The DeWane Family

Friday, March 18, 2011

Following the blight of the potato in 1845-1847, starvation and typhus pushed thousands of Irishmen in cheap passage ships to an underpopulated Canada.  An estimated 15,000 died crossing the Atlantic and many more when they arrived in Canada or the United States.

St. Cronan's in Parish Roscrea, Diocese of Killaloe, in county Tipperary, Ireland was the home parish of Denis D-Wane & Mary Maher/Meagher before coming to America around 1851. This picture shows the remaining facade of the monastery that exists on the site of the church. A copy of the record of their son Denis's baptism from March 9th, 1832 is among papers the family has. Other D-Wanes were also baptised there. Dr. Francis Dewane and his wife Mildred viewed the documents during a trip to Ireland in the 1970s.  Photo and description from Dianne Dewane Vadney's web site.

During this time, Denis DeWane and Mary (Maher) DeWane, whom were both born in Tipperary, Ireland, left their home in County Tipperary and with their six children--four boys and two girls--came to America.  The trauma of being uprooted, the long boat journey and the strangeness of the new world were too much for Denis.  He died and was buried in New York state.

Mary and her six children went west to Illinois where Mary succumbed and was buried.  The children came north into Wisconsin and, in 1853, settled in the township of New Denmark.  The six children were:
1)  James married Mary Lynch  (or Lyon?)
2)  John married Mary Finnel.
3)  Timothy, my ancestor, married Bridget Cook.  Bridget Ellen Cook/e was the second child of James and Mary (Burns) Cook/e.
4)  Bridget married Patrick Ryan.
5)  Mary Ann married John Cooney.
6)  Denis married Margaret Scanlan. 


James and Mary DeWane Family



Denis and Margaret DeWane Family

 Timothy and Bridget settled in Franklin where they were among the first settlers of the town.  They purchased a tract of virgin land and transformed it into one of the finest farms in Franklin.   

Timothy and Bridget had eight children: 
1) William married Mary Gorman, no children.
2) Ellen married Walter Duggan, no children.
3) Alice married Pat Shea and had two children--a baby who died in infancy and Roland Shea.
4) Tim married Mary Quincanon and had three children:  Larry, Arleen Farrell and Mary Hogenson. 
5) Thomas married Angeline Bos.  They had five children: Abbot Evermode (Tom) of St. Norbert Abbey; Gordon (Gordy and Tommy DeWane's father); Lois Cawley; Gladys Jentz and Marilyn Marsh. 
6) James married Elizabeth DeBeukelar and had four children:  Walter, Francis, Helen Liedeka and Ethel DeFrance.  (I lived in the upstairs apartment of the home of Ethel DeFrance when I moved away from home at age 18.) 
7) Dennis DeWane never married.
8) Mary Ellen DeWane married Terrence Ambrose Tracy.  They had five children:  Roland, my grandfather; Cyril; Alice Olsen; Ethel Schmidt and Odessa Mueller. 

Bridget (Cook) and Timothy DeWane Family
Left to right behind parents:
Tim, Ellen "Nel" Duggan, Will, Tom, Dennis, Alice Shea, Jim, Mary Ellen Tracy
Mary Ellen is my great-grandmother

Timothy was born April 15, 1834 and died October 10, 1919.  He is buried next to Bridget, who was born May 3, 1845 and died August 9, 1924, in the cemetery at St. James Church in Cooperstown, Wisconsin.


Obituary of Timothy DeWane


Bridget's father, James Cook, died March 20, 1890 at 78 years of age and his wife, Mary (Burns) Cook, who was born August 15, 1822, died October 19, 1902.  They are buried at St. Isadore Catholic Cemetery in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.

Photos and Timothy DeWane's obituary is from Dianne Dewane Vadney's excellent genealogy website.