Thankful Thursday: Finding Grandad's Sister the Sister

Back at the end of May, I wrote about "Looking for Julia Moynihan, Grandad's Sister the Sister."  I think Julia pulled some strings from heaven and now I've found her.

As you may remember, all we really knew was that Julia had become a nun in Boston.  Dad said her religious name was Sister Mary Josephine.  That's it.  We didn't know which order, and there were quite a few of them in Boston at the time.

Since my first post, I was able to find the detailed ship's manifest that showed Julia arriving in Boston in May 1907 to join her widowed aunt Hannah (aka Annie) Harnedy in Andover.  I later found her brother Jeremiah joining her in Andover in 1908.  I couldn't find Julia in the 1910 or later censuses with family, but there was a Julia Moynihan with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur first in Waltham and then Boston, Massachusetts.  There are several Orders called Sisters of Notre Dame around the world.  But the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur seem to be all over the Greater Boston area, including in Andover, just a half-hour north of Boston.

In my previous post, I shared an obituary I had found on RootsWeb:

Lowell Sun Lowell, MA April 3, 1945

Tyngsboro - Rev. Sr. Mary Josephine, stationed for the past twelve years at the Academy of Notre Dame, died yesterday at the academy, aged 60 years, following an illness of one week's duration.

The former Julia Moynihan, Sr. Mary Josephine was a native of Ireland, and had been for 35 years in the order of Notre Dame de Namur. During her years  at the academy she was in  charge of the sacristy.

Tyngsboro is a small town outside Lowell, just west of Andover.  I mentioned in the previous post that I had emailed the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur to ask if this was my aunt Julia.  I was told it wasn't.  But the story doesn't end there.  Remember, Julia was helping from heaven.

I emailed a number of other orders to see if Julia joined them.  One Order suggested that I check Census records.  I felt a little foolish realizing that I'd assumed the Census records would record only the Sisters' religious names.  That's not necessarily so.  In fact, when I looked for Julia Moynihans in Massachusetts I found a Julia who was a novice with the Notre Dame Training School in 1910 in Waltham and then in Boston in 1920 and 1930 at the Notre Dame Academy there.  While the birth year, arrival year and even parentage varied across these three Julias, they sure seemed like the same woman.  So I got back in touch with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, where unfortunately the Sisters responsible for the records have been ill.  I was told I should be realistic, that there may not be records to prove one way or another where my Aunt Julia went.

This is where things get interesting.  My Sweetie wanted our summer vacation to be in a big city with lots to see.  I wanted to find dead relatives.  Going to Boston and Andover was our compromise.  As it turns out, I have living relatives in Andover and we arranged to meet.  Would you believe that one of my cousins attended high school at the Notre Dame Academy at Tyngsboro?  Over dinner, she mentioned that there was a cemetery on the school grounds, down near the soccer field.  For teenage girls, it was a place to be avoided.  For me, I couldn't resist.

So we drove over to Tyngsboro to the school grounds.  Uh-oh.  "Private Property."  We should have called ahead.  We drove up to the front door and found that the reception had closed for the day.  Darn.  Exiting the property, we saw a fellow working and asked him permission to visit the cemetery.  He agreed and told us where to find it.  Thank you! Thank you!  It was a beautiful spot, nestled among old, old pines.  There, I found a new aspect to the mystery.  There were three Sisters with similar names:

• Sister Mary Josephina, died April 2, 1945 (the one from the Lowell Sun article);
• Sister Josephine Marie, died June 18, 1953;
• Sister Marie Josephine, died November 6, 1964.

I sent photos of the three headstones to my cousins, one of whom asked a family friend in the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur if she could help us with our search.  This morning, Sister Mary wrote me back to confirm that, without a doubt, Sister Mary Josephina was our Julia Moynihan.  The Order's records confirm her birthdate (within a week or two), her parents' names and that she'd joined from Andover.

Sister Mary Josephina entered the convent at Waltham on January 6, 1910.  She entered the Novitiate on June 26, 1910 and made her vows on July 25, 1912 -- almost 99 years ago.  And she died at Tyngsboro on April 2, 1945.

She is buried in the pretty and peaceful cemetery on the grounds of the Notre Dame Academy in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.  And I was able to pay my respects at her grave.

I am a grateful girl today.  Thanks to Sister Mary and my cousins.  Thanks Aunt Julia for helping us find you.

I'll say another prayer tonight for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, for their work, and for the recovery of the Sisters responsible for their archives.

William Moynihan's Other Family -- or not!

A couple of weeks ago, in my post "Sunday Obituary: Jeremiah Francis Moynihan of Ventura, California," I shared the news that my first cousin once-removed, Jerry Moynihan, had passed away.  Jerry's lovely obituary told me a great deal about his branch of the family, and allowed me to conclude that his father, William Moynihan, died when Jerry was quite young, after which his mother remarried.  That got me thinking about William, who is my grandfather's older brother, and it got me searching for records about his life in the United States.

