Dear Miriam,
Thank you so very much for all of your research with the Philpott name.
Most of the information you found I already have, although I’ve now saved some of the original images of deaths from your links.
The birth and death of Alexander Philpott, younger brother of Nicholas, was new for me; thank you.
I agree with your findings of Patrick’s three wives and their names and presume that Ann nee Cavanagh was probably his first wife and probably the mother of my great-grandfather, Robert. Robert had two children: my grandmother in 1884, who was named Ann/Anne (I’ve seen it spelled both ways, and she was called Annie), and another daughter Emily in 1887 (both born in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA). So the naming pattern fits.
Anne Cavanagh/Cavenagh first married Andrew Connelly in 16 July 1846 in County Clare and then was apparently widowed before marrying Patrick Philpott.
I also had followed Patrick’s son Nicholas (his mother’s name I believe is Mary Anne Burrell), his visit to the U.S. to visit his half-brother, his vocation and teaching in Norfolk County, England, and agree that he probably never married and that he died in England.
Nicholas’ half-brother Robert Lawrence lived in New York City as a lawyer along with his brother John H. Lawrence, who was in real estate. An old rather cryptic note in my mother’s handwriting mentioned that as a teen-ager my father went to visit them in ~1926 in New York City. To my knowledge these two Lawrence brothers also never married. I cannot find records, but the story passed on to me years ago was that one of them had a ranch in New Mexico and that my great-aunt Emily as an adult one time visited there for an extended period of time.
Here is someone’s family tree for Robert Lawrence on Ancestry.com, though not all verified:
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/911111/person/-815707335/facts?_phsrc=iCQ7342&_phstart=successSource
I had earlier found as you did that Patrick listed his father’s name as Robert in one of his marriage records and agree that this fits with the Irish naming pattern.
What really connected me to Patrick Philpott was an old photo album in my possession. There is a nicely dressed young woman’s picture that is marked as Jane Ann Lawrence. My research found that she stayed in Ireland and married an O’Brien (Thomas I believe). Then I connected her name to her brothers John and Robert Lawrence….
I read a book on the RIC written by Jim Herlihy. He explained that a constable was not posted in the same county where he was born. In an index book written by Jim Herlihy of all constables I found the RIC number assigned to Patrick, and at a Family Search library was able to look at the RIC record book for Patrick. It showed that he had been born in County Cork. It makes sense to me that he worked all his life in County Clare.
The above record also showed the county where his wife was born, and presuming that was first wife Ann/Anne, she was born in Northern Ireland (I forget the name of the county offhand).
I have had my DNA tested with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and FamilyTreeDNA. Results from one of those tests has been downloaded to GEDMatch.com. No doubt there are Irish matches from this Philpotts line, but I just don’t know which ones. And of course, none of the Lawrence/O’Brien offspring would match me anyway.
One of my questions is: was my Robert George Philpotts an only child? My guess is that he was. I wonder if there is somewhere a record of Robert’s birth and a record of his mother’s death. Might there have been a child born to Patrick Philpott and Jane Blane?
Some other interesting info is that when my grandfather Robert applied for naturalization in the United States, a William Philpott born in County Cork was a witness for his application (this occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1878). I thoroughly researched William Philpott once he lived in the U.S. but have yet to determine how he is related to Robert. William also applied for naturalization on the same day, but Robert was not one of his witnesses. Robert and William both lived in the Boston area but never in the same town. William married Catherine [Kate] Dundon 11 Jan 1862 in Dromtarriff, Cork, Ireland, and shortly thereafter came to the U.S. where they had six children, including a son named Robert! This family seems to be related also to John Philpot, born Ireland 1839, who married Bridget Condon in Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and they had six children, including a son named William.
Philpot/Philpott/Philpotts is a more common name in England. I wonder if far enough back someone left England for Ireland.
Miriam, this is not all the information I have but much of it. Again, thank you so much for your response. I don’t know how you found so much in such a short amount of time.
God bless you!
Martha
