A McDEVITT FAMILY HISTORY

BY ROBERT McDEVITT

Library of Congress Control Number 2007942815

Published by Brandenburg Publications Inc. Marion, Wisconsin 2007 All rights reserved

TITLE PAGE: The road to Kylemore Abbey

DEDICATION

To the memory of Dominick McDevitt who left County Donegal, Ireland with nothing but gave us a future.

W. T o the memory of Daniel W. McDevitt, Jr., my father, who Jr., father, left Keokuk, Iowa with nothing but gave me a future.

A GENEALOGISTS ADVENTURE
Research for this project began in early 2003, when an Internet search indicated that Dominick McDevitt was buried at OHara Cemetery in Greenville township, Greene County, New York. This one little piece of information was taken from the website Tracing Your Roots in Greene County which included an inventory of area cemeteries prepared by Sylvia Hasenkopf. It proved to be the catalyst for the wealth of information that would follow. I was determined to visit the burial place of the patriarch of my branch of the McDevitt family in the United States, and since my niece was being married in New England during the summer of 2003, my wife and I decided to take a short genealogical trip to Greenville, New York after the wedding. Prior to our departure, I exchanged emails with Shirley McGrath, a volunteer consultant at the Vedder Research Library in Greene County, New York, requesting information relating to any McDevitts in the area. When we arrived at the library in June, she gave me several items of interest, including two newspaper clippings regarding Dominick McDevitt that were in the library scrapbooks. She subsequently provided me with a copy of Dominicks will as well as relevant copies of the New York State Census. After leaving the Vedder library, we stopped at OHaras Corners, the final resting place of Dominick McDevitt. While walking through the cemetery, we met John OHara who was at his summer home directly east of the cemetery. He welcomed us into his home, gave us a tour of the historic OHara house which was also adjacent to the cemetery, and suggested that I make contact with his brother, Peter, who was the genealogist in the family. Upon returning home, I followed Johns advice and emailed his brother, Peter, who sent me copies of the recollections of Catherine (McGauley) Baker, several historical documents relating to Peter OHara, Sr. and the OHara family, and relevant portions of the Levi Kimball family record. Both Peter and John OHara recom4

June and John OHara in front of their summer home at OHaras Corners, 2003

mended that I contact Fred Rothe who lived across the road from the OHara Cemetery. They thought he might have some information on the McDevitts. In September, I called Fred and received a very warm reception on the telephone. Even though I had been near his house in June, I had not met him. However, as luck would have it, he and his wife, Janice, wintered in Florida near where my wife and I were spending some time in February 2004. We made arrangements to meet. When we did, the Rothes presented me with my most

Fred and Janice Rothe outside their winter home in Davenport, Florida, 2007

valued genealogical document, the original Naturalization paper of Dominick McDevitt. When I learned that Fred and Janice own the John Geraghty house, the home Dominick McDevitt lived in at the time of his death in 1891, we decided to return to Greenville, New York in the fall of 2005. My goal was to make one last visit to OHara Cemetery and visit the John Geraghty house. During that visit, the Rothes gave me my most prized genealogical artifact, Dominick McDevitts top hat and the hat box in which he received it. They also gave me a picture of the Geraghty family taken around 1890, just prior to Dominicks death. That picture is included in Chapter Two.
Peter OHara and Bob McDevitt in front of the OHara house, 2005

Dominicks prized top hat was something of a symbol that he had made it. Made by Cooksey & Co. of London, England, it was kept in the Geraghty house in a box that said, Grandpa McDevitts hat. It was given to Bob McDevitt by Fred Rothe in 2005.

