Sometime around 1818 and according to familore, Peter (c1796) and Edward Nowlan (c1798), two brothers from Ireland, supposedly working on a lumber ship on its way back to Europe jumped ship somewhere along the coast of New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island.

Edward married in 1822 and settled in the area of Kent Boom, upriver from Bouctouche, an active seaport at the time. nd from Quebec city Nited s crossing the Atlantic as part of the working James Nowlan and Mary Shortall were married in Ballon church in late 1793. She was a widow and records from the same parish (Ballon-Rathoe) show that she had been previously married to a James Clowry in 1784.

Peter married in 1828 and settled along the south shore of the Little Bouctouche river.

Church records for Peter and Edward’s parents identify them as “James Nowland” and “Mary Glory” of “County Karlow”. Family research in Ireland over the years has revealed that Peter and Edward’s parents were James Nowlan and Mary Clowry (nee Shortall) of Killane townland who married in the Ballon church in 1793 in Co. Carlow. Records from the same church also reveal that Mary Shortall had previously married a James Clowry in 1784. It is therefore possible that Peter and Edward had Clowry half-brothers.

Family lore also relates that Peter and Edward emigrated via the port of Cork in southern Ireland.

For further information on this line see https://nolanfamilies.org/stories/families-in-new-brunswick/#articleTOC_4 , one of the stories appearing in this website’s “Family Stories” knowledge base.

Comment on not pronuncing the “w” in “Nowlan” and “Clowry”:

The letter “w” does not exist in the Irish alphabet. This may explain why this family, when giving their family name, pronouced it as if it were “Nolan” even though they wrote it as “nowlan”. The family names “Nowlan” “Clowry” are two family name examples. In terms of placenames, the town of “Gowran” in County Kilkenny is one such example, being pronounced as “Goran” by locals.

References:

URL1: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nowland-194
URL2: https://nolanfamilies.org/knowledge-base/leinster-families/#articleTOC_

Name: Roger Nowlan
Email: JRogerNowlan@gmail.com