Irish Ancestors - Patrick and Margaret (Conlon) Doyle

I've broken down two brick walls over the last week. I found the death certificates for my greatgrandparents, Patrick and Margaret (Maggie) Doyle. Identifying their exact birth and death dates had been frustrating for me over the years, but now those records are digitized. Patrick Doyle was born 17 May 1858 in Ireland. He died 31 May 1924 at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. I know this is "my" Patrick, because my grandparents, my father and his siblings lived at that address. It gives his occupation as a Street Cleaner, which I knew. What I didn't know was his parents names, John and Mary Doyle. Margaret (Conlon) Doyle was born abt 1867 (no exact date), and died 1 January 1928 at 1948 Cruger Street, Bronx, New York. What I didn't know were her parents Michael and Catherine Conlon. The executor is listed as Mary Nunn (incorrectly listed as Neenn), who is my grandmother. When I found these folks I jumped up and did a happy dance. But these documents did not tell me where they were from in Ireland. Information I want to learn before I attend the Irish SIG hosted by the Manatee Genealogical Society on December 12. This new SIG is being offered due to the generousity of Irish genealogy expert Donna Moughty. Through the census years I had documented the "cousins" who had lived with the Doyles. One set of "cousins" were the Gormley brothers. I had researched them at an earlier date and found they emigrated from Ballinclee, Ireland. Maggie Doyle had Conlon cousins that I knew about, in fact I met two of them when I was small, but so far have not been able to find documentation of the relationship to Maggie. Those cousins weren't helpful because they were all born in the U.S. I remembered I had noted a woman, Margaret Hoey, who lived with my grandparents in the 1930 census. I searched Margaret Hoey in the Ancestry database and Bam! She was really easy to find. The immigration database showed her birth date as 13 Sepetember 1908, her birthplace Ballinclee, Co, Longford, Cobh, Ireland. She arrived in New York on 29 March 1926. Then the cincher: Her parents were listed as Ernest Hoey and Catherine (Conlon) Hoey. Could Margaret's mother be Maggie's sister, named for their mother? I will have to make a trip over to the Godfrey Library and use their International Ancestry subscription to work on that angle. She listed the person in the U.S. as John Conlon, but she stayed with the Nunn family (my grandparents) at 1948 Cruger Avenue, Bronx, New York. Margaret Hoey married Michael Lennon, of County Monaghan, Ireland. They lived at 1807 Archer St. Bronx, New York. With this research, I'm pretty certain my Patrick and Maggie Doyle were from the Ballinclee area of Ireland.

Surprise – Find Cousins App - #52 Ancestors

  Professional genealogist Donna Moughty presented “What is the Genealogical Proof Standard and Why Should I Care,” at yesterday’s Manatee Genealogical Society meeting.  As usual for Donna, her presentation was clear, concise, and right on target. Although I try hard to follow the GPS, it is always good to have a reminder of the process:

A reasonably exhaustive search – Donna showed different examples of one of her ancestor’s date and place of birth. An ancestor she knew, but in two “primary” documents the information proved wrong.

A complete and accurate citation to the sources – We wish this was drilled into our heads when we were baby genealogists. It was reassuring that as expert as Donna is, she still finds facts and information in her earlier research lacking citation. (Is this an example of misery loves company?)

Analysis and correlation of the collected information – She showed examples in research she has done for herself and others, and implored the audience to write as you go. Writing makes sense of things. She admitted she loves to research and early on she’d spend all her time researching, and then when she started to write, found all sorts of information she was missing. (She admitted she wasn't making much money this way.)

Resolution of conflicting evidence – Donna showed four conflicting birth dates for one of her Irish Catholic ancestors. All stated the person was born in the month of October, but the day and year varied. Which one would you chose? The answer: the baptismal certificate. The reason is it is a church record and a Catholic baby at that time had to be baptized within a certain number of days after birth.

Soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion – She made the case for writing your research as you go. This will catch any errors before you find yourself with “former cousins.” Those are the ones whose family you have followed in error. Up the wrong tree!

I’m glad Donna reminded me to create a research plan. Identify the problem and this should always be in the form of a question. She told the audience there is a difference between “surfing” and “researching.” She uses every online tool available, but when she showed a problem solved by using land records, a hand was raised, “where do you find those?” Donna smiled and explained only a small portion of information is online; for land and probate records, the local courthouse is where you need to go. Though FamilySearch.org is making some of these records available.

