Category Archives: Family

The Burkes: John Burke (Grandfather) Part 3

Emily’s grandfather John Burke was a devout Catholic, according to her father William John.  In his time people usually sided with their own faith, be he was broadminded and in many ways ahead of his time. He was happy to entertain people of all religions at his house near Kinvara, the Protestant rector of the parish was a frequent visitor.

John Burke was loyal to the King, even under the pressure he declared his allegiance; “I have taken the oath of allegiance to be faithful to my King and country…” This proclamation almost cost him his life.

Sources
Sheffield Independent 10 December 1870. P 12
Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 12 May 1855. P7

 

 

 

The Burkes: John Burke (Grandfather) Part 2

 

Kinvara

Kinvara

John Burke was a great support to Catholic community in Kinvarra. In 1822 there is a record of a J Burke making a donation of two tones of slates for the the roof of St. Coleman’s Church. He was a witness to a lease agreement between the local landowners and the church two years earlier.  At the same time his son William John was attending St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, which educated boys to enter the seminary.

Sources
St. Colman’s Church; its place in the History of the Parish of Kinvara. JW O’Connell, Clodoiri Lurgan Teo,. Indreabhan, Co. na Gallimhe. p 34
http://www.jarlaths.ie/history/jarlaths-history/

 

 

The Burkes: John Burke (Grandfather)

Kinvara, the hometown of John Burke

Kinvara, the hometown of John Burke

John Burke Emily’s paternal grandfather was born about 1776, possibly in the Kinvara area of Co. Galway. When his son William John was born in 1805, he held land there, which extended to the surrounding areas and employed farm labourers.

John Burke and his wife had at least three children, Patrick, William John and a daughter. From the scant records left from the time, the Burkes seemed to be well respected pillars of the community. In 1820 John Burke was a witness to a lease agreement between landowners and the Catholic Church in Kinvara. He would later contribute to towards the building of St, Colman’s Church, where unknown to him at the time, his son William John would become the administrator of the same church many years later.

Sources
St. Colman’s Church; its place in the History of the Parish of Kinvara. JW O’Connell, Clodoiri Lurgan Teo,. Indreabhan, Co. na Gallimhe. Pages 27 & 28

Origins

To fully understand Emily’s background and maybe even her character it is necessary to travel back two generations on both sides of her family. Under what would be considered normal circumstances of their times, her parents would never have met, and certainly not married.

Mother’s side

Her mother, Emily McArthur was born in 1827 to Richard Mcarthur a bookseller, who had moved to Dublin, from Co. Down, and his wife Mary Graisberry. Mary was a member of the Graisberry family who were the official printers of Trinity College for several generations. Emily, was born in Co Down, but the family moved back to Rathmines, Dublin When she was about a year old.

Father’s side

Emily’s paternal grandfather, John Burke was a farmer, from the Kinvarra area of County Galway. He owned quite a bit of land in the surrounding area, and employed labourers. A man of substantial means, he had the ability to educate  his children. His second son William John, Emily’s father, was a promising student, coming out of school with top marks. He was readily accepted in to St Patrick’s seminary, Maynooth, to train as a priest. In 1822 at the age of seventeen, he began his training for the priesthood. In 1831 he was ordained, and sent to his first parish in Clare. For the next thirteen years he served in several different parishes in the West of Ireland.

In 1843, in Kilfenora, Co Clare his course of destiny changed. He left the Catholic priesthood, to become a Protestant minister. This change of heart can be attributed to a few different factors, that will be the subject of later posts.

Had he stuck to his original plan, he would not have met and married Emily’s mother nor would she have been born. An unusual set of circumstances brought William John Burke and Emily McArthur together, had events not unfolded the way they did it would have been highly unlikely that their paths would ever crossed.

Sources
Ní Dheirg, Íosold. Emily M. Weddall: Bunaitheoir Scoil Acla. Baile Atha Cliath: Coisceim, 1995.
http://search.findmypast.ie/record id=ire%2fbmd%2fd%2f618498833&_ga=1.132417223.838509228.1406218
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/
Limerick Reporter 11 June 1844. P 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introducing Emily

 

Birthplace of Emily

Birthplace of Emily

Emily Maynard Arabella Burke was born on September 18th 1867, at Windsor Terrace, Edenderry, Co Offaly, the third of four children. Her Father Rev William John Burke was a Church of Ireland minister, in nearby Castlejordan, at the time of Emily’s birth. Her elder sister, Miriam was born in 1863, followed two years later by Richard, and John in 1869, completing the Burke Family.

Emily and her family lived in Edenderry until 1872, when her father, Rev Burke was transferred, to Ballinasloe, in Co Galway, back to his native West of Ireland. Meanwhile, the young Burke’s were sent away to school, the boys to a school for clergymans sons, and Emily and Miriam, attended the school for Daughters of the Irish Clergy on Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin. There Emily received a very good education, equipping her for life.

Emily went on to train as a nurse, at Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital, a career that allowed her to live independently and travel to Europe and as far as Russia. In 1905, she married Edward Weddall, a retired sea captain, and a year later the newlyweds made Achill Island their home. However married life was short lived for her, when the captain, died suddenly shortly after the couple celebrated thir third anniversary. Emily found herself a widow at the age of forty.

In a twist of fate, life was only about to begin for the young widow, because times were changing in Ireland and in the world too. Emily was about to get swept up in the whirlwind of a pivotal time in history…

 

 

Sources

Church Of Ireland minute books for Diocese of Meath 17