The County Wexford Connection

Wexford: The Source

Of all the counties in Ireland that sent emigrants to Hubbardston, Michigan, none contributed more families or left a deeper mark than County Wexford. Located in the southeastern corner of Ireland in the province of Leinster, Wexford was a farming county of rolling green hills, river valleys, and a long coastline on the Irish Sea. It was also a county with a long history of rebellion, Catholic resilience, and — during the Great Famine — devastating poverty that drove thousands to emigrate.

The Wexford families who came to Hubbardston did not arrive as strangers to one another. They came as neighbors, relatives, and members of the same tight-knit rural communities they had known in Ireland. This pattern of chain migration — where one family's successful settlement drew others from the same parish or townland — is the single most important factor in explaining why Hubbardston became so distinctly Irish.

The Roach/Roche Family

The Roach family (also spelled Roche, reflecting the original Irish form) is central to Hubbardston's Wexford connection. The family's story illustrates how chain migration worked in practice.

Katherine Roach (born 1833) was the daughter of Thomas Roach and Bridget Cowman in County Wexford. The Cowman surname directly connects the Roach family to John Cowman, the first Irish settler in Hubbardston, who arrived in 1849. Whether John Cowman and Bridget Cowman were siblings, cousins, or more distantly related is a matter of genealogical research, but the shared surname and shared county of origin point to a family connection that helped draw the Roach family to Michigan.

At least five Roche siblings emigrated from Wexford to Hubbardston:

• Mary Roche (1827–1856) — died young, possibly during the difficult early years of settlement
• Phillip Roche (1830–1892) — established a farm and raised a family in North Plains Township
• Katherine Roach (born 1833) — married into the McKenna family, creating a bridge between the Wexford and Monaghan communities
• Bridget Roche (1835–1909) — lived a long life in the Hubbardston community
• Nicholas Roche — also settled in the area

The emigration of multiple siblings from a single family was common among Famine-era Irish. Once one family member established a foothold in America, letters home describing available land and employment drew brothers and sisters across the Atlantic. Each arrival strengthened the chain, making it easier and less frightening for the next to follow.

The Cowman Connection

The Cowman family — founders of the Hubbardston Irish community — were themselves from County Wexford. John Cowman's arrival in 1849 and his subsequent role as the community's anchor figure means that Wexford influence was present from the very beginning of Hubbardston's Irish settlement.

Cowman's contributions were foundational:

• His converted sheep-shed served as the first Catholic church
• His hilltop meadow became the first cemetery
• His farm on Section 11 was the site of the first St. John the Baptist Church in 1857

The Cowman-Roche connection through shared Wexford origins meant that the first wave of Irish settlers formed a web of family and parish ties that replicated, as closely as possible, the community structures they had known in Ireland.

Life in County Wexford Before Emigration

Understanding why these families left requires understanding what they were leaving. County Wexford in the 1840s was a place of:

• Subsistence farming — most Catholic families were tenant farmers on small holdings, growing potatoes as their primary food source
• Landlord dependence — the land was owned by Protestant Anglo-Irish landlords, and Catholic tenants had few rights and no security of tenure
• Famine devastation — when the potato blight struck in 1845, Wexford suffered alongside the rest of Ireland. While southeastern counties were somewhat less devastated than the west, the suffering was still immense
• Religious identity — Wexford had a strong Catholic tradition and a history of resistance to British rule, including the 1798 Rebellion, in which Wexford played a central role

These experiences shaped the character of the families who came to Hubbardston. They arrived with a deep Catholic faith, a distrust of landlords and outside authority, a fierce commitment to land ownership, and the practical farming skills they had honed in Ireland's fields.

The Wexford Legacy in Hubbardston

The County Wexford connection is visible in Hubbardston to this day. The surnames — Cowman, Roche, and their married connections to McKenna, Grace, Welch, and others — appear on gravestones in St. John the Baptist Cemetery, in parish records, and in the living memory of current residents.

More broadly, the Wexford influence shaped Hubbardston's character as a community that valued land ownership, Catholic faith, and family solidarity above all else. These were Wexford values, carried across the Atlantic and planted in Michigan soil, where they have endured for nearly two centuries.

For descendants researching their Hubbardston roots, County Wexford parish records — particularly those from the Catholic parishes of southeastern Wexford — are essential primary sources. Many of these records have been digitized and are accessible through the Irish National Archives, the National Library of Ireland, and genealogical databases like FamilySearch and Ancestry.