I was puzzled by the first record that I found when searching recently.  It was a record of William arriving in Boston in 1924 with a woman and two children.  I was certain he'd arrived much earlier and single, before World War I.  But the record, as you see, shows that William and his family had been visiting his father Jeremiah at Shountullig.  We know from the Irish Censuses and Aunty Nora's paper that there's only one family at Shountullig (aka Shantullig):  our family.

Have a look at the ship's manifest above.  It certainly looks like William is travelling with his wife Margaret and their children Jeremiah and Margaret.  My great-grandad, Jeremiah, is shown to be Margaret's father-in-law and the children's grandfather.  My father thought he'd heard that William had been married before.  But it seemed strange to me that he would have two sons named Jeremiah:  one by Margaret, and one by Elizabeth O'Connor (that is, Jerry Moynihan of Ventura).  Certainly Irish families reused names, but typically it was when a child died in infancy.  In fact, that's why William had two brothers named Daniel.

So why would William name two sons Jeremiah?  Then I remembered some of the other records I'd seen years ago, researching William:

• first, his earlier arrival in New York;
• second, his World War I draft registration.

Many years ago, when the Ellis Island site was still wet behind the years (and me too, for that matter), I found the record of William's arrival in New York in 1915.  He's not easy to find.  He's transcribed as William Moynehan on the Ellis Island site and William Moyuchan on Ancestry.  I've submitted a correction to Ancestry, by the way. 

TIP:   Sometimes, you need to search by first name.

Because of the transcription error, to find William's 1915 ship's manifest on Ancestry via Family Tree Maker in order to merge his data, I was forced to search for all men named William arriving in New York on the Lapland on June 1, 1915.  It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds, but it took a while.

The ship's manifest shows that William was hospitalized on arrival, which would have delayed his arrival at his planned destination, Buffalo, where he was joining his brother Timothy.  Tim's address was given on the manifest as 76 Hamburg Street, Buffalo.  I Googled the address, which today appears to be a rather downtrodden industrial and residential area by the tracks.

So William arrived in mid-1915, single.  But the Jeremiah he travelled from Ireland with in 1924 was born in 1915.  Let's just say that when one considers biology and Catholocism, it seems unlikely this Jeremiah was William's son.

Then there's William's draft registration card, a document that had puzzled me for years.

When I'd first seen this, years ago, I couldn't figure out what sister-in-law he could be responsible for.  As far as I knew, of his brothers:

• Patrick had already returned to Ireland to have his family and was still alive;
• James, Daniel and Tim never married;
• Con and Jeremiah were still alive; and
• my grandad, John never left Ireland and lived until 1978.

TIP:  Periodically go over old conclusions in light of new information.

Then I remembered that I'd recently seen a marriage record for James.  He'd married in Boston, which had surprised me, as I thought he stayed in the Buffalo area after arriving in the States.  But Family Search had the image of the marriage registry and it convinced me I had the right James Moynihan as his parent's names were given correctly.  Guess the name of his bride?

Margaret.  Did you see that coming?

So William's brother James Moynihan married Margaret Daley in Boston on June 18, 1913.  The children that visited their grandfather Jeremiah in Ireland in 1924 were born in 1915 and 1917.  It makes sense that they're James' children.

It appears that James died in late 1916 or 1917, after young Margaret was conceived.  I wonder if he lived to see his little girl.  William and Tim's WWI draft registration cards, which appear to have been completed in 1917, indicate they were living together at 118 Walter St. in Buffalo and both single but responsible for a sister/sister-in-law.  And in the 1920 U.S. Census, we find a widowed Margaret "Mimahan" living at 434 South Division St. with her children Jeremiah and Margaret, her brothers-in-law Timothy and William, and several boarders.

By the 1930 U.S. Census, of course, William had married Elizabeth O'Connor and was living with Jerry (of Ventura) and Michael at 17 Woodside Ave., Buffalo.   Tim was still living with Margaret, the kids and boarders, by this time at #2-17 Mariemont St.

Did you notice how I wrote that above?  "It makes sense that" and "it appears that."  To really be sure of the connections I've just laid out, I would need to see the birth certificates of Margaret's children Jeremiah and Margaret to be sure my great-uncle James is their father.  And I'd need to see James' death certificate.  I don't think any of these records are accessible to a relative as distant as I am.

Perhaps one of the descendants of Jeremiah Moynihan, born 1915, and Margaret Moynihan, born 1917, will stumble upon this blog one day soon and get in touch.  Hello, Buffalo cousins!  You've got relatives close by in Ontario, Canada.  Please get in touch:  jimsgirlblog at gmail.com

Looking for Julia Moynihan, Grandad's Sister the Sister

In my usual scattered, "let's see who I can find today" approach -- which I really don't recommend -- I recently became interested in finding out more about my grandfather's older sister Julia Moynihan.  All my dad knew was that she became a Nun in Boston, Massachusetts.  I'd been working on the assumption that because Nun's take a religious name, I'd never be able to track Julia Moynihan, but that may not be true.

Can anyone help me find my grandaunt Julia Moynihan, the Sister?

