Irish Emigration to New England Through The Port of Saint John

Saint John, New Brunswick is a port city that Irish immigrants have used since the 18th century as a gateway to North America. Located on the Atlantic seaboard, it provides for easy access to a wide range of Canadian and American locations. During The Famine, thousands of Irish immigrants arrived at Saint John. Tracing Famine arrivals is difficult at the best of time so it is great to have Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849 to assist research efforts.

First published in 1996 (then re-published in 1997 and 2004) and written by Daniel Johnson, it is a compendium of extracts from the records of various institutions in Saint John County, New Brunswick. They include hospitals, asylums and workhouses, along with information gleaned from the journeys of the immigrants, their receiving of outdoor relief, and where they might have lived or temporarily resided in Saint John County.

Interesting examples abound in the publication. Names derived from a "Catalogue of immigrants from the United Kingdom relieved on parish poor accounts and not charged to the immigrant account year 1842," a document at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, are accompanied by Irish counties of nativity. Patrick May, 58, from County Kilkenny, [condition] sick and asmatick [sic]; William Freil, 76, from County Donegal, blind and feeble; and Barbara Ford, 47, from County Leitrim, dropsical [sic], are just three examples.[1]

Records for the year 1841 in the temporary lunatic asylum also have detailed information. Catherine Coyle, 33, and John Clougher, 26, both from County Roscommon, were two of the people admitted on 1 May 1841. Mary was discharged five months later but John was still there in 1844.[2]

It is often forgotten that Canadian ports were used to immigrate when the final destination was in the United States, hence the name of the publication. Therefore, don't discount this important work if you are researching Famine immigrants in Massachusetts, Vermont or elsewhere in New England. The book is also available in digitized format via the database 'Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849' on Ancestry.

Click here for a long list of other sources to do with New Brunswick that I have written about.

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[1] Johnson Daniel F. Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849. Genealogical Publishing Company: Baltimore, Maryland. pp. 15-16; digital image, Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 3 December 2016.

[2] Johnson Daniel F. Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849. Genealogical Publishing Company: Baltimore, Maryland. p. 13; digital image, Irish Emigration to New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, 1841 to 1849," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 3 December 2016.

U.S. Roman Catholic Cemetery Publications I

The information on cemetery grave markers can sometimes provide an Irish county or civil parish of origin for the deceased. If a grave marker exists, efforts should be made to consult it, either in person or online via sites such as findagrave.com or interment.net. Another great source for such information is the many books of transcribed grave marker inscriptions that have been created over the years by dedicated individuals and local genealogy organizations. 

One of the great advantages of these books is that they can act as a sort of time machine for research. For example, a book may have been compiled in the 1990s when the inscriptions on a grave marker was legible but in poor condition. A researcher in 2016 looking at that same grave marker may find that the inscription is now completely worn away, but they have the book to consult.

Below you will find the first half of a list of published grave marker inscriptions from Roman Catholic cemeteries in the United States that I have come across over the last few years. Some of the titles, such as those from cemeteries in Connecticut, specifically mention that an Irish place of origin is mentioned on some of the grave markers in the book.

Please add a comment if you know of publications for states Alabama through Massachusetts that are not on this list.

North America

Author Unknown. ‘Gravestone Inscriptions of Irish Interest in Canada and the USA.’ Genealogical & Historical Guild Newsletter. Vol. 1. No. 9. 1983.

Alabama

Connick, Lucille Mallon. Ed. Tombstone inscriptions, Catholic Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama. Mobile, AL: Mobile Genealogical Society. 1986.

California

Brennan, Jenny. ‘Burials of Irish people in the Mission Dolores cemetery in San Francisco.’ North Irish Roots. Vol. 5. No. 2. 1994.

Connecticut

Author Unknown. Irish Place Names on Tombstones in Cemeteries in Southwestern Connecticut. Publisher Unknown. 2011.

Barnes, Carol. 'Irish Place Names from St. Mary's Cemetery, Norwalk, and St. Mary's Cemetery, Greenwich, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 1. August 2009.

