THE MC GOVERNS OF HOCKESSIN By Donn Devine The McGoverns of Hockessin, Delaware, are mentioned in local histories as among the

early families of that 19th-century clay-quarrying community, and their imprint remains in the names of McGovern Road and of businesses carried on by descendants. Today's McGoverns might readily have misidentified their three immigrant male ancestors as "three brothers who came to America" so common in many family accounts, but one living granddaughter preserves the tradition that they were in fact cousins, which is consistent with the documentary evidence. However, their exact relationships have not been determined, nor has a record or memory of their place of origin in Ireland been preserved.1 The Hockessin McGoverns' experience is quite representative of the pattern of early famine-era Irish immigration to the United States--unmarried young men or women from the same small farming community, often in Ulster, coming alone or sometimes in pairs to a single locality in America. Here they continued what their non-Irish neighbors called their "clannish connections" and attracted others bound by the same ties, in many cases paying for the later passage of siblings or parents with money sent back from their meagre earnings. Their attitude of continuing responsibility toward the family and community they had left was in marked contrast to the individualism displayed

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The Hockessin area, however, was very untypical of the Irish-American experience, because it offered both industrial and agricultural opportunities to the newcomers. The limestone quarries and, after 1872, the "clay pits" (kaolin quarries) of the area, which were the economic base for Hockessin's growth and development, provided the unskilled industrial jobs the immigrants needed on arrival. In addition, reasonably priced farm land in the immediate area gave them the opportunity to return to their earlier farming livelihoods without disrupting the family and community ties that sustained them during their first years in America.3 The result was a community cohesion among the Irish of Hockessin that lasted from the mid-19th century until World War II. As will be seen, the McGoverns and their close neighbors the Lafferties bought farmland in the area, probably as soon as savings from their wages permitted, and several generations continued farming until 20th century suburbanization of the area overtook them. In spite of this unusual geographical stability, however, today's McGoverns, like descendants of most famine-era Irish immigrants, have no records or traditions of their ancestors' place of origin in Ireland, and only one branch has preserved a bible record of vital events after arriving in the U.S. The Hockessin McGoverns are so typical of the broader patterns of Irish

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migration that the family provides a case-study in the micro-demographics of the famine era. Their story--pieced together from census, land, church, and cemetery records, as well as from vital records registrations with the help of some descendants--shows how readily Irish-American families may be traced through the sources commonly used in American genealogy. The name McGovern and the two maternal family names identified are less common ones, so it was also possible to pinpoint the family's probable place of origin in Ireland. The "Householder Index" to family names in Griffith's Valuation (1848-62 land assessment) of Ireland was used to locate the one place where all the family and given names of parents occur together--the 625-acre townland of Tirgan, Parish of Desertmartin, near Draperstown, Derry, now one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The Hockessin McGoverns descend from three couples representing four immigrant McGovern ancestors--Edward McGovern (ca 1835-1921) and his wife Sarah Hagan (1838-1896); John F. McGovern (1837-1906) and his wife Catherine (1837-1912), also a McGovern by birth; and Daniel McGovern (1849-1928) and his wife Louisa Denning (1855-1934). In addition, ties to the family of John J. McGovern (ca 1833-1912) of Wilmington and his wife Maria (ca 1840-1908) are suggested by their cemetery lot adjoining Edward's in Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington.4 Earliest McGoverns in Hockessin

