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October1987TheMcGovems
1liE
Me
GOVERNS
Of
HOCKESSIN
by
DonnDevinePage25
TheMcGovern!ofHockessIn,
Delaware,
are
mentioned
In
localhistories
as
lII10ng
theearly
famlllesof
that
19th-century
clay-quarrying
community,andtheirImprintremains
In
thenamesofMcGovernRoadandof
businesses
carried
al
by
descendants.Todays
McGovernsmightreadilyhavemisidentifiedtheir
threeImmigrantmaleancestors
as
"threebrothers
who
came
to
America"
so
OOrtlmon
Inmany
famJly
accounts,but
one
ltvlnggranddaughterpreservesthe
tradition
that
they
were
In
factcousins,
whleh
Is
consistent
withthe
documentaryevidence..f-bwever
t
their
exactrelationshipshave
not
been
determined,
nor
has
a
record
or
memoryoftheirplaceoforigin
In
I
rei
andbeen
preserved.
TheHockessinMcGoverns'experience
Is
qUite
representativeofthe
pattern
of
early
famlne..,ra
Irish
Immigrationto
theUllted
States--unmarrled
youngmen
or
women
fromthe
same
small
Carmtng
community,oftenIn
Uts
ter,
coming
aloneor
sometimes
In
pairsto
asinglelocality
In
America.Heretheycontinued
what
theirnon-l
rlsh
neighborscalled
their
"clannishconnections"and
attracted
others
bound
by
thesame
ties,
In
many
cases
paying
for
thelaterpassageof
siblings
or
parents
withmoney
sent
backfrom
their
meager
earnings.
Their
attitude
ofcontInuingresponsibility
toward
thefamilyandcommunitytheyhadleftwas
In
marked
contrastto
theIndividualism
of
contemporary
Immigrantsfrom
othercultures
liketheEnglishand
G e ~ a n ,
andwhich
critics
ofthe
Irish
consIdered
avalue
better
suited
to
America.
The
Hockessinarea.however,
was
veryuntyplcal
of
the
usual
Irish-American
settlement,because
It
offeredbothIndustrialand
agricultural
opportunities
to
dienewcomers.Thelimestone
quarrIes
and,
after
1872,
the
"claypits"(kaolin
quarries)of
the
area,
whJch
were
the
economicbase
forHockessin'sgrowth
and
development,provided
the
unskIlledIndustrialJobs
the
Immigrantsneededon
arrival.
AvailabIlIty
of
reasonably
priced
farmland
In
theImmediate
area
gavetheman
early
opportunity
to
returnto
theIr
tradItional
farming
pursuits
without
disruptingthe
familyandcommunity
ties
that
sustained
themduringthetr
flrst
years
In
Amerlca.3The
result
wasacommunitycohesionamongthe
Irish
of
fbckessln
that
lasted
fromthemid-19th
century
untilWorld
War
".
As
will
be
seen,
theMcGovernsand
theirclose
neighbors
the
Laffertiesboughtfarmland
In
thearea,
probablyas
soon
as
saVings
fromtheir
wages
permitted.
and
severalgenerations
c o n t 1 n u e ~
farminguntil20th
ceotury
suburbanlzatlonofthe
area
overtook
them.In
spite
ofthis
unusualstabUJty
inone
location.however,today'sMcGoverns,likedescendantsofmostfamlnerera
Irish
immigrants,
have
no
recordsortradJtlons
of
theirancestors'
place
of
orIgIn
In
Ireland,
andonlyone
branch
has
preserved
aBible
record
of
vital
events
after
arriving
In
theU.S.TheHockessinMcGoverns
are
so
typicalofthe
broader
patterns
of
Irish
migration
that
thefamilyprovidesacas&-study
In
the
micro-demographicsof
the
 
Page
26
DelawareGenealogieal
Society
Joumal
•
Vol.
4
famIneera..Theirstory-pJecedtogetherfromcensus,land,church,
and
cemeteryrecords
and
vitalrecordsregistrations,
with
helpfromseveral
descendants--showshowreadilyIrish-Americanfamilies
may
betracedthrough
thesources
commonly
usedinAmericangenealogy.
