Devir/Dever/Diver Donegal to Australia 1850s-1870s

[doon66]

 you refer to a bernard devir son of thomas d and catherine sweeney.i feel that catherine is a sister of hannah mcdevitt[sweeney] largnalarkin,parish of inniskeel age 83 in 1901 cenuus and ambrose sweeney cornagallon parish of gartan age 76 in 1901 census and edward died 1902 age 40.all were the children of myles sweeney a native of glenfinn d.1882 age 60 and his wife kate[catherine] d. 1895 age 90.
hannah mcdevitt had a daughter brigid widowed in america while she had died by 1900 in donegal.of her three children ann age 11 was living in philadelphia with her mothers sister mary devir[born march 1850] according to u.s census 1900 and also  a widow .another daughter maggie in 1900 was living with her grand uncle ambrose in cornagallon while a brother laurence was living with his grandmother hannah in largnalarkin.
mary dever left philadelphia and was also living in her birthplace in largnalarkin by 1911 census age 69.sarah mcdevitt another niece of ambrose lived with him as his unmarried housekeeper age 30 in 1901.he died in 1909 and by 1911 sarah was living on the farm with her new husband edward gallagher.

regards
laurence

[Dalmeny]

Hi - I too am searching for ancestors Devir - my husbands great grandfather was Dominick Devir, born 1836/7 in Donegal (we believe), mother's name Ellen. He came to Australia on the Montmorency in 1864.  I believe he was the brother of Sophia and Catherine. We have recently met my husband's 2nd cousin - they share their grandfathers who were twins (sons of Dominick). Dominick married Johanna Dooley in Sydney and they resided at Bowraville, NSW. In Australia Johanna went by the name of Julia. Their marriage certificate notes Dominick's parents as John Diver and Ellen Ferry. Johanna's parents listed as Nicholas Dooley and Johanna Kelly. They had 6 children (John, Nicholas, Dominick (twin), Michael (twin), Johanna & Ellen). By the look of Dominick's surname on the marriage certificate it was also written and signed as Diver.
My husband has always believed, via his mother who was a Devir, that the name was changed after arrival in Australia, so the original name could have been Diver.
I am not sure what date you posted questions on Rootsweb so I am hoping you have further information about the Devir/Diver family. Looking forward to a reply.

[annmck]

Hi, Dalmeny....just about to buzz off to work, but delighted to see your post!

If you make 2 more posts...as brief as you like ...you'll be able to use the private message service-the link to which will be a green scroll next to your little profile icon.
I have a lot of info about the families I'd like to share

Cheers,
Ann

[Dalmeny]

Thank you for your response.  I am keen to be in contact.  Dolmens

[Dalmeny]

Hi - thank you for your response - It has not been easy to get information regarding the Devir's / Diver's as you already know.  So it is really great to make contact.  Dalmeny

[1dery]

Hi Dalmeny, You will no doubt know a lot more by now about Dominick.
My grandfather was Dominick Devir (jnr) twin brother of Michael (Mick), and my father was Mervyn, brother of Warren (& others).  Warren's son, Wayne, has written a family history collating stories passed down about Dominick Snr's life and the family life at Bowraville, Scotts Head and Worrell Creek, with some photos.  As a child, I used to visit Dominick Jnr & Dorothy at Worrell creek.  I have only just found my copy gone on damaged hard drive- will have to get another. 
Nobody appears yet to have found anything much about life and deaths of John Devir/Ellen Ferry or their parents. 
Dom Snr's marriage to Julia in 1970 appears to have been a type of arranged marriage. His journey to Sydney, marriage in St Mary's Cathedral, then back in the horse & sulky to Bowraville for the honeymoon, and swimming some creeks, in a legendary story in the published social history of the Nambucca river.  The Bowra wharf that handled all the river cargo was jokingly called Port Devir since built on his property. 
A list of families in Donegal in 11th-16th century, lists O'Devir & no O'Divers. The Diver name may have been an English deviation.  The Griffith's Valuation in 1857 for Clondahorky, lists Ellen Devir (& other Devirs) in Magherablad where Dominick snr came from.  There were no Divers listed in Clondahorky in 1857.  The Diver name on the Passenger records appears to be a mistake - ability to write problematic.  Whilst his first 2 children (John & Joanah) were born as Diver in 1872, 74 - he had changed his name back to Devir by the time the twins were born in 1881, and Ellen in 1883.

I am helping to collate a history of the Bowraville Football club, which started playing Rugby Union in 1884.  John Devir played for them in 1898, (1900?), 1901.  Club folded 1902-1904.  Dominick played 1905, 1906 (with Mick), 1907, 1908, 1909 (Mick Vice-President), 1910. No further detail yet.  Source info bit patchy.  My mother, (still alive with good memory and just had driving license renewed at 93), claims Mick played for Macksville in some years which created some friction.  She has  a 10 x 8 sepia photo of the Bowra team in 1907, plus two others likely 1905, 1908 with Dom in 2 of these.  Cannot see a twin though. These will probably end up in the Bowraville Museum.  Got no further yet.  All Rugby Union folded during WWI, started again in 1919, and most North Coast changed to Rugby League in 1920. My brothers and I played League for Bowraville over the 1962-95 period. 
If you have not seen a copy of Wayne's collation, I can forward a copy when I retrieve, if you make contact. The Rugby union history with photos will most likely end up on line somewhere, but I can send higher resolution copies of the original team photos if of interest.  I also have a reasonable photo of Dom jnr in mid life.