William Birmingham and Elizabeth Ferrall were tenant farmers. My first Residence Record for the family was from the 1833 Tithe Applotment Book for County Longford. It reads…William Bormingham, Farmer in Townland Cloontirm; Civil Parish of Ballymacormick. The Birmingham family occupied Parcel 8 in Townland Cloontirm.
In 1833, the Birmingham family living in Townland Cloontirm would have included William and Elizabeth and seven of their eight children, ranging in age from 8 to 28. My great grandfather, Daniel, had emigrated a few years earlier. It is very possible that William’s brother Franciscus and his family, wife Marie Egan and their seven children, also lived on Parcel 8 at this time. The parcel was a 13 acre tract.
That same year William’s sister, Marie Birmingham, and her husband Peter McGann and their children also lived in Townland Cloontirm, Parcel 9, an 11 acre tract.
The 1854 Griffith's Valuation records show at least four descendants of William and Elizabeth Birmingham still living in Townland Cloontirm. That year, William's wife Elizabeth Ferrall, and his brother Franciscus Birmingham, were living nearby at Townpark, Sandy Lane.
Based on the 1901 and 1911 Ireland Census’ descendants of William and Elizabeth’s family continued to live in Townland Cloontirm.
Three sons of William Birmingham and Elizabeth Ferrall of County, Longford immigrated to America. Daniel was born on 3 July 1809. In 1830, at the age of 20, Daniel left Ireland for America on the ship LIMA, arriving six weeks later. Daniel first lived in western Maryland where he worked on the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal as a Quarryman. Daniel petitioned for US Citizenship in 1839 while working in western Maryland, and on 26 September 1844 he became a Naturalized US Citizen while living in Baltimore, Maryland. Daniel and Ellen Collins, an immigrant from Tipperary, married in 1849. They raised their family of eight children including my grandfather, Daniel Collins Birmingham in 1860. In 1870 the Birmingham family would move to Cumberland in western Maryland, a terminus of the C&O Canal and the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad. Cumberland is also where Daniel's brother, James Birmingham and his family had lived since 1851. The two families of Daniel and James Birmingham lived close by one another and their children appeared to be close. Daniel Birmingham died on 11 March 1872. He is buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Cumberland in Plot A-111, Grave #2. Bridget Bradshaw Birmingham, the wife of Daniel's brother James, is buried in the same Plot A-111, Grave #1. Bridget Bradshaw Birmingham died 3 weeks earlier than Daniel on 16 February 1872.
James Birmingham was born in 1822 in Longford. He and his wife, Bridget Bradshaw, began their immigration to America around 1846.They traveled to America via Quebec, Canada. Their first child, Mary, was born in New York State in 1847, their second child, James, was born in Vermont in 1849. Their third child, Michael, was born and baptized in January of 1851 in Cumberland, Maryland. James and Bridget, and their two infant children apparently traveled the nearly 500 mile all-water route that connects the St. Lawrence River with New York City.
Such a route taken over a five year period would have allowed James and Bridget time to work and earn money to sustain their needs for housing and food, while saving money to complete their journey to a final destination of Cumberland, Maryland. They would have had support from other Irish immigrants living along the waterways of the Richelieu River, Lake Champlain, and the Hudson River. Having two children born during this journey would certainly have made the travel more difficult. That’s likely why it took about five years.
The final leg of their journey was likely from Great Falls, New York, down the Hudson River, past Albany, to New York City. From New York City the family likely traveled by Stage Coach, about 300 miles, to Cumberland, Maryland. Cumberland is where their last seven children were born, between 1851 and 1867. James Birmingham died on 24 December 1878. He is buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Cumberland.
The youngest brother of Daniel and James, Patrick Birmingham was born in 1825. He left Ireland in 1851 and immigrated to Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the river from New York City. There he would marry Mary McDonnel, also an immigrant from Ireland. Patrick and Mary would raise four children. Two of their children would attend, and graduate from college in the 1890's. This would not have been possible in Ireland. Patrick Birmingham and Mary McDonnel Birmingham and three of their children are buried in Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, New Jersey.
