Greetings...
Haven't been on the forum for a while. Paul Taggart and Eleanor Quayle Taggart are my ggg grand parents. They farmed at the old Balladoole site which is today, where much of the RAF Chain Home complex is scattered about just north of Scarlett, not Balladoole as in the House/Manor over on the west side of those fields. His son William ended up with the Farm by 1861. Either the 1871 or 81 Census (I'd have to check my records...going from memory here) Wm and his wife lived at the "Windmill", what is now referred to as the "Witches Mill" that was redeveloped into the apartment complex a few years back. My g gf John Frank Taggart (middle son of Wm) was born either there or at a different house close by in 1858. He always said he was born at "Red Gap" and I've never got a final answer as to whether or not the Windmill was considered in Red Gap. When I talked to the Kennagh's, up the street from there in 2010, they didn't believe that was the case, that Red Gap was only the area east of Arbory Rd.

The Red Gap area was part of the Castletown redevelopment scheme and all that area is now modern, basically the area on the east side of Arbory Rd. The only remnant is the "RED GAP HOUSE" sign which has been moved west across Arbory Rd and the stone block has been re-installed in Kennagh's modernized old place as a corner stone. Kennagh's lived there when my Taggart's were at the Windmill and/or in Red Gap. (I believe part of their fam were involved with SPCo.) The original Red Gap to Pooylvaish Footpath is, more or less (a few of the fields' rock walls have been removed to enlarge fields thus changing the track of the original path) the same as today's well marked footpath that takes off Arbory Rd just north of the high school, skirts the northside of the Windmill Apts and heads west, eventually ending up down at Pooylvaish Farm at the shoreline. It would have been mostly on Taggart farmlands in those days.

William and fam, farmed the entire area, varying between 90 and 115 acres, depending on census date, thru 1881. Technically some of it may have been in K.Arbory but all the burials seem to be up at old Malew and that would have been the closer Church, rather than over at Colby. More or less, the fields west of the high school (probably the land that is now the athletic field as well) and Arbory Rd, south to the north end of Knockrushen, over towards the fields with the Chain Home buildings then north again. The two pill boxes embedded in rock walls and the old barracks building up on the north area mentioned were probably also part of the old Farm. Indeed, elder Paul, after Eleanor's passing (they lived in an apt above Cubbon's Butcher Shop on Arbory St. after retiring from the Farm) moved in with daughter Catherine Taggart who had married Joe Stansbury, who farmed Knockrushen.

She and Joe eventually ended up with most of Wm's farmlands, after the 3 oldest sons (Wm Henry, Richard and John Frank T.) left for the US West between 1877-79. After Wm's wife died, he ended up living with other Taggart family in Toxteth, dying in 1902 but being returned for burial in the old plot at Malew. My g gf John Frank T. gave one of his younger sons the middle name of Stansbury, I guess because they carried on the Farm when none of the direct family did. (my gf Douglas Simpson T was firstborn here in 1882 - named Douglas in honor of the last sight of home on IOM, John Frank T. saw as he sailed to Liverpool, never to return.) . Interestingly, John Frank T. as his profession here in California, immediately upon his arrival in 1879, was a haberdasher, (kind of a door to door clothier of the day) later owning his own custom tailoring shop for men, in Chico. He had to have learned that from fam on the Isle of Man and I know several Taggart's, both in the Castletown area and up towards St. Mark's and Ballasalla, carried that, or closely related, trades based on the Directories Listings of the 1800's and census info.

My tracking of Taggart's from Paul back seems to indicate they are part of the Taggart group from up at St. Mark's. One of St. Mark's founding fathers is another William, part of the direct line. I'm not sure but think this may be the connection to Ballykew I've heard mentioned elsewhere. The most common spousal names, going back, are Bridson (three different gen's of Taggart grand fathers married Bridson women while Bridson men were marrying Taggart women...this is 1600's to 1700's stuff. I've got what I believe to be my best estimate on Ancestry for public view...I did the original work, with help from Frances, Donna and Brian).

I'm not sure how or why Paul ended up down at old Balladoole, with quite a big plot of farm land, for the 1841 era, to work. Especially, when most of the "older" Taggart fam seems to have been more north in Malew and towards both St. Marks and along the edge of KMalew and KSantan on the east side. I haven't yet started into old land records in Douglas. We will be back on the Island in just 3 weeks, for another week. Our third trip in 5 years, we stay usually at Ash Cottage in Castletown. I'm hoping to get into some of those records this trip.

I'm also still looking for info on the ship or ships the three bros came to the US on. Haven't had any luck finding them. We believe that Wm Henry T. came first, met up with cousins in Actkinson, Kansas in 1877. Richard and John Frank T. we think came together in 1879, maybe with a cousin named Paul T. William Henry T. was the oldest, and by rights, should have gotten the IOM Farm. At that period of time, the grass must have been greener by leaving IOM. We'll never know, only guess.