Catherine Devanney/Devaney and John Maley
I have a letter written by mygreat grandfather William Michael Dillon from 1957 in which he tried to recap hisfamily 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 areJohn Maley and Catherine (one said Dusney? but the others had no last name) and on the Dillon kids parentswere 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 Devanneywas born possiblyin March of 1829. On the 1860 census in Butler, Ohio she is married to John Maley, born in Ireland in 1820 and their first 2children 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!
