I have a letter written by my great grandfather William Michael Dillon from 1957 in which he tried to recap his family history. He was almost 90 at the time so I'm hopeful his memory was good, although it is quite vague. He was born in 1868 in Oxford, Ohio to John and Catherine Dillon. He says that John was born in County Longford and Catherine, whose maiden name was Devanney, was born in County Kildare. They met in Hamilton, Ohio but then there is a confusing part where he says that they had both been married with children before and her last name when he married her was Maley. When I did my research, I did find evidence of a blended family in censuses and newspaper articles to back this up and on death certificates I see the parent's names of the Maley kids are John Maley and Catherine (one said Dusney? but the others had no last name) and on the Dillon kids parents were listed as John Dillon and Catherine Devanney, although one said Lanane. It's hard to trust death certificates in the U.S. but unfortunately there are no birth records for any of them so this is what I am left with.
So...I am wondering if the surnames of Devanney or Maley are familiar in County Kildare? Here are some hints:
Catherine Devanney was born possibly in March of 1829. On the 1860 census in Butler, Ohio she is married to John Maley, born in Ireland in 1820 and their first 2 children show that they were born in Ireland as well: Ann Maley born 1854 and James Maley born 1856. Ellen was born in Ohio in 1857 which means they immigrated in 1856 or 1857.
Is there any hope of sorting this out with no parish name? Thank you so much in advance!
Kathleen Dillon Kramer
Wednesday 30th Jan 2019, 10:15PMMessage Board Replies
-
Kathleen:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
This site developed by one of our volunteers shows you where surnames were found in the mid-19th century. https://www.swilson.info/sdist.php
Devaney is not a Kildare surname. The surname is primarily found in the west of Ireland: Mayo, Galway, Donegal and Sligo. Maley/Malley/O'Malley is almost exclusively a Mayo surname.
I did search the subscription site Roots Ireland for all of Ireland and did not find any baptismal records for children of John Maley and a wife with the maiden name Devaney. Very possibly the parish where the baptisms occured no longer has records back to the 1850s.
However, I did locate an 1839 marriage record in Swinford Co. Mayo for a John O'Malley and Cathereine Devaney. I think this record is for another couple because of the year compared to your family records.
Date of Marriage:21-Mar-1839
Parish / District:KILCONDUFF/SWINFORD
County:MAYO
Husband JohnO Malley Address:Tullanacur Wife Cath DevanyYou may want to post the emigration story of John Maley and Catherine Devaney to our XO Chronicles site and possibly someone will see a connection.
https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-dat…
Have you considered DNA testing?
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