United States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891 is a record
set that gives an Irish county or town of birth for almost 4,500 Irish
immigrants. "A rendezvous was the recruiting station where the men
enlisted in the Navy. Officers at the rendezvous kept a record of each man
enlisted and reported the information weekly to the Navy Department. These
documents are known as the 'weekly returns of rendezvous reports.'"[1]
These recruiting stations were located all over the U.S., for example: Mare
Island and San Francisco (California); Baltimore (Maryland); Boston (Massachusetts);
Saint Louis (Missouri); Portsmouth (New Hampshire); New York (New York); Erie, League
Island, and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania); Newport (Rhode Island); Hampton Roads
and Norfolk (Virginia).
A lot of useful genealogical information
can be found in these records, including: name of naval rendezvous, name of new
recruit, date and term of enlistment, rating (rank), name of ship to which
assigned, previous naval service, city and state where born, age, occupation,
and personal description. For example, in Saint Louis, Missouri, on 29 October
1862, Lawrence Fitzpatrick enlisted as a seaman for general service for the remainder
of the Civil War. He was a 33 year old laborer, who was born in Co. Galway. He had
brown eyes and hair, a light complexion, and was 5 feet 8 inches tall.[2]
Lawrence Fitzpatrick Enlistment, 1862 (Click to enlarge) |
Men from Dublin and Cork make up
almost half of this records set, with Donegal, Derry/Londonderry, Galway,
Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford all having strong representations.
County
|
No.
of records*
|
Dublin
|
1,125
|
Cork
|
773
|
Donegal
|
305
|
Derry/Londonderry
|
291
|
Galway
|
290
|
Limerick
|
273
|
Tipperary
|
213
|
Waterford
|
210
|
Kerry
|
90
|
Tyrone
|
86
|
Kilkenny
|
78
|
Sligo
|
73
|
Wexford
|
64
|
Antrim
|
62
|
Armagh
|
58
|
Roscommon
|
58
|
Mayo
|
54
|
Cavan
|
45
|
Longford
|
35
|
Monaghan
|
34
|
Down
|
30
|
Clare
|
28
|
Wicklow
|
24
|
Leitrim
|
23
|
Kildare
|
23
|
Westmeath
|
20
|
Louth
|
20
|
Fermanagh
|
15
|
Laois/Queens
|
14
|
Meath
|
14
|
Offaly/Kings
|
10
|
Carlow
|
9
|
County not specified, place is
|
50 (approx)
|
TOTAL
|
4,496
|
These records are available on a
number of the main genealogy websites including Ancestry, Findmypast, and
Familysearch. Familysearch has digitized and indexed the records. In total the collection contains
over 262,000 records. About 46,000 are for men from Ireland, which means that just
under 10% have a specific place of birth in Ireland named on their record.
*Note: numbers are very close
approximates as it is difficult to count every single example.
[1]
Familysearch.org. United States Naval
Enlistment Rendezvous (FamilySearch Historical Records). 2015.
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Naval_Enlistment_Rendezvous_(FamilySearch_Historical_Records): accessed 21 April 2015.
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Naval_Enlistment_Rendezvous_(FamilySearch_Historical_Records): accessed 21 April 2015.
[2] "United
States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891," index and images,
FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XG3C-M3Y:
accessed 21 April 2015), Lawrence Fitzpatrick, Nov 1862; citing p. 478, volume
22, place of enlistment Saint Louis Missouri, NARA microfilm publication M1953
(Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 19;
FHL microfilm 2,381,636.
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