Here's what I know (or in some cases am pretty sure about):

• 1883 (Dec. 29):  Julia was born in Shountullig, Cork, Ireland to Jeremiah Moynihan and Hanora Harnedy (Source: baptismal record)
• 1901 (Mar. 31):  Julia was 17, literate, living at home with her parents and a "general servant". (Source: 1901 Census of Ireland)  [1911 (Apr. 2):  Julia was not in Ireland.  She was not with her family and no other Julia Moynihan in the Census matches her.]
• 1907 (May 23):  A Julia Moynihan, aged 23, arrives in Boston on the Ivernia.  (Source:  Book Indexes to Boston Passenger Lists.)  Note:  Given the absence of detail on this Book Index, compared to a full ship's manifest, I don't know this is my Julia. I think it is her given that the age is right and it's the same ship her brother and cousins took the following year.
• 1908 (May 14):  Julia lived at 71 Bartlett Street, in Andover, Massachusetts, just north of Boston. (Source:  ships manifest for the Ivernia arriving in Boston with her brother Jeremiah and her cousins John and Maggie Sullivan)
• 1908 and 1913:  Julia lived at 92 North Main Street in Andover, the same address and Annie (aka Hannah) Harnedy, her aunt.  (Source: 1908 and 1913 Andover City Directories)  Note:  Julia does not appear in the previous city directory in 1904, nor in an alternate 1913 directory nor later Andover directories.

I cannot find any further record that I even suspect is my Julia Moynihan after 1913.  There are some Julias in the censuses, including with the Notre-Dame Academy, however they age is a bit off.  Regarding the Sisters of Notre-Dame, I found the following at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRISH-AMERICAN-OBITUARIES/2006-06/1150336802 :

Lowell Sun Lowell, MA April 3, 1945

Tyngsboro - Rev. Sr. Mary Josephine, stationed for the past twelve years at the Academy of Notre Dame, died yesterday at the academy, aged 60 years, following an illness of one week's duration.

The former Julia Moynihan, Sr. Mary Josephine was a native of Ireland, and had been for 35 years in the order of Notre Dame de Namur. During her years at the academy she was in charge of the sacristy.

I sent an inquiry through the order of Notre Dame de Namur website, they confirmed that this Sister Mary Josephine was actually a Cronin. They had no Julia Moynihan matching mine.

The Poor Clares of Boston have also indicated she wasn't a member of their order.

I have messages in now with the Carmelites and the Sisters of St. Joseph.  I have a list of other convents in the Boston area and I will check with each one.  I must mention that I was surprised how quickly both the Poor Clare and the Notre-Dame sisters responded by email.  I am lucky to live in a time when I can make these long-shot inquiries by email and receive such quick replies.

Is there anyone out there who knows more about my grandad's sister the Sister?  Who knew Julia Moynihan?

Sunday Obituary: Jeremiah Francis Moynihan of Ventura, California

I've mentioned in a previous post that I sometimes Google my relatives.  I've come to expect few useful results and the occasional gem.  The other night, I Googled "Jerry Moynihan" and found sad news.  My dad's cousin Jerry Moynihan of Ventura, California passed away in April of this year.  Here is a link to the lovely obituary for Jerry which appeared in the Ventura County Star.

I didn't know Jerry; he was a name on the family tree.  But after reading the obituary, I feel like I know him a little.  And I wish I had met him.

Jerry was born in 1928 in Buffalo, New York, the eldest of three sons of William Moynihan and Elizabeth O'Connor.  William died young and Elizabeth remarried and had two more boys.

According to the obituary: Jeremiah (Jerry) Francis Moynihan passed away on April 17, 2011 after a long and courageous battle with a bone marrow disorder.

Jerry lived most of his life in Ventura, California, most of those as a teacher and school principal. Judging by the comments in the online memorial book, Jerry was not only respected but loved by family, friends and the students and teachers with whom he worked.

Jerry was predeceased by his parents and his brothers, Mike Moynihan and Jack Daly. He is survived by his best friend and wife of 60 years, Lois Chatham Moynihan; daughters, Cathy Mason (Terry), Karen Haggerty; granddaughters, Kerry Haggerty Thomas (Tim), Tara Mason, Erin Haggerty, and Laura Mason; great-grandson, Joshua Jeremiah Thomas; brothers, Martin Daly (Frances), William Moynihan (Dorothy); sister-in-law, Helen Chatham; niece, Linda Etter (Larry); "Little Brother" David Hart Gandolfo (Rhonda); niece, Stephanie Daly D'Andrea and her children, Matt, Joey and Grace.

The sympathies of the Canadian branch of the Shountullig Moynihans go out to Lois, Cathy, Karen and the rest of the family.  They have lost a good man.

Stay tuned for a future post about Jerry's dad William and another Jeremiah Moynihan.

Canada's Census 2011 -- Just say Yes!

Well, I've submitted my census questionnaire for 2011.  To all my Canadian readers:  please, please say "yes" to the question at the end requesting permission to share your census information in 92 years.

For those of you who have been researching your family history for some time, you know how useful census information can be for tracking our relations. 