Bohan, Ellen, Patricia Heslin, Paul Keroack, Bernard Singer, Rosanne Singer, eds. with Neil Hogan, Robert O. Larkin, and Jamie Longley. Early New Haven Irish and Their Final Resting Places: The Old Catholic and Saint Bernard Cemeteries. Hamden, CT: Connecticut Irish American Historical Society. 2013.

Galvin, Nora, Harlan Jessup, and Paul Keroack. 'Irish Place Names from St. James and St. Augustine Cemeteries, Bridgeport, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 4. May 2010.

Carroll Catalano, Susan and Nora Galvin. 'Irish Place Names from St. Thomas Cemetery, Fairfield, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Galvin, Nora and Harlan Jessup. 'Irish Place Names from St. Michael's Cemetery, Bridgeport and Stratford, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Galvin, Nora and Susan Carroll Catalano. 'Irish Place Names from Assumption Cemetery, Kings Highway, Westport, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Jessup, Harlan. 'Place Names in St. Mary Cemetery, Ridgefield.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 2. November 2009.

Keroack, Paul. 'St. John Cemetery, Darien CT - Headstones with Irish Place Names.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 53. No 3. February 2011.

Keroack, Paul. More Irish Place Names from St. Mary's Cemetery, Norwalk.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 3. February 2010.

Maki, Mary and Harlan Jessup. 'Irish Place Names on Tombstones in Old (and New) St. Peter Cemetery, Danbury, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 52. No 1. August 2009.

Maki, Mary. Place 'Names on Irish Tombstones: St. Rose Cemetery, Sandy Hook, CT.' Connecticut Ancestry. Vol. 48. No 2. November 2005.

Georgia

Author Unknown. ‘Transcripts of Irish Interest in Cemeteries at Augusta, Georgia, USA.’ Ulster Genealogical & Historical Guild Newsletter. Vol. 1. No. 10. 1984.

Catholic Church, Diocese of Savannah. Savannah's Catholic Cemetery, Chatham County, Georgia, Volumes I, II and III. Savannah, GA: Savannah Catholic Cemetery Preservation Society. 2005.

Illinois

Knox County Genealogical Society. Catholic Cemeteries, Knox County, Illinois. Galesburg, IL: Knox County Genealogical Society. 1983.

Hann. V. Saint John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery, Somonauk, Illinois Tombstone Inscriptions and Recorded Burials. Somonauk, IL: Self-published. 1983.

Lundberg, Gertrude W. St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois. Skokie, IL: Self-published. 1966.

Indiana

Mohr, Linda. St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery, gravestone inscriptions, Shelbyville, Indiana. Shelbyville, IA: Self-published. 1986.

Iowa

Emmet County Genealogical Society. Emmet County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Armstrong Grove Cemetery, Mt. Calvary Cemetery, St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. Estherville, IA: Emmet County Genealogical Society. Year Unknown.

 Available online at: https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE52270 (opens as pdf)

Kentucky

Adams, Kathleen Carmichael. Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Cemetery, Cold Spring, Kentucky: Researched From Original Records. Cold Spring, KY: K.C. Adams. 1994.

Chandler, Ora. St. Louis Cemetery, Catholic, Located South Green Street, U.S. 41A and U.S. 60, Henderson County, Henderson, Kentucky. Evansville, IN. 1965.

Louisiana

Joseph, Essie. History of Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church and Cemetery Inscriptions, Ascension Parish, Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Houma, LA: Terrebonne Genealogical Society. 1999.

Maryland

Arthur, Edward P. St. Mary's Govans Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland: Baptisms, 1850–1882, Marriages 1850–1912, Cemetery Records. Lewes, Md: Colonial Roots. 2012.

Arthur, Edward P. St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church Baptisms, 1853–1882. Lewes, DE: Colonial Roots. 2010.

Massachusetts

Author Unknown. ‘St Patrick's Cemetery in Lowell, Mass., USA.’ Directory of Irish Family History Research. No. 22. 1999.

Author Unknown. ‘St. Mary's Cemetery, Lee, Mass, USA.’ Irish Family History. No. 3. 1987.

Author Unknown. ‘Some Tombstone Inscriptions of Irish Interest in Massachusetts USA.’ Irish Family History. No. 1. 1985.

