Newfoundland's Grand Banks

The Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical Data website was founded by Bill Crant and Don Tate in the 1990s. Their mission statement is succinct and direct: "The purpose of this site is to provide original genealogical and historical data in the form of census information, Provincial wide directory publications, church, parish, and cemetery records, and many other original source documents. It has been created for those desiring to do research in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador."[1]

The site is obviously a treasure trove for those who had ancestors that lived in or immigrated to this part of Canada. Of particular interest to this blog is the information contained in the transcribed Roman Catholic parish registers from the city of St. John's. After selecting 'Parish Records' on the home page, you are provided with a list of place names from throughout the province. Selecting your place of interest presents you with transcribed parish records from various denominations. The St. John's Roman Catholic baptismal and marriage records provide a lot of useful information, with many of the marriage entries providing a 'last permanent residence' for Irish immigrants.

Immigration to this part of the world from Ireland was mostly made up of people from the southeast of Ireland—Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, south Tipperary, east Cork—who were attracted to work in the fishing industry. This is reflected in the registers - John Neil of Mothel Parish [County Waterford] married Mary Keating of Cashel Parish [County Tipperary] in St. John's Parish, St. John's on 22 June 1800.[2]

A fascinating section of the website is Parish Records of Newfoundlanders located in Other Countries. There are examples of Newfoundlanders recorded in the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Patrick, Waterford City, Ireland in the 1750s; Roman Catholic church records in Montreal, Quebec; and  in various denomination in Nova Scotia. Early Catholic marriage records from Halifax, Nova Scotia are a delight, with names of parents and places of birth provided for both parties. For example, James Dowling of County Carlow, Ireland, and son of Michael Dowling and Winifred Phelan, married Margaret McDonald of Newfoundland, daughter of John McDonald and Alice Corcoran, on 18 April 1833 in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish.[3]

Digital images of church records from Newfoundland are also available to browse for free on the Familysearch database Newfoundland Church Records, 1793-1945. Therefore, using both websites can give you the best of both worlds - a transcribed, searchable list of entries and digital images.

---

[1] Craig Peterman. Mission Statement. Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical Data, August 2015. (http://ngb.chebucto.org/mission.shtml), accessed 3 October 2016.

[2] St. John's Roman Catholic Parish (St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada), marriage register, p. 22, 2 June 1800, John Neil and Mary Keating; transcription, "1799 - 1811 Marriages - St. John's RC Basilica Parish," St. John's City, Parish Records, Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical Data (http://ngb.chebucto.org), accessed 7 January 2017.

[3] St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), marriage register, 18 April 183, James Dowling and Margaret McDonald; transcription, "Marriages 1830 - 1900 St Mary's Basilica RC," Other Countries, Parish Records, Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogical and Historical Data (http://ngb.chebucto.org), accessed 7 January 2017.

U.S. Census Series: Ward 12, Scranton, Pennsylvania 1870 - Part 2

Click here for Part 1.

The first place that I profiled for the Census Series posts was Scranton, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. In this series, I highlight examples from censuses where the Irish county or place of origin was noted for those that were enumerated. Tables have been compiled showing the number of Irish county examples for all other places in the United States that I have written about, except Scranton. This has now been rectified.

Almost 600 people from Ireland had their counties of birth record by William Carling as he traveled around the 12th Ward of Scranton in his job as a census enumerator for 1860. Scranton is know for its large Irish-American population of Mayo origin and this is reflected in this ward. Carling did not record the county of origin for every Irish person that he met, but we can see that more than half of those that he did were from the western county.

County	Approx. no of entries
Mayo	348
Sligo (incl. Slago)	89
Tipperary	31
Cork	23
Kerry	17
Down	9
Waterford	9
Kilkenny (incl. Killshiney, Killiney, Kilenny, Klinny)	7
Limerick	7
Cavan	5
Laois (Queens)	5
Leitrim (incl. Lutraim)	5
Dublin	4
Offaly (Kings)	4
Galway	3
Roscommon	3
Antrim (incl. Belfast)	2
Armagh	2
Tyrone	2
Donegal	1
Longford (incl. Longfort)	1
Meath	1
Unknown (Fairfield)	4
TOTAL	582

U.S. Census Series: Ward 2, St. Louis, Missouri 1860

One of the recurring features of this blog is the U.S. Census Series, where I highlight the rare examples of Irish place of birth/origin recorded on census documents. To date, seven locations have been explored and they can be accessed at the Census Series page. This post is about Ward 2, St. Louis, Missouri in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census.

St. Louis, Missouri 1871 Ward Map. Click to enlarge.[1]

We can be thankful to census enumerator Edward Thierry for going beyond the norm when gathering answers to the question 'Place of Birth, Naming the State, Territory or Country.' In total, he recorded an Irish county or place of birth for approximately 323 people. There were also a few other very interesting efforts by him to document place of birth, such as 'County Neals, Ireland,' 'Not Ascertained, Ireland' and 'Born at Sea, Ireland.' He collected this census information between 1 June and 31 July of that year.