I thank the censuses of Canada, the United States, England, Ireland and Wales for telling me:

• That Mino Bertolo came to Canada in1903 and was naturalized in 1907.
• That the uncle Patrick Moynihan went to Andover to live with was his mother's brother, William Harnedy.
• That my great-grandmother Margaret Leahy (neé Regan) had 12 children, not 11.  So there's one more baptismal record to look for.
• That Margaret's father-in-law Patrick Leahy was still alive in 1901 and was blind but still fluent in Irish.
• That Jno Lawrence is John Lawrence.  Who knew John needed a short-form?!
• That our Burrows family lived primarily in and around Bampton, Devon. 

I want to help future researchers, so I said "yes" to the StatsCan question.  I'll share my census information with future generations.

Will you?

X is for X Marks the Spot

Where eXactly was Martha Burrows born?

Let's start with an easier question:  who was Martha Burrows?  She was my sweetie's great-great-grandmother.  We think that she was Martha Perry before marrying James Burrows.  She was born around 1825 and had at least seven children:  Alfred, Samuel, Mary, Emma, James, Ellen and Ann.  She died in 1907.

But where did she come from?  All I can confidently say is that she was born in Somerset, England.  Here's what the census records tell us that she was born:

• about 1824 in Bathaelton, Somerset, according to the 1851 and 1861 Censuses of England, when the information was presumably given by her husband James as head of the household.
• about 1826 in Milverton, Somerset, according to the 1871 Census of England, when she would have given the information as head of the household (she was widowed by then).
• about 1825 in Hurstone, Somerset, according to the 1881 Census of England, information again from herself.
• about 1825 in Wiviliscombe, Somerset, according to the 1891 Census of England, where this time the information as likely given by her son-in-law Henry Cottrell.
• and finally about 1825 in Ashbrittle, Somerset, according to the 1901 Census of England, where the information would likely have been provided by her widowed daughter Emma Parsons.

That's five different birthplaces in six census returns.  When I first started tracing her, I wasn't even sure all these Martha Burrows were one woman, but I believe that they are.

Eventually, I looked at a map.  Hurstone was tough to find.  It doesn't appear to be a village or hamlet but a house or school near Waterrow, not far from town of Wiviliscombe.  The rest are villages and civil parishes forming a crescent moon shape in the far east of Somerset county, England very close to Devon.  All are now part of the Taunton Deane District but were formerly in the Wellington Rural District of Somerset.

I've noticed my West Cork relatives giving a variety of places of birth.  Having been born on a farm in a small townland, they gave the name of a nearby town when asked their birthplace.  I know to expect Bantry, Durrus, Schull and Ballydehob from the Moynihans.  I can imagine that if Martha was born in the country she may have done something similar, giving the name of any of the neighbouring villages.

It is frustrating to know that I may never track down where exactly she was born.  It was before civil records.  I did once find a possible Martha Perry on an index of Wellington District baptismal records.  I'll have to track that down, once I am more certain Perry was her maiden name.

TIP:  Consider the source.

I should take this opportunity to note that genealogists are frequently faced with conflicting information.  When a birthplace is given in a census record, it is considered a primary source when the information is provided by someone who would have first hand knowledge of the individual's birth, such as the person's parents.  Otherwise, it is generally a secondary source.  A spouse, child, in-law or employer may or may not know the correct information about an individual's birth.  Even the individual herself may not know her own birthplace if her family moved when she was very young.  Looking at Martha's six census records, I would tend to put the most weight on the information given when Martha herself was the head of household.  Yet Hurstone (near Waterrow) and Milverton are as far apart as any of her reported birthplaces get.

So, I must confess, X does not mark the spot.  I've spent hours researching and don't yet know eXactly where Martha was born.

Do you know?

Q is for Quotations, Familial Quotations

You’ve heard of Familiar Quotations. Here are some Familial Quotations.

Marital Advice
James Moynihan, to his daughter on her wedding day, "Now that you’re married, you’ve got to make the best of it." Initially I found that sad, but after twelve years of marriage I see it as wise. I only want one marriage. I picked the right guy. Now let’s make the best of it. If you look at the Bean, you’ll see we’re on track.

Luisa Bertolo, to one granddaughter on her marriage, "Feed your chickens in your own yard so they don't go pecking in the neighbours yard!"  She told a great-granddaughter to never let a man have all the money and to not let them drink or play cards. She told another granddaughter never to marry a drunk or a loud mouth.

Cooking Advice
Helen Kazuke, when asked how much of an ingredient to use in a dish, "enough."

Lina and Luisa Bertolo, "eat, eat!"

Familiar Sayings
Luigi Bertolo, whenever we arrived at his house, "What’d you bring me?" When his brother Frank died years later, I could see him being met by Louie at the Pearly Gates with the same question.

Floyd Freamon, almost any day, but especially during an energetic game of Pass the Ace, "great gobs of rat shit!"  And a favourite of one granddaughter, "bless your pea pickin' li'l heart."

Mary Freamon, "well, shit."

Gordon Burrows, after a sneeze, "God bless my pointy little head." Or when confronted by something sticky, "that sticks like shit to a woolly blanket." During a long, detailed reminiscence, "but he’s dead now."

