Julia Fisher Nevins 1834 (ish) - 1907

For some reason, Julia has always fascinated me.  Lucky for me, I have a pretty full picture of her whereabouts for most of her life, but I'd really love to know more about her character and personality.
Julia is our great great grandmother on the Nevins side of the family.

She was baptized as Judy Fisher in Kells, County Meath August 1 1835 of parents Mathew Fisher and Ann Brien (maybe O'Brien).  Apparently Judith and Julia could be used somewhat interchangeably by the Irish.  Same as well with Ann and Nancy.  There are other examples, but they don't pertain to Julia's story.  We are unsure of her birth and baptisms could take place a couple of years after birth but, in this case, I feel 1834-35 time range is a fair guess as to Julia's birth.  Other children born of these parents were Christopher and Rose.  We meet Christopher later, but Rose is lost.  My theory is that she married and stayed in Ireland when the rest of the family left.

I feel pretty confident this is Julia's arrival in 1854 to Boston with Nancy (probably her mother) and Christopher (probably her brother).  Both Mathew and Christopher were blacksmiths so this is a big handy clue that these are the same people.

Shortly afterward, in the 1855 census, we find the family in Rochester New York rejoined with Mathew.  I try to imagine how they got from Boston to Rochester in 1854.  I don't have a clear picture of that yet.

Five years later, the family is in Ellicottville New York:  Mathew and Christopher are both listed as blacksmiths.  (***side note:  interestingly, Julia's future son Henry married the granddaughter of another blacksmith***)  The Fishers stay in Ellicottville area for several more years.  Julia's mother dies in 1861 and is buried in Ellicottville.  This grave marker was my biggest clue at the beginning of my search for information about this family. Isn't it magnificent?  It's probably the "biggest" clue I ever used!!!

By 1870, Julia has met and married John Nevins and they have 3 children together but are living (temporarily) in Oil City Pennsylvania and John is an oil worker.  One child is born here but all others were born in Cattaraugus County New York.  In 1873, our great grandfather Henry is born. A set of twins follows two years later making Julia the mother of 6 children.

The twins, Mattie and Christy (Mathew and Christopher) die tragically of diptheria when they are about 5 years old.  The remaining children, Frank,  John Jr., Mary and Henry grow to be adults with their own lives.  Julia lives until 1907 when "another good woman departed this life" at the homestead in on Bryant Hill in Ellicottville.  She would have known 3 grandchildren--each Nanny's (C. Paula Nevins') siblings: Margaret, Julia and Joseph.  John lived until 1913, also dying at the homestead. Presumably Nanny wouldn't remember her grandfather as she was only 3 or so when he died. 

This is probably a family who left Ireland due to the famine, Mathew leaving first.  Then Julia, her mother and her brother made their way from Boston to Rochester.  I'm certain they faced hardships we can't even imagine.  But Julia's children were successful:  Henry becoming a prominent lawyer for example.  Joseph also well known in the legal profession.  It's an American story, I guess.  I am very grateful this country allowed refugees such as Julia and her family to escape famine to come to the United States.  This won't be true for many other refugees today.