Devlins of Birch Grove, Roscrea (1850-1894)

Hello.  One interesting aspect of your inquiry is that the Burkes (Briget Devlin nee Burk) were supposedly inheritors of the Tipperary Castle near Roscrea, according to the novel "Tipperary" by Frank Delaney.  This is the link to his book: http://www.amazon.ca/Tipperary-Novel-Ireland-Frank-Delaney/dp/0812975944

Frank Delaney, a very popular Irish writer, is very entertaining, you may be familiar with him.  But he mixes a bit of fiction into his historical novels, so I don't know how reliable this information is.  But you might want to look into it.  Delaney is very familiar with this area and the history in his novels is quite reliable for the most part.

I'm still looking for my Tracey ancestors, if you hear anything about them ... please write.  Thank you.

Hello Eamonn,

Thank you for the research tip.  Peter and Bridget's oldest child, Mary, married Thomas Hurst (a carpenter) in May, 1882. The family immigrated to Elizabeth, New Jersey.  The Mary Hurst above may have been Mary's Devlin's sister-in-law.  Thomas Hurst may have had a brother named John.  I have not done much research on the Hurst line of the family tree.

John Devlin (Frank and Mary Devlin's brother) married a servant girl by the name of Anne Short at Birchgrove in 1881 before immigrating to Philadelphia.  Unfortunately for Anne, it appears she died of complications of giving birth in December, 1884.  Her new born son Peter Devlin died about a month later in January, 1885. Both are buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Philadelphia.

John Devlin apparently returned back to Ireland sometime between 1885 and 1887.  He ended up marrying another Irish immigratant named Sarah A in 1899 in Philadelphia.  I suspect her last name may have been Philbin. We do not know if he returned home to Roscrea or prehaps some other location.  It does not seem that the name Philbin is a very common name in the area.

The family seems to be pretty exclusive to Birchgrove with the exception of John Devlin who is listed as being born at "Turnpike" in 1857.  Since this area is west of Roscrea I suspect the family may have been visiting with some other relations at that time.

Thank you again for the lead.  If anything else turns up please pass it along.

Jeff

Thank you for investigating our possible Philbin connection.  Sarah Philbin is still a possibility but some of my recent research has pointed me to another Sarah - Sarah Ryan of Roscrea.

According to the 1910 U.S. Census John and Sarah Devlin responded that they were married for 18 years.  That would put their date of marriage in 1892, not in 1899 as the John Devlin/Sarah Philbin Philadelphia record indicates.

Also in the 1910 Census Sarah lists her age as 43 making her date of birth sometime between 1866-67.  I recently came across a birth record for a Sarah Ryan in 1866.  I am going to try to attach it to this email.

After John's first wife Anne Short died from complications from childbirth in December, 1884 I suspect that he may have returned back to Roscrea.  While there he may have meet Sarah Ryan.

John first immigrated to the States in 1880,  I am not sure of the date of his second trip.  Sarah Ryan immigrated in 1888.  John and Sarah first successful birth was to a girl named Nora in 1895.  The census indicates that Sarah has a total of eight children, only five survived.  I have indentified one of deceased children as Jeremiah (Jeremy) Devlin who died in 1900 around one year of age.

I am hoping a death record of Jeremy Devlin may shed light on who Sarah actually may be - Philbin or Ryan.

Thank you again for your insights.  Any new thoughts are always welcomed.

Jeff

Same fellow - different inquiry. 

Thanks you for the link to the Irish Waterways website.  I have visited there a few times and posted a comment for the author about what I believe may be have been retting dams for flax during the mid to late 1800s.

Jeff