Luisa Bertolo, "mamma mia!" and "eh, what you goin' to do?"  Then there is "mannaggia!" and my personal favourite, "accidenti!" both of which are roughly the Italian equivalents of "darn it."

The Unexpected
Vanda Moynihan, after a couple of weeks in Italy, thinking back on buying a bunch of gifts in Loreto, "Kathy, I think we got hosed on the rosaries."

James Moynihan, after I confessed to kicking a hole in the wall (aiming at my brother), "well, that’s a fine kettle of fish."

Kevin Moynihan, in response to his father’s suggestions for repairing a fan on a wonky stand, "I do NOT need a screw!"

Gordon Burrows, a man known for long stories and corny jokes: "We were so poor, my parents had to cut a hole in the front of my pants to give me something to play with." That’s a nice one to use on your son’s new girlfriend. Lucky for me, I’m not easily frightened.

Last words
Lina Bertolo, from her hospital bed, days before her death, "Kathy, I’m finished."

Gordon Burrows, as the priest finished praying over him, "Amen," which means "so be it."

And here is one final bit of advice from Ma, Luisa Bertolo:  "go to church."  You can start this Sunday.

N is for Nora's School Paper

I mentioned in the “H is for Hanora” post that I stumbled upon a piece of my Aunty Nora’s homework once when I Googled “Hanora Moynihan.” Let me tell you more about that.

Google took me to the Irish Virtual Research Library and Archive and the "Schools' Manuscript Collection - My Home District / Bailiuchan na Scol - Mo Cheantar Féin" from 1936-37." The collection description says, "this sub-collection consists of a series of selected essays by schoolchildren from participating counties in Munster and Connacht entitled 'My Home District', a topographical description of their own locality which they were encouraged to write."

The children were encouraged to consult their parents and elders in the community and write up some of the history of their areas. I’ve looked at a few in the collection – and unfortunately, unlike what we’ve gotten used to with some other digitized collections like on Ancestry, you cannot browse this collection. You can however search in two useful ways. If you search by family name, you will get results either for the child who was the author of the paper, or sometimes for the adult who provided the information. You can also type in the name of a townland of interest and see if a paper was done on it. It is hit and miss. It would appear that a few children per school were selected, so not all townlands in Munster (Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Waterford) and Connacht (Counties Galway, Mayo. Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon) were covered. I did however find a full list of the papers included in the collection here.

My Aunt Nora’s paper, titled “My Home District,” lists the families resident at Shountullig, allowing us to compare the information to the previous censuses (which I will do in a future post on Shountullig). She was 12 when she prepared the paper. Here is the text:

“The name of my townland is Shountullig. It is in the parish of Schull and in the West Division of West Carbery. There is a population of about forty-six people in it. There is one Cullinane family, one Sullivan family, three Levis families, one Donovan family, one Moynihan family, one Hayes family, one Hodnett family and one Copithorne family and one Hegarty man in the townland. There are four Protestant families and seven Catholic families in it. There is but one person over seventy living there. She is eighty-three years of age. Her name is Mrs. Moynihan.

Houses were more numerous in former times. The old ruins were knocked down and drawn away. Some people sold their farms and went to live in America or Australia and other countries.


Nora Moynihan,

Shountullig,

Dunbeacon,

Durrus


Obtained from my father, John Moynihan, 40 years”

Perhaps you didn’t realize that in the Republic of Ireland there were so many Protestant families, over forty percent in this townland. In West Cork, the Catholic and Protestant families lived and worked closely together. It was only a year or so ago, when I was studying the 1901 and 1911 Censuses, that I realized that the Levis family that my dad had spoken of with such regard was a Protestant family.

Aunty Nora’s paper leaves us with one mystery.

Who is the eighty-three year old Mrs. Moynihan? There was only one Moynihan family in the townland, my dad’s. Their grandmother, who would have been a Mrs. Moynihan, had died in 1933. Who was this Mrs. Moynihan? Perhaps she was a mother-in-law living with one of the other families? We haven’t figured it out yet. Dad very young in 1936 and doesn’t remember. He called Aunty Nora in Ireland and she couldn’t recall either. Would you remember the details of homework you did seventy-five years ago?

P.S. Wasn’t her handwriting lovely?

M is for Munster

Ireland is divided into four provinces:  Munster, Ulster, Connacht, and Leinster. Munster makes up the south-west corner of Ireland and includes the following counties:  Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

My dad is a Munster man.  He was born in Munster.  And his surname, Moynihan, means "Munsterman."  I was going to tell you all about the name Moynihan today, but I will have to save that for another day.

L is a Limerick

There once was a girl named Kate,
who had a discouraging trait:
no matter what makeup
or perfume or hairdo,
she couldn't find someone to date.

By Katherine Moynihan
(who, as you know, managed eventually to find someone great to date)

J is for Jeremiah

It is fitting that my grandparents were Hanora and Jeremiah.  Both names are somewhat peculiar to West Cork and both have a few variations.

The Jeremiahs in my family have been known as Jerh or Jerry.  You will occasionally find Jer.  And when I was in Ireland in 1989, I met a colourful fellow known by the short form Miah. 