Re-read your earlier research. You might find items you’ve missed. Analyze. Repeat.

We were comforted by Donna's confirmation of our belief - she repeated that she wasn't saying that Ancestry.com is going out of business, BUT she reminded people of all those early companies that have. Keep control of your information. Have a genealogy software program on your computer. Back up, and in her opinion, if you want your information online, the safer place to put it is on FamilySearch.org. She urged everyone to write their family history and share it with local repositories, the FamilySearch library, and the Allen County Public Library. Donna gave the audience a lot to think about.

Her website www.Irishfamilyroots.com has forms you can download and use. Also blog posts and if you sign up, they will be delivered to our inbox.

So the “surprise?” The Manatee Genealogical Society has started a Brag for Bucks time at the end of the meeting. For a dollar, a person can get up and share something they’ve discovered.  My hubby gave up a dollar so he could share how he has uploaded his aunt’s and mother’s oral history onto their Person Page of FamilySearch.org. Now anyone can go to Kathryn Cutter Maki or Vilma Maki Hill and hear their voices. These are in five minute clips.

Then everyone with a FamilySearch.org family tree online was asked to access their FamilySearch.org app and see if there were any cousins in the room. Surprise! An immediate “ding” and two women realized their were related – 12^th cousins!

Wish I had known. On the way home I downloaded the app so I’ll be ready the next time. What a fun thing to do at genealogical society meetings.

NERGC-2017 - Finding Someone Who Eluded Census Records

Directions to the Springfield, MA Civic Center provided by the New England Regional Genealogical Society were easy to follow. We exited I-91 at Columbus Street, onto Main Street, and within a few blocks was the Civic Center where the Fourteenth New England Regional Genealogical Conference was being held. Excitement was mounting!

Parking was right across the street; registration was easy. While we waited to meet our friends Wally and Marian for lunch, we had a long chat with speaker DonnaMoughty. We first met Donna when we lived in Newtown, CT, and she spoke to our newly formed genealogy club. Donna now lives in Florida, is a member of the Manatee Genealogical Society, as are we, so we see her there as well. It was nice to have a chance to visit in Springfield. Donna is a professional genealogist specializing in Irish research along with U.S. research, methodology and technology including Macs, iPhones and iPads.  She provides research, consultations and training. She is one busy lady!

After a delicious lunch at the Red Rose restaurant, my first NERGC session was Finding Someone Who Eluded Census Records, by Carol Prescott McCoy.

There are different types of censuses. The population census is the most used, but there are also industrial, agricultural, Veteran’s, some state censuses, and slave schedules. Note the date when the census was taken, i.e. in 1920, the date was 1 January. Check every year, every type. People moved and could have been missed. Or they were too far out in the country, in dangerous territory, where the census taker didn’t want to go. Sometimes ancestors are listed twice, if they were traveling between residences. And these could contain different information!

Copy/download entire census page to capture neighbors for future searches. Record all members of the household. Sometimes boarders or “servants” can be relatives. Record names, ages, and places exactly as in the census.

Name spelling issues are the most common. Try every variation. If that doesn’t work, find neighbors from previous census. If your ancestors stayed in the same place, finding the neighbors will locate your people. This was the only way we were able to find my New York City Nunn family in the 1900 census. When the census taker was told the last name was Nunn, he thought he was being told “none.” After several attempts at this misunderstanding, he finally wrote the deceased father’s first name “Joseph,” as the last name, scribbled in with the wife’s first name – a real mess. I located them because I found a 1905 New York Times article where Elizabeth Nunn (eldest daughter) sued her neighbor for return of money Elizabeth had entrusted with the woman in 1900. When I untangled that mess, I found the family!

Census Substitutes. Town records, tax lists, school lists, old maps, town histories, voter lists are all places where your ancestors’ histories reside. Hubby and I developed an 1890 Census Substitute for Newtown, Connecticut by using tax records, school and voter lists, and some church records. It was our hope that other towns would follow suit in order to fill in this 20 year gap.

My best takeaways: Develop a census database. This can be done for each person or by family, to sort by last name as well as date. Develop a timeline (I did that years ago, but it is a good reminder to review and update.) FAN Club - Follow friends, associates and neighbors. Be flexible!