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Manx Genealogy Archive 2

Re: Fargher/Collister/Kerruish Bible

I can add to Sue’s details.

Thomas Fargher (b 1797), who married Judith Cannell was the son of Thomas Fargher (1761-1827) and Margaret Cannell (whether mother and wife were related I do not know). These Farghers were at Ballafayle y Callow, the elder Thomas’s father, another Thomas, having married Joney Callow, the heiress. The middle Thomas had a sister, Mary (1769-1838), who married John Kerruish (1768-1838) of the next door farm, Ballafayle y Kerruish. Their son Robert (1797-1844) married Margaret Kerruish, Booilevelt (1809-1874). Their son Robert (1829-1902) was married twice. His first wife was Mary Stowell, Ballastowell (1828-52). Constance Radcliffe wrote, in the 1960s,

‘Mary [was the] heiress of Ballastole (the Tower Farm). Mary never came to Ballafayle to live, but remained at home with her father; when she died at the early age of 24, her infant son Robert also remained at Ballastole, which he afterwards farmed. Later known as "The Old Tower", this Robert Kerruish was the father of "Robert the Tower" of recent memory. Now Ballastole has become a sheep and cattle run, and the roof of the farmhouse has begun to fall in.’

The Old Tower married Catharine Jane Gelling, as Sue tells us. Her monumental inscription tells us that she died on February 7th 1881 aged 27 years. So the Old Tower, then only 30, with three daughters and a son, would have been a recent widower when the census was taken.

1829 Robert’s second wife was Isabella Christian, Baldromma. They raised this second family at Ballafayle. They were the grandparents of the late Sir Charles Kerruish, Ballafayle.

All the farms mentioned are in Maughold. The Ballafayle families are treated by Bill and Constance Radcliffe in their book A History of Kirk Maughold on pp 262-266. They tell us that Thomas Cannell Fargher (1820-1894) emigrated to the USA in about 1870 (hence the Bible, presumably), but returned to live in retirement in Ramsey, where he died.