I like the idea of naming a girl Jeremiah and calling her Miah for short.  Wouldn't that be cool?  My Sweetie didn't think so.

Did you know that Dermot is a form of Jeremiah?  From what I've read, there was a period of time when the Catholic Church operating in Ireland tried to Latinize names.  You'll see this also in some old Sault Ste. Marie Catholic records where the Italian Marys I know were baptized Maria.  It's less obvious to Latinize Irish Gaelic names. Apparently, Con and Connor became Cornelius.  And Dermot and Diarmaid became Jeremiah.  Another form of Dermot, and hence Jeremiah, is Darby.  We refer to our original Moynihan ancestor (as far back as we have been able to take the tree) as Big Darby Mynehane.  You'll find him called Jeremiah Mynehane on some Ancestry trees online.

One last thing.  In case you don't yet have the song running through your head, let me share what inspired this post:  "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog."

No he wasn't, he was my ancestor.

H is for Hanora

Hanora... Hanora? The usual reaction to that name is: H is for Huh?

If you don’t have Irish connections, you may never have seen or heard the name Hanora. You might think it’s a misspelling. It isn’t. But it is often misspelled. Even by the people who knew and loved Hanoras.

My great-grandmother was Hanora Harnedy. I would like to order her birth certificate to prove that is the spelling of her name. In the 1901 Irish Census, her husband recorded her name as Hanoria. In the 1911

Census, he wrote Nora. When she herself registered her son Con’s birth, she gave her nickname Nanno. When her son James married in Boston, her name was typed up Honora on the register, but that may have been a matter of the typist "correcting" the spelling. And when Con was married the second time, he gave his mother’s name as Julia Harnedy. Julia?! He must have been nervous and gave his paternal grandmother’s name with mother’s maiden name.

I've sometimes wondered if Hanora might have been an Irish version of Hannah.  On the contrary, I have found more than one family in the Irish censuses with daughters named Hannah and Hanora.  In the search I did, in the 1901 Irish Census, there were 5,213 Hanoras across Ireland.  By 1911, there were only 3,436.

My aunt is named after Hanora Harnedy in accord with the standard Irish naming pattern: as first-born daughter, she was named after her paternal grandmother. But she has always gone by the name Nora. Generations back, there was a Hanora Mynehane who was known as Norrie-of-the-Hill.

Recently, I googled “Hanora Moynihan” my great-grandmother’s married name. To my great surprise, I found:

1. A poem titled “Hanora Moynihan” by Francis Duggan.  Mr. Duggan writes about a spinster named Hanora Moynihan he knew near Millstreet in County Cork. You can find the poem here.
2. My Aunt Nora’s school assignment from 1936-37 about her townland of Shountullig North. Come back Saturday, April 16 for “N is for Nora” for more on this.

Ever come across a Hanora?

E is for Ellis Island

For many North Americans, particularly those of us of "ethnic" stock, our quest for our ancestors leads us to Ellis Island.  In our collective consciousness, Ellis Island is THE point of entry for our European ancestors.  But is it really?

"From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor."  Ellis Island - History

Actually, Ellis Island was only the entry point for a limited period of time, for those going from Europe to New York.  Many of those immigrants were not necessarily planning to settle in New York, or even elsewhere in the United States.  Many immigrants (certainly several of my Italian relatives) came through Ellis Island with a planned final destination in Canada.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation was founded in the early 1980s to raise funds to restore and preserve both the Statue of Liberty and nearby Ellis Island.  In addition to that work, the Foundation opened the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 1990 and, in 2001, the Foundation's Family Immigration History Center® made Ellis Island records available both on site and online.  I encourage you to go to ellisisland.org to search for your immigrant ancestors.

On the Ellis Island site, you will find a searchable database with links to individual ships manifests and pictures of those ships.  During the period when Ellis Island operated, many of the ships manifests were very detailed two-page documents. 

TIP:  When you are looking at original records, have a look at the page before and the page after.  They may contain important information.

If you find your people, be sure to view both sheets, where they are available, as they typically include important information such as previous address and final destination and with these you often get the names of relatives at each location.  These details can help you confirm you have the right person, for example when you already know his or her parents names at home.  Alternatively, they can identify new branches of the tree.  Remember my first post about Patrick Moynihan?  I learned that Patrick was going to Andover, MA to his Uncle William.  Before that, I didn't even know my greatgrandmother had a brother.  Later, searching for Uncle William turned up documents that confirmed my great-greatgrandparents' names.

The Ellis Island site allows you to view the ships manifests after free registration, but you cannot save the images to your computer as you can with an Ancestry subscription.  You can however order large format printouts of the manifests ($29.00 for an 11x17" or $39.00 for 17x22") or archival quality certificates for $29.00.  A warning on the certificates, they will mirror any errors in the transcription and indexing of the record. 

Let's just say that the quality of the handwriting varies from ship to ship.  These records would have been very challenging to transcribe accurately.  The searchable database will offer spelling variants for the names you search, which can help you find your people.  But the last place of residence will show up as transcribed, accurately or not.

