Seeking my BOBIER and WILLIS families

Seeking my BOBIERand WILLIS families from the Enniscorthy, Wexfordarea.

The Bobier family is well-documented in Canada, but I have found only a very small amount of documentation on them in Ireland. My 5th great-grandparents were Gregory Bobier and Martha Willis. (The Bobier name is spelled numerous ways in Irish records, but usually Bobier in Canada and the US.) They must have lived near Enniscorthy, Wexford, in the diocese of Ferns because all or most of their ten children were born there. Canadian and U.S. records for the children state their birthplaces as Wexford or Mersea, Wexford. One child, Arthur, is said to have been born in Dublin in 1814. There is a lot of unsubstantiated information about this family on various genealogy sites, some of which states that Gregory belonged to St. Mary's parish. All indications are that the family was Methodist, Methodist Episcopal, or Methodist New Connexion. I found a marriage register listing for Gregory Bobier and Martha Willis in the Public Record Office of Ireland, Marriage License Bonds, Diocese of Ossary, 1792. (I don't understand the religious organizational setup there during that time, so this is very confusing to me.) No details are given, and this is the only mention of my Martha Willis that I have found. (Martha Willis seems to have been a common name.)

On a list of protestants who were killed in the 1798 uprising, I found the name of a John Baubier of Finshoge, near Enniscorthy, who was killed on 28 May, leaving "3 small motherless children," and a William Baubier of Enniscorthy, killed on the Bridge of Wexford on 20 June, leaving a widow and two children. A William Willis, a corn merchant from Enniscorthy, was killed at Vinegar Hill 20 June. A Gregory Bobier later made a claim for damage done to John Baubier's farm during the uprising.

I have not found any emigration documentation for Gregory Bobier or his eldest sons, Gregory and John. I found a local publication in Ontario which says that Gregory Jr. and John emigrated in 1816 to near Montreal, where they worked as surveyors until 1825, when they bought land in southern Ontario and established farmsteads. I have found no further documentation regarding Gregory Sr., other than a few individuals stating that he died in Ontario in 1849.

On an 1817 manifest for the ship Jane Allen, five or six of the other children, including my 4th great-grandmother, Margaret Bobier are listed as passengers. No exact date or departure port is given, only that it was bound for Baltimore. Only one Martha Bobier is on the manifest, and she was the one who purchased the package. Passenger ages are not given on the ship manifest or on the arrival cards at the port of Philadelphia, so I have no way of knowing whether the Martha Bobier listed is Gregorys wife or his eldest daughter. A descendant of Arthur Bobier posted a story about how the family was so poor that they had to walk to Canada after they arrived in the US, and John had to carry Arthur on his shoulders. John is not on the manifest, but a Joshua Bobier, who also purchased a package, is the passenger before Martha Bobier on the manifest. I found a Joshua Bobier the Quaker records, which state that he removed from the Enniscorthy group to the Dublin group in the early 1800s.

This is all I know about my Bobier family. I know nothing of my Willis family otherthan Marthas name. Im hoping that William Willis and John Beaubier mentioned above are related and might provide some clues.