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I am trying to find the birthplace/parish in County Kilkenny of my great grandfather John Devine, born in Kilkenny County in 1837c.  John emigrated to Canada in approx.1859 (date and ship uncertain because passenger ships' lists are not available for this period.)  He and his young wife (Maria McDonnell, County Carlow) were married I assume in Ireland before emigration.  Their first son, who became Fr.E.J.Devine S.J., was born in March 1861 in Renfrew county, Ontario, Canada.  I found out that between 1847-64, there were 16 Devine households in Kilkenny.  The parishes with such Devine households closest to Carlow County are Graiguenamanagh and Grangesilvia and I wondered if their proximity to Carlow would have brought John and Maria together, but that is pure speculation on my part!  Most Devine households in that period were in Thomastown parish.  I have tried Ancestry.com, Irish Times, Griffith's Valuation etc. etc. for more info on John and his family to no avail.  My daughter is planning a trip to Ireland this summer and I would love to be able to better pinpoint her great, great grandfather's parish.  Did John leave siblings behind in Kilkenny?  Did others of his siblings also emigrate?  So many things I would love to find out!  regards, Pam Devine

Wednesday 20th Mar 2013, 07:11PM

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    Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reasonwhy they left, who they may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given atthe port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g.Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps evenfind out an exact place of origin. Ellis Island:http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp Castlegarden:http://www.castlegarden.org/ US National Archives/Immigration info:http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/ The Boston Pilot; From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a?Missing Friends? column with advertisements from people looking for ?lost? friends and relativeswho had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 40,743 recordsis available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad thatappeared in the Pilot. http://infowanted.bc.edu/ The National Archives of Irelandhttp://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/ The National Library of Irelandhttp://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx The Public Records Office of Northern Irelandhttp://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm The US National Archives:http://www.archives.gov/ The Library & Archives of Canada -http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html

     

    Thursday 4th Apr 2013, 10:15AM
  • Good morning:  Thank you for your suggestions.  I am afraid though that I know nothing about my ancestors' emigration from Ireland.  I found out that our national archives (Library and Archives Canada) has passenger/immigration lists dating only from 1865 onward and John and Maria were in Canada before then.  I so wish I had asked questions of my parents while they were still alive!

    regards, Pam

    Tuesday 30th Apr 2013, 12:21PM
  • I admire your tenacity. My suggestion is a bit out of the box.  You might try locating the RC history pertaining to Canada to see if there is a bio on the ancestors' son.  Sometimes those write ups identify the family background. Worth a try given all your research to date.  

    Laderps

    Tuesday 30th Apr 2013, 01:14PM
  • Hi Laderps:

    I spoke with the head archivist/librarian for the Jesuits in Canada and he referred me to an article on Father Devine in the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online".  Unfortunately it says nothing about his parents, other than their names!  I found a census carried out in 1861 and it is only from that that I have tied John and Maria to Kilkenny.  Thanks again for your suggestions (and I'm not giving up!)

    regards, Pam

    Tuesday 30th Apr 2013, 09:47PM
  • I will keep my eyes and ears open as I continue my own search.  To quote Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up!"  Paula 

    Laderps

    Tuesday 30th Apr 2013, 11:53PM

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