Following his retirement, Peter OHara permanently moved into the OHara house which is located directly across the road from the Rothes. He happened to be at home when we were visiting with the Rothes, and like everyone else we had met in Greenville, he welcomed us with open arms. We had a wonderful, but all too brief, visit. Later that morning, Peter gave me the most prized photograph I have acquired - the one picture I had thought impossible to obtain - a photo portrait of Dominick McDevitt that had been in the OHara family collection for over one hundred twentyfive years. From Dominicks will, I learned that his son, Ferdinand, was living in Florence, Wisconsin in 1887, and that single fact led 5

me to another gold mine of information, this time much closer to home. In 2004, we drove to Florence to meet with Debbie DeMuri, a teacher in the Florence school district and the secretary/ treasurer of the Florence County Historical Society. She provided me with copies of several historic photographs of Florence as well as valuable information about the community. While there, we visited the county courthouse where I viewed land records showing Ferdinands place of business. I also learned that the local newspaper, The Florence Mining News, was available on microfilm which I procured through the Brown County Library in Green Bay. I subsequently read every issue from its inception in 1880 to 1892, the year that Ferdinand McDevitt moved to Keokuk, Iowa. Our next stop was Keokuk, Iowa where I made contact with Tonya Boltz, a research assistant at the Keokuk Public Library. She provided invaluable help in locating city directories, obituaries, cemetery records, and newspaper articles involving three generations of McDevitts who lived there. She also provided me with copies of old photographs of Keokuk. We then travelled to Houghton, Michigan to visit the campus of Michigan Tech University, the regional repository for historical archives in the Upper Peninsula of

Michigan. While in Houghton, we visited both the county courthouse where I obtained a copy of Ferdinand McDevitts marriage certificate and Forest Hills Cemetery where Ferdinand, his wife, and two of their children are buried. Other trips were taken over the last four years, including a trip to Illinois to interview my cousin, Dan McDevitt, to Arkansas to interview my brother, Jack, and to Minnesota to interview my nephew, Mike. The interviews with Jack and Dan were videotaped and transferred to DVD. Several more trips were made to the State Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin to view microfilm of census records and ship manifests and to obtain copies of the Sanborn insurance maps of Florence, Wisconsin; numerous visits were made to the Brown County Library in Green Bay, Wisconsin where I received a great deal of

assistance from Mary Jane Herber, the local history and genealogy librarian; and lastly, several visits were made to view microfilm that was obtained for me by the Family History Center in Shawano, Wisconsin, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Our longest trips were made in September 2004 and June 2007, when we traveled to County Donegal, Ireland. My main contact there was John Mc Devitt, an Irish native living in Bunbeg, County Donegal. Our experiences in Ireland are chronicled in Chapter 9. My companion through all of these visits has been my wife, Mary, who has made every trip an enjoyable and rewarding experience because of her support, her encouragement, and her enthusiasm for this project. * * * * * * *

Bob and Mary at their home, 2002

INTRODUCTION
As a child, I became aware of my fathers interest in family history as well as his acquisition of a few items of a genealogical nature. Following his death in 1996, most of these items were passed on to me, and after retiring in 2001, I began the process of gathering more information, the process previously chronicled in A Genealogists Adventure. Adventure Although the main focus of my research was on the paternal genealogical line illustrated on page 10, I decided to include biographical information relating to the maternal side of each family. It is hoped that by doing so, a starting point would be created for additional research by future genealogists who may wish to expand the scope of this family history. The written record of our branch of the McDevitt family began with the work of Levi Darbee, the grandson of Levi Kimball. In 1861, Darbee wrote a Record of the Family of Levi Kimball and Some of His Descendants, noting:

Imperfect as the record is, I trust it will be acceptable to many of the descendants of my respected grandparents, for whom only it is intended.
The Dominick McDevitt family is included in this publication, and Dominicks connection to Levi Kimball, the patriarch of the Kimball family, is illustrated below:
Levi Kimball (b. 1745) & Abigail Sissons Hannah Kimball (b. 1769) & Samuel Darbee Peter OHara & Lucretia Darbee (b. 1792) Hannah OHara (b. 1818) & Dominick McDevitt (ca. 1806)

This original copy of the Levi Kimball family record, published in 1861, measures 2-3/4 by 4-1/2 and is sixty-one pages in length.

lished a Revised and Extended version of the Record of the Family of Levi Kimball and Some of His Descendants with the caveat:

In 1866, another booklet, Record of the Family of Jedediah Darbee, was published, and, after the lapse of a few years, both works were revised and the two volumes were bound together. In June 1913, Robert M. Darbee pub7

Correspondence failing, there is but one other way to obtain desired information, and that would entail heavy expense and be the work of years; necessitating travel from place to place and the inspection of old town and church records. Such thorough research falls within the sphere of work of the professional genealogist.
Or a retired teacher!

