Honora Maher Woulfe (1844–1927)
Honora "Nanno" Maher (also spelled Meagher) was born in 1844, probably near Listowel, County Kerry, the daughter of Patrick Maher and Ellen Wolfe Maher. She had eight siblings: Margaret (b. 1829), Patrick (b. ca. 1831), Elizabeth (b. 1836), Johanna (b. 1838), (b. 1844), Bartholomew (b. 1846), Mary (b. 1848), Ellen (b. ca. 1849), and Catherine (b. 1853).
In 1849, Maher's sister Margaret immigrated to the United States with her mother's brother Maurice Richard Woulfe. Her sister Elizabeth immigrated in 1857. During the 1840s, many Wolfes left Ireland, including Honora Maher’s uncle John R. Wolfe and his cousin Maurice, who sailed together in 1847; her uncle Thomas R. Wolfe, who sailed in 1848; her mother’s cousin Richard Wolfe, who also sailed in 1848; and her uncle Richard Wolfe, who sailed separately from her in 1849. A cousin, John E. Wolfe, also came to the United States, and all of these Wolfes, including Margaret and Elizabeth Maher, settled first in LaSalle County, Illinois. Some went on to Clinton County, Iowa.
Nanno Woulfe (courtesy of Tom Woulfe)
Virtually nothing is known of Woulfe's life except that on February 26, 1870, she married James P. "Paddy" Woulfe. Maher's sister Ellen also married a Wolfe, Richard J. "Brown Dick" Woulfe.
Paddy Wolfe and Nanno Maher Woulfe had at least eight children: Johanna (b. 1871), Patrick (b. 1872), Richard (b. 1873), Ellen (b. 1876), Maurice James (b. 1877), John J. (b. 1880), James (b. 1882), and Timothy (b. 1885). Johanna became Sister Bonaventure, Patrick a respected priest, nationalist, and scholar of the Irish language, and Timothy a medical doctor.
Paddy Woulfe died on April 26, 1922, and Honora Woulfe on April 22, 1927.
Top of the page: detail from Woulfe’s prayer card (courtesy of Tom Woulfe)
Selected Sources
“Funeral of Mr. James P. Woulfe,” Freeman’s Journal (Dublin), May 4, 1922.
Registration of Death, April 22, 1927.
Registration of Marriage, February 26, 1870.
“Obituary: Death of Mrs. James P. Woulfe, Abbeyfeale,” Limerick Leader, April 30, 1927.
Prayer Card. Courtesy of Tom Woulfe.