Thanks again for sharing. My 2x great grandmother, Bridget Healy Sheehan/Sheehy of Flemby, Ballymac sailed from Tralee in June, 1883 aboard the SS Helvetia. She and her four children arrived in NYC 18 June. I would guess that she saw an advertisement like this prior to her coming out.
Hi Kay,
I’m not sure. I know she arrived on the SS Helvetia which, I believe, part of a German line of transatlantic steamers. I’m guessing that she left out of Kerry if not…then out of Cobh. Since she was a widow with four young children I would think she took the “path of least resistance” and left from the closest port.
Hi – I love receiving My Kerry Ancestors – you always have something interesting to share. My gt gt grandad John Thompson was born in Caherciveen in the early 1800s and I have just discovered his ‘other family’ in America. Through my DNA I have connected with another of his gt gt grandaughters through his extended family in Missouri. On the notice you posted today I am also somehow related to Michaell J O’Driscoll who was Clerk of the Union and the local Registrar but at the moment the connection eludes me. Kind regards Pat
Pat, isn’t that interesting that Michael O’Driscoll was a Shipping Agent in Caherciveen. There is probably something to find on him in the Kerry Newspapers of the time (Kerry Evening Post & Kerry Examiner) if one just had the time to go trawling. Its such a pity that the Cahiciveen Board of Guardian Minute Books during the Famine, did not survive. kay
Just as the other contributors to your blog have mentioned, I really enjoy all of the effort that goes into My Kerry Ancestors. My GGs Patrick Callaghan (Killarney) and Kate McCarthy (Kilcummin) took the trans-Atlantic Steamer SS Wyoming in July 1887 from Cobh to New York. I have found the passenger list but it seems though that the Kerry Sentinel is not yet on line to obtain the newspaper accounting of the sailing. I now know where to look when it does go online. Thanks so much for posting.
I love this. I have a Clan of people from Brosna, Kery, and other places in Kerry, & am sure I still have ancestors living there. This was the kind of thing that is absolutely a treasure to viiew. How do you find these things? How do you access the old Kerry Newspaper archives? I would love to read them.
Mercedes, I get ‘bogged down’ sometimes with the volume of queries and I just found yours here now. If you log on to http://www.irishNewsArchives.ie all of the old and recent Kerry newspapers are on it. It is a ‘pay’ site but you can opt for a day and just abandon the house and cookign and all the rest of it and devote your time to searching! Its a bit ‘sticky’ you have to have patience with it.
Does anyone know what was the age cutoff for children’s fare. I have a number of ancestors that came over when they were 17 years old. My great grandmother and her twin sister were born June 10, 1876 and arrived in New York on May 26, 1894, 15 days shy of their 18th birthday.
What proof could they offer to the agent selling them their tickets? Their birth was recorded properly. They were baptized on 11th of June, 1876.
John, the fact is that most Irish people had no idea of their dates or years of birth in the 19th century. They don’t seem to have any interest in the subject either until they arrived at their emigrant destination where the civil authorities required this information to properly account for their citizens. A guess was usually the best they could do and generally speaking, we find that they were correct within five years one way or another. However, John Grenham in his well respected Tracing Your Irish Ancestors states ‘the actual date of birth is almost always well before the one reported, sometimes by as mch as fifteen years’. We find that a birth year is arrived at for the first Census in the new country, this has to be repeated every ten years and each year the age is different. They forget from one ten years to the next what they wrote the last time.
John, in your case your gt grandmother and her twin sister seem to have been aware of their correct birthdays but to answer your question, the ticket sellers and shippers would not know either what ages the passengers were. So the ‘children’s fare’ must have been decided on the look of the passenger, their size and height.
I wonder if young children always came with parents, or did whoever take them who could? I believe I have found my ancestress on a ship, but she is not with the mother listed on her marraige record—but she is with a family member of a different name. Or maybe she reported her mother’s name wrong when she was married?
Jeanne. hard to know but families were very closely knit then- cousins were often mixed up with siblings – a lot of families livied in ‘clacháns’ which essentially are groupd of houses clustered together with cousins, aunts & uncles freely intermixing.
