New York State Naturalizations 1802 - 1814

Thomas Addis Emmet was a lawyer who was heavily involved in the United Irishmen organization in the 1790s. Born in Cork, he was arrested on the eve of the 1798 rebellion and eventually settled in New York City, where he lived out the remainder of his days. He died there in 1827.[1] His grandson, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, amassed a considerable collection of important documents and the collection was donated to the New York Public Library in 1896.[2]  

One of those documents is a list of immigrants naturalized in New York State between 1802 and 1814. Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet was known for his pro-Irish independence sympathies and the vast majority of the 115 names on the list are for men from Ireland. Importantly, the Irish county of birth is provided for almost every entry.

Early New York Naturalizations

The names were transcribed and published in a 1963 edition of the Bulletin of The New York Public Library.[3] This edition of the bulletin was digtized by Internet Archive and is freely available online. Click here for access.

The Emmet Collection was digitized by the New York Public Library and is available to view here.

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[1] Thomas Addis Emmet, born 1764, died 1827 in New York City, buried Saint Mark's Church in the Bowery, New York, New York, memorial number 6813864; digital image, Find A Grave (http;//www.findagrave.com), accessed 24 September 2016.

[2] Thomas Addis Emmet collection, Archives and Manuscripts; The New York Public Library (http://archives.nypl.org), accessed 24 September 2016.

[3] Wolfe, Richard J. Early New York Naturalization Records in the Emmet Collection With a List of Aliens Naturalized in New York 1802-1814, Bulletin of the New York Public Library, Volume 67, Number 4, April 1963, pp. 211-217; accessed Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/earlynewyorknatu00wolf), 24 September 2016.

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.

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[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.

New Troy Irish Genealogy Society Database II

Last week, Irish Genealogy News reported that the Troy Irish Genealogy Society (TIGS) released another fantastic database of records. St. John’s Cemetery, Albany, NY Interment Records, 1841- 1887 contains over 12,700 transcriptions, of which almost 4,000 of these are for people from Ireland. What makes this record set even better is that the county of origin is provided for almost 3,400 of those Irish-born people.

The importance of having local knowledge and of preservation efforts are both seen in the description of how these records came to light. The TIGS website outlines that the interment book was in the possession of a former employee of another Catholic cemetery in the area and was in a gradual state of  decay. Who know what would have happened to these records if they had not been discovered by those who knew the genealogical importance of the information contained in that book.

You can read all about the records and access the database in the TIGS website by clicking here.

Troy Irish Genealogy Society is listed in the GSI database on this website. Click here to read a Townland of Origin article from January 2014 about other databases that the group launched on their website.

U.S Census Series: Savannah, Georgia 1860

A recent exchange on Twitter about the Wexford Savannah Axis project between Damian Shiels (of the Irish in the American Civil War website and book) and David Gleeson (Northumbria University - Newcastle and the Atlantic Irish blog) highlighted the recording of Irish counties of birth in the federal census for those living in Savannah, Georgia.

A look at the 1860 federal census shows that there are a very large number of instances of the Irish county of birth being recorded: 2662.[1] This is a substantial boon to anyone with Irish ancestry in Savannah. Given the nature of the research project (see previous post or click here) it is not surprising to see Wexford tops the charts. In addition to this, there are large representations from Kerry, Mayo, Cork, Cavan, Roscommon, Leitrim, Dublin, and Galway.

Wexford 463

Kerry 322

Mayo 255

Cork 223

Cavan 169

Roscommon 166

Limerick 137

Dublin 128

Galway 106

Clare 89

Meath 70

Sligo 60

Kilkenny 45

Westmeath 45

Longford 44

Donegal 33

Tyrone 33

Tipperary 32

Kildare 29

Leitrim 24

Monaghan 24

Derry/Londonderry 23

Waterford 23

Laois 20

Carlow 18

Armagh 16

Wicklow 14

Offaly 13

Antrim 12

Louth 7

Down 2

Fermanagh 1

Total 2662

The PhD thesis of Edward Shoemaker, Strangers and Citizens: The Irish Immigrant Community of Savannah, 1837-1861 (Emory University, 1990), compiled all examples of Irish counties of birth in the federal census, as well as providing an in-depth analysis of the Irish community.

This link will bring you to the Familysearch.org indexes for Chatham County, Georgia (where Savannah is) in the 1860. U.S federal census.

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[1] All total numbers come from a manual tabulation from the Familysearch.org indexes. Small errors are quite possible.