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Moses Burke born c 1789.

Seeking info on Moses Burke who married Anne Nowlan in Ballyoughter, Ferns, Wexford on 13-5-1821.   There were 8 children born, but I have only been able to trace 5 of them:  (all born/bapt. Ballyoughter),:  Mary 1822,  Anne 1824, Moses 1828, Ellen 1830, Bridget 1832.  The there was Thomas, John and Kathleen.  Baptism records are missing from 29-11-1832 to 17-8-1844.

Moses and his son Moses were tried in Wicklow 13-4-1847 for stealing mutton.  Both werre originally sentenced to 7 years transportation;  however the verdict for Moses (Snr) was commuted by order of the Lord Lieutenant to time in prison.  His son, Moses was duly transported to Tasmania  in May 1849.  I know that the daughters, Mary & Anne, were also transported to Tasmania in December 1849.  I know nothing of Thomas, John and Kathleen.

Any info on this family would be greatly appreciated.

I have all the Australian info regarding the three that were transported.   Thanks.     Joy.

Joy

2 replies

I don't have any specific info about your inquiry, but in case you're interested in how the name Moses came to be used in a Catholic family at that time, I can provide some background.  That given name is peculiar to Wexford, and was originally based on the Irish given name Aodhán (often anglicized as Aiden or Aidan).  It was a term of endearment to refer to a saint as something like "my Aiden".  The Irish word for "my" is "mo", which in Irish would be contracted to m+apostrophe before a vowel, resulting in Maodhán [originally:  M'Aodhán).  With the diminutive -óg added to it, the given name evolved into Maodhóg.  That was sometimes anglicized as Mogue (somewhat close to the Irish pronunciation), but parish priests in some places insisted on using "Latinized" versions of given names, or something Biblical which they considered to be close in sound, and that's how some people named Maodhóg ended up being called Moses in parish registers and the like.

kevin45sf@yahoo.com

Hi Kevin,

thanks for that.  Found it very interesting.  Shall keep looking.    Joy.

Joy

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