Collins from Williamstown

Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reasonwhy they left, who they may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given atthe port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g.Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps evenfind out an exact place of origin. Ellis Island:http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp Castlegarden:http://www.castlegarden.org/ US National Archives/Immigration info:http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/ The Boston Pilot; From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a?Missing Friends? column with advertisements from people looking for ?lost? friends and relativeswho had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 40,743 recordsis available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad thatappeared in the Pilot. http://infowanted.bc.edu/ The next thing you could do is find the counties and places in Ireland your family names are mostprevalent. Look at the website http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ and perhapssomething will match some other clue you may have found elsewhere? If nothing turnsup ? it is advisable to try different variations of the spellings of the names. If you have a possiblefirst name you could try the Irish Census 1901, 1911 at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ or the landvaluation record called Griffiths Valuationhttp://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

toms brother hugh returned from pittsburg in early 20th century , settled in williamstown,married ..2sons 6 daughters. 4 of the daughters settled in new york...plenty of female cousins there .so the only collins names come directly from tom in ?pa and hugh in williamstown. hugh often spoke about the gavins and regans. hugh was my grandfather .i hope this info helps.will be happy to communicate further if you so wish.

Candy,

     My husband's grandmother is Catherine Collins from Leatra, Williamstown.  I have been researching her family and believe that I can help you with yours.  The 1901 Irish Census shows Honour Collins as the daughter of John and Honour Collins in Pollshask, Ballymoe, subdistrict Williamstown. With them is her brother, Thomas. On Family Search I find Honor Collins born 7 Mar 1880 Pollshask, Galway, daughter of John Collins and Honor Moore Collins. The Census gives Honor's age as 16 and Thomas as 22 but I think they have them reversed. I find in 1911 that John Collins is living alone, a widower, age 73 in Pollshask but a Hugh Collins, age 36, lives in Pollshask with his wife, Sarah and four daughters including Nora age 4. This sounds like your ancestor's family. You can find the Censuses easily if you just google Ireland National Archives. I don't know if there is a relation to my family. My husband's grandmother's father is Michael James Collins.  His father is John Collins. Perhaps your John is Michael's brother. Michael had a daughter named Honoria, also. No Thomas or Hugh but his son, Patrick had a son named Thomas. Let me know if this is your family and if I find a connection I will let you know.

Wendy Negley

I'm sorry this reply is almost a year later! I sporadically search when work breaks allow. Yours and Sadie's info was very helpful!  Turns out Sadie and I are cousins, and we have communicated. Were you able to find out if you were a cousin? If John was Michael's brother? If so, I'd love to know if you were able to find their parents? I hope you were successful in your search.

Candy

I'm sorry this reply is almost a year later! I sporadically search when work breaks allow. Yours and Sadie's info was very helpful!  Turns out Sadie and I are cousins, and we have communicated. Were you able to find out if you were a cousin? If John was Michael's brother? If so, I'd love to know if you were able to find their parents? I hope you were successful in your search.

Candy

Candy,

Glad you have connected with Sadie! No I haven't been able to determine if John was Michael's brother.

Wendy