The
name
McGovern
and
the
twomaternalfamilynamesIdentified
are
less
corrunon
ones,so
it
was
also
lXlsslbletopinpointthefamily'sprobable
place
oforigin
In
[reland.
The"HouseholderIndex"
to
the
familynames
[n
Griffith'sValuation,
the
1848-02land
assessmentof
Ireland,
was
used
to
locatethe
one
placewhereallthefamily
and
given
names
ofparentsoccurtogether--theParish
of
Desertmartin,
near
4
Drapers
town,
In
Derry,
nowoneofthe
six
countiesoff\brthernIreland.
The
~ k ' e s s l n
McGovern!descendfrom
three
couplesrepresentingfour
ImmigrantMcGovern
ancestors--Edward
McGovern(ca1835-1921)andhiswife
Sarah
Hagan(1838-1896);John
F.
McGovern(1837-1906)andhiswife
Catherine
(1837-1912),
also
aMcGovern
by
birth;
andDanielMcGovern(1849-1928)and
Ijs
wife
louisa
Denning(1855-1934).[naddition,
ties
to
thefamilyofJohn
J,
McGovern
lca
1833-1912)ofWIlmingtonandhiswife
Marla
(ca1840-1908)
are
suggested
gy
their
cemetery
lotadjoiningEdward's
[n
CathedralCemetery,
Wilmington.
Earliest
/"lcGoverns
In
Hockessin
The
first
McGovernsofrecord
In
what
Is
now
the
I-kK:kessln
areawere
Daniel,
laborer,
andEJlza,who
appear
In
the1850U.S.
Census,
age
30and
20
respectively,
withMaryAnn,
age
I,andaJohn
Shayary
[?J
age
60,
also
a
laborer,
livingwiththem,all
except
Mary
Ann
havingbeenborn
In
Ire[and.
They
were
IJI
thehousenext
to
Johnand
MaryLafferty,
both
32
andalso
Irish,
and
their
five
children,ages
4
to
10.ThisDanielMcGovernIsprobably
the
Daniel,age49,"works
In
Lhne
Quarry,·
recorded
In
thehouseholdof
WIlliam
M c D o ~ e l l
In
the1870Census,but
nothJng
more
is
known
about
him
or
any
descendants.Fourhouses
further
on,
In
thehouseholdof
John
G.Jackson,leadingcitizenof
lixkesstn,
developer
of
ItsJlmestonequarries
andkUns
and
later
chief
engIneeroftheWIlmingtonand
Western
RaIlroad,wasaDavid
[or
Daniel]
McGovern,
50,
quarryman,bornin
I
reland,.
forerunnerofotherMcGovernswho
In
futurecensuses
wOUld
be
found
8S
dcmesUcs
In
theJackson
home,
buthe
has
notbeenIdentified,and
no
furtherrecord
of
him
has
beenfound.7Althoughthe
Irish
origins
oftheMcGovernand
Lafferty
famJlles
listed
In
1850
aren't
known,
their
adjoinIngdweJllngs
anticipate
the
future
closeness,
In
housing,marriage,
and
eventuallyburial,
among
laterarrivalsofthosenames,
and
strongly
suggests
famtly
connections.Even
earlier,
8
Dan
Lafferty
was
listed
In
1827
as
oneof
the
Ii
pew
holders
In
thenewly
enlarged
(to
14
pews)
Catholicchurch
at
Coffee
Run.
The
later-arrivIng
famlly
of
Jamesand
Mary
(Rogers)
Lafferty
were
to
develop
the
closest
associations
with
the
McGoverJ's.
From
the
birthdates
andplacesof
their
chlIdren,
theyimmigrated
ca
1865-71,
settling
In
Kaolin,
Just
across
the
PennsylvanialinefromJohn
F.
McGovern'sfarm
at
Southwood.
They'orlglnated
liketheMcGoverns
In
tbe
Draperstown
area.
