IRL-LONGFORD-L Archives

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Subject: Re: [LONGFORD] To Nancy Gray
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 05:01:17 +0000

I assume that you have already done the obvious things: (1) examine listings of immigrants arriving through the port of New York during the period in which he came to this country; (2) check Granard parish records for his baptism, although a Famine-era baptism may not have been recorded; (3) do a Google search for his name (or a search with another equally comprehensive search engine), which might turn up a license for the saloon and/or information about his adventures in the entertainment world; (4) locate your ancestor on the first US census on which he appears, noting carefully others living in the same household, who are likely to be relatives or persons that he knew back in the old country; (5) check for data on his wife, which may provide indirect information about him; (6) check Castle Garden records (which, unfortunately, have not yet been indexed) to see if you can find his initial arrival and reentry from his trips back to the old country; (7) check Ellis Island re!
cords for his reentry into the United States in the 1890's assuming that Ellis Island had opened at that time; (8) check to see whether he took US citizenship, since there is often useful information on applications for naturalization; and (9) examine Civil War records to see whether he served with any regiment that was mustered in in New York City and whether he ever received a military pension (or whether his wife received one after his death). (With an 1848 birthdate, Civil War service is barely possible from the standpoint of age only in the last couple of years of the war, but it's worth a try.)

Unfortunately, I have not worked Granard enough to know all of the materials available for that area. However, possible good sources are parish histories, which frequently include many names; works on Irish music of the period, since he was active in that field; the "lost friends" database; parish records at the church serving the neighborhood where he live in New York city; and obituaries printed in neighborhood newspapers, which usually list survivors. Go fishing with a comprehensive library database--i.e., New York Public Library, National Library of Ireland, etc.

Another possibility is the Earl of Granard's estate records. In that case, you are looking for his parents; many emigrants left Ireland simply because their families had too mouths to feed, there was little realistic chance of acquiring land of their own other than their fathers' leases, if any; and they was old enough to travel to North America alone. If the man was born in 1848 (when the brithrate had declined precipitously for the masses of Irish couples) and survived the Famine, as he obviously did, the family was probably better off than many, so the father may well have held a lease.

Nancy



-------------- Original message from : --------------


> Hi Nancy,
> My Great-Grandfather was born in Granard -1848. He left Ireland for New
> York City in 1864, but returned several times to visit his family in the
> 1880's & early 1890's..Is there anyway at all to trace his roots back to County
> Longford?
> While in New York, he worked as a liquor salesman and then opened his
> own saloon in Manhattan, NY, the late 1870's. He also performed on stage in NYC
> theaters playing the bagpipes.
> Does Longford have an 1860's directory of saloons in Granard or
> surrounding areas? I am also looking for information on musicians in Longford
> during
> that era.
> I will be grateful for any information given.
> Thank you,
> Ursula
>
>
>
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