The Phelan Sisters and a Brother

I found no sign of a baptism for Mary but did locate a baptism for a brother to your Mary and Ellen with the parents names you mention - a Nicolaum (Nicholas) Phelan baptised 13th November 1859 (see about half way down the right hand page) in the Catholic Parish of Portlaw, which is located to the west of Waterford city. 

This parish might be a good pace to start the search for Mary and Ellen's Baptisms. Registers of baptism for the parish go back to 1809, so might be worth a close look for the other children.- some of the pages are a bit faded and difficult to read, so some entries could have been missed in the various transcripions.. see Portlaw & Ballyduff (NLI Catholic Register Images)

Jim:

I located a baptismal record on the subscription site Roots Ireland which may be for Nicholas, I also found a record for Ellen but not Mary. Portlaw RC parish is in north central Waterford.

Roger McDonnell

Name:Nicholas PhelanDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:13-Nov-1859Address:
Parish/District:PORTLAWGender:
CountyCo. Waterford
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Nicholas PhelanMother:Johanna RyanOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Nicholas Phelan Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Mary Hearne 

Name:Helen PhelanDate of Birth:
Date of Baptism:28-Apr-1850Address:
Parish/District:PORTLAWGender:
CountyCo. Waterford
Denomination:Roman Catholic
Father:Nicholas PhelanMother:Johanna RyanOccupation:
Sponsor 1 /
Informant 1:Michael Hickey Sponsor 2 /
Informant 2:Helen Ryan 

Notes:

Dear Miriam, Shane, and Roger,      

I cannot thank you enough for the information you have supplied, enough to keep me busy searching for quite a while. And the speed with which you found this information is amazing - you all are much better at this than I am. One small point of confirmation - Miriam, you mentioned a sister Johanna who married a James Joy. I practically jumped out of my chair when I saw that name. An archivist at the Fall River Historical Society unearthed a newspaper account of the funeral of Mary (Phelan) Goodwin in 1929. One of the pallbearers was James Joy! At the time, neither my sister not I had any idea who James Joy was. Now we know thanks to you. Wow!

I have one other general question. It now appears that at least four Phelan siblings came to Fall River in the post-famine years of the 19th century, sometime around the early 1870s.  A fifth sibling, Michael, might have stayed in Ireland, not clear yet. It does not appear that the parents came. I know there was a great deal of Irish emigration to the US and Canada at this time, but was it common for this many siblings to leave home all at about the same time? Does it mean that the parents were well enough off to afford the passage fees, or were they so poor that they could not afford to feed their children and other agencies (parish maybe?) paid for the passage? 

Many thanks again,

Jim