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Hi all,

I have been going around in circles trying to find the emigration of a mother and her daughter and two step-daughters from Ireland to New York. James Doyle and Bridget Brennan (my 2nd great aunt) were married on 7 Aug 1881 in Dublin. It was Bridget's first marriage but James had been married before. His first marriage (from 1875 until 1880 when his first wife died) resulted in three children -- a boy who died as an infant and two girls, Mary (b 1877) and Katharine (b 1878). James and Bridget had two daughters, Annie (b 1883) and a girl who died.

James went on ahead, catching the Furnessia from Moville and arriving in New York on 5 Sep 1887. He then sent for Bridget, perhaps also called Bessie, and the three girls. It is the crossing of the wife and three daughters that I can't find.
 
Katharine married George Worden Keefe in Manhattan in 1895 and died in 1965. Mary never married but was a governess in Manhattan in the 1905 Census. Annie married James Floyd Sloan in Manhattan in 1900 and died in 1936.

James was naturalised in the Superior Court, New York County, on 29 Sep 1892, with Bridget as witness, so I think it safe to assume Bridget and the girls emigrated between Sep 1887, when James arrived, and Sep 1892, which is when we first find Bridget in the US, witnessing the naturalisation.

Annie's death certificate in 1936 says she had been in the US for 47 years, meaning she came to the US in 1889 -- which fits nicely into the target range of 1887 to 1892. So we are looking for Bridget, Mary, Kate (Kitty) and Annie Doyle on a ship in that period.

I have had limited success trying to track down transatlantic voyagers (I'm in Australia). Can anyone tell me the best (free) site to help us track down this group's emigration?

I subscribe to Ancestry.com but my membership level (and geographical focus) does not seem to give me access to the relevant information.
 
All help gratefully received,
Thanks,
Geoff Turner.

Hi all,
I am interested in the 1839 death of Dennis Brennan in the parish register for Clara and Horseleap (Microfilm 04174 / 05) at this address.
https://registers.nli.ie//registers/vtls000635107#page/117/mode/1up
The entry is for November 14th and says Dennis Brennan (third word). I assume the third word is a place, and that is the word we are trying to decipher. I think the three entries earlier in November are for people from Erry (twice) and Streamstown, which are in the area.
The first letter on the Dennis Brennan entry could be an "S", comparing it to the Streamstown entry, but I am not sure.
We know of a Denis Brennan from Castlelost who was schoolmaster at Kilbride in 1826 and are wondering if this might be the same man.
I don't know Ireland (I am in Australia) so would be very grateful if anyone can make sense of that third word for me.
Thanks,
Geoff Turner

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone with access to Canadian obituaries might be able to help me here. As we understand it, my Irish third cousin Billy Egerton (Eggerton, Egginton) was born at or near Mullingar, County Westmeath, in December 1922. He married Olive Robinson in Ireland in March 1946. She had been born about 1929, also in Co. Westmeath. They moved to Canada at some stage. Olive died in March 1977, possibly in Ontario. Billy died on 5 April, 1998, presumably in Canada as well.
My researcher cousin and I are in Australia and don't have access to Canadian documents. We have been having success with the Irish civil registrations with research before this time, but the privacy cut-off comes into effect before the relevant birth and marriage dates. We even have pictures of Billy and Olive but need reliable information on them. I was hoping that Canadian obituaries might confirm their deaths, and if we are lucky even mention something of their life histories. 
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Geoff Turner