TIP:  As you look through search results on indexed databases, keep a very open mind.  Think of how the handwriting may have been mistranscribed.

Once your eyes get used to in, you can easily read "Sankry" as Bantry or "Duness" as Durrus, both in West Cork.  And remember that your rural relatives may well have given the name of a nearby town as their birthplace or last residence, rather than that of a smaller community.

Here are the two pages of the ships' manifest for Patrick Moynihan's younger brother Daniel's passage to America.  If I'd been put off by "Duness" as his last place of residence, I wouldn't have found him.  He's the second passenger on the list.

TIP:  Keep looking, and not just in the same place.
Don't despair if you can't find your immigrant ancestors coming through Ellis Island.  Research immigration patterns and consider alternatives.  Perhaps your ancestors came before Ellis Island opened; they may have gone through Castle Garden in New York..  Where else might they have gone?  Many Irish sailed directly to Boston, where there was a large Irish community.  Or did your people they sail directly to Canada, into Quebec City or Halifax?  Who might they have travelled with?  Sometimes, particularly when the transcriptions are inaccurate, your ancestors may be invisible, but you might find them travelling with others from the same town.  It's worth picking another surname from the ancestral home and looking for your people travelling along side.  The Ellis Island site offers additional tips for searching its database.

Have a look at the Ellis Island site.  Tell me who you find.



C is for Caherolickane

I think I've mentioned before that the background on my blog is a photo I took in West Cork in May 2008 when I was lucky enough to stop in Ireland to visit family on my way to a conference for work.  Specifically, the photo was taken in the townland of Caherolickane, where my cousin has a home.



Caherolickane.  It looks a bit intimidating, that word.  Let's break it down:  CA-her-uh-LICK-an-uh.  At least, that's how I say it.

The Griffith's Valuation for County Cork was completed in 1853, according to a web source I'm having trouble finding again.  (If someone has better info and a source, please share.)  At that time, the following were living at Caherolickane:

• George Moss, junior
• George Moss
• John Minahane, junior
• John Minahane
• John Sullivan (Laure)
• John Minahane (Tailor)
• John Minahane
• Denis Minahane
• Catherine Coughlan
• John Sullivan (Laure) -- again
• John Sullivan (Baroul)
• Denis Connor
• Daniel Minahane
• Michael Harrington
• Timothy Sullivan
• Joanna Harrington

In the Griffith's, if there were two men of the same name in a townland, they were typically distinguished in some way, such as indicating their professions (e.g., tailor) or appearance (e.g., red).  I wish I could tell you what Laure and Baroul mean, but I haven't found a meaning yet.  Does anyone know?

By the time of the 1901 Irish Census, there were far fewer households in Caherolickane:

• John Moss
• John Sullivan
• John Daly
• Bridget Harrington
• Dan Sullivan
• Bridget Hegarty -- Bridget was a widow, 90 years of age, described as a "retired farm servant"
• Mary McCarthy
• Pat Moynihan
• Tim Sullivan

The census tells us that many of the women of about 50 years of age were unable to read.  And those who were head of household often signed the census sheet with an X.  Men and women of this age, however, typically spoke both English and Irish.

In 1911, the following households were in Caherolickane:

• John Sullivan
• Bridget Harrington
• John Daly
• Daniel Sullivan
• Bridget Sullivan
• Cornelius Moynihan-- his father Patrick had died since the last census
• Mary McCarthy
• John Moss

In 1911, many of the families had unmarried children at home in their late twenties and early thirties.

I had a look at my tree on Family Tree Maker (FTM) to see exactly who Patrick and Cornelius Moynihan were to me.  Well, Patrick was my first cousin, three times removed and Cornelius was my second cousin, twice removed.  I'll explain the cousin thing in another post.  Between the details dad gave me on the family and what was on the two census forms, it was easy to match Patrick and Con to people in my tree.  But the census allow me to confirm birth dates and names.  It's always good to have another source.  Patrick was known as Little Paid (pronounced Pawd) and Cornelius as Conn Paid.  The census data also allowed me to clarify a question mark I had in the tree.  I had Con's wife as either Marg Ellen or Eliza Sullivan.  The 1911 census tells me Con was married to Eliza, but it also tells me that Eliza had borne no children and been married only ten years.  The children in the household, all over 10, appear to be Con's children from a previous wife, Marg Ellen perhaps?

The West Cork parish registers will be available online later in 2011 and they should help me track down exactly who Con's first wife, mother of the three children was.  I'll let you know when it comes online.

A to Z Challenge Preview

I'm in Washington now, limited to 30 minutes at the hotel computer, but I haven't forgotten my commitment to the A to Z Challenge.  I have prepared.