Daly, Mary E. Gravestone Inscriptions from Mount Auburn Catholic Cemetery, Watertown, Massachussetts. Waltham, MA: Self-published. 1983.

Doherty, Paul M.  'Tombstones of Some Irish Immigrants in the Catholic Cemetery at Andover, Massachusetts.' Irish Ancestor. Vol. 4. No. 1. 1972. pp. 23-26.

Pierce, Andrew. The Stones Speak: Irish Place Names From Inscriptions in Boston’s Mount Calvary Cemetery. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society. 2000.

New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906

Naturalization records are fundamental documents to  obtains when it comes to researching the life of an immigrant in the United States. There are a number of large databases of indexes to naturalization records available online, one of which is New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906. New England is a region of the U.S. that contains the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. All of these states saw the arrival of large numbers of Irish immigrants in the 19th century.

This database was originally created in the late 1930s by the Works Progress/Projects Administration.[1] In total, it contains over 600,000 index cards for immigrants who naturalized. Around 25% of these people were born in Ireland.[2]

Working out the court where an ancestor naturalized, particularly if they moved a lot or lived in a large urban area, can be one of the main stumbling blocks to obtaining naturalization records. The usefulness of this index is that the cards list the court that granted the naturalization certificate, along with the volume and page number of the naturalization record.[3] 

To obtain the original records, you will need to find out where that court currently stores its naturalization records. Don't forget that they may have been digitized and placed online, be available on microfilm at an institution such as the Family History Library, or at the National Archives Northeast Region in Boston. 

This index database is available on the big three genealogy websites.

• Ancestry - U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)  
• Familysearch - United States, New England Petitions for Naturalization Index, 1791-1906
• Findmypast - New England Naturalizations, 1791-1906

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[1] Index To New England Naturalization Records, 1791-1906. Washington, D.C: National Archives and Records Administration. n.d. p. 1. Available online at https://www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m1299.pdf: accessed 13 March 2016.

[2] This number is based on my own tabulation of a non-exact search using Ireland as the place of birth. The total was 156,667. Using an exact search for Ireland returned the same number. Some of the returns say 'Great Britain or Ireland' as the place of birth. It is also likely that some of those whose birthplace was recorded as 'Britain' or 'Great Britain' were born in Ireland.

[3] Index To New England Naturalization Records, 1791-1906. Washington, D.C: National Archives and Records Administration. n.d. p. 1. Available online at https://www.archives.gov/research/microfilm/m1299.pdf: accessed 13 March 2016.

Ulster Historical Foundation US/Canada Tour

The Ulster Historical Foundation will once again embark on their yearly, epic North American road trip to give lectures and workshops about Irish and Scots-Irish genealogy research.  They start in Ottawa on March 14^th and finish up at the end of the month on the west coast in Medford, Oregon. The full list of dates and cities was announced last week and include:

Saturday 14 March Ottawa, ONT

Sunday 15 March State College, PA

Monday 16 March Staunton, VA

Tuesday 17 March Williamsburg, VA

Wednesday 18 March Winchester, VA

Friday 20 March Maryville, TN

Saturday 21 March Boston, MA

Sunday 22 March Fairfield, CT

Monday 23 March Pittsburgh , PA

Wednesday 25 March Green Bay, WI

Friday 27 March Moscow, ID

Saturday 28 March Yakima, WA

Sunday 29 March Oakland, CA

Monday 30 March Medford, OR

For more information about each stop, you can consult their website or Facebook page.

Information Wanted Ads I - Boston

One of the most well known Irish genealogical sources in the U.S. is the Boston Pilot series of information wanted ads. Despite its widely known status, it is always worth clearly explaining a record set in detail and highlighting the fact that there were other newspapers that also carried such ads.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Irish people in the U.S. and Ireland who were looking for information about immigrant family members placed information wanted adverts in newspapers. These adverts requested information about the immigrant who had not been heard from for a period of time, usually a few years. "During this time, formal communication was by the written word, but an international postal system was just emerging, making it difficult for those who had immigrated to keep in touch with those they had left behind. The result was that many of those in Ireland had no idea where their relatives and friends might be. Many new Irish Americans simply became “lost” to those who cared for them."[1]

The first ad appeared in the Boston Pilot in October 1831. The wife of Patrick McDermott placed the ad looking for him as she and their children would be returned to Ireland if he was not located. The ad outlined that he was from County Kildare and provided more information such as where he was born and details about his first year in the U.S. (see image below).

