Ireland

The book is set during the 1840s and 1850s. A the time the whole of Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom. Ireland itself was divided into four distinct provinces, Ulster in the north, Connacht in the west, Leinster in the east and Munster in the south.   

The family

Family legend suggested that it originated in Galway, although one of Edward’s children (Anne or Nancy, later became a ‘Boylan’) indicated that she had been born in County Mayo, in the 1851 census. Given that this is the closest to a verified record I think it more likely that Mayo rather than Galway is our ancestral homeland. Mayo is a county within Connacht (or Connaught). 

Naming conventions

This can be confusing as families tended to ‘re-use’ names. A father would name his first born after his own father, so in this case you can see names Edward and Austin pass through several generations. A second son would be named after the mother’s father, and a first daughter would be named after the mother’s mother. A second daughter would be named after the father’s mother. While indicative, these are not hard and fast ‘rules’, and do tend to flex from family to family.