F O R W A R D

The year 1993 has seen six generations of James Doyle’s progeny in America. As new Doyle's are born and old Doyle's die, our ancestor’s histories are gradually forgotten. Tombstones remain, but the memories of the lives of those buried beneath them fade into obscurity with each succeeding generations. Family stories become confused. Interpretations of what really happened are as different as the individuals telling them. For the sake of genealogy, facts are relied upon. Birth certificates, marriage licenses, naturalization papers, wills, etc. must be traced and recorded. In an effort to assure that the Doyle history not be forgotten, the information found in this booklet has been traced and recorded. Included are some stories, some historical dates and events to give the reader a better idea of the world as seen by our ancestors, and some memories of those who have departed.

As the world become ever more complicated in our approach to the 21^st century, a few moments every so often to reflect upon who we are, where we came from, the problems that our ancestors faced, the happy and sad times they experienced, gives each of us a greater sense of self identity and better appreciation of our own lives and the circumstances surrounding them.

Map of Ireland with Tramore noted:

DOYLE ANCESTORS IN IRELAND

On or about 1000 A.D. a young Norwegian Viking, holding his horned helmet stood on the deck of his fierce looking ship as it sailed out of the Irish Sea and edged into the Bay of Tramore in southern Ireland. The young Viking had joined the expedition seeking excitement and fortune. Thus he was eager to catch his first glimpse of the Viking settlement of Waterford where he was to call home.

They called him Dubh-ghall, meaning dark foreigner. In the gaelic language this was written O’Dubhghaill and later, simply Doyle.

We can reasonably conjecture that our ancestor settled in Waterford and accepted the Irish customs and ways as so many Norsemen did. He probably married an Irish woman and began a long line of the Doyle family.

The Doyles settled in East Waterford in the electoral division of Pembrook in the town of Cullen Castle located in the Barony of Middlethird in the Parish of Tramore.

Doyle ancestors would have witnessed the turbulence of the 1160’s and 70’s. In ll54 when King Henry II of England acceded to the throne, an Englishman, Nicholas Breakspear became Pope Adrian IV. The Pope regarded himself as the sovereign lord of Ireland and all islands surrounding her. (This right comes from the Donation of Constantine).

Under the pretense of lax morality in Ireland, Pope Adrian encouraged King Henry II to invade her. Finally, the Pope granted outright hereditary possession of Ireland to England. At this time, Dermot MacMurrough of Leinster sought the kingship of Ireland. In his quest he invited the Earl of Pembroke – called Strongbow – to help him.

The first Norman invaders landed in Wexford in 1169. After Wexford was taken, Strongbox landed in Waterford and proceeded to take it. Doyle ancestors surely were involved in these confrontations.

Strongbow conquered Waterford and built a fortress which still stands today as a reminder of the English invasions. Because of these battles, King Henry II ruled Dublin, Waterford and Wexford.

Following this first English invasion of Ireland were centuries more of England trying to aanihilate the Irish race. Donal O’Neill wrote that the murder of the Irishman was not a felony, and "it is no more sin, say even some of their religious, to kill an Irishman than to kill a dog".

Perhaps the most infamous invasion was in 1649 when the dreaded Oliver Cromwell landed in Dublin with 17,000 Puritan army troops and proceeded to massacre the Irish ‘papists’ (Catholics) in the name of God. The Irish who weren’t killed were exiled or sent into slavery. Five sixths of the population perished under Cromwell.

In 1652 and 1653, a plague killed even more Irish.

In 1653, the English Parliament declared that all fertile lands in Ireland were to become the property of Cromwell’s soldiers or Protestants. In the same year, the English conducted a Civil Survey. We are fortunate to have a copy showing the Doyle farmland in Cullen Castle.

Cromwell’s Census of 1654 above

In 1654, the Doyle's would have been tenants of James Bryver, protestant. (Note that James’ father, Francis, was a papist. We can only guess that James declared himself a protestant in order to keep his land. This was a common practice at the time.)

In 1685, the Catholic King James II ascended to the throne of England and restored most of the rights back to the Irish. William of Orange – a Puritan – shortly thereafter attacked England and declared himself king. James II fled to France. The Irish raised an army and invited James II to Ireland to assist him back to the throne. On September 23^rd, 1689, the Irish succumbed to William. In that same year, the infamous Penal Laws were passed by the English parliament.

The Penal Laws forbade the Irish Catholics from receiving education, entering a profession, holding public office, engaging in trade, living within five miles of a town, owning a house of greater value than five pounds, from leasing land, voting or keeping arms. They even prohibited Irish Catholics from engaging in worship or being guardians to their own children.

It was during this era when Michael Doyle was born --- c1775. In 1776 (86 years after the Penal Laws went into effect), Lord Charlemont presented a bill to the House of Lords to make it lawful for the Catholic to lease a cabin and potato garden. He was dubbed a ‘papist’ and voted out of his chair for such an infamous proposal.

Finally, in 1793, an Act was passed relieving the Catholics of their disabilities – in theory at least. It was another 36 years, 1829, before the Act – known as Catholic Emancipation – was realized thanks to the agitation of Daniel O’Connell.

