Mary Murphy (1810 - 1875), Irish dressmaker, mother of 7, immigrated during Potato Famine, Stephen Poth's third great grandmother

 Mary Murphy (1810, Kilkenny, Ireland - Dec 28, 1875, Lancaster OH) 

This is Stephen D. Poth's 3rd great maternal grandmother. 

Mary Murphy was born in 1810 in Kilkenny, Ireland.  We do not know anything about her parents or growing up years.   

 Interesting to note:  This is the direct maternal line leading back to Mary:  Frances Hope Hoart (1921-1985)  to Katherine Cecilia Cosgrove (1885 - 1950), to Emma Ryan (1856 - 1900)  to Catherine Bowes (1833 - 1909), to Mary Murphy.   

Marriage and children: 

At around age 20, Mary married John Bowes, in Ossary Diocese, Ireland, about 1830. 

Variations of Bowe in records: Bow, Bowe, Bowes, Bows, Base 

Between 1831 and 1842, they had seven children, with  baptisms recorded in the Catholic parish of Lisdowney in Kilkenny, Ireland: 

Tom Bowe 7 Dec 1831 (most likely this is James J. Bowes based on his tombstone that matches this birth date)

Catherine Bowe - May 4, 1833

Mary Bowe - February 11, 1835

Margaret Bowe - February 17, 1839

Thomas Bowe - July 25, 1841

Honoria Bowe - November 12, 1842 

The baptism for their son Lawrence, born 1837 in Ireland, was not found in these records. 

So, at the beginning of the Potato Famine in 1845, the couple had a large family with children ranging in age from 3 to 14. 

Immigration to the United States: 

In 1848, with the famine in its third year with no end in sight, the family decided to immigrate to the United States.  Mary was between 35 and 38 years old.

Mary's husband John traveled first, arriving in New York City on August 5, 1848 presumably to find a place for the family to settle.

A month later, Mary and her children traveled, on the ship Fidelia which left from Liverpool, arriving in New York City September 30, 1848.  The Fidelia was a clipper ship and part of the Black Ball Fleet. 

This is a painting of the Fidelia by British artist Henry Scott: 

The ship's manifest shows: 

Mary Bow, age 35, dressmaker

James Bow, age 16

Lawrence Bow, age 14

Kitty Bow, age 12 (this is Catherine)

Mary Bow, age 10

Thomas Bow, age 8

Honor Bow, age 6

Mary Bow, 23 (this may be John Bow's sister or cousin) 

John and Mary's daughter Margaret (Sr. Salesia) is not listed on the ship manifest.  I'm not sure when she immigrated.  

Settling in Ohio: 

Mary and the children joined John in Perry County, Ohio.   

The Nov. 30. 1850 census for Monday Creek, Perry County Ohio shows the family: 

John is a laborer, and both Mary and John are listed as not being able to read or write. 

Their son James, 16, is also a laborer.  Catherine is presumably doing house work and child care alongside her mother at home.  Mary, Lawrence and Thomas attend school, and Honoria is the youngest child. 

John died just a few years later, January 14, 1854, at about age 46.

Widowhood: 

In July 1860 we find Mary, 45, widowed, in Hocking Township, Fairfield County Ohio, living very humbly with her children Lawrence (19)  and Thomas (18), both employed as farmhands, and Norah (Honorah), 16, employed doing housework.  They are living about 25 miles west of where the family originally settled. 

I have not been able to locate Mary in an 1870 census.  She died December 28, 1875 in Lancaster, Ohio, near Hocking Township. 

There are monuments for Mary, her husband John, and their daughter Hanoria in Elmwood Cemetery, and a cenotaph for John in St. Mary Cemetery in Lancaster, Ohio.  

Sources: 

Find a Grave information from contributor Michael Johnson - memorial IDs: 91649517 and 83019384

1850, 1860 federal census 

Ireland, Catholic parish registers

Ship Fidelia passenger list 20 Sep 1848

Cynthia Poth Nanto tree on Ancestry dot com