References
Margaret Merrigan traveled through Liverpool and arrived in New York City on 20 June 1849, on the sailing ship Dewitt Clinton. She is listed on the ships register as traveling as a "servant" (without any family) and 12 years old. Family records & 1900 US Census have her birthday in Dec 1831. I found a baptismal record in Ireland - Parish Records of (St Mary's) Newtown-Cashel, Cashel Parish, County Longford on 14 Jan 1833, so she could also have been born in Dec 1832. Thus she was actually 16 or 17 when she immigrated to New York City. The baptismal record shows her parents as "Edvardi Merigan & Maria Kennedy", place: "Loughan", and sponsors Loanni (Irish variant of John?) & Maria Kennedy. I would be very interested in where they lived and tennant farmed, and more about the Merigan and the Kennedy families.
Because she traveled as a "servant", I believe she was likely from a tenant farmer family in the area of Cashel Parish., and was "indentured" to be a servant for a few years in America when she landed. I found a Margaret Merrigan (20 yrs old, from Ireland) in the 1850 US Census (recorded the 17th of Aug), living in the household of a married couple in Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey, only ~15 miles from where she landed in New York harbor. They had a 1 yr old baby boy and I presume she was their household servant.
I am also very interested in finding any info I can about an Irishman named James Finn (or Flynn) who was listed by family members on Margaret's 1922 Obituary as surviving his "dear sister". While I don't think he was actually her brother, he was a very close person in the family and surviving family members thought him "family". Perhaps he immigrated from the same Parish in Ireland, in a similar timeframe?
| Additional Information | ||
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| Date of Birth | 1st Dec 1832 | |