The first Information Wanted ad in the Boston Pilot, October 1831

From 1831 to 1920, over 45,000 ads were placed in the paper and they provided an abundance of information about those who were sought after. Standard information included name, place of origin in Ireland (often including civil parish and townland), name and details of person seeking information, and the relationship between them and the missing person. Other information that was regularly included told of the ship the immigrant traveled on, year of arrival, locations in the U.S. after arrival, occupations, and work history. As more Irish immigrants came to the U.S., they inhabited more and more states. As a result the ads sought information about people in states up and down the east coast, the mid-west, and Canada. Therefore, it is easy to see how these ads have become probably the most well known Irish genealogy source in the U.S.

Currently, there are four main places where they can be accessed:

• The Boston College Information Wanted site has transcriptions of the ads for the years 1831-1878, 1880-1882, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1893, 1901, and 1913. It is free to access and has 41,249 records.
• Ancestry.com has "Searching for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in "The Boston Pilot 1831-1920". The database contains indexed images.
• Americanancestors.org. Searching for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements [database online]. Boston, MA: Americanancestors.org. 2010.
• Harris, Ruth-Ann M., Donald M. Jacobs, and B. Emer O’Keeffe, editors. Searching for Missing Friends: Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in “The Boston Pilot 1831–1920”. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. 1989. 8 vols. Note: information in the Ancestry.com and Americanancestors.org databases comes from this publication.                                                              

One has to wonder how many of the missing people were reunited with their friends and family members. Some of the ads outlined how a person was not heard from for ten years or more. It would be remarkable to think they ever made contact again. Something to remember as we use these ads for our research.

Check out the next blog post in a few days which will highlighted information wanted ads from another east coast city.

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[1] Harris, Ruth-Ann and Kathleen Williams. Information Wanted - History. 2014. http://infowanted.bc.edu/history: accessed 9 September 2014.

Irish Research In Hartford, Connecticut

I've written before on this blog about how academic research can be very beneficial to genealogists, but can sometimes not be thought of as a potential source of relevant information or records. Therefore, I'd like to take another opportunity to highlight a useful and interesting piece of academic work.

Getting Their Share: Irish and Italian Immigrants in Hartford, Connecticut, 1850-1940 is the PhD thesis of Bruce Alan Clouette. It was submitted in 1992 at the University of Connecticut. A recent publication considers it to be the most definitive work on Irish immigration to Hartford, CT in the mid 19th century.[1]

Works of this magnitude can be particularly useful when they are about just one city, as opposed to the many academic tomes which have focused on the immigration of Irish people to the whole of the U.S. Individually named immigrants, migration patterns from Ireland, settlement patterns in the city, Catholic Church history and many other useful types of genealogical information can be found in the more locally focused publications.

You can read the abstract here.

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[1] Xiangming Chen and Nick Bacon. Confronting Urban Legacy : Rediscovering Hartford and New England's Forgotten Cities. Lanham: Lexington Books. 2013. p. 44.

FMP's Irish Marriage Notices In American Newspapers

In May, Find My Past announced the release of two new record sets, Irish Marriage Notices In American Newspapers and Irish Death Notices in American Newspapers. This post will focus on the collection of marriage notices; my next post, in a few days, will look at the death collection in more detail.

Irish Marriage Notices In American Newspapers contains 2,550 records, taken from four different U.S. newspapers: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York Herald, New York World, and Phoenix. When the record set was released, Irish Genealogy News reported that these notices appeared in the newspapers from 1835 to 1860.

In total, 1,446 notices are for people living in the Unites States. Almost all—1,304—are for marriages in New York. The remaining 1,104 notices are for people outside the U.S., of which the majority—926—are for people in Ireland.

