RootsChat.Com

Thanks Monica.  I don't have a lot of faith in the ancestry index as I've come across references to cases in the court of chancery in newspapers with no hits for the names in that index.  There is probably something within the NYS archives site but I'm probably not using it in the optimal way.

I've traced a large number of McSorley family members back to the late 18th century / early 19th century and they were largely centered around Kilskeery, Trillick, Moneygar etc.  A number of similar trees exist on Ancestry showing a branch of McSorley's descending from Thomas McSorley and Mary Bridget Sweeney.  A lot of these trees show their children as William (1790), Francis (1791), John (1795), Michael (1796), James (1797), Owen (1800), Terence (1801), and Hugh (1805).

To be honest, I can't tie any of this back.  The only names I have touched on with my research are Owen Mansfield McSorley (1800) and Hugh McSorley (1805) and nothing gives their parents names.  In fact, based on my research I would be doubtful Thomas was the father's name.  Does anyone have similar research that can corroborate?  My suspicion is that someone threw some similar names together and others blindly repeated.

Would love to know where this family info originated as it seems to be beyond my grip with internet sleuthing.

Does anyone know where I can find archives for the New York Herald from the years 1899 to about 1920?  Genealogybank has a great set with lots of obituaries but the collection seems to end around 1898.  Newspapers.com has big gaps in their collection. I feel like the first few decades of the 20th century would continue with the obituaries but I can’t find an archive anywhere.

That's funny, I am actually researching those 3 as I suspect they are relations!

But the case I was particularly interested in was McSorley v Johnson (from the New York Legal Observer) which seems to have been argues April 15th 1843.  It involves John McSorley, James McSorley, and Thomas McSorley as a witness.