Maher/Whelan of Newtownforbes

Hi-

Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reason why they left, who they may have travelled with?..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, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. 

Some sites that may be of interest are:

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 relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 40,743 records is available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad that appeared in the Pilot. http://infowanted.bc.edu/

Remember to post as much information as you can with regard to the people you are researching. The more information you post, the more likely it is that one of our volunteers will be able to advise or assist you. Also include information concerning which sources you may have already used so others may further your search.

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,                    

Thanks for your comment and advice. I've already checked many of the sources you list -- it was actually a Boston Evening Pilot advert that led me to Newtownforbes in the first place. I'm pasting below a summary of my information on William Maher :

William Maher was born probably between 1785 and 1795 in Ireland, most likely in or near Newtownforbes, County Longford. He died before 1860.

William Maher married Mary Whalen (abt 1788-1868).

William and Mary Maher's first names are listed on the death certificate of daughter Catherine Maher Whelan (1901), and Mary Maher's maiden name (Whalen) appears in a brief biography of her presumed son, James, published in "Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa" (Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1886). The surname appears in various records as Mahon, Meagher, Mahar, Mahan, etc.

According to the James Maher biographical sketch, William Maher was a wheelright and blacksmith in Newtownforbes (given as Newtown Forbis), Clonguish Parish, County Longford, Ireland. His residence there is confirmed by his wife's obituary and by an 1865 advertisement that his daughter placed in the Boston Pilot, seeking news of her brother.

Catholic Church records in Newtownforbes begin only in 1829 and appear fragmentary during the earlier years; they do not appear to record the baptism of any of William Maher's children, or his marriage to Mary Whalen. They do list the marriage of William Maher Jr.

The Irish Tithe Applotment Lists, a land valuation compiled in the 1820s and '30s, records one William Maher in County Longford. He was listed in 1834 in the townland of Curry (now spelled Corry) in the parish of Clonguish. Corry lies just beyond the edge of Newtownforbes village, so this could be our William. However, as a blacksmith, he may well have lived in the village itself and not been recorded as a tenant in a land valuation.

We have two possible dates for the Maher family's emigration to America.

According to James Maher's obituary, he came in 1840 with his parents. According to the
biographical sketch, he came with his mother at age 18, which would be about 1845. The wording of the James Maher biographical sketch suggests that William Maher did not emigrate to America, presumably because he was already dead when the family came over. William Maher did, however, live long enough for James to work for him as a young man. As James was born in 1825 or 1826, William must have died in the late 1830s at the earliest.

It is also possible that William Maher did come to America. On Sept. 16, 1845, a Maher family arrived in New York City aboard the Ship Montezuma, which had sailed from Liverpool. This family included Wm. Maher, 53, a mechanic; Mary Maher, 50; Margt. Maher, 21; James Maher, 18; Bridget Maher, 12; Peter Maher, 10; and Mary Maher, 8. This is certainly a close match with our family in many respects, although some of the children seem a bit young, and we have no record of daughters named Mary or Bridget. In addition, Margaret, not Mary seems to have been the youngest of our Mahers, and three Maher children -- William Jr., John and Catherine -- are missing from the passenger list.

William Jr. is known to have arrived on the Ship Hope in 1842. Catherine might have been the Catherine Maher who arrived on the Montezuma on June 1, 1844.

However the Maher family arrived, and whichever members came, the James Maher biographical sketch says they settled in Jamaica, Queens County, New York. They are not listed there in the 1850 census, and, with the exceptions of William Jr. and Catherine, they cannot be located elsewhere, either.