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The first McGoverns of record in what is now the Hockessin area were Daniel, laborer, and Eliza, who appear in the 1850 U.S. Census, age 30 and 20 respectively, with Mary Ann, age 1, and a John Shayary [?] age 60, also a laborer, living with them, all except Mary Ann having been born in Ireland. They were in the house next to John and Mary Lafferty, both 32 and also Irish, and their five children, ages 4 to 10. This Daniel McGovern is probably the Daniel, age 49, "works in Lime Quarry," recorded in the household of William McDowell in the 1870 Census, but nothing more is known about him or any descendants.5 Four houses further on, in the household of John G. Jackson, leading citizen of Hockessin, developer of its limestone quarries and kilns and later chief engineer of the Wilmington and Western Railroad, was a David [or Daniel] McGovern, 50, quarryman, born in Ireland, forerunner of other McGoverns who in future censuses would be found as domestics in the Jackson home, but he has not been identified, and no further record of him has been found.6 Although the Irish origins of the McGovern and Lafferty families listed in 1850 aren't known, their adjoining dwellings anticipate a future closeness, in housing, marriage, and eventually burial, among later arrivals with those names, and strongly suggests family relationships. Even earlier, a Dan Lafferty was listed in 1827 as one of the 13 pew holders in the newly enlarged

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(to 14 pews) Catholic church at Coffee Run.7 The later-arriving James and Mary (Rogers) Lafferty family, who from the birth places of their children came ca 1865-71 and lived in Kaolin, across the Pennsylvania line, developed the closest associations with the McGoverns. They originated like the McGoverns in the Draperstown area. He was the son of Patrick and Mary (Conners) Lafferty, of Keenaght townland in the small civil parish of Kilcronaghan, within the same Roman Catholic parish of Desertmartin as the McGoverns' probable origin at Tirgan.8 The families of James Lafferty and of his brother Michael Lafferty, who arrived ca 1872-73 with his wife Mary Magdalen (Kelly) and first child Peter and also lived in Kaolin, were representative of a less common post-famine immigration pattern--families with children coming as a group, rather than individually.9 No record of the other McGoverns listed in the 1850 Census has been found either in New Castle County or adjoining Chester County PA, and there are no gravestones recorded for them at Coffee Run cemetery in the WPA Historic Records Survey, made in 1939. The Lafferty family, without Mary, appears in 1860 in the same relationship to the Jackson house. Progenitors of Present-Day McGoverns

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Edward McGovern came to the U.S. in 1853 and John F. McGovern the following year, according to the 1900 Census. Edward is undoubtedly the Edward, age 15, accompanied by Margt, age 12, both listed without occupations as arriving on the ship Tuscarora from Liverpool on 12 March 1853. John is probably the John, listed as age 13 although his actual age would have been 17, who arrived on the Tonawanda 24 April 1854, since no other John is found in the Phildelphia index for that year.10 Catherine Mc Govern also came to the U.S. in 1854, according to the 1900 Census; she may be the Catherine, no age or occupation listed, who arrived on the Wyoming on 24 Oct 1854. On 11 Nov 1855, she and John McGovern were witnesses at the marriage of Edward McGovern to Sarah Hagan, recorded at St. Joseph's-on-the-Brandywine, but probably performed at St. Mary's, Coffee Run.11 The log church of St. Mary of the Assumption at Coffee Run, Delaware's first Catholic parish, became a mission of St. Joseph's-on-the-Brandywine in 1841. Attended by priests from that parish, it was the church of the Irish quarry workers of Hockessin until St. Patrick's at Ashland was established in 1880, and St. John's in Hockessin, originally as a mission of Ashland, in 1882. Records of the present St. Mary's of the Assumption parish, Hockessin, begin in 1881, after the founding of St. Patrick's.12

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Catherine McGovern married John McGovern on 19 Sep 1861, probably at Coffee Run, but recorded at St. Joseph's-on the-Brandywine. Edward McGovern and "Catherine McGovern," who has not been identified but is perhaps an error for Sarah, were witnesses. No dispensation is noted, so John's relationship to Catherine must have been more distant than second cousin.13 She is almost certainly the Catherine McGovern recorded, age 20, together with Mary McGovern, also age 20, in the 1860 census as servants in the John G. Jackson household, with her future husband John McGovern, 23, a quarryman, a boarder with the Michael McKenna family only five dwellings away from the Jackson house; the Lafferty house, two houses from Jackson, is between. Note, however, the slight inconsistency with her ages as reported in 1870, when both she and John are listed as age 33, and in 1880 as 43.14 John F. McGovern also had a sister Ann, known from family tradition but not identified in records, who married and moved to California, but was never heard from after the San Francisco earthquake. John F. McGovern's cemetery lot at Ashland is shared with his Lafferty and Baldwin sons-in-law; all three names are on a large central monument.15 Also among the eight boarders listed in the McKenna household in 1860 was another John McGovern, quarryman, age 25 (perhaps a duplicate entry, since no other John of similar age is known) and Daniel McGovern, 17, teamster. He is