I don't have a Find My Past subscription so unfortunately was unable to look at the actual records and see if Irish places of origin are included for marriages occurring in the U.S. For marriages that occurred in Ireland, it is likely that the place where the marriage took place is included. Scanning through the surname of those in the records shows that many are for Irish immigrants with traditionally English and Scottish names, e.g. Adams, Allen, Brown, Greenswood, Jackson, Stewart, Thompson etc.

However, this is understandable. Firstly, some of the records are from pre-Famine years, and therefore from a time when non-Catholic immigration to the U.S. still made up a significant proportion of overall Irish immigration. Secondly, marriage notices cost money. Irish emigrants who could afford these notices were able to bring some startup capital to the U.S., were generally from a higher social class in Ireland, and were usually from an Anglo-Irish heritage.

MARRIAGES                     2550
________________________
Alabama                               8
California                            14
Connecticut                        4
Illinois                                   4
Indiana                                 2
Louisiana                            10
Maryland                             8
Massachusetts                    6
Missouri                               2
New Jersey                         64
New York                          1304
Pennsylvania                     10
Rhode Island                       2
United States                      60
Virginia                                 4
Washington DC                  2
TOTAL                               1446
_________________________
Ireland                                926
England                               68
Australia                             16
India                                      8
France                                   6
Canada                                  6
Cuba                                       4
Windward Islands           4
Belgium                                2
Italy                                        2
Turkey                                  2
Scotland                                2
TOTAL                              1104

Link to Irish Marriage Notices in American Newspapers database.

Connecticut Irish American Historical Society

The Connecticut Irish American Historical Society (CTIAHS) was founded in 1988 and is the main ethnic Irish historical and genealogy group in the state. The activities of the groups are wide-ranging and include the publication of a newsletter, a genealogy group, a library/archive, oral history interviews with older members of the community, and participation in festivals and ceremonies. Based in East Haven, just across the Quinnipiac river from New Haven, the group has over 300 members and is involved in pretty much everything to do with Irish heritage in Connecticut.

CTIAHS has a dedicated genealogy group that meets once a month. They have published books such as Early New Haven Irish and Their Final Resting Places: The Old Catholic and Saint Bernard Cemeteries[1] and have made a valuable contribution to the study of Irish genealogy in Connecticut.

You can learn all about the organization on their website, here.

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[1] Bohan, Ellen, Patricia Heslin, Paul Keroack, Bernard Singer, Rosanne Singer, eds. with Neil Hogan, Robert O. Larkin, and Jamie Longley. Early New Haven Irish and Their Final Resting Places: The Old Catholic and Saint Bernard Cemeteries. Hamden, CT: Connecticut Irish American Historical Society. 2013.

Connecticut State Library - Irish Genealogy

The website of the Connecticut State Library has an 'Irish genealogy' tag that displays all their holdings and recommendations for the topic. The interface is somewhat clunky but it is worth persevering with as it provides a very interesting mix of standard genealogy resources from Ireland, such as a link to IrishGenealogy.ie,  and Connecticut specific publications, such as Getting Their Share: Irish and Italian immigrants in Hartford, Connecticut, 1850-1940.

The Connecticut State Library is located in the state capital, Hartford, at 231 Capital Ave.

You can access the page, here.

Research Example: Finding The Townland Of Origin

What parish were they baptized in? What townland were they from? Could it even be possible to get an exact location for a house they lived in? These are some of the questions that people start with when they begin their genealogical journey (well, they might not know what a townland is at the start, but they'll soon find out how important it is!)

Research guides abound, but a concise, clear example of quality step-by-step research that finds the townland of origin can be hard to come across. With this in mind, I would like to present an example by Judy Kellar Fox, a board certified genealogist.

The blog posts outline the research conducted over a ten week period, the examination of evidence from primary and secondary resources, and how specific pieces of information lead to the examination of other record sets. Importantly, hypotheses are tested and evidence used to lead to conclusions. Regular readers of my blog will note that my beloved citations make a regular appearance too!

Pinpointing Denis Buggy's Irish Origins (note: I contributed advice about how surname research can be used in this process.)