Gott-Crawford-Gibson-Finlay in County Fermanagh

Hi Pamela,

It's difficult to pinpoint information from the early nineteenth century but I had a look at the 1901 census to see if there were any more members of the Gott family still in Fermanagh and it appears that there is only one in a townland called Randalslough (or Randalshough as it appears in townlands.ie).  This townland is just north-west of Enniskillen.  The census entry is here.  There does not appear to be any Gott family in Griffith's Valuation for the same area though in the mid nineteenth century.

A search of the pre-1840 freeholders' register in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland yielded three entries for the name James Gott, two for the townland of Clontymullan (1788 and 1796) and another for Stumpys Hill (1788).  Clontymullan is south of Enniskillen and Stumpys Hill is still even further south on the border with Co. Leitrim.  You can view more details on the PRONI website here.

I noticed that there were two instances of a James Gott in Co. Leitrim, near the town of Ballinamore.  This person (or persons) appears in the Tithe Applotment Books for 1834, in the townlands of Leckin in the Parish of Drumreilly and Mullinavanogue (or Mulnavannoge) in the Parish of Oughteragh.  You can search for these records here.  You will also find other entries for Crawford and Gibson in Fermanagh in the Tithe Applotments search.

If you had an idea of a townland where your family came from it would help.  I'm not very familiar with records available for the northern counties so maybe someone with more experience searching in Northern Ireland might be able to help.

Regards,

Patrick Collins

Hello Patrick,

Thank you for this research! It is a big help.

The head of the family in the 1901 census record you found is Margret Gott, age 61. I'm assuming that she is a widow and may have been the wife of one of Andrew's brothers. Her son James, age 38, appears to be the couple's oldest child. If his parents followed the traditional Irish naming pattern as I understand it, James would have been named after his father's father who would have been James Gott, possibly the father of Andrew. A great clue to follow up on!

Andrew Gott put a notice in the Boston Pilot in August of 1861 looking for information about his brother William who had emigrated to the United States in 1847 and was last known as living in Canada West. He mentions that William was a native of Deehacher, County Fermanagh. There is of course no townland by that name.  Someone suggested that at that time a Bostonian wouldn't have known anything about Northern Ireland and spelled the townland as he heard it orally from Andrew or that if it were written, he couldn't read Andrew's handwriting. They thought perhaps the townland could have been Doohatty Glebe. 

Again, many thanks for your assistance.

Pamela