Brophy - Laois

The reality of finding documentationpertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas? is that they simply may not exist. Some registers for urban areas pre-dating 1800 may exist ?though often these can be fragmented- as there was an increased need in cities or larger towns todocument the population. Please also note that the Church of Ireland was the official church of thecountry and therefore the bulk of information that does survive for earlier periods is often fromthese registers. ROMAN CATHOLIC: Most Catholic records are held locally - One site which might be of use is -http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ - where you can ?browse? an overview of availablerecords per county. If you have any difficulty, you could try writing to the parish priest for possibleassistance. Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reasonwhy they left, who they may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given atthe port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g.Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps evenfind out an exact place of origin. Ellis Island: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp Castlegarden:http://www.castlegarden.org/ US National Archives/Immigration info:http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/ The Boston Pilot; From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a?Missing Friends? column with advertisements from people looking for ?lost? friends and relativeswho had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 40,743 recordsis available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad thatappeared in the Pilot. http://infowanted.bc.edu/ The next thing you could do is find the counties and places in Ireland your family names are mostprevalent. Look at the website http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ and perhapssomething will match some other clue you may have found elsewhere? If nothing turnsup ? it is advisable to try different variations of the spellings of the names. If you have a possiblefirst name you could try the Irish Census 1901, 1911 at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ or the landvaluation record called Griffiths Valuationhttp://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

Hi, there were a large number of Brophy's in Co. Laois.  I come from the Borris in Ossory branch - Edward being my great grand father.  Church records in this area are not accessible.  P.P will direct one to the research centre in Tullamore and that is quite expensive if you dont know what you are looking for.

Hi, there were a large number of Brophy's in Co. Laois.  I come from the Borris in Ossory branch - Edward being my great grand father.  Church records in this area are not accessible.  P.P will direct one to the research centre in Tullamore and that is quite expensive if you dont know what you are looking for.

Hi

I've looked into this a little and have come across a Patrick Brophy, born in 1795/6.  He married a Margaret Fogarty born in 1798.  There isn't a mention of a child Margaret.

However, they pop up again in Cambria, Pennsylvania in the 1860 census at which time Patrick is 64.  There is a Margaret Adams aged 33 and a number of young children all with the surname Adams.

Is there any more information you can give me relating to what happened why they emigrated so I can see if I'm on the right track or not?

Thanks

Mary

Hi again

There are many possibilities for the placename you mentioned.  Could you send a copy of the birth cert or review this link to see what the closest possibilities may be?  Laois is Queens County.

http://www.irish-place-names.com/

Thanks

Mary

Thank you for your reply and your assistance.

It is possilbe that Patrick Brophy was married to Margaret Fogarty. His wife may have died in Ireland or shortly after arriving in the US. Patrick was naturalized in 1839, two years after filing a request for citizenship. He needed to have been in the country five years before he could request citizenship; therefore, he had to have arrived before October 1832.

Patrick's name first appears on the US census in 1840 (Cambria County, PA) with five others in the household (three females, two males), likely his children. Margaret Adams from the 1860 census is Patrick's daughter. Margaret was born in the 1820s in Ireland, according to various census records; a daughter's birth record says Margaret was born in "Clinaher," Queens County. Patrick's other children include Bridget (born ca. 1830), Daniel (born ca. 1827), Mary (my g-g grandmother. born ca.1820-25), and Julia (or Julianna, born ca 1823).

Patrick's will was promulgated in Cambria County in 1859. Only Margaret and her husband, William Adams, were named in the will. I could find no census records for Bridget Brophy after 1860; however, a B. Brophy was a godparent for Anna Dougherty (Mary Brophy's daughter and my great grandmother) in 1860 and Bridget Brophy was a witness at Anna's wedding in 1888.

John

Saw your post:

"I've looked into this a little and have come across a Patrick Brophy, born in 1795/6.  He married a Margaret Fogarty born in 1798.  There isn't a mention of a child Margaret."

I have a Margaret (Fogarty) Brophy married to a Patrick Brophy in my wife's family tree.
Margaret died in 1880 at the age of 82 in Fallowfield, Nepean, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada.
That would make her birthdate 1798. I know she was a widow when she came to Canada in about 1850-1860.

Your info might help me.

Her death records show that her husband, Patrick, was a farmer in Queen's Co., Ireland. The paperwork does not give further specifics. Never could find Patrick. He could be buried in Ireland.

Apparently, the couple had a son called Joseph Brophy, who married Bridget Fermoyle. To the best of my knowledge, they were married in Ireland and had a daughter called Julia. The emmigrated to Canada in about 1852. Joseph later remarried to Bridget Madden in 1867, but I never could locate the death of his first wife or her grave. Her death is said to have happened in 1863 and she should likely be buried in Fallowfield, Nepean, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada.

Would appreciate any info on births,marriages and deaths of the family. Ireland is not a place with which I am familiar, so I don't even know where to begin.

I've attached the Death Record for Margaret (Fogarty) Brophy.

Apparently Patrick was a farmer in Grogan, Queen's Co., Ireland. Perhaps that will help narrow things down a bit.
 

It is possible that Patrick's wife was deceased when he immigrated to America circa 1830, or she died shortly thereafter. I have no clear date of when Patrick immigrated; 1830 is simply a guess based on when he was naturalized (1837). I have nbot been able to find immigration records for anyone in his family.

Patrick's name first appears on the 1840 Conemaugh Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania (US) census. He would have been listed as age 20-49; three females, all under age 19, were listed in the household, as were two males, aged 5-14. It was in later censuses that Patrick's year of birth is determined to be in the 1790s.

Patrick and his daughter (?) Bridget were listed on the 1850 and 1860 Conemaugh Township censuses. Bridget is listed as having been born in Pennsylvania; she is listed as 20 years of age in1850 and 22 years of age in 1860.

I could find no census or other records for Patrick of Bridget after 1860. Bridget Brophy, however, was a godparent for my great grandmother in 1860, and a "B. Brophy," likely identical to Bridget, was a witness at my g-gm's wedding in 1888.

The Patrick Brophy who married Margaret Fogarty might not be identical to my ancestor, as her name does not appear in the 1850 or 1860 censuses with Patrick, and she likely is not included on the 1840 census.

It is, of course, possible that Patrick and his family were in Pennsylvania in 1830 but not in Conemaugh Township. Bridget could then have been born in Pennsylvania and her mother died before the 1840 census.

The Patrick Brophy who was born around 1795 and married Margaret Fogarty died on the ship while emigrating to Canada around 1847-52 with their three sons Patrick, Michael and Joseph.  Margaret lived with one of the sons for a number of years after.  Margaret is buried in Fallowfield near Ottawa, Canada. Her death certificate says she was born in Grogan, Queen's County, Ireland.

Patrick, the son, was married to Bridget Fermoyle when they came from Ireland. She later died and he re-married Bridget Madden, whose family had been in the Ottawa area since the 1830s.