Male

March 11, 1761

July 1, 1844

Charleston, SC
Raleigh, NC

Frances Pollock Devereux (1790)

Born in Ireland in 1761 as a younger son expected to join the priesthood. To this end, he was educated at the monastery in St. Omer's, France, but decided not to take his vows as a priest. He entered the British navy as a midshipman, serving during the Revolutionary War and earning the title of First Lt. After the war, returning home to Ireland, he was rejected by his family for abandoning the priesthood. Severing ties with his relations, he sailed for America, penniless, and entered the mercantile business of Mr. Fitzsimmons in Charleston, SC.

The business had successful trade with northern cities and the West Indies. As the Captain of one of the business' trading vessels, Devereux shipwrecked off the coast of New Bern, NC and met the wealthy heiress Frances Pollock while there. ...He sold his business in Charleston and returned to marry Miss Pollock in 1790. In the 1820's, the family moved to Raleigh, where John died in July 1844 and was buried in City Cemetary.
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Business

"Introduction." Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catharine Ann Devereux Edmondston. Ed. Beth G. Crabtree and James W. Patton. 3rd ed. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1995. Xi-Xxxvii. Print.