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Family tree▼ (edit)
m. Est 1823
(edit)
m. Abt 1858
Facts and Events
[edit] Early lifeJohn McDevitt was born about 1833 in Northern Ireland, probably in County Tyrone where his sister Anna was born a year or two earlier. Other McDevitts who settled in Vermont (e.g. David McDevitt) were from Strabane in County Tyrone and John may have been born in this area. John's parents were William McDevitt and Susan McMenaman (names as per John's death record). He had sisters Mary, Anna, and Susan, all of whom settled in Dorset, Vermont. It is likely that Jane McDevitt, who married Michael McBride and is buried in East Dorset, is also a sister. Jane's children were born in West Rutland, Rutland, and Dorset at the same time as proven members of the John's family. Future autosomal DNA testing may be able to prove the link. John may have had brothers. One researcher (Teresa Gallagher?) compiled a family tree based on oral history and included two sons of William and Susan named Patrick and CharlesS5. Charles McDevitt is listed as having a son, and a daughter who married a Toohey. Patrick McDevitt is listed as having daughters Susan who married a McManus, and Lizzie who married a Daughtery. A Patrick McDevitt, born 1834 and residing in Philadelphia, was naturalised at Rutland County Court on 11 Sep 1860. This may be the same Patrick McDevitt who married Caroline Rushton and lived in Philadelphia. Autosomal testing of a great-grandson of Patrick McDevitt, with a 2nd great-granddaughter of John McDevitt and a 3rd great-granddaughter of Mary McDevitt has proved inconclusive and it's hoped that future autosomal testing with other family members, or yDNA testing can determine whether Patrick was the son of William and Susan. [edit] Family migration to the United StatesMany people from County Tyrone emigrated to the Dorset and Rutland areas of Vermont in the 1840s-1860s. The Great Famine in Ireland was 1845-1852, but life had been tough for some time before that with high unemployment and appalling housing and living conditions. "Their decision to go to America was less a choice than an imperative. Stay and starve, or leave and survive. They were more refugee than immigrant."S5 The dates of the McDevitt family's immigration to the United States vary slightly depending on the record, but it seems that Anna emigrated in 1845-1846 when she would have been 13-14, and Susan Jr. also emigrated as a child aged 4-7 in 1844 or 1847. Perhaps Anna and Susan emigrated with their parents in the late 1840s, but they haven't yet been found in the 1850 census. John's records indicate he emigrated in 1851, when he would have been about 18, but perhaps he emigrated at the same time as his sisters. It is of course possible they all emigrated at different times but this seems less likely. It's not known whether John's father William went to Vermont, or whether he died in Ireland before Susan and the children emigrated. John's eldest sister Mary was probably already married when her siblings and mother emigrated. She married James McBride and had her first children William and Susan in Ireland before emigrating with her husband and young children in 1853 via New York. Just because Mary immigrated through New York doesn't mean that the rest of her family arrived via that route - they could have come through another port such as Boston or Philadelphia or crossed the border from Canada. [edit] Marriage and childrenBy the late 1850s John and his sisters had married and settled in the marble valleys of Vermont. The Irish in Dorset settled mainly on the east side of the mountain where the land was cheaper, many living part way up the mountains near the marble quarries. John joined the multitude of Irish workers cutting marble from Dorset's mountain. John married Jane Hill before December 1858 when their first child, a son, was stillborn. John and Jane went on to have four more children, three of whom lived to adulthood. John and Jane's eldest son Patrick was married to Catherine Regan in October 1882 and just over 9 months later they welcomed their first grandchild to the world. John's three children went on to have large families of their own, giving John a total of twenty grandchildren. Like so many famine Irish, John was unable to read or write. When he sold property to his daughter Sarah in 1903 he made his mark as an "x". John's mother Susan died in Dorset in May 1880 from consumption. She was in her late 70s or early 80s. John's wife Jane died in 1901, aged 75, from tuberculosis. Despite their poor living conditions and Vermont's harsh winters John and his siblings Mary, Anna, and Susan all lived into their 80s. The McDevitts were Catholic and would likely have attended St. Jerome's church in East Dorset after it was founded in 1868. John and most of his extended family are buried in St. Jerome's Cemetery. References
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