There is a considerable clan of Healy's based in Chicago, Illinois from 1870 to 1960 (though the present generation is scattered all over the U.S.). They lived on the south side, near the famed Union Stockyards. Thomas Healy was described as a saloonkeeper, as was his son John Henry Healy (1875-1928). My grandfather, William Healy (1868-1955) also had a saloon, at 39th and Union Avenue, Chicago. There are many stories in my family of southside gangsters, particularly Dion O'Bannion, probably the best known of the Irish gangsters, killed by Capone henchmen in his flower shop. My father told me that when the saloon was a speakeasy during Prohibition, O'Bannion used to put a $20 gold piece on the counter and buy drinks for everyone. I also recently learned that my granduncle Mike Healy, who worked in the Chicago post office, was a fundraiser for the old IRA. My cousin says he has a bond signed by Devalera.
Family lore has it that two brothers left Macroom, Ireland in the 1850s under contract to work on the Panama Railroad. Supposedly they worked two years, then came back to New Orleans, faced a cholera quarantine, jumped ship and went up the Mississippi to Chicago.
My research finds that P [eter] and P [atrick] Healy, age 22 and 16, took the ship St. Lawrence from Cork to New Orleans, arriving March 17, 1853. Peter (my great-grandfather) appears in Kansas City, Mo. in the 1870 census and in Chicago in the 1880 census. A third brother, Thomas, appears in Chicago in the 1880 census, date and place of arrival uncertain. There is no further record of P [atrick]. I suspect that on first arrival they worked building railroads in various parts of Illinois and Iowa. They have multiple interactions with the O'Brien's, I'm not sure from where, and Margaret O'Brien Healy age 18 was on the same ship. A Margaret O'Brien appears in 1859 in Kansas City and marries Peter, has five kids and dies in 1870 in Chicago after giving birth to granduncle Mike.
I have quite a bit of detail on the family in Chicago from 1880 onward. I've learned from
Griffith's Valuation that Thomas lived along the road between Macroom and Ballyvourney and also that sons Michael, Thomas and Peter (1834) were baptized in Ballyvourney church. [But no record of Patrick, presumably born about 1830]. The elder Thomas died in 1885 but I could not find a tombstone in the cemetery of the old Ballyvourney church when I visited a couple of weeks ago. Can anyone add to this saga?
I've become quite interested in the general subject of men from Cork working on the Panama Railroad. Apparently hundreds did so, and many died of yellow fever. There is very little documentation of this, either in U.S. or Irish sources. If anyone has any information or even family stories, please let me know.
Robert Grogan Healy (retired professor at Duke University)
Durham, North Carolina, USA
rhealy
Wednesday 23rd Oct 2013, 12:43AMMessage Board Replies
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Many thanks for the information. I had thought that Patrick was older than Peter, which complicates things a bit. The manifest of the St. Lawrence, which arrived (from Cork) to New Orleans March 17, 1853 appears in two forms. One has P. Healy (no age given) listed twice. It also has Margaret Healy. The other manifest has P. Healy, age 22 and P. Healy, age 16, and (elsewhere on the passenger list) Margaret Healy, age 18. Interestingly, opposite each of these names is a check mark. It does not appear anywhere else. I have no idea what it means.
The quarantine was not in effect in March 1853, so there would be no need to "jump ship" (unless their way was paid by the railroad and they decided not to go to Panama). But a serious quarantine was in effect in summer 1855, which would have been just after the Panama Railroad was completed and they would no longer be needed.
Anyway, it's nice to know that Patrick does exist, though his role is not yet established.
I've just learned that the 15 volume A.E. Casey compendium of records from Cork is in the North Carolina State Library and I've arranged to go there tomorrow.
Also, on Nov. 2 I'm going to spend a day in Hartford, Ct. with four Healy cousins. They are the offspring of my uncle Jack, who died two years ago at age 96. We will exchange stories and see if they know anything that I don't. One interesting thing--they say that Jack used about three Gaelic words. My father, William P., never did and I never heard anyone else in the family do so. Yet another mystery.
rhealy
Friday 25th Oct 2013, 09:30PM -
Hello my name is Anne Morgan,if just found some papers belong to my mum .it's her family from ballyvourey cork I don't know if we are any way connected .all healy.Sylvester born 1839.
Gobnet born 1840
Jeremiah born 1843
Bridget born 1847'
Father was Mortimer/Mathew
Mother Joan Kelleher.
Thanks
Wednesday 14th May 2014, 09:21PM