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Searching for Phelans

Waterford

I am trying to trace the family of a great grandmother on my fathers side of the family. Her name was Mary Phelan (1861 or 1862-1929); she came to Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1873 (apparently), and she married my great grandfather Charles Henry Goodwin. Marys parents were Nicholas Phelan (183?-??) and Joanna (Ryan) Phelan (183?-??), who lived in or near Portlaw in County Waterford. It appears that several of Mary's siblings also came to Fall River. The family might have been involved in Portlaw's famous Mayfield cotton mill and perhaps came to Fall River to work in the mills there. I am especially interested in learning more about the parents, Nicholas and Johanna (Ryan) Phelan.

jgoodwin@wcu.edu

2 replies

Jim:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I checked the subscription site Roots Ireland and located an 1839 marriage for Nicholas and Johanna. I also located seven baptismal records for their children from 1845-1859. Not sure why there were no records from 1840-1844. All baptismal records were in Portlaw.

James 1845 Judith 1846 Patrick 1848 Helen 1850 Michael 1852 Brigid 1854 Nicholas 1859

Likely Nicholas and Johanna were born around 1820 or earlier. There were two Nicholas Phelan baptismal records in Portlaw in 1820 and 1821. Did not see a Johanna Ryan baptismal record in Portlaw around 1820,

Roger McDonnell

Date of Marriage:17-Nov-1839
Parish / District:Portlaw
County:Co. Waterford
Husband  NicholasPhelan
Wife JoannaRyan

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks for your help again Roger. I believe I now have the correct Nicholas and Johanna (I originally thought they were from Urlingford, but that Johanna turned out to be a Campion, not a Ryan). The siblings I have found are Mary (1862-1929), Ellen (1850-1891 -- I'll bet that's Helen you found), Michael (1852-??; said he was 50 on a 1911 ship manifest, but could have just made it up on the spot), two named Nicholas (1859-1864, the one you found) and a second one (1867-1922), and a daughter Johanna (1866-1933). All those that I listed except for the first Nicholas came to Fall River. The others that you listed I wil try to track down - perhaps they stayed inIreland or went elsewhere in Canada or the US.

I read a fascinating account of the Portlaw "industrial village" and ts demise in the 1870s, about the time when some of these Phelans came to Fall River, which, at the time, probably had the largest concentration of cotton mills in the country. Fall Riverites (including me) still refer to their city as Spindle City.

jgoodwin@wcu.edu

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