Denis was the brother of my great great grandfather, Walter Basquil. I’ve gotten to know one of his descendants, and we’ve collaborated on researching the family. I think she got this photo of Denis from another cousin in Australia. (Denis’ son, William, immigrated there, while Denis came to the US and Walter stayed in Ireland.)
Denis was quite a character. Reading between the lines, he was likely an alcoholic. His wife, Ellen Carney, died in 1908. In 1910 Denis was living in the Fall River alms house, destitute. He died in 1911.
red paper boat 
Dear Shelly,
I just found this post in searching for information about my grandmother, Theresa Basquil Wholey. Dennis Basquil was my grandmother’s father. She never told me about him. She died when I was 13. She was a devout Catholic who loved to listen to Bishop Fulton Sheen who was very popular on national television in the late 50’s and early 60’s. You have done some great research.
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Hi! I actually have a bit more info on Denis, if you’re interested. Mostly from newspaper articles. I’ll try to post them sometime this week, when I get a minute.
I also have a weird mystery in the Wholey family, though not to do with your grandmother, Theresa. Her husband’s brother, Cornelius Wholey, disappeared from the records in Fall River and turned up in Los Angeles, under the name Cornelius Anderson.
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Cornelius Wholey was my father’s uncle. Unfortunately my dad never shared anything about his family. I had found Cornelius on ancestry but didn’t see where he had changed his name to Anderson. His father , James Francis died before I was born. We lived in the house that my grandfather had built in the early 1920’s in Fall River, Massachusetts.
My brother still lives there as an old bachelor.
Thank you for sharing your research. It’s good to find out about family history.
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