Hi everyone. I've been chasing information on Lawrence Joyce of Parrsboro for a long time, and I think I finally found something convincing that connects him back to Ireland. I'm not sure there's many people on the list who are related to Lawrence, but in the interests of posterity, I thought I'd post what I've found.
Lawrence (or Laurence, as it is often spelled) died on 26 November 1860 and is buried in the Cross Roads (Catholic) cemetery in Parrsboro. His tombstone gives his age at the time of his death as "58 years," and describes him as "a native of the County Tipperary Ireland":
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=167409466
His will was proved 1 January 1861. The provisions of genealogical interest are as follows:
"Twenty pounds with interest thereon to my grand son Laurence McGrath son of my daughter Mary Ann and wife of John McGrath to become payable as soon as he shall have attained the age of twenty one years..." [or else in the case of his death] "...to his sister Ellen McGrath my grand daughter on her arrival at the age of twenty one years."
"Twenty pounds and interest thereon to my grand son Laurence McKellan son of my daughter Margaret and George McKellan, the money to be paid to the said Laurence McKellan as soon as he attains the age of twenty one years..." [or in case of his death] "...to his sister Anastatia McKellan my grand daughter upon her arriving at the age of twenty one years."
"...the residue of my property to be equally divided between my two well beloved sons John and Patrick Joyce, as soon as my son Patrick arrives at the age of twenty-one years. And in the event of my son John not appearing to claim his share... the whole residue to be given to my son Patrick."
Nothing further is known of John Joyce. Patrick Joyce married Eunice Gillespie (also of Nova Scotia) in Waltham, Massachusetts on 4 June 1871. He died there on 27 March 1887. His marriage and death records, as well as the 1880 U.S. census, indicate that he was born in Nova Scotia around 1844. His parents are both described as being born in Ireland; his mother's name is given as "Ann" or "Joanna."
Patrick's mother's burial is recorded in the parish register of St. Thomas Aquinas (Minudie) on 21 May 1850. the record gives her age as "53 years" and describes her as "a native of Ireland." Her maiden name is not recorded.
Mary Ann Joyce, who married John McGrath, lived with him in Parrsboro and had many children, mostly sons. They appear on the Nova Scotia census records and their baptisms are recorded in the parish registers of the Catholic churches in Cumberland County. The early ones - along with John and Mary Ann's marriage - are in the register of St. Thomas Aquinas, the later ones in the register of St. Brigid's in Parrsboro. St. Brigid's Church in Parrsboro has a stained glass window with Mary Ann McGrath's name on it, which may have been installed in her memory by her children after her death on 7 April 1907. She is buried with her husband in the Cross Roads cemetery in Parrsboro:
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=167423203
Note that the tombstone only records her year of death; the date is taken from an original funeral card in my possession. Though her age at death is recorded as 72 years, placing her birth sometime in 1835, the 1871 and 1881 census records indicate that she was somewhat younger, born around 1838. I am normally inclined to trust earlier records as being more accurate, but since Mary Ann's marriage to John McGrath is recorded as having occurred on 30 Dec 1852, making her at most 14 years old if she was born in 1838, I tend to believe that she was in fact born closer to 1835. All records of Mary Ann that indicate her birthplace specify that she was born in Nova Scotia.
In contrast, Margaret Joyce, who married George McKellan (or McKillian and other variants), is always recorded as having been born in Ireland. While I have not found any vital records for Margaret, she appears on the 1871, 1891, and 1901 censuses of Cumberland County (as a widow). Her husband, George, is listed as a head of household on the 1861 census. Margaret's reported age on these censuses places her year of birth at 1826, 1828, or 1830. The 1901 census indicates that she came to Nova Scotia in 1831.
The crucial takeaway here is that Margaret Joyce was born in Ireland, probably in County Tipperary, in the late 1820s, to Lawrence Joyce and Anastasia/Ann/Joanna, maiden name unknown. For years this inference tantalized me; while finding a specific birthplace for Lawrence Joyce might be difficult in the absence of any knowledge of his parentage, with Margaret being born in Ireland all I would need to do is find a record of her baptism to pin down the Irish origins of the Joyce family. Being able to narrow the search area down to County Tipperary only seemed to make success more assured. Or so I imagined when I came to this conclusion, more than ten years ago.
I'll spare you all the tedium of my fruitless research log since then - this is overlong already - but suffice it to say that my inquiries did not pan out. The Joyce name is barely known in County Tipperary, and I was unable to find any baptism record for Margaret Joyce, even after paying a goodly sum to a research organization in Ireland. But thankfully, in the intervening years Irish research has become far easier than it used to be, and with the publication online of the Irish Catholic parish registers, along with their indexes, I decided it was time to take another look at my long shot. FindMyPast is making their Irish records available for free this week, so I took advantage of the opportunity and ran a search for Lawrence Joyce. My specific searches were turning up nothing, so I gradually broadened the parameters, eventually searching all of Ireland for Lawrence Joyce or variants. Among the records that were returned, I found the following:
Diocese of Ossory, Parish of Owning & Templeorum, County Kilkenny.
Married January the 15th [1826] Lawrence Joye to Anty Broders, Ardlone [Ardclone]. Witnesses Edmond Joye, Kitty Gallavan & Thos. Griffith.
Ardclone townland, near Fiddown, is almost literally a stone's throw from the River Suir, and a mere four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the Tipperary border. (It's even closer to the Waterford border.) "Anty" is a plausible continuation of the endless series of variations on "Ann" used to describe Lawrence's wife. And 1826 is spot-on for the time when we would expect Lawrence and Anastasia to have married. It remained for me to see if this couple baptized a child named Margaret in short order after their marriage. And lo:
Diocese of Ossory, Parish of Owning & Templeorum, County Kilkenny.
10 December [1826]. Margaret. P: Lawrence Joyce & Anty Broders, Ardclone. Sp: John Aylward & Mary Tripp.
After all this time, I finally know where Lawrence Joyce came from in Ireland, and what his wife's maiden name was. I hope you all find similar success in your research this year. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Jim McGrath