Linen by McOwen

My younger brother, Dick, hit something of interest in his first day as a researcher of the Ulster Historical Society Guild.

He gleaned this from the Index of Flaxgrowers Bounty List of 1796.

Surname First Name Parish County No. of Looms

McOwen Hugh Ballysakeery Mayo 4

McOwen Michael Lemanaghan Offaly 4

McOwen William Port Louth 1

Now, I will admit that I would like to see my namesake, William, doing better,
perhaps he was young at the time. It will be interesting to see if any of these could be related to our line. I believe that England tried very hard to undermine
Irish flax and linen industries to favor English growers and linen producers in about 1790. That by the way is the year that our earliaest known ancestor, Lawrence, was born in South Carolina and his first born son was also named William.