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probably the same Daniel, age 23, who was a blacksmith in Red Lion Village, Red Lion Hundred, in 1870 and who married in 1871 (bond dated 25 Mar) Louisa Denning, daughter of Michael Denning, Irish-born shopkeeper of Red Lion, Village, Red Lion Hundred, and his wife Bridget. Daniel and Louisa remained in Red Lion until 1884, when Louisa purchased a lot in Hockessin for $140.16, 17 Although Daniel, blacksmith and husband of Louisa, was 23 in 1870 and born in Aug 1849 according to the 1900 Census, four years younger than Daniel the teamster was reported in 1860, such an inconsistency with the 1860 information provided about a boarder would not be unusual--particularly in view of the probable duplication of John's entry with conflicting ages in the same list of boarders. As noted in the 1900 Census, Daniel's age 50, Aug 1849 birthdate, 1856 immigration and 44 years' residence in the U.S. would place his age on arrival as 6.18 No direct evidence for a relationship of the Hockessin McGoverns to John J. McGovern of Wilmington has been found, but such a relationship might be inferred from the fact that Edward and John J. bought adjoining cemetery lots in the then recently opened New Cathedral Cemetery in Wilmington--John J. to bury a 24-year-old daughter who died in 1893, Edward to bury his wife Sarah in 1896, as noted in the cemetery records cited earlier. The other Hockessin McGoverns (including one child of Edward, his son Edward S.) are buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Ashland--some, like Daniel and Louisa who moved to Kennett

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Square, even after leaving the immediate area. Irish Origins According to their death certificates, the parents of the immigrant McGoverns were as follows: Edward McGovern--John McGovern and Nancy McElwee; John, undoubtedly the father of Edward, appears in Edward's household in 1880 as a laborer, age 70, born in Ireland. Edward probably brought both his mother and father to the U.S. between 1870 and 1877; the gravestone of Nancy McGovern, died 4 Mar 1877 age 55 years, was recorded in the WPA 1938 survey of Coffee Run cemetery. Her age, however, may be understated, since it places her birth only 16 years before her son Edward's birth date of January 1839, as recorded in the 1900 Census.19 John F. McGovern--Neal McGovern and Alice ____, father's name confirmed in 1869 deed from James C. Jackson to "John McGovern of the same [Mill Creek] Hundred son of Neely McGovern."20 Catherine McGovern--Philip McGovern and Annie McGuckin.21 Daniel McGovern (b. 1849)--John McGovern and Sarah ____.22 John J. McGovern (of Wilmington)--Fergus McGovern and Catherine ____.23 -9-

The index prepared by the National Library of Ireland to Griffith's Primary Valuation of the Lands and Tenements of Ireland, sometimes called the "Householder Index," provides a means for zeroing in on a small area where all the family names identified may occur. The valuation for County Derry was made in 1859, so the likelihood of finding the parents as occupants of real estate is high. The names McGovern, McGuckin and McIlwee are not among the more common Irish surnames, and they occur together only in the parish of Desertmartin, where 5 to 18 of each are found, as well as Hagans and one Lafferty; additional McGuckins, Lafferties and Hagans are found in the adjoining civil parish of Kilcronaghan, which is part of Desertmartin Roman Catholic parish. The old Hockessin family name of Gormley is also found in the parish.24 Among occupants of the 40 holdings in Tirgan townland the names Neal, John and Philip McGovern--three of the known fathers of the immigrants--are found, as well as four other McGoverns--Bridget, Patrick, Daniel and Bernard-and four McIlwee families. While there are no McGuckins in Tirgan, 13 are found in the immediately surrounding townlands, along with six more McGoverns, including another Neal, and three McIlwees. Of the known McGovern parents, only Fergus and one of the Johns--probably the father of Daniel--are not found in Tirgan, and the identified maternal surnames can be found there or close by; the evidence strongly points to

