Farrells inLoughrea

Dear Lori,

You are in luck. I live in Earlspark and the Farrell Family are still here and are neighbours of mine. In fact, the elder Farrell passed away just a few years ago - never met him but I had heard he was a great man for history and stories and might have had some knowledge of your people.

See what further information you have that you might send on and I'll pop over to visit them some weekend and ask them if they have any knowledge of Patrick Farrell.  It is not a very common name around here - am pretty certain they are relatives of yours. Information that would be useful is likely emigration date, who they travelled with (check castlegarden.org) and where they went to.  Often Irish families would have oral history such as "he went to Chicago" etc...

Best Wishes,

Mike

Hi Mike-

What a blessing!  Thank you so much for your kind offer!

Peter Farrell was my gg grandfather.  I have his will, his actual Naturalization certificate (1868), some land records, a court record that confirmed his date of naturalization, and census records for 1860, 1865 and 1870.  He was born abt 1817.  His wife's name was Ann (possibly Gorden). She was born abt 1830.  Their son Patrick Nicholas was born in Ireland abt 1855.  Daughter Anna was born in New York abt 1860.  The family lived in Stillwater, NY, Saratoga County.  Peter died in 1873.  Ann remarried a few years later to William Yager.

My great grandfather Patrick was a telegrapher for the D&H railroad.  He married Mary Ryan (from county Limerick) in 1891.

Peter's brother John also lived in Stillwater.  John was born abt 1813.  He and his wife Mary had 5 children, all born in New York, John (1849), Mary, Bernard, Philip and Thomas.  John immigrated abt 1847, also to New York.  Peter and John owned farms that were adjacent to each other in Stillwater, and the road that runs through the property is named "Farley Road".  (As I said, the name changed to Farley at some point)

Everything that I've mentioned so far is documented.  I have not found definitive information on immigration, just things that "fit".  There is a record of Peter "Farriley", age 40, arriving in New York on the Enterprise, 15 April 1857.  He was accompanied by "Mrs. Farrelley". age 27, and Patrick "Farrelly" (spelled as written), age 2.  Departure was from Liverpool.

I also have a record of John Farrall, age 34, arriving in New York 29 Apr 1847 on the Eliza Warwick from Liverpool.  Unfortunately, there are several John Farrels who arrived in New York between 1846 and 1848, but this one coincides with his approximate year of birth.  John traveled alone, as far as I can tell.

As a side note, there was also a Michael Farrell in the 1850 census in Stillwater, age 25.  I do not know if they were related.  Michael helped build the "Irish church" in Mechanicville, St. Paul's, which Peter and John both attended.

Once again, thank you so much for your very generous offer.  I hope this is enough information, and I look forward to any information you might gather from your neighbors. 

Lori