Mary McGreal : Short Biography

In 1881 Mary McGreal and her sister, Annie, were put on a ship destined for New York, leaving behind a large family and a simple farm life that they would never see or know again. Mary was born in Cornagella in Ballinaglera Parish, Co. Leitrim, on June 11, 1866. She was only 15 when she left for New York, while her sister, who was born on October 15, 1863, in Cornagella, was 18.  

Mary and Annie were daughters of Patrick and Anne (nee McLoughlin) Magreal. He was a farmer and labourer and likely lived most or all of his life in Cornagella. Patrick and Anne were both born about 1829, and they were married on July 20, 1853, in Leitrim, where he was listed as living in Ballinaglera and she in Killinagh (a Parish in Cavan that is just to the north of and bordering on Ballinaglera). The Manorhamilton marriage bann does not include any parent’s names and her family is a complete unknown. Cornagella land records indicate Patrick’s father was John McGreal, who died in 1875. John’s wife, and likely Patrick’s mother, was Mary McGreal, who died in 1872. Very little else is known about Patrick and his family, aside from the fact, based on Griffith’s Valuation, that they all lived in close proximity to each other in Cornagella. Patrick had at least one brother, Murtagh, who lived nearby, and likely had other siblings as well. Patrick and Anne had other children:

• Margaret and Catherine, known only because of their application for a search of the 1851 census in anticipation of receiving the old-age pension.
• Rose, born on January 22, 1869. She was a domestic servant in Co. Fermanagh before marrying Charles Drumm in 1915. Patrick and Anne McGreal’s lands in Cornagella were transferred to Rose after their death and she might have occupied this land until it was transferred out of the family 1935.
• Stephen, born October 19, 1871. He left Ireland himself and was living in Manchester, England, as of 1911, where he was married to Mary Moran and had a small but growing family. Stephen died in Manchester in 1941.
• In addition to these children there is evidence that Patrick and Anne might have taken in their niece, Bridget, whose parents, Murtagh and Mary McGreal, died young, leaving her an orphan as a teenager.

Patrick and Anne are listed in the 1901 census in Cornagella, though their reported age of 60 is clearly incorrect. He was a farmer and, while unable to read, spoke both Irish and English, as did his wife. Patrick died at home on December 8, 1907, with his nephew, Thomas MacPartlin, present. His reported age was 78. Thomas MacPartlin lived in neighboring Tullinapurtlin with his sister Brigid and various cousins. The cousins are all children of John MacPartlin and Winifred MacGreal of Tullinapurtlin. Anne died at home on September 23, 1909, with Margaret Edmundson present. Her reported age was 80. Margaret Edmundson was listed in the 1911 census as a widow, age 72, living in Cornagella. She might be a sister of either Anne or Patrick, but no additional records of Margaret have been found. Patrick and Anne’s burial location has not yet been found. Satellite images of Cornagella, match up almost exactly to the Griffith’s Valuation maps from 1856, although the houses themselves no longer appear to exist.

Six years after arriving in New York, Annie McGreal married Edward Kent. She was widowed less than two years later, never remarried and never had children. She died in 1936 in Brooklyn, NY.

Mary McGreal married William Frederick Leimbach in 1892. They had five children and lived in Brooklyn. Mary died in Brooklyn in 1943. While her children recalled some limited contact with her family back in Ireland, Mary never again saw any of the family she left behind in 1881.