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Tirgan as the Irish home of the McGoverns of Hockessin. Edward McGovern Edward McGovern, as discussed earlier, was the son of John McGovern and Nancy McElwee, born probably at Tirgan, Desertmartin, County Derry, in 1835 or 1836, based on the 1880 census and his age at death; although the 1900 Census gives his birth as Jan 1839, this would have made him only 16 at marriage. He arrived in the U.S. 12 Mar 1853 on the Tuscarora from Liverpool to Philadelphia, with his age recorded as 15 and accompanied by Margaret, possibly a sister, age 12. He married Sarah Hagan on 11 Nov 1855, probably at St. Mary's, Coffee Run, although recorded at St. Joseph's-on-th-Brandywine, with John and Catherine McGovern, probably his cousins, as witnesses. Sarah's maiden name is known from the death certificate of her daughter Sally, but the names of her parents are unknown; she was born about 1839 in Ireland, and died 23 Sep 1896.25 Edward has not been found in the 1860 Census for either New Castle Co., Del., or Chester Co., Pa., but appears to have lived just across the state line in Chester County between 1861 and 1865. In the 1870 Census he is listed as a farmer. His children were born in Delaware up to 1859, but those from 1861 through 1866 are listed as born in Pennsylvania. He is described as "now

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or late of New Garden Township, Chester County, Pa." (just across the state line from Hockessin) at his 25 Mar 1868 purchase of 23.29 acres on the north side of the Newport and Gap [Lancaster] Turnpike, just west of a private lane that was later opened as McGovern Road. By 1880, although still at that location, the Census gives his occupation as quarryman, indicating that farming was not the principal source of income. His first nine children are listed in the 1870 Census, and all 12 in 1880.26 Edward appears to have brought both his mother and father from Ireland after the 1870 Census and before the 4 1877 Mar death of Nancy McGovern was recorded, as discussed earlier, on a Coffee Run cemetery gravestone. No record of his father John is found after his 1880 Census appearance, age 70, in Edward's household; he may have been buried with his wife at Coffee Run, but without the stone having survived until the WPA survey. Although small parcels were sold off from the McGovern Road property beginning in 1883, the property remained in the possession of Edward's family until the death earlier this year of Miss Marjorie C. Meany, a granddaughter, who worked the farm with her twin brother Jay; after Jay's 1973 death 1973 she sold the farm, but retained a life interest in the house where she lived until her death.27 Edward's fortunes prospered sufficiently that he could invest in several

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other pieces of real estate between 1883 and 1888, including 151 acres of farmland along the pike for $14,123; 60 acres of farmland on the north side of Old Wilmington Road opposite McGovern Road for $4,666; two lots in Hockessin on either side of the turnpike, and a 59' by 44' lot on Grant St. in Hockessin, which he sold in 1899 to Lodge No. 4 of the Colored American Protective Association.28 As will be seen, Edward's cousin John in 1869 bought the six acres just across the lane, later McGovern Road, from Edward's farm, and lived there until 1876, when he bought a farm on Southwood Road. The 10 acres just to the west of Edward's original 23-acre farm has been held by all three branches of the McGovern family. Louisa McGovern, wife of Daniel, originally bought it in 1898. In 1915, John's son Lewis P. McGovern, after selling his late father's farm at Southwood, bought it from Daniel and Louisa. In 1923 Lewis's widow and administrator sold it to Edward's son Edward S. McGovern, from whom it has passed to the latter's son John M., and then to his grandchildren.29 By 1900, Edward, listed again as a farmer, has only his 21-year-old daughter Susan living at home with him, but the family of his son Edward, listed as a laborer, is in the next dwelling, and may be operating the farm. The senior Edward died 30 Aug 1921, aged "about 87," and is buried in his family plot at Cathedral Cemetery.30

