Susan Kelly revisited

Having drawn a blank on both Theodore Kelly (see ‘The wrong Theodore’) and John Kelly (see ‘Thank you Thomas Cromwell’), I have looked again at Susan Kelly. Susan married Jeremiah Cronin in Michigan in the late 1850s, just prior to the establishment of a central recording system for the State. She stayed in Marshall, Calhoun…

Thank you, Thomas Cromwell

I have become well used to the absence of records in Ireland. Only fragments of 19th century census returns have survived. Practicing Catholicism was illegal for many years. This is a powerful disincentive to the keeping of records. Even in the subsequent period, there are many gaps in parish records, and a knowledge of Latin…

The wrong Theodore

The 1880 (American) Census shows Susan Cronin (nee Kelly), her husband Jeremiah and six children living in Marshall, Calhoun, Michigan. Staying with them are Anna McHugh (daughter of Susan’s sister Catherine) and two other members of the Kelly clan. Jessie Kelly was 10, born in Nebraska. Both her parents were both born in Ireland. As…

Seeking John Kelly

Sometimes I have to stop myself and check that I am not going down a blind alley. Why am I looking for information on John Kelly? In “Both ends to the middle – Part 2” I reported that there is only one ancestral line from the two distant cousins in America that I need to…

Looking for the Kelly siblings

The story that has come down to me from my distant American cousins is that 1847 was a significant year for the Kelly family. John, Catherine, Susan and Mary arrived in America in that year following the death of their parents in the Great Famine. Census and marriage records provide some information on the ages…

Jessie – early days

On the 1880 census for Marshall, Calhoun County, Michigan, Jessie Kelly appears as a ten year old child. She is living with her Aunt Susan (born around 1840, in Ireland), Uncle Jeremiah Cronin (born around 1831 in New York) and their six children. Also in the household is Anna McHugh, the eldest daughter of John…

Jessie and Jesse

According to a correspondent in America, John McHugh and his wife Catherine (nee Kelly) moved from Michigan to Missouri in March 1873. Initially, they stayed with Catherine’s brother John on his farm. In the 1960s this farm was owned by John’s grandson Jesse East. I found an obituary for Jesse Clarence East who died in…

Algorithms

As mentioned in ‘Sue Alice McHugh and her father, John’, there are some differences in the various trees that mention Patrick McHugh. Most agree that his wife was Catherine Kelly (1833-1909). There is general agreement that he was born in 1825. But where was he born? Sligo, Cork, Mayo, Galway and Roscommon are all offered.…

Boston Pilot

I am conscious that many of those emigrating from Roscommon ended up in America. For 90 years (from 1831 to 1921) a newspaper called the Boston Pilot published a ‘Missing Friends’ column. Photo: Boston Harbour in the mid 1800s Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_harbor_and_East_Boston_from_State_St._block,_by_Soule,_John_P.,_1827-1904.jpg (cropped) The database has over 40,000 records. (https://infowanted.bc.edu/search/ ) (now behind a paywall) Advertisements…

From Islands to America

On the post “Island Lower and Upper”, (https://www.roscommonstanley.me.uk/geography/island-lower-and-upper/ ) I referred to American records as providing answers to the question about what happened to the rest of the Stanley/Kenney line. (Bridget, Thomas, Mary and John) Bridget Stanley married William Simpson on 29th June 1887 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was born in Darnford, New York in…