County	Approx. No. of Entries
Tipperary	55 (incl. 3 Thurles, 1 Chermill [?], 2 Littleton)
Cork	29 (incl. 3 Bandon, 2 City, 2 Bantry)
Cavan	29
Wexford	21
Dublin	19
Limerick	17
Mayo	17
Meath	15 (incl. 2 Oldcastle)
Galway	14 (incl. 1 Hedford)
Kilkenny	11
Tyrone	10
Roscommon	9
Waterford	9
Westmeath	7
Kerry	6 (incl. 1 Kenmare)
Kildare	6
Monaghan	6
Clare	4
Carlow	4
Derry	4 (incl. 2 'Londy' possibly Londonderry)
Down	4 (incl. 1 Newry)
Leitrim	4
Sligo	4
Offaly	3 (incl. 1 'Fardown' [?])
Antrim	3 (3 Belfast)
Fermanagh	3
Wicklow	3
Armagh	2
Donegal	2
Laois	1
Longford	1
Louth	1
County	323
Co Neals, Ireland	2
Born at Sea, Ireland	1
Portage, Ireland	1
Co City, Ireland	1
Co Casey, Ireland	1
Not ascertained, Ireland	1
Not known, Ireland	1
Other	8
Final Total	331

  

He did not record the county of birth of every Irish born person he encountered, but we get a flavor of the Irish county makeup of the 2nd Ward of St. Louis. Tipperary and Cork feature the most, with counties Cavan, Dublin, Wexford, Limerick and Mayo all heavily featured. At least one person from every county in Ireland had their place of birth recorded.

You can browse all 356 pages of the 2nd Ward and also perform the usual name search.

_______________________________________

[1] Tracey, J. L. Map Of The City Of St. Louis For Tracy's Guide To Missouri. 1871. Available online at David Rumsey Maps           http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~215834~5502559:Missouri-And-St--Louis?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No?: accessed 23 May 2016.

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)

---

[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.

U.S. Census Series: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1860

The city of Milwaukee had a population of just over 62,200 when the 1860 U.S. Federal Census was enumerated.[1] Of this number, Irish-born residents account for about 8.6% of the population at circa 5,375.[2] The county of birth was recorded for 562 of those people from Ireland. The numbers for each county are contained in the table below. Clare, Galway, Kilkenny and Meath were the counties that had the highest number of such instances recorded.

All instances of the Irish county of origin were for immigrants who lived in the 4th ward of the city. The census enumerator, or Assistant Marshall to use the correct terminology, for this part of Milwaukee was Maven Power. Maven was a lawyer who lived in the Town of Lake, Milwaukee County.  His entry in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census noted that he was born in the state of New York about 1819.[3] Also residing with him at the time was 31 year old Adelaide Powers, presumably his wife, and 18 year old Mary Kelly, a house servant, also born in the state of New York. It is very likely that Maven's Power ancestors were from Ireland and this could be a reason why he noted the counties of birth for some of those that he enumerated.

County	Approx No. of Entries[4]
Clare	91
Galway	76
Kilkenny	59
Meath	51
Kerry	42
Tipperary	42
Cavan	28
Tyrone	24
Offaly (Kings)	22
Waterford	16
Mayo	16
Roscommon	15
Dublin	15
Sligo	11
Carlow	10
Down	9
Longford[5]	8
Laois (Queens)	6
Cork	6
Armagh	3
Monaghan (Monahan)	3
Westmeath	3
Fermanagh	2
Limerick	2
Derry	1
Wicklow	1
Leitrim	0
Donegal	0
Antrim	0
Kildare	0
Louth	0
Wexford	0
TOTAL	562

Table: Instances of Irish county of origin in 1860 U.S. Federal Census, 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The page below (click to view larger version) from the census enumeration shows the variation of places of birth for people who lived closely together in just seven houses - Galway, Mayo, Waterford, Carlow, Kings (Offaly) and Kilkenny are all represented.[6]

Irish counties of origin in 1860 U.S. Federal Census,  Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The 4th ward likely attracted Irish immigrants due to its proximity to jobs on the Milwaukee River and the railroad. A map of the city from 1856 shows the location of the 4th ward on the west bank of the river with the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad running through the southern section of the ward (click to view larger version).[7] The legacy of this Irish area of Milwaukee can be seen in a later map from 1874 as there is a street in the 4th ward called Hibernia.[8]

Section of Lapham's Map of Milwaukee showing 4th ward

I'd like to thank commenter cmkinhunter for directing me towards this example back in May. See the Census Series section for other instances of Irish place of origin recorded in the U.S. Federal Census.

---

[1] Manual tabulation based on numbers at: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/results?count=75&query=%2Bresidence_place%3A%22milwaukee%2C%20wisconsin%22&collection_id=1473181 

[2] Manual tabulation based on numbers at: https://familysearch.org/search/collection/results?count=75&query=%2Bbirth_place%3Aireland%20%2Bresidence_place%3A%22milwaukee%2C%20wisconsin%22&collection_id=1473181

[3] Fold3.com, 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Milwaukee County, Lake, population schedule, Town of Lake, Page 78, House 597, family 597, Maven Power and family; digital image, Fold3.com http://www.fold3.com: accessed 26 September 2015; citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 21250.

[4] All totals are approximates based on a manual search of county names. It is possible that some towns were listed instead of county names.

[5] The index gives 10 returns for Longford but two of these are for 'Long Ireland' and upon inspecting the census documents they were for people from Long Island (New York State).

[6] Fold3.com, 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee, population schedule, City of Milwaukee, Page 67, House 497-505, families 503-511; digital image, Fold3.com http://www.fold3.com: accessed 26 September 2015; citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 21253.

[7] Lapham, I.A. 1856. Map of Milwaukee. New York, NY:  Sherman and Smith. Available online http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~1954~190067:Map-Of-Milwaukee-?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no#: accessed 26 September 2015

[8] Mithcell, SA. 1874. Plan of Milwaukee. Philadelphia, PA:  S.A. Mitchell Jr. Available online http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~254634~5519457:Plan-of-Milwaukee?sort=pub_list_no_initialsort%2Cpub_date%2Cpub_list_no%2Cseries_no: accessed 26 September 2015