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help with a problem we have struck finding this girl's emigration from Ireland to New York. Her parents James Doyle and Bridget Brennan (my 2nd great aunt) were married on 7 Aug 1881 at St Michael's, Kingstown, Dublin. It was Bridget's first marriage but James had been married before. His first marriage (from 1875 until 1880 when his first wife died) resulted in three children -- a boy who died as an infant and two girls. One of the daughters from the first marriage, Katharine (b 1878), also emigrated to New York, marrying in Manhattan in 1895.
Annie was born 3 May 1883 at 23 Bolton St, North Dublin. (Her sister Bridget Cristina was born 2 Dec 1884 but died 10 Sep 1886). Then her parents set off for New York.
James caught the Furnessia from Glasgow at Moville and arrived in New York on 5 Sep 1887. We have him on that list.
Bridget caught the Britannic (1) from Liverpool at Cobh (it says Queenstown) and arrived in New York on 1 Jun 1888 (not iceberg season, thankfully, since the Britannic and Titanic were sister ships). We have her on that list as well.
But we have not been able to find Annie, and perhaps Katharine. It makes sense that James would have gone on ahead and to set up a base, but I would have thought the girls might have followed with Bridget. In 1888 Katharine would have been about 10 and Annie about 5.
There are other children listed individually on the Britannic passenger list so if the girls were with Bridget there should show up.
I haven't found Katharine and Annie on other ships, although I'm not an expert on using the ship list indexes.
Katharine married George Worden Keefe in Manhattan in 1895 and died in 1965. Annie married James Floyd Sloan in Manhattan in 1900 and died in 1936.
Several of Annie's descendants are DNA matches of mine. Their trees say Annie emigrated when she was 6 years old. I am in Australia and can't access many US records.
If Annie was 6 when she emigrated that makes it about 1889, which is close to the 1888 emigration of her mother on the Britannic (1).
Have we just missed the girls on the Britannic? Or is there another explanation?
We would be grateful for any suggestions.
Thanks,
Geoff Turner. 
 

Hi all,

I am seeking information about these people and their families. The Tipperary Clans Archive has Dennis Brennan Esq buried in Coolbane, County Kerry on 24 Apr 1844. We have a Maybury family history (https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mabry/kerry2.html) which says "Catherine (c.1817-1862), married Denis Brennan, a Catholic, and, after his death, the brother of David Moriarty, the Catholic bishop of Kerry".

From online trees (unconfirmed) we have Brennan born at Coolbane about 1810 and marrying Catherine Maybury on 27 Jan 1842. Their daughter Bridget was born at Coolbane in 1843. She married James Doyle in 1881 and they emigrated to New York, where she died in 1916.

(Online trees have Catherine Maybury b 22 April 1819 in Cleady, Kerry, marrying Samuel Geary after Dennis Brennan dies -- not the brother of David Moriarty. But they also have Catherine dying in 1899, which is based on a reference to a woman named Catherine Maybury, but of course that would not have been this Catherine's surname when she died.)

Meanwhile, in Country Westmeath, my great grandmother Catherine Brennan was born. At the time of Catherine's marriage in Australia in 1876 she said she had been born at Mullingar about 1854 with her parents Dennis Brennan, a schoolmaster, and Catherine Newman. When she emigrated to Australia in 1875 the Kapunda ship list has her birth year as 1850, and her death certificate has her birth year as 1848. (She may well have wanted to make herself appear younger to her new husband, and to qualify for free passage on the ship to Australia.)

However, those of my family who have had their DNA tested have a cousin or half-cousin relationship with descendants of Bridget Brennan, making us think the Dennis Brennan in Coolbane and the Dennis Brennan in Westmeath might be the same man. He may have been a Kerry native who got a job at the Mullingar school.

We have found a marriage between Dennis Brennan and Catherine Talt on 22 May 1835 at Rochfortbridge, near Mullingar, and we think this might have been our Catherine's parents. We have a baptism on 14 May 1844 at Rochfortbridge for Catherine Brennan, daughter of Dennis and Catherine. If that is our great grandmother, that would make her 44 when the last of her five sons was born.

The obvious conclusion is that these were two different Dennis Brennans. It is a common name. But that does not explain our DNA link to Bridget's family.

If the two Dennis Brennans are the same man, he died in Coolbane about the same time that Catherine Talt was having my great grandmother in Westmeath. For this to work, he would have to be born in Kerry, take a job in Westmeath, marry Catherine Talt, perhaps start a family, go home to Kerry for some (perhaps family) reason, meet Catherine Maybury and get her pregnant with Bridget and marry her (bigamously), then go back to Westmeath, get Catherine Talt pregnant with my great grandmother, then shoot through back to Kerry where he dies, a suspiciously young man (perhaps the Maybury family caught up with him!).

At the time of her own marriage in Australia to my great grandfather William Turner, Catherine Brennan said her mother was Catherine Newman, not Talt, so I'm not sure how that fits in (but my great grandfather got his mother's maiden name wrong, too!).  I suppose it's possible Catherine Talt married a man named Newman after her first husband died, but we haven't found that.

I tried posting in the Westmeath section in the hope that would bear fruit, but while I got some helpful responses, the puzzle remains, so I thought I might have more luck approaching the problem from the Coolbane end.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Geoff Turner
(in Australia)