I first discovered the name Edward McCauley on the marriage certificate of Bernard McCauley (I), and Ann Kerrin in 1864.  A photo of that certificate is above. One can see his signature is the next to last box on the right-hand side of the document. Later I would find the name Edward McCauley in a civil death record. It was a standalone document that could not be connected to any other part of his life, but this is the information that could be gleaned from the document.

His is entry 140 for the year 1875. Date of death was second of December, in the year 1875, and Derrylea was the location.  Edward McCawly, male, married, 75 years old. His occupation is listed as a Farmer.  The first word in the case box is hard to read, but the rest says, “Five Weeks no medical attendant, uncertified.”  It appears he was sick for five weeks and there was no medical attended to certify a specific cause of death.  The next box indicated that a Terrance McCawly was with him at the time of death.  In that box there also appears to be two words that say “His Neph”, short for his nephew? The date was reported is listed as December 11, 1875.  Derrrylea is today and was in 1875 was a rural farming country.   There is no mention of his wife.  Another mystery and potential clue, who is Terrance McCauley?  Who was he and how does he fit into the family?  

Below is a copy of that entry.

A recent trip to Ireland led to the following discovery. With the consultation of Frankie Roofe, a local genealogist and historian, I was able to access to the Tithe records of the Catholic church for Fermanagh County, Northern Ireland. Below is a transcribed index of the Tithe record for the Edward McCawly. This shows he had paid his tithe to the local parish in 1828.  He was living in Newtate in 1828. The area is adjacent to the Florencecourt Estate. Newtate and its road is where Bernard McCauley (1) would live.

How can I sure this name represents the Edward McCawley that is Bernard’s father? I posed this question to the local genealogist Frankie Roofe.  I told him that I completed several searches using different search engines including the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and had found several Edward McCauley’s in Northern Ireland, but none in Fermanagh County that would be of the age to have fathered Bernard in that time period.  Considering the rural setting of Fermanagh County and the sparse population relative to others, he concluded it was a good bet that this document represented the Edward McCawly that was Bernard (1^st)’s father.  

More information on Edward was gleaned n reviewing and understanding Giffith’s land valuations. These were the records that the governing bodies used to assess land taxes. They can be found digitally stored and organized through the Public Records office of Northern Ireland Website. Below is a screenshot of that entry.  The information from this entry is from 1867 and Edward would have been 67 years old. I surmise that by that date Edward McCauley had moved from Newtate road and acquired land in nearby Derrylea. This is approximately 4 miles from St Nailes church and cemetery where Bernard McCauley and Ann Kerrin-McCauley are buried. This fact only points out a familiar relationship the family held with that geographic area.

Below is a printed abstract from the Griffiths Valuation Book. As both documents show, Edward’s land is associated with sections 4A and 4B on the survey map.

Below is a photo of the Griffiths Evaluation survey map. Plot 4A is towards the center of map. The index above lists taxes for buildings on 4A. Section 4B is located at the upper right-hand corner of the photo. According to the schedule above, there are no buildings associated with this plot so one may assume it was pasture lands or used to grow crops.

The mapping device on the Public Records Office Website has a toggle feature that allows one to move from the old survey map to a modern google maps representation of the property as it is today. Using the screenshot of the map, I was able to travel to that location to see what the property looked like today. Below are several photos of the property that was formerly Edward McCawley’s and where he passed away. There was a residential structure up the road from the pasturelands, but it cannot be concluded that it was the actual home of Edward McCawley. I include them to give a perspective of place and time. There is more research to do to identify Edward’s wife and to clearly identify Bernards siblings.