Since changing his religion Emily’s father suffered persecution from those who disapproved of his choice. He and his family were targeted verbally and sometimes physically as most converts were. It was over twenty years since he renounced Catholicism from the alter in his hometown of Kinvara in Co. Galway. That day he was stoned by the local community, who did not take kindly to his perceived betrayal of his background and faith.

The hill near Windsor Terrace, Edenderry, mentioned in the article

Rev. Burke moved several times in the two decades since but no matter where he went the

persecution against him followed. Even when he moved to Edenderry, sufficiently far away from  his native West of Ireland the violent attacks continued. One such attack occurred when Emily was one year old. This was probably one of many, as most incidents went unreported. The Dublin Daily Mail carried the following story in October 1868:

A correspondent writing from Edenderry, King’s county, says—” Last Sunday night, October 11th, as the Rev. William J. Burke, incumbent of Castlejordon, and his family were engaged in family worship, a party of ruffians came rushing down the hill towards Windsor Place, where the Rev. gentleman resides, and flung a volley of stones at his drawing room window, breaking several panes of glass, and damaging the woodwork. The cowards fled immediately.

 

Sources

Dublin Evening Mail, October 18 1868

Emily’s younger brother and the last of the Burkes was born in September 1869. He was named John Jasper Joly BurkE. Like Emily and Richard he was born at Windsor Terrace, Edenderry and like Emily (Arabella) his middle names Jasper Joly were after the Joly family of Clonbullock, near Edenderry.

The couple Jasper Robert Joly and his wife Maria Arabella Armit Joly, friends of Rev and Emily Burke and possible God parents to Emily and John Jasper, were owned land in the area. Jasper Robert Joly’s father Rev Henry Edward Joly had county Clare roots and may have known William John Burke when he was a young man too.

Sept. 24, at Windsor-place, Edenderry, the wife of the Rev. William J. Burke, incumbent of Castle Jordan, diocese of Meath, son. 

John Jasper was the last child born to Rev and Mrs Burke, completing the family.

Sources

29 September 1869 – Kings County Chronicle – Offaly, Offaly, Republic of Ireland.

Ancestry.com. Ireland, Select Marriages, 1619-1898 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Ireland, Marriages, 1619-1898. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.: FamilySearch, 2013.

http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=2206

On the 25 September 1867 the Derry Journal carried the following announcement:

September 18, at Windsor Place, Edenderry. the wife of the Rev. Wm.J. Burke, Incumbent of Castlejordan, diocese of Meath, of a daughter.

Emily’s Birth Announcement

Windsor Terrace, Edenderry

The child named Emily Arabella Maynard Burke, was Baptised in St. Peter’s Church on Auinger Street, Dublin, where their parents married.

Emily, the second daughter was called after her mother, as was customary at the time. Her second name Arabella, did not show up in the family anywhere, there was an outside chance that she was given the name because of a connection between her parents and Joly family. The Joly’s were prominent landlords of East Offaly (Kings County) at the time, Emily’s family lived in Edenderry. One was called Annie Arabella Joly. It is easily a coincidence but it might be more than that as Emily’s younger brother was named John Jasper Joly Burke, similar to the great book collector Jasper Robert Joly.

Sources

25 September 1867 – Derry Journal – Londonderry, Londonderry, Northern Ireland

https://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/General-Register-Office.aspx

Ní Dheirg, Íosold. Emily M. Weddall: Bunaitheoir Scoil Acla. Beann Éadair, Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim, 2010.

https://www.offalyhistory.com/shop/books/john-plunket-joly-and-the-great-famine-kings-county

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/King_s_Co_/Clonbulloge/Ballydermott/1464828/

Emily’s father Rev Burke, courted quite a bit of controversy and  was no stranger to standing in the dock. In the decade he lived Edenderry he appeared in courthouse at least five times, both as a complainant and defendant at the Petty Sessions. Although none of the cases were seeped in serious issue, they spoke volumes where he stood with the local population.

The courthouse in Edenderry, stands exactly like it did when Emily’s family lived there

The Petty Sessions handled the bulk of lesser legal cases, both criminal and civil. They were presided over by Justices of the Peace, who were unpaid and often without any formal legal training. The position did not have a wage, so the role was usually taken by those with their own income – in practice usually prominent landowners or gentlemen. Justice was pronounced summarily at these courts, in other words, without a jury.

The cases dated between 1864 and 1868 ranged from unpaid bills to the local blacksmith to allowing his cattle to roam freely on the public road, to an unpaid dog license. The most serious complaint and probably the most perplexing for him and his family was in 1866, when he took action against Patrick Dempsey, also of Edenderry, for throwing a stone with the intention of causing Rev. Burke bodily harm. The Judges, E. J. Boss Esq., T. R. Murray, and J. H. Rogers dismissed the case. It could have been difficult to prove, they sided with Dempsey or they distrusted Emily’s father.

Sadly the violent persecution that dogged his life in the West of Ireland followed him to Edenderry. This was not an isolated incident as the violence continued for his duration there.

The courthouse in Edenderry, stands exactly like it did when Emily’s family lived there

Sources

findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/irish-petty-sessions-court-registers-1828-1912