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Kerry Sentinel 6 June 1884
Hi Kay,
Thanks again for sharing. My 2x great grandmother, Bridget Healy Sheehan/Sheehy of Flemby, Ballymac sailed from Tralee in June, 1883 aboard the SS Helvetia. She and her four children arrived in NYC 18 June. I would guess that she saw an advertisement like this prior to her coming out.
Greg, did Bridget travel from Queenstown (Cobh) or did go directly from Liverpool?
Hi Kay,
I’m not sure. I know she arrived on the SS Helvetia which, I believe, part of a German line of transatlantic steamers. I’m guessing that she left out of Kerry if not…then out of Cobh. Since she was a widow with four young children I would think she took the “path of least resistance” and left from the closest port.
Greg
Hi – I love receiving My Kerry Ancestors – you always have something interesting to share. My gt gt grandad John Thompson was born in Caherciveen in the early 1800s and I have just discovered his ‘other family’ in America. Through my DNA I have connected with another of his gt gt grandaughters through his extended family in Missouri. On the notice you posted today I am also somehow related to Michaell J O’Driscoll who was Clerk of the Union and the local Registrar but at the moment the connection eludes me. Kind regards Pat
Pat, isn’t that interesting that Michael O’Driscoll was a Shipping Agent in Caherciveen. There is probably something to find on him in the Kerry Newspapers of the time (Kerry Evening Post & Kerry Examiner) if one just had the time to go trawling. Its such a pity that the Cahiciveen Board of Guardian Minute Books during the Famine, did not survive. kay
Just as the other contributors to your blog have mentioned, I really enjoy all of the effort that goes into My Kerry Ancestors. My GGs Patrick Callaghan (Killarney) and Kate McCarthy (Kilcummin) took the trans-Atlantic Steamer SS Wyoming in July 1887 from Cobh to New York. I have found the passenger list but it seems though that the Kerry Sentinel is not yet on line to obtain the newspaper accounting of the sailing. I now know where to look when it does go online. Thanks so much for posting.
Stephen, The Kerry Sentinel is online on http://www.IrishNewsArchives.ie. It might be quicker to try http://www.theshipslist.com.
I love this. I have a Clan of people from Brosna, Kery, and other places in Kerry, & am sure I still have ancestors living there. This was the kind of thing that is absolutely a treasure to viiew. How do you find these things? How do you access the old Kerry Newspaper archives? I would love to read them.
Mercedes, I get ‘bogged down’ sometimes with the volume of queries and I just found yours here now. If you log on to http://www.irishNewsArchives.ie all of the old and recent Kerry newspapers are on it. It is a ‘pay’ site but you can opt for a day and just abandon the house and cookign and all the rest of it and devote your time to searching! Its a bit ‘sticky’ you have to have patience with it.
Does anyone know what was the age cutoff for children’s fare. I have a number of ancestors that came over when they were 17 years old. My great grandmother and her twin sister were born June 10, 1876 and arrived in New York on May 26, 1894, 15 days shy of their 18th birthday.
What proof could they offer to the agent selling them their tickets? Their birth was recorded properly. They were baptized on 11th of June, 1876.
John, the fact is that most Irish people had no idea of their dates or years of birth in the 19th century. They don’t seem to have any interest in the subject either until they arrived at their emigrant destination where the civil authorities required this information to properly account for their citizens. A guess was usually the best they could do and generally speaking, we find that they were correct within five years one way or another. However, John Grenham in his well respected Tracing Your Irish Ancestors states ‘the actual date of birth is almost always well before the one reported, sometimes by as mch as fifteen years’. We find that a birth year is arrived at for the first Census in the new country, this has to be repeated every ten years and each year the age is different. They forget from one ten years to the next what they wrote the last time.
John, in your case your gt grandmother and her twin sister seem to have been aware of their correct birthdays but to answer your question, the ticket sellers and shippers would not know either what ages the passengers were. So the ‘children’s fare’ must have been decided on the look of the passenger, their size and height.
I wonder if young children always came with parents, or did whoever take them who could? I believe I have found my ancestress on a ship, but she is not with the mother listed on her marraige record—but she is with a family member of a different name. Or maybe she reported her mother’s name wrong when she was married?
Jeanne. hard to know but families were very closely knit then- cousins were often mixed up with siblings – a lot of families livied in ‘clacháns’ which essentially are groupd of houses clustered together with cousins, aunts & uncles freely intermixing.