The Devereuxs of Utica New York The final years of the 18th century were times of great movement

among the citizens of the world. The United States of America were seen as the Promised Land. Revolutionary France was another attraction, particularly for people living in a land where they were persecuted for their religion. In such a climate many men left the land of Ireland John Devereux was born in Wexford in the late 1700s thus his name is pronounced Devereux not Devero. In 1795 John decided to leave his native land and to seek his fortune in France. There, he learned to play the fiddle and to dance. With these qualifications he headed for the New World, landing in New York in 1797. Over the next few years John Devereux traveled around the small towns of New York State earning his living as a dancing master. In this time he recalled that he "danced a thousand dollars out of the Yankees". With those thousand dollars he opened a general store and finally settled down in Utica in 1802. The business proved very popular and Devereux's store became the gathering place for newly arrived Irish exiles. Many of these migrants were Catholics and with no church in the town, the Devereux home became the mass house and the base for visiting missioners. John and his brother Nicholas, who had joined him from Wexford, were also busy on the religious front, reading prayers and teaching catechism. Indeed Nicholas is said to have spent the first 15 minutes of each day reading the bible. He offered prizes to any boy who could recite St. John's Gospel and a new suit of clothes was on offer to any boy who could repeat the text of all four Gospels. Later, he had printing plates brought over from Dublin and produced copies of the Douai New Testament, which he distributed free to all who would accept them. Over the years these plates formed the basis for the largest catholic publications business in the United States, producing 20,000 copies in 1840. One of the distinguished visitors to the Devereux house in Utica at that time was Father Theobald Matthew, the famous temperance priest. Indeed, it is recorded by Nicholas Devereux's wife, that "more than 1,000 people took the pledge in my parlour and halls" on that day. Religion did not interfere with business for the Devereux brothers and they amassed quite a fortune over the years. Nicholas set up 8 Franciscans on a 500 acre farm at Ellincottville and later spent $5,000 establishing St. Bonaventure College at Allegany, New York. Nicholas was invited to Rome and received by Pope Pius 1X and his cardinals at the time of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He was also the first subscriber to a college for U.S. students in Rome and he gave $10,000 to establish the first Catholic church in Connecticut, at Hartford. Nicky Rossiter