The Connection with Ardstraw Parish,
County Tyrone (Northern Ireland)

The McDevitt/McDeed family of Dorset and West Rutland, Vermont, are, by family tradition, from Ardstraw Parish in Tyrone County, Ireland.   The McDevitt tree that I have is a large one that originates in Ireland and include marriages (probably in Ireland) into the following families which became well-known surnames in Dorset (Note: I only have part of the tree!):

McPhilmny/McPhilomeny
McBride
Daley/Daily

In one case two McBrides married two McDevitt sisters (probably in the 1850s in Ireland). McPhilmny, a very rare surname in all it's spelling variations, is is found mostly in County Tyrone.  The photo at left shows tombstone from St. Jerome's Cemetery in East Dorset, Vermont, which links the McDevitt and McPhilmny families to Ardstraw Parish.   

Up until about 1880, Dorset was a booming quarry town that welcomed unskilled Irish workers with jobs.  Recruiters even went to Boston and New York to find men will to work the marble.  I think it likely that these quarry workers wrote back home to Ireland and spoke of these job opportunities, and that many family members and friends responded by emigrating to Vermont.  Quite a few McDevitt worked in the quarries, and some advanced to the more desirable jobs, such as foreman, derrick operator, and marble polishers.  Such men would have been in a good position to find jobs for friends and family back home. 

3rd Generation McDevitts (born mostly in the 1830's, in Ireland), married the following.  Most(?) of these marriages were in Ardstraw Parish, but some may have been elsewhere.  (McDevitts emigrated primarily in the late 1800's). 
Watson
Stuart
Fitzpatrick
Sheridan
Gallagher
Elliot
McBride
Hill
McPhilomeny
Daley
Carney

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