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Martin McAvoy and his parents

KilkennyGraiguenamanagh (Kilkenny)

Dear IRO (Graignamanagh,Kilkenny),

Am searching for my great-grandfather Martin McAvoy,his parents andsiblings.
He shows up for the first time on a marriage record in New Orleans, LA dated 14 Sep 1871.
His first wife, Margaret Murphy passed in 1879. He married Margaret'ssister, Mary Ann Murphy,
my great grandmother, on 25 Jun1881.I have a lot of documents pertaining to Martin from
1871onward but nil prior tothat year.

On most records from the New Orleans, LA, Public Library and on the US Censusof1880
Martin indicates that he was born in Ireland in 1835 and that he arrived in USA in1850.
His port of arrival is assumed to be New Orleans - although I could be convinced otherwise.
On his marriage license to Margaret,Martinstates that his mother's name is Judith and his father's
name is Philip.(as an aside - Judith and Philip are also the names of two of his children.)

Searching the rootsireland.ie webisite I found (at no small expense) one Martin MacEvoy
with parents Philip MacEvoy and Johanna Doyle. This Martin was baptizedon 14 Oct 1838
inGraignamanagh, Kilkenny. This is the only Martin MacEvoy in the 1835 time frame with
parents namedJudith and Philip.

Searching other records in the rootsireland.ie website I found a parishmarriage certificate
for Philip MacEvoy and Judith Doyle on 12 Feb 1822. This caused my heart to skip a few beats.
Further searches forPhilip and Judith's offspring produced James MacEvoy (baptized 14 Jun 1828)
and Mary MacEvoy (baptized 19 Nov 1834).

Searching on Philip MacEvoy produced a baptismalrecord Philip McEvoy
in Clogerhead, Louth on 29 Apr 1798.
Philip's parents are listed as Pat McEvoy and Cathe Fitzpatrick. What's interesting about
this record is that it lists one of the sponsor's as Peter Markey whose surname is identical
to the maiden name of Martin's future mother-in-law, Margaret Markey Murphy of Dunleer, Louth.
Could this Philip McEvoy beMartin's father?

Searches on Judith Doylein Kilkenny produced two baptismal records:
Muckalee1802andSt. Mary's, 1803.
Found one burial record for Judith MacEvoy in Ballymahon, Longwood, Meathon 19 Mar 1850.
... thiswould seem to tiewith Martin's journey to the USA in 1850. Yes?

Further - I foundoneP. McAvoy and an M. McAvoy arriving in New Orleans on 3 May 1854.
Ship's name was American Union and it embarked from Liverpool. Could be a red herring
given the later arrival date- but still worth tracking.

Questions:
1. What wasthe usual timebetween birth and baptism back in the day?
(e.g. could Martin have been born in 1835 and baptized in 1838?)

2. Martin was a minor in 1850. Could he have traveled alone to the USA?

3. What became of Martin'sfatherand siblings?
Am finding no records of Philip's / Jame'sburial nor travel.
A Mary McAvoyBeattie (b. 1830, d. 1909) shows up in Wayne county Michigan.

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Willaim Tyree
Downers Grove, Illinois

wptyree

2 replies

Hi William,

You have done trojan work there in researching your family tree and I doubt that anyone else could do any better here.  

Regarding Martins date of birth.  I would suggest that this not be taken as written in stone.  We have found through helping people on this site that their dates are often a few years out.  Even dates taken from census and tombstones have sometimes proved to be incorrect.

Most people who emigrated were illiterate and undocumented.  They didn't know how to spell their names and hadn't a clue as to what age they were.  At the port of arrival their names were recorded phonetically, their ages were only guessed, and this is the information that followed them for the rest of their lives.

The proof of this occured in 1909 when the old age pension was introduced into ireland.  People had to prove their ages and were forced to go through baptismal records to establish when they were born.  That is why there is such HUGE discrepancies between ages in the 1901 census and the 1911 census of Ireland.  Dates were found to be out by many many years in some cases.

We tend to forget that people back then had no social security numbers, and were not tracked from the cradle to the grave as we are today.  They didn't celebrate birthdays, as it was all they could do to clothe and feed themselves.  So I would advise that you bear this in mind when researching.

Children were usually baptised quickly (usually within a couple of weeks).

Hope this helps a little,

Kind Regards,

Anne Dennehy

 

 

IrelandXO member

Thank You Anne! ( yours is the same christian name as my kid sister )

Was aware of the disparity between recorded information and factual information.

1835 and 1850 were likely easy years to remember. Martin did well for himself working as a railway
conductor on varous railroads up and down the Mississipi river basin prior to and post Civil War.
He enlisted with the 14th Louisiana Infantry regiment which fought at Gettysburg among other
famous battles from that era. Martin finished his career as a conductor with the Panama Canal
Railway Company. He managed to father eight offspring between his two marriages.
The last of whom is my maternal grandmother, Katherine McAvoy Hayes. Kate was very
tight with her older sister Judith McAvoy Hall. The passed within months of each other in 1957.
Indeed, Martin led a colorful if not well traveled life. He passed in NY, NY in 1900 at age 65
or there abouts. His final resting place is Calvary cemetery in Queens, NY.

What can you tell me of the Doyle family (Martin's maternal side)?

Are they local to Kilkenny?

Best Regards,

William P. (Pat) Tyree

wptyree

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