Mary (Grealish) Price 1834 : Short Biography

My great great grandmother, Mary Grealish, was born Aug 1834 in Ireland, the daughter of Mary (Flynn) and Patrick Grealish. She married Michael Price on 27 Sep 1856, in Gort, Galway, Ireland. Her marriage record states she was from Kilmacduagh, Ireland, which is outside of Gort. I believe that is where she was born. They had four children during their marriage.

Her son (Michael) Patrick was born 19 Aug 1857 in Kiltartan, Galway, Ireland

Her son Thomas F was born 29 Sep 1859 in Kilmacduagh, Galway, Ireland

Her son John was born 29 Jul 1861 in Kilmacduagh, Galway, Ireland

Her daughter Annie was born in 1864 in Ireland-her baptism record has not yet been found

According to his service records her husband, Michael Price, was born in Kiltartan, Galway, Ireland, October 1828. We believe he lived with his mother, Anne, and a sister Winifred Price since we have learned that they all lived on Crow Street in Gort. Anne is interred in the cemetery at Kiltartan. She died on 27 Mar 1875 (b1805) at the age of 70. Present at her death was Winny Price. On Anne’s tombstone it reads “Erected by Winifred Price in memory of her mother Anne,”

Michael was a soldier for the English Army from 1846 through Jan 1862 when he was discharged from service for being unfit due to "unsoundness of mind which appears to have been exhibited about eighteen months ago whilst serving with his regiment in India. His disability is the result of predisposition increased by the effects of an inter-tropical climate.” Between 8 Feb 1862 and 3 May 1862 he was in Petty Court in Gort four times, three of which were for refusing to give up possession of a house at Gort for which he was a weekly tenant. The last record we have found on him was on 3 May 1862.

Meanwhile, with the help of Sister de Lourdes Fahy from Ireland XO, we learned that on 9 Dec 1865 Mary (Grealish) Price was given £10 “to assist emigration of herself and three children to New York, her own passage being paid in that country.” This information was from the minute books of the Gort Union. (We do not know about the passage for the fourth child.) Mary arrived in New York City, New York, USA, with her four children on 22 Oct 1866. Sadly the youngest two children died from disease shortly afterwards on Wards Island, New York. John died on 1 Dec 1866 at the age of five and Mary on 29 Dec 1866 at the age of two.

The next record we have on Mary is in the 1870 Census. She is working as a laundress on Ward’s Island and her sons Patrick and Thomas are students. On Ward’s Island, at the time, was the State Emigrant Refuge, a hospital for sick and destitute immigrants, as well as Manhattan State hospital, a psychiatric institution. We believe that perhaps working there was how she was able to pay back for her passage and in return she had room and board for herself and her sons.

In 1876 she is listed in a New York City directory as widow of Michael and they are no longer living on Ward’s Island.

 By 1880 both of her sons were married and she was living with her son Thomas, my great grandfather. She continued to live with Thomas until her death at the age of 73 on 14 Sep 1907. (Her age and date of death is from her tombstone.)