 12 Dec 1906, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada  (Age 77 years)
  Married	11 Apr 1846	Islandeady, Mayo, Ireland
  Children	1. McGowan, Mary,   b. Abt Aug 1850,   d. Bef 1950, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA  (Age ~ 99 years)   2. McGowan, Bridget,   b. Abt 1856,   d. Bef 1956  (Age ~ 99 years)   3. McGowan, Margaret,   b. Abt 1857, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 16 Feb 1897, Dundas And Glengary, , Ontario, Canada  (Age ~ 40 years)   4. McGowan, John,   b. 15 May 1861,   d. 26 Apr 1911  (Age 49 years) + 5. McGowan, Michael,   b. Abt 1862, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 11 Nov 1921, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA  (Age ~ 59 years)   6. McGowan, Peter,   b. Abt May 1862, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 30 Nov 1917, Calumet, Houghton, Michigan, USA  (Age ~ 55 years)   7. McGowan, Martin,   b. 20 Sep 1866, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 29 Nov 1941, , , , Canada  (Age 75 years)   8. McGowan, Anne,   b. 4 Jul 1867,   d. 19 Jul 1902, Leeds And Grenville, , Ontario, Canada  (Age 35 years)   9. McGowan, Anthony,   b. Abt Sep 1869, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 26 Nov 1932, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA  (Age ~ 63 years)   10. McGowan, James,   b. 20 Aug 1870, Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Abt Mar 1963, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA  (Age 92 years)   11. McGowan, Rose,   b. Abt Apr 1880,   d. Abt Apr 1945, Buffalo, Erie, New York, USA  (Age ~ 65 years)
  Last Modified	19 Jun 2013
  Family ID	F52990	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map	Load the map	Born - 20 Mar 1824 - Crossmolina, Mayo, Connacht, Ireland Married - 11 Apr 1846 - Islandeady, Mayo, Ireland Died - 12 Dec 1908 - Finch, Stormont, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set