The Irish In St. Louis, Missouri

The website of the St. Louis Genealogy Society (SLGS) is a must for anyone doing research in city. The 'Irish in St. Louis' section of the website has three very useful listings. First, you will find a list of all the Roman Catholic parishes in the city and their year of foundation. The introduction helpfully points out that researchers should "compare the church address and your ancestor’s address on a St. Louis map" to determine which Church a person of interest may have worshipped at. Thankfully, the website has a map section.

I have previously written about Repeal Associations in relation to Terrence Punch's work in Prince Edward Island, Canada newspapers. A meeting of the Repeal Association of the Friends of Ireland took place in St. Louis on 10 May, 1842. The Missouri Republican newspaper reported on the meeting and an article listed 172 men and where the Irish-born, which comprised the vast majority, were from in Ireland. The SLGS has reproduced the list and helpfully added information for many of the men from other record sets.

There is also a collection of notices from local newspapers concerning Irish immigrants and their descendants. The vast majority are death notices, with some information wanted adverts also included. Some included Irish places of origin.

In conjunction with these useful resources, also check out my blog post about Ward 2 of St. Louis in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census. Irish places of origin were recorded for more than 300 people.

Prince Edward Island Repeal List 1843

The Act of Union came into effect on 1 January 1801 and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Various efforts at repealing the act occurred both within and outside Ireland. Those who were of this mindset became known as repealers and many Repeal Associations were established in the United States and Canada. One such example was in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada in the 1840s.

In the 1980s, Terrence M. Punch (more about him in a recent blog post) wrote  in The Island Magazine about finding newspaper articles from 1843 that listed the names of Irish repelaers in PEI. Importantly, an Irish place of birth was also provided for many of the men. The newspaper in questions was the Halifax-based Register and the lists of names were published in various editions from October and November of that year.

Punch's first publication[1] provides the names of 149 men and over 100 Irish places of birth. His second[2] lists 253 men with the majority of names also having an Irish birthplace provided. You can access both publications on the website of the University of Prince Edward Island, as they have digitized old editions of The Island Magazine, or click the links below.

A Prince Edward Island Repeal List for 1843 (pdf)

A Prince Edward Island Repeal List for 1843 Part Two (pdf)

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[1] Punch, Terrence M. A Prince Edward Island Repeal List for 1843. The Island Magazine. 1986, no. 20 Fall Winter. pp. 29-31. Available online at http://vre2.upei.ca/islandmagazine/fedora/repository/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-266: accessed 31 January 2016.

[2] Punch, Terrence M. A Prince Edward Island Repeal List for 1843. The Island Magazine. 1987, no. 21 Spring Summer. pp. 33-36. Available online at http://vre2.upei.ca/islandmagazine/fedora/repository/vre%3Aislemag-batch2-281: accessed 31 January 2016.

In Praise Of Dr. Terrence M. Punch, FIGRS

Dr. Terrence M. Punch, FIGRS is the expert when it comes to genealogy research in maritime Canada (the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). Since the 1970s, he has published numerous books on Scottish, Irish and French immigration. Of particular interest to this blog is his series of books concerning Irish immigrants to Canada. 

Maritime Canada highlighted in green[1]

At least seven of his books cover this topic and they, along with his guide books to research in the region, are an indispensible resource for anyone with Irish ancestry in that part of Canada. His publications to date include:

• Montbeliard Immigration to Nova Scotia, 1749-1752. Revised Edition (2015)
• North America's Maritime Funnel: The Ships that Brought the Irish, 1749-1852 (2012)
• Some Early Scots in Maritime Canada. Volume IIII (2012)
• Some Early Scots in Maritime Canada. Volume II (2011)
• Some Early Scots in Maritime Canada. Volume I (2011)
• Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada to 1863. Volume IV (2010)
• Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, 1751-1858. Volume III (2009)
• Erin's Sons, Volume II (2009)
• Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, 1761-1853 (2008)
• Genealogist's Handbook for Atlantic Canada Research (1997)
• Religious Marriages in Halifax, 1768-1841, From Primary Sources (1991)
• Research in Atlantic Canada (1989)
• In Which County?: Nova Scotia Surnames From Birth Registers, 1864 to 1877 (1985)
• Genealogical Research in Nova Scotia (1983)
• Nova Scotia Vital Statistics From Newspapers, 1769-1812 (1981)
• Irish Halifax: The Immigrant Generation, 1815-1859 (1981)
• Some Sons of Erin in Nova Scotia (1980)
• Nova Scotia Vital Statistics From Newspapers, 1813-1822 (1978)

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[1] "Canada Maritime provinces map" by QuartierLatin1968 - user created. 2012. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_Maritime_provinces_map.png#/media/File:Canada_Maritime_provinces_map.png: accessed 9 January 2016.

Prince Edward Island Data Pages

Rootsweb houses many fascinating pages researched and developed by volunteer genealogists. A useful one for those with Irish ancestors on Prince Edward Island (PEI) is the Prince Edward Island Data Pages. This database is a compilation of some records of Irish immigrants to PEI from before 1846.

In all, there are about 1,000 entries. The compiler, Marge Reid, advises that when using the database, “the documentation on the four data pages of the PEI IRISH PROJECT is shoddy. (There are OTHER words that could be used to describe the sourcing, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone!) Use the data as a "finding aid" or a "kick-start", but remember - it's only worth what you've paid for it...”[1] It’s useful advice as we should always try and get from an online database or transcription to a copy of the original record. Some local knowledge will definitely be useful when using this database as the compiler uses abbreviations for sources and local place names.

A considerable amount of the database entries give an Irish county of origin. For example, an obituary (from an unknown, undated newspapers) for Bridget Regan gives the information that she was from Sligo and emigrated in 1844. Her husband was John Butler and she (presumably) lived in Ch’town (Charlottetown). The dates 1825-1900 are also provided, possibly her year of birth and death.[2]

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[1] Marge Reid. Prince Edward Island Data Pages. 25 January 1999.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mvreid/pei/peirish.html: accessed 11 May 2015.

[2] “IRISH-BORN in PEI before 1846”, database, Rootsweb.com
(http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mvreid/pei/peirish.html: accessed 11 May 2015), entry for Bridget Regan, date unknown; QUINN through WYNN, p. 4.

Prince Edward Island Research

The Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society (Canada) and its members have been very active over the years when it comes to compiling publications that can aid Irish genealogy research. They have compiled two publications of Irish genealogy records along with a considerable collection of headstone transcriptions from Catholic cemeteries and those of other denominations.

Gallant, Peter and Nelda Murray. From Ireland to Prince Edward Island : a list compiled from newspapers, obituary notices and cemetery transcriptions of (some) immigrants to Prince Edward Island, from Ireland. Charlottetown: P.E.I. Genealogical Society. 1999.

Gallant, Peter. An index of Irish immigrants based on obituaries and death notices in Prince Edward Island newspapers, 1835-1910. Charlottetown: P.E.I. Genealogical Society. 1990.

A good introduction to the topic of the Irish in PEI is provided by O'Grady, Brendan. Exiles and Islanders: The Irish Settlers of Prince Edward Island Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 2004.

Prince Edward Island Irish

In internet years the webpage, Prince Edward Island Data Pages – Irish-born in PEI Before 1846, is ancient (created in 1999!), but that doesn't make the information any less valuable. Margaret Reid has compiled over 1000 names of Irish people who were on Prince Edward Island before the Famine and they include the Irish county where many of them are from.

You can access the database here.