Michael Doyle had at least one son named Walter who was born c1800. A marriage record located in the parish church of Tramore indicates that Walter married Johanna Arregon on January 11, 1825. They lived during the time of Daniel O’Connell’s prominence in Ireland. In 1834, O’Connell allowed the Whig government to try and six year experiment in governing Ireland in exchange for letting the Repeal Act for which he fought so hard, go into abeyance.

During the six year experiment the Whigs passed the Tithes Act which increased rents from Catholics in Ireland by 75%. The Tithes Acts made evictions commonplace. It appears that the Doyle's were able to remain on their land.

The young Doyle family lived in relatively peaceful times from a political view, but in dire economic times.

Potatoes were easily grown. They were the only crop that would allow a family to survive on their small land holdings. Combined with milk they provided all of Ireland with a nourishing diet. Potatoes were the mainstay of the Irish diet. Dr. E.R.R. Green, Course of the Irish History, sums up the economic conditions of the time:

Nothing of the scale of the 1845 potato blight had ever happened in Ireland before, and nobody was prepared for the magnitude of the disaster. Though its nature was unknown at the time, the blight was due to a fungus that spread incredibly swiftly, causing the entire crop to be inedible.

The GREAT HUNGER followed.

Walter Doyle was 45 years old. Accounts of the Irish Famine are numerous and one is as horrible as the other. Stories of walking skeletons, dogs eating corpses. "Slip Coffins" which were used to bury the dead had hinges on the bottom which allowed the body to "slip" into the grave so that the coffin might be re-used.

Because it was impossible to pay rents to their absentee English landlords, thousands of Irish tenants were thrown out of their houses.

The English parliament, under Queen Victoria in 1846 passed a Coercion Bill, which was devised to protect English landlords from being set upon by the starving Irish. Among other stipulations, no Irishman could appear outside his house from sundown to sunrise. Many Irish fled Ireland, mostly to America and Canada. Between 1841 and 1851, Ireland lost two and one half million people either from starvation or migration.

Those who could, escaped the Famine by emigrating – many to America. This group waits on the quay, surrounded by their belongings, for a boat to take them to a new life on the other side of the Atlantic.

Walter Doyle had at least the following children:

James, Kathryn, Louise, Maria, Thomas, and John.

One can imagine the reoccupation of feeding eight dependents with little food or money. Something had to be done. Emigration was their only choice. James was the first to leave. The Doyle's probably followed the Irish custom of holding a ‘living wake’ for James. Friends and relatives would have been invited for an all night mock wake to bid their goodbyes.

It must have been a bittersweet ordeal for Walter and Johannah to know that they would never see their son again but at the same time his future in America was far better than in Ireland.

The following pages are copies of various census of Ireland: 1845, 1868 and 1901. They show the succession of the Doyle farm. Please note that in 1845, Michael and Walter Doyle are listed as the Heads of Household. In 1868, John Doyle (son of Walter) is farming the land and in 1901, Michael Doyle (son of John Doyle) is Head of Household.

Doyle's reside in the house to this day. Also note that they farmed 34 acres and the house consisted of a thatched cottage of five rooms with five windows in the front of the house and seven outbuildings. (This was a sizable farm to be leased and would account for the family legend that the Doyle's quite better off than most immigrants.)

In 1848, James Doyle, age 15, set sail for Quebec, Canada. He was accompanied by Martin Doyle, age 33 (perhaps an uncle) and maybe more of his family. They lived in Canada for one year prior to moving to Vermont in 1849.

America was in a ‘boom’ economy in 1849. The Mexican-American War had just ended. Zachary Taylor was voted in as President. Gold was discovered in California. Minnesota became a Territory.

In 1846, the sewing machine was invented which reduced the time for making a shirt from 14 hours to one hour. The telegraph had just been invented and John Deere Co. of Moline, Illinois invented a plow which helped open up farmland throughout the Midwest. By 1850 John Deere was turning out 10,000 blows a year.

James married Mary Flannery in 1854 in Vermont. Mary was born in 1833 in nana of County Tipperary, Ireland. They gave birth to Johanna and James in Vermont.

Martin Doyle married Bridget Connan and also had a son named David.

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln debated the slave issue in his bid to be elected President in 1860. It appeared that war between the states was inevitable. The Civil War began with the attack on Fort Sumpter in 1861.

In 1858, James, Mary, Johanna, and James Jr., along with Margaret Flannery and her son Patrick (mother and brother of Mary Flannery Doyle), moved to Chicago and then to Warren, Jo Davies County, Illinois where they found employment on the Davenport and Northwestern Railway. They were accompanied by Martin Doyle and his family.

1860 Census records from Warren, Illinois have the following listings:

As western expansion continued, more and more immigrants sought available farmlands. Apparently, James Doyle also wanted to avail himself of the opportunity to purchase land.

According to Mary Elizabeth Doyle Burke (Bessie), her grandparents, James and Mary Doyle and their family traveled in a covered wagon from Warren, Illinois to the Mississippi river in December of 1864. They had to wait until the river was frozen in order to cross. They crossed at Sabula, Iowa on New Years Eve. From there they proceeded to Waucoma where James obtained a job with the Davenport and Northwestern Railway.