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Children of Edward McGovern and Sarah Hagan:31 1. Sarah C. McGovern, b. DE 1857, d. 4 Feb 1936 at Hockessin DE age 78. She married 6 Feb 1888 James F. Meany.32 Issue: i Edward, d. unm about age 25. ii John, m. Elizabeth Spawn, 4 children. iii Gertrude, d. young, about age 6. Twins: iv Jay, b. ca 1898, d. unm. 1973. v Marjorie J., b. ca 1898, d. unm. 3 Apr 1987.33 2. Anne R. McGovern, b. DE 1857 (twin of Sarah C.), d. unm. 3. Mary A. McGovern, b. DE 1859, m. 30 Apr 1895 John A. Cliniff.34 4. Ella (Nellie) McGovern, b. PA 1861, m. 26 Jan 1891 Thomas N. Flannery.35 5. John C. McGovern, b. PA 1863, d. unm. Chester Co. PA 22 Feb 1934. ______________ NOTES
1. Rev. Anthony F. DiMichele et al., Coffee Run 1772-1960 (Hockessin: 1960), pp. 32-33 (hereafter Coffee Run); C. A. Weslager, 100 Years Along Old Public Road, In Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Del. (Wilmington: Historic Red Clay Valley, Inc., 1960), p. 22; Joseph R. Lake, Jr., Hockessin - A Pictorial History (Hockessin: Bicentennial Commission, 1976), pp. 143, 151; interviews with Sarah McGovern Smith, Wilmington, DE, 9 Mar 1980 and 23 Feb 1987. 2. Kerby A. Miller, Emigrants and Exiles, Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1985), p. 273 and Appendix, Tables 4, 11, 12 and 14; Hasia R. Diner, Erin's Daughters in America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1983), pp. 36-37. 3. J.Thomas Scharf, History of Delaware 1609-1888, (1888; Repr. Port Washington N.Y.: Kennikat Press 1972), pp. 927, 929 (hereafter Scharf). 4. Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington, DE, Burial Records, Sect. 6-B, Lots 31 and 33, in cemetery office. 5. 1850 U. S. Census, New Castle County, Del., p. 350 (Mill Creek Hundred), dw. 70, 71, National Archives Microfilm M-432 Roll 53 (hereafter 1850 Census); 1870 U.S. Census, New Castle County, Del., p. 600, dw. 642 (hereafter 1870 Census).