I was able to expand upon some of the McDevitt names and dates identified in Darbees work because of information given to me by Fred Rothe and Peter OHara. Those updates have been included in the biography of Dominick McDevitt. For each biographical sketch presented, I included a family summary, using the same format as that used by Levi Darbee, i.e. Birth of Parents, Children, Marriage of Children, and Deaths. However, my goal was to go beyond this fundamental genealogical information which only included names, dates, and places. I hoped to uncover something of the personality of the individuals researched and to investigate some of the causative events of the times that influenced their lives. Many personal interviews and newspaper articles are cited in the biographical sketches in order to offer some subjective insight into the lives of the people being described. Early on in my research, I became aware of how desperate the Irish had become by the 19th century when Dominick McDevitt migrated to the United States. When I heard the song, The Green Hills of Sligo, it struck me how difficult it is for the average American to relate to the feeling of hopelessness experienced by the average Irishman at that time. We take for granted that there is always a better tomorrow, that next year will be better than

the last. How sad it is to realize that our ancestors felt that, Theres nothing left for me to do, no future that I know. I have included the words from that song to provide the reader with a sense of the plight of the Irish emigrant of the 19th century. The original intent of this project was to write A Robert McDevitt Family History for my children and grandchildren and then, at a later date, write a biography of my brother for his descendants. However, since publishing costs made it unfeasible to have two separate publications, I modestly shortened my biography and that of my wife in order to include biographies of my brother, John Joseph, and my nephew, Michael Robert. It is probably through them and them alone that the story of Dominick McDevitt will continue. It has taken five years to complete this family history, but it has been a labor of love. Countless hours were spent traveling, gathering information, writing, and editing this publication. But like many things in life, the journey often turns out to be as enjoyable as reaching the destination, and I have taken as much personal pleasure out of the process as out of the final product. It is my most sincere hope that some McDevitt genealogist in the 22nd century will update and extend A McDevitt Family History. Robert McDevitt

THE GREEN HILLS OF SLIGO

Im leaving dear old Ireland I can no longer stay I have decided to sail west Oer to the USA There are many different reasons That have urged me on to go And leave the place where I was born Round the green hills of Sligo Although I hate to leave this land Where Ive lived for many years I find that I must emigrate Though my eyes are filled with tears For theres nothing left for me to do No future that I know And so I have to bid farewell To the green hills of Sligo I know my friends will disagree And Father Brown will too Theyll all be trying to tell me that The day I leave Ill rue And my poor old mother will be sad When I tell her I must go And leave the place where I was born Round the green hills of Sligo
Ben Bulben Mountain, County Sligo, Ireland

Ill write a letter now and then To all my friends so dear Ill tell them all the things I can About my life time here And when I long for memories And days of long ago Ill think about the neighbors Round the green hills of Sligo Although I hate to leave this land Where Ive lived for many years I find that I must emigrate Though my eyes are filled with tears For theres nothing left for me to do No future that I know And so I have to bid farewell To the green hills of Sligo And so I have to bid farewell To the green hills of Sligo

THE MCDEVITTS 1806-2006

Dominick (1806 - 1891)

Ferdinand (1842 - 1904)

Webster ebster, Daniel Webster, r. S r. (1878 - 1960)

Webster Jr. ebster, Daniel Webster, Jr. (1915 - 1996)

John Joseph (1941 - )

Michael Robert (1966 -)

10

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
1 2 McDevitt Dominick McDevitt Hannah (OHara) McDevitt Ferdinand McDevitt Catherine (Finnegan) McDevitt Daniel W. McDevitt. Sr. Susan (Baldwin) McDevitt Daniel W. McDevitt, Jr. Mary (Costello) McDevitt Mary Costello Family Tree John J. & Gloria (Reinhard) McDevitt Michael R. and Lori (Vogt) McDevit Robert McDevitt Mary (Gruber) McDevitt Return To Donegal Epilogue Appendices

T itle

Page No.
13 31 47 55 69 75 82 89 114 130 148 159 170 194 212 231 240

6 7 8

9 10

11