A Short History of Flax Industry in Cootehill

[@umleroi]

My immediate family and I have been doing some genealogical research during the pandemic, and we've found names on the Flax Growers list of 1796 that we suspect, but can't yet prove, are direct ancestors and demonstrate a link to the Lee family of Cootehill. It's interesting to see that this is still a significant-enough local development to warrant special note in the historical annals of the area. I hope to visit some day and learn more. Thanks for sharing!

[@mulekickhandmadeguitars8465]

My family came from Cootehill to the U.S. in 1848. Where do I find the Flax Growers List?

[@umleroi]

@@mulekickhandmadeguitars8465 As far as I know, the subsidy (in the form of spinning wheels) was only distributed and logged in 1796, and it's just a list of names by county and sub-district. The list(s) is/are widely available and relatively easily searchable online from multiple sources. I also reached out the Ulster Historical Foundation (uhf.org.uk) because I had a question about the ages of applicants (since the ancestor was I was focusing on would have been very young in 1796) and received the following message: "The flax list named farmers who were granted a loom or spinning wheel in exchange for planting a certain acreage of their farm with flax. For that reason it should only consist of adults. Children were often named after family members - parents or aunts/uncles or grandparents so it is possible that this entry still relates to someone in your wider family."

[@mulekickhandmadeguitars8465]

@@umleroi Thank you, sir.

[@aidanquinn5498]

We taught ourselves how to swim in a flax hole