two mysteries

1. John Lyons said his mother Mary Kate Dempsey was niece to Mariah, that William his grandfather was Mariah's brother

2. what happens to the land Bernard farmed in Cloonreliagh? Why does it seem that William Dempsey (John Lyon's grandfather), owns the land in the 1901/1911 census?

I didn't realize these two mysteries were related! At first I thought there must be two Williams, one each of brothers Thomas and Bernard. Too simple! 

Here's the steps (as I see them):

1. Bernard dies in 1871, leaving his family to scatter. Most go to the US, son Bernard goes to the UK, son Thomas goes elsewhere in Ireland. Only Mariah stays behind in Derreentighe, except ...

2. eldest son Patrick takes over Bernard's farm.

3. Patrick marries Mary Waldron, 1879:

4. Patrick dies young. When? 

5. Mary Waldron Dempsey remarries in 1887, to her husband's cousin, William Dempsey (son of Thomas):

Note Mary's father in both is John Waldron. In second cert, she and William are both listed in Cloonreliagh, William because he was living with his father Thomas, Mary because she is on Patrick's land (now her land).

6. Mary Waldron Dempsey (to the second power now), dies 1916:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1916/05228/4447239.pdf

7. Mary's widow, William, remarries, this time to Mary Griffin in 1917:

8. Mary Kate Dempsey, John Lyons' mother, is born of this union.

Mystery #1:

So, at some point at #5, John's grandfather William (Mariah's cousin), could be loosely considered Mariah's brother-in-law, as he is married to the widow of Mariah's brother. This is a stretch, but William's wife is Mariah's sister-in-law. But William is NOT her brother.

Even then, it is William's second wife, Mary Griffin, who is Mary Kate's mother, NOT the one who was Patrick's widow.

In reality, the closest William and Mariah are is cousins (William's father Thomas is brother to Mariah's father Bernard).

Mystery #2: William, Thomas's son, inherits his uncle Bernard's land via marrying Patrick's widow.

Phew!