Through the month of April, every day but Sunday, I will be blogging about a topic beginning with a letter from A to Z.  Here is a taste of what's coming up.  Hope you will be back to read them:

• This being a genealogy blog, the first post is going to be "A is for Addiction."
• Stay tuned for "B is for Bannia" where I'll share a summary of the parish census from Bannia, a frazione of the Comune di Fiume Veneto in the Friuli region of Italy.  The census is from 1895.  Friends and family from Sault Ste. Marie will recognize many of the families.
• "C is for Caherolickane" -- it's not just hard to say, or even a pretty background picture.  Writing this blog helped me figure out a bit more about one leaf on the family tree.
• "D is for Devon" -- that's Devonshire, where the cream comes from, and my favourite Burrows gents.
• "E is for Ellis Island" -- if you're researching your family tree in North America, chances are you'll find one of your peeps coming through Ellis Island.

More to come.  I'm still deciding if F will be for Fano, where my grandmother was born, or for Uncle Frank's first marriage.  What do you think?  G is definitely genetti cookies (thank you Aunty Anna).  And there is much more to come about the Moynihans, Burrows and others in my family tree.

If this A to Z challenge intrigues you, please check out some of the other 800!! bloggers also covering A to Z through April.  You can find links to their sites on the Tossing it Out blog.

And any of you who ever have to pack a lunch or feed a little one, please check out Kim's blog The Lunch Box.  I first learned of the Challenge on Kim's site.  I can't wait to see what delicious and practical suggestions she'll have for us through the A to Z Challenge. 

So long from Washington.  Come on back Friday, April 1 for the beginning of my genealogical take on the A to Z Challenge.

Fabulous Friday Finds -- Patrick Moynihan

OK, I'm a little late on the Friday find.  I might as well have stayed up last night to write this because I tossed and turned all night thinking about it.  I couldn't resist any longer and am now blogging about family history.  My first post is about a series of little finds last night about my great-uncle Patrick Moynihan. 

All I knew yesterday about Patrick was that he had left the family farm at Shantullig North (often spelled Shountullig) to go to America and had later returned to Ireland.  Apparently when Patrick returned, great-grandad wanted Pat to get the family farm, rather than my grandad who was the only child to stay in Ireland, but great-grandmother said, "NO WAY."  Seems that cause quite a rift between Pat and my grandad, as you can imagine.  I knew Patrick had married and had two girls, but didn't know if that was in the States or in Ireland.

So, last evening I started surfing while watching the hockey game (it's what I do).  I tried to figure out when Patrick left Ireland.  The 1901 Irish Census told me that by March 1901 Patrick had left the family home.  I searched for other Patricks of the same age and didn't find any likely matches for my uncle.  That made me pretty sure that he'd left for Ireland before 1901.  [Notice that "pretty sure," I'll come back to that later.]

Next stop, American immigration records on Ancestry.  I found what looked to be my Pat (a man from the right area, with the right name for his father), but this ship's manifest was from 1907 and it said this Pat was an American citizen.  He was going to Andover, MA and I know a lot of the our Moynihans went to Andover.  But I was expecting to find him in New York, where I knew his brothers went.  Was this my Patrick?

Next I found a naturalization record for a Patrick Moynihan of Andover and the birth date matched what we have from my dad's search of the parish records.  That made me pretty sure that the Pat who travelled in 1907 was my Pat.  Then I got my next clue.  I found another ship's manifest from 1898 with a Patrick of the right age, from the right area heading to Andover to his uncle William Harrington.  By the way, the manifest shows Pat had but $2 in his pocket when he arrived.

OK, so now who is William Harrington?  If I can't connect him, maybe I have the wrong Pat.  So I looked at Pat's paternal aunts to see which married a Harrington.  Turns out we didn't know anything about two of Pat's Moynihan aunts and the third stayed in Ireland and married a Hurley not a Harrington.  I looked and looked for a William Harrington in Andover with an Irish born wife of the right name, but nothing.  Hmm, maybe it was his mother's brother Pat went to in Andover?  But I didn't know anything about his mother's siblings.  Did one of her sister's marry a Harrington?  And if so, why didn't he say he was going to his Aunt? Then the light bulb went on!

TIP:   Never assume the name's been spelled right.

Pat's mother's maiden name was Harnedy, not a common name -- anywhere.  On a hunch, I searched for a William Harnedy (rather than Harrington) living in Andover, MA in the 1900 U.S. Census.  Bingo!  There was Patrick Moynihan "nephew" living with William Harnedy, born in Ireland.  Then I knew it was my Patrick.

TIP:  Always ask "how do you KNOW that?"

Copying info from someone else's tree can waste your time if you don't check the facts.  Ask people for their sources.  Ancestry makes it easy to ask.  Look at the source records.  Do they give you enough facts to be you sure you've got the right person?  I'll admit, genealogy programs like Family Tree Maker, which I use, don't seem to give you much flexibility to mark possible relatives.  Find a way to keep the possibles to one side before you copy their info in holus-bolus.  Save yourself the hours it took me to delete my Uncle Floyd's "relatives" after I realized the pedigree I'd copied had children older than their parents!

I don't hold myself to the high standards of proof of a professional genealogist.  I'm not a professional, I'm just passionate.  But try to find more than just the name and age to connect people.  Look for those uncommon names, full birth dates, specific location.  Then, you'll know.

Hope you liked this first post on the Jim's Girl Family History Blog.  See you again soon.