Jameswastheson
of
 
I
October1987TheMcGovems
Page
27
(
Patrick
and
Mary
(Conners)Lafferty.ofKeenaghttownland
In
the
smallcivil
parishofKilcronaghan,withinthe
same
Roman
CatholicparishofDesertmartin
wheretheMcGovernsprobablyorlginated.9
ThefamUlesofJamesLafferryandofhis
brother
MIchaelLafferry.
who
arrived
ca
1872-73withhiswife
Mary
Magdalen(Kelly)and
first
chUd
Peter
and
alsolived
In
KaoUn,
were
representativeofaless
common
post-famine
lmmlgratlon
18attern-famllles
wIth
~ h U d r e n
comIng
as
a
group.
rather
thanIndivIdually.
No
record
ofthe
other
McGovernslisted
In
the
1850
Censushasbeenfound
eIther
In
New
Castle
Counry
or
adjoining
Chester
Counry
PA.
and
there
are
no
gravestonesrecordedforthem
at
Coffee
Run
cemetery
In
the
WPA
Historic
Records
Survey.
made
In
1939.TheLaffertyfamily.withoutMary.
appears
In
1860
In
the
samerelationshIp
to
theJacksonhouse.
Progenltors
of
Present-Day
McGovernsE:dwardMcGoverncame
to
the
U.S.
In
1853andJohnF.McGovernthefollowing
year.
according
to
the
1900
Census.
E:dwardIsundoubtedlythe
Edward,age15,accompanied
by
Mergt,age
12,
both
listed
withoutoccupations
asarriving
In
Philadelphiaontheship
Tuscarora
from
Uverpool.
probablyvia
Derry,
on
12
March1853.Johnmay
be
the
John.listed
as
age
13
althoughhis
aetualage
wouldhavebeen17,who
arrived
ontheTonawanda
24
April1854.
since
no
other
JohnIsfound
In
thePhUdelphlaIndexfor
that
year.
11
Catherine
Mc
Govern
also
came
to
the
U.S.
In
1854.accordingto
the
1900
Census;shemaybetheCatherine,
no
ageoroccupationHsted,whoarrivedon
the
Wyomlnll.
on
24
Oct
1854.On
II
Nov
1855.sheandJohnMcGovern
were
witnesses
when
EdwardMcGovern
married
SarahHagan,
p r o b 8 b l Y l ~ t
St.Mary's,
Coffee
Run.
although
recorded
at
St.
Joseph's-<ln-the-Brandywlne.Thelog
church
of
St.
Mary
of
theAssumption
at
CoffeeRun.
Delaware's
nrst
Catholic
parish.
becameamissIonof
St.
Joseph's-<ln-the-Brandywlne
In
1841.Attended
by
priests
from
thatparish.It
was
the
church
ofthe
[rlshquarry
""rkers
of
HockessInuntil
St.
PatrIck's
at
Ashland
wasestablished
In
1880.and
St.
John's
In
Hoekessln.originally
as
amissionofAshland,
In
1882.Recordsof
the
preseot
St.
Mary'softheAssumption
parish.
Hoekessln.begin
in
1881.wIth
the
openIng
of
St.
Patrlck's.13Catherine
McGovern
marrIed
JohnF.McGovernon
19
Sep1861.alsoprobably
at
CoffeeRunalthough
recorded
atSt.
J o s e p h ' s - o n - t h ~ B r a n d y w l n e .
EdwardMcGovernand
"CatherineMcGovern.·
whohas
not
beenIdentifiedbutIs
perhaps
an
error
(orSarah,Edward'swtfe,
were
witnesses.
No
dispensation
Is
noted,
so
Joh,i
relationship
to
Catherinemusthavebeenmoredistant
than
second
cousin.
SheIsalmost
certaInly
the
Catherine
McGovern
recorded.
age
20.
together
with
MaryMcGovern,alsoage20,
in
the1860
census
as
servants
in
the
John
G.Jackson
household.with
her
future
husb8ndJohnMcGovern.23.a
quarryman.
boardingwith
the
MIchaelMcKennafamilyonlyfivedwellingsaway
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