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Seeking information on ancestor John M. Meehan

CorkLeitrim (Cork)

I am seeking information on my ancestor John M. Meehan, born June 20, 1806.  He emigrated to the United States with his son Patrick, age 20, and daughter, Anna, age 18, arriving in the port of New York on the James H. Sheppard in December 13, 1850.  He was later naturalized in Boston, MA.   In his naturalization records, John stated he was a farmer from Leitrim, Ireland.  Family stories also make mention of John possibly having lived in Cork.  I have no further information on his life prior to his emigration, and am hopeful some of you may be able to help.  Thanks!

IrelandXO member

3 replies

I did a quick check of Roots Ireland and could not find a baptismal record for Patrick in Co. Leitrim and I searched from 1825-1835. More than half the RC parishes in Leitrim do not have records back to 1830 which explains why I could not locate a record for Patrick.

Meehan was a fairly common surname in Leitrim and found in a number of civil parishes based on my review of the Griffiths Valuation (1858).

Without additional clues from American records, it will be hard to determine where John was from in Leitrim. Was there an obituary when he died?

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

John died in 1871 in Cincinnati, OH, but I haven't yet been able to locate an obituary, which leads me to believe there was not one.  Also, his cemetary records, provided by his third wife, Winifred Green, also of Ireland, do not provide any further details to his origins.  The only other details I have that are in any way related to Ireland are his sponsors on his naturalization records, John Kelley and Matthew Foley.  John's life after moving from Boston to Cincinnati in 1856 is well documented, but there is no mention of his life before coming to the US with his children and without his spouse.

I did, just in the past day, find a possible birth for his daughter Ann in December 1832 in the parish of Kiltoghert in Leitrim, which lists Ann's mother as a Mary McCormick.  I haven't, however been able to locate any information on Patrick, or anything else that might allow me to determine if this is, in fact, the correct Ann Meehan.  As the name is so common, I am not yet convinced that it is.

I fear I may be near the end of the line for research where John is concerned, but if you have any advice as to how I might proceed, I would be very grateful for any help.

IrelandXO member

Can't tell if the record you found for Ann was from the Kiltoghert register on the NLI site http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0152

You may want to review the register if you have not previously.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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