My great-great grandfather Peter Smith was born 24 November 1822 in county Cavan. Sometime around 1830, he traveled with his parents to Canada, but their ship sank in the harbor. I do not know the location or ship name. The story handed down in our family is that Peter's father handed him to someone in a lifeboat and said, "Please take care of my son." Peter was saved, but as far as we know, both of his parents died. The story says that Peter was about 8-10 years old when this happened, which places it around 1830-1832. Peter's 1859 application for US naturalization confirms that he came to the U.S. under 18 years of age.
On 2 March 1846, Peter Smith married Almira Dewey of Gouverneur, St. Lawrence, New York, USA. The family appears in the 1850 Gouverneur census, but they moved to Waupaca, Waupaca county, Wisconsin and appear in the 1855 Wisconsin state census. Peter and Almira had six children together, all with the last name of Smith: Joel Perrish, Adelpha Margaret, Azilpha Marion, Francis William, Agnes Edith, and Letitia Susan. (Almira already had a son, Ira, who also assumed the name Smith.) Peter and Almira Smith remained in Waupaca until 1882 and then moved to Lulu Island, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Peter died there on 18 March 1885.
The descendants of Peter Smith are numerous, and there is a book detailing their names, addresses, and stories. Some of these appear in a public family tree that I have posted on ancestry.com with the name "Bender Pine." I am descended from Agnes Edith Smith, who married Leroy Hosea Harrington in Waupaca. Their daughter Leila Grace Harrington was my grandmother.
I would appreciate any assistance you can give me with our search for Peter Smith's origins in Cavan.
PattiKansas
Wednesday 31st Oct 2012, 06:59PMMessage Board Replies
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Hello Patti, looking over unanswered queries and I am afraid, we rely on church records at that remove and a lot have not survived or even kept, I find 1 Peter Smith and 3 Peter Smyth baptised in the years 1819; 1823; 1825 and 1826, so without a parent we cannot pick one and even then we probably do not have them all, I looked at the Tithe Applottment books free online and see over 1400 Smiths listed, about 260 listed in 1826, this was a tax on landowners or tenants of more than 1 acre. http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp
In the late 1820s there were many advertisements in the paper of land available to migrants to Canada, all then part of the Empire.
There are a few private Cavan Genealogy pages on Facebook but the lack of information will be similiar unless you consider DNA testing but that is not the end of it as everyone will have a block at that time in Ireland and you are hoping to find someone whose family kept a bible record or correspondence. Have you tried some newspaper archives to see if the sinking was reported and a list of survivors or drownings.
Parts of the 1821 census for Cavan survive and there are 32 Peter Smiths and 25 Peter Smyths from 0 to 7 years and this is only fragments of the census
.https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Good Luck
Pat
Pat O Holloran, IrelandXO Volunteer
Monday 4th Mar 2024, 09:41PM