6. 1850 Census, p. 350, dw. 75; Scharf, pp. 928-930. 7. Coffee Run, p. 29. 8. Mildred Haske, Annapolis MD, Lafferty family genealogist, unpublished communication to author, citing Desertmartin parish registers, with copies of 1981 certificates, and Draperstown District death registrations, with photocopied extracts. 9. Haske, Ibid.; Miller, supra, p. 352. 10. 1900 U.S. Census, New Castle County, Del., Subdivision 27, Enumeration District 54, Mill Creek Hundred, Sheet 9, National Archives Microfilm T-623 (hereafter 1900 Census); Index to Philadelphia Passenger Arrival Records, 1800-1906, on National Archives Microfilm M-360. 11. Marriage Register in church office, St. Joseph's-on-the-Brandywine Catholic Church, Greenville DE, certificate in possession of author. 12. Diocese of Wilmington, Catholic Directory 1978, p. 97; letter, Rev. J. Francis McDonough, pastor, St. Mary of the Assumption Church, to author, 9 Aug 1977. 13. Marriage Register, supra. 14. 1860 U. S. Census, New Castle County, Delaware, p. 305, dw. 28, 30, 33, National Archives Microfilm M-653 Roll 97 (hereafter 1860 Census); 1870 Census, p. 595 line 11; 1880 U. S. Census, New Castle County, Delaware, p. 138 dw. 25, National Archives Microfilm T-9 Roll 117 (hereafter 1880 Census). 15. Sarah McGovern Smith, supra; gravestone, St. Patrick's cemetery, Ashland (note that the Tatnall tombstone record transcriptions in the Delaware Hall of Records incorrectly records son John J. McGovern, died 1 Dec 1897, as "age 81" instead of 31 as it appears on the monument.) 16. 1860 Census, p. 234 [Red Lion Hundred] dw. 609; 1870 Census, p. 627 dw. 28 [Red Lion Village]; p. 713 dw. 471 [Red Lion Hd., PO Delaware City]; Soundex Index to 1880 Census, National Archives Microfilm T-741 (hereafter 1880 Soundex), Red Lion Village Sheet 2 Line 43; Indenture dated 23 Jul 1884 between William B. Jackson of Hockessin, Mill Creek Hundred and Louisa A. Denning of the same place for a 3/10 acre lot on the south side of the Lancaster Pike at Kent's Lane, New Castle County Deed Record (hereafter Deed Rec.) D-13 p. 206 in Office of Recorder of Deeds, Wilmington DE. 17. Although Louisa's 1934 death certificate (4 Sep 1934, PA #82879), for which her son Edward was informant, lists James Denney [sic] and Emma B. Powell as her parents, it is clear from census records that her father was Michael Denning; her mother was variously Brigget in 1860, Emma in 1870, and Bridget in 1880, when she appears as mother-in-law in Daniel and Louisa's household with her youngest children listed as "sister in law" and "brother in law" to Daniel; it is reasonable to conclude that her name was Emma Bridget Powell. In 1870, Daniel McGovern, still unmarried, was residing in Red Lion Village with the family of a James Denning, who may have been a brother of Michael, and his wife Mary. Michael's early death, and the knowledge of some family relationship to James, may have led to the erroneous information provided for the death certificate. 18. 1860 and 1870 Census, supra; Soundex Index to 1900 Census, National Archives Microfilm T-1037 (hereafter 1900 Soundex), Mill Creek Hd. Sheet 9. 19. Death Certif., Edward McGovern Sr., 30 Aug 1921, Del. #2067; 1880 Census p. 139 dw. 26; Historic Records Survey, WPA, "Inventory of . . . Coffee Run Cemetery. . .", May 1939, typescript in Hall of Records, Dover DE, #35.

20. Death Certif,, John F. McGovern, 2 Mar 1906, Del. #73611; Deed Rec. D-9, p. 196. 21. Death Certif., Catherine McGovern, 22 Feb 1912, Del. #71. 22. Death Certif., Daniel B. McGovern, 7 May 1927, Pa. #50800. 23. Death Certif., John J. McGovern, 25 Mar 1912, Del. #86629. 24. Microfiche of typescript index and Valuation as orig. publ. 1859 (Dublin: Irish Microforms). 25. Death Certif., Sarah McGovern, 23 Sep 1896, Del. #52667; 1870 & 1880 Census. 26. 1870 & 1880 Census; Deed Rec. U-8, p. 452; Weslager, supra. 27. Deed Rec. P-12, p.335; C-40, p. 206; G-68, pp. 605, 607; R-94, p. 138; obituary, Wilm. Morning News, 6 Apr 1987. 28. Deed Rec. Q-12, pp. 134, 136; U-13, p. 476; C-14, p. 578; M-18, p. 81. 29. See references, infra, for John and Daniel McGovern. 30. 1900 Census; Death Certif., Edward McGovern, Sr., 30 Aug 1921, Del. #2067. 31. 1870 & 1880 Census; except where documentary sources are given, information on marriages and children is from a 28 Jun 1987 interview with Sarah Finnegan Carter, Hamorton, PA, a granddaughter. 32. Vital event card index, Del. Div. of Archives, Hall of Records, Dover (hereafter Del. Arch. card index). 33. Obituary, Marjorie J. Meany, Wilm. Morning News, 6 Apr 1987. 34. Del. Arch. card index. 35. Ibid.