Looking for McCormack/Maher family

Hi Kathy,

Do you know much about William's emigration? Dates, the reason why he left, etc.? Generally more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g. Liverpool, Castle Garden, Ellis Island etc...), this could be a good place to find more information, and perhaps even find out an exact place of origin. Some sites which may be of use to you are:  http://www.castlegarden.org/    http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/immigrants.htm    http://www.ellisisland.org/  

You could try checking the land records called the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) or the later Griffith's Valuation (1848-64). The Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38): Microfilm copies of the books for all of Ireland are available at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/tithe-applotment-books-and-the-primary-griffith-valuation/ or the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS)   https://familysearch.org/. Griffith's is freely available here: www.askaboutireland.com or here: www.failteromhat.com Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at.  Civil registration records are available from the General Register Office (GRO). These start from 1864. You can access the website here: http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm . Valuations office in Dublin (http://www.valoff.ie) will have a record of the land registry from 1855 to modern times. This will assist in seeing what happened to any land the family may have owned (as it usually passed on to a relation).

I wish you the best of luck with your search.

Please make sure you link anyone else in your family who is interested in their Irish heritage to our site - and indeed anyone else you know of Irish heritage.

Kind regards,

Genealogy Support

Ireland Reaching Out

Your posting caught my eye since I have a McCormick Maher couple from the parish of Ballina, William Maher and Mary McCormack.  This is obviously not your family but it always makes me wonder if there is a connection.

I went into the church record indexes at rootsireland.ie to check for a William Maher, father James and mother Anna Maher.  What I found was a William Maher, baptized in 1864 somewhere in Tipperary, father James Maher, mother a Maher (but not the first name Anna).  I did not go further since there was a charge for more details.  I am not surprised about a date of 1864 versus 1862 - Irish immigrants are notorious for being inaccurate about their birth dates.  I did not find a record in the index for a Michael, son of James.

I would be interested in knowing where William settled when he left Ireland.  That might give more clues.

Theresa Liewer

I too would be very interested in this!  William Francis McCormack is my great grandfather!  His 1st born son James Joseph McCormack is my grandfather.

All I know is William arrived sometime in 1881 (per the 1900 census) and lived for a time in Waterbury Connecticut then moved to Milwaukee where he lived until his death in 1932

Birthday was 10/31/1862

His wife Mary Ellen Walsh (or Welsh) was also from Tipperary.  Born 6/24/1862.  I have nothing on her side either.

They were married on10/18/1888 at St. Patrick's Church in Waterbury Connecticut.