Mary Whalen Maher, certainly a widow by then, appears in the 1860 federal census as a 70-year-old, living with her daughter, Catherine Maher Whelan in Jersey City, Hudson County New Jersey. She died there in 1868, as shown by a death listings in the Jan. 13 New York Herald:

"MAHER - At the residence of her son-in-law, William Whealan, 106 Bergen
street, Jersey City, Mrs. Mary Maher, aged 79 years, 5 months and 12 days, a native of
Newtownforbs, county Longford, Ireland. The friends of her family are respectfully
invited, and those of her sons, John, William, James and Peter, also her sons-in-law,
William Whalen, Thomas Thompson and William Boyle, to attend her funeral, from St.
Peter's Church, where there will be a requiem high mass celebrated for the repose of her
soul on Wednesday morning, at nine o'clock. Her remains will be interred at Jamaica, L.I.
Cincinnati papers please copy."

Her exact date of death is provided by records that New York City kept of "bodies
in transit": New York Deaths and Burials, 1795-1952 (from www.familysearch.org): Mary
Maher; female; Burial place: Jamaica, Li; Death date: 12 Jan 1868; Death place: Jersey
City, New Jersey; Age, 79; Birthplace, Ireland; Marital status: Unknown. (Source Film
Number: 1671686 (Manhattan bodies in transit, 1859-1894. Author: New York [New
York] Department of Health.)

William Maher and Mary Whalen had the following children:

+2 i. William Maher, born abt Jun 1814, Newtownforbes, Clonguish Parish, County Longford, Ireland; married Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Owen Thompson, 11 Feb 1841, Newtownforbes, Clonguish Parish, County Longford, Ireland; died 16 Jul 1860, Dover Plains, Dutchess County, NY.

3 ii. John Maher was born (date unknown). Mary Whalen Maher's 1868 obituary lists a son named John. Many John Mahers lived in and around New York City, but none so far seems a strong candidate. John and Elizabeth Maher witnessed the baptism of Peter Whelan in Jersey City in 1861.

+4 iii. Ann Maher, born 1821 or 1822, Newtownforbes, Clonguish Parish, County Longford, Ireland; married Bernard O'Rourke; died 15 Aug 1870, New York City, New York. (not a proven child)

+5 iv. Catherine Maher, born 1824 or 1825, Newtownforbes, Clonguish Parish, County Longford, Ireland; married William Whelan, 20 Aug 1846, Brooklyn, Kings Co., NY; died 6 Sep 1901, Jersey City, Hudson Co., NJ. These are my ancestors. William ran for city alderman in 1870 but lost. His son, my ancestor William Henry Whelan, was a politician as well, and granddaighter Kate Whelan Brown was the first woman Democrat elected to the state Legislature in the 1920s.

+6 v. James Maher, born 10 Jul 1826, Newtownforbes, County Longford, Ireland; married Catherine Doyle, 11 Mar 1856, Peoria, Ill; died 23 Sep 1907, Kankakee, Kankakee Co., Ill.

+7 vi. ____?___ Maher, married Thomas Thompson.

+8 vii. Peter Marr, born Dec 1829, Newtownforbes, County Longford, Ireland;
married Bridget Carroll, abt 1857; died 1 Jun 1903, Chicago, Cook Co.,
Ill.

+9 viii. Margaret Maher, born Abt. 1831/35, Newtownforbes, County Longford, Ireland; married William Boyle, 25 Sep 1864, Jersey City, Hudson Co., NJ; died 1885-1900, Jersey City, Hudson Co., NJ.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know :)

Hi Jim-

Thanks for all the information.

The more information you provide the easier it is for our volunteers! 

Do be patient though - as the programme is only beginning to be piloted to parishes in County Longford and the volunteers there are in the early stages of being organized and trained.

I wish you the best of luck with your search!

regards,

Cynthia

I appreciate your insight and counsel. Many of the sources you mention, I've previously checked out; in fact, I found Newtownforbes initially thanks to an advertisement in the Boston Evening Pilot. I have pasted a synopsis of my research on William Maher below:
In or close to Newtownforbes, County Longford, William Maher was most likely born in Ireland between 1785 and 1795. Before 1860, he passed away. _{^{buildnow gg}}

Thank you for sharing this information。

Thank you for sharing this information。

snaptik

Thank you for sharing this informationsnaptik