Francis McArdle

 Francis McArdle was born about 1765 in Armagh County, Ireland.  We do not know the name of his wife at this point in time, but we do have a list of known or surmised children.

1. Alice was born about 1787.  She married John Haffey (see the Haffey page)
2. Cornelius was born about 1805.  The name of his wife is unknown.
1. Cornelius had a son Peter who married Bridget McGeone.  Peter had a daughter Mary Ann who married James McGeown.  Their daughter Sarah Ann married John Gribben and we have a DNA match to their grandson.
3. Henry was born about 1805 and died abt 1875.  He married Mary Hughes and they had three known children.
4. John was born about 1806.He had a daughter Anne who married George Loughran.  They had nine known children.  We have DNA matches to descendants of three of those children.
5. Margaret was born about 1815.  She married a LaVelle and they had a son James.  James had a son Bernard who had a daughter Anne.  Anne married a Coyne and we have DNA matches to descendants of two of their children.

Francis died on the 3rd of April 1847 in Madden.  

The number of deaths shown for March and April of that year suggest the impact of the famine.  This is not the city, but small farming townlands.  Where the record says nil, it means that there was no fee paid for the burial.  Looking through the names, I began to wonder if that didn't indicate other recent deaths in the family. Although McArdle is not an uncommon name in the area within the two pages I examined there are deaths for Felix McArdle on March 12 with a fee of 0-6-0, Tally McArdle on Mar 23 no fee, Francis, and Rose McArdle on April 30 with a fee of 1-11-6.  There are also ten others of Madden who died within that two month period.  

Fourteen residents in two months is a high number for a townland that had 288 residents in 1841.  Approximately one in 20.  That definitely suggests either hunger or a contagious deathly disease. A search for nearby newspapers might answer the question.  By 1851 there were only 162 residents in Maddan just over half as many as ten years before.  Most likely some had moved, to England, Canada, Australia, the US or even just to the nearby city of Armagh or perhaps to Belfast.  But, obviously a disproportionate number had not survived this famine.