Trying to Confirm Nicholas Chambers was from County Louth
My apologies for this very long post, but I'm trying to cover everything I know. My 3x great grandfather, Nicholas Chambers, was born in Ireland between 1815-1825. What I'm trying to determine is if there is enough evidence to prove that he was from County Louth, and if so, was he the son of John Chambers and Esther McKinney. Special shout out to Irene Morgan at IrishQuest for all of the hand-holding she did!
What I know:
- He was Catholic
- He married Margaret (possibly Reynolds?) in Ireland
- They had two children born in Ireland: Rose Ann (1844) and Patrick (1846/1847)
- They emigrated around 1850 to New York City
- They had a son John (my 2x great grandfather) in NYC in 1851 (godparents Thomas McStave & Ann McGinnis) - this is where I saw his mother's surname given as Reynolds
- They had a daughter Margaret in NYC in 1855 (godparents Catherine Chambers and possibly James Brierly)
- Nicholas's wife Margaret died in 1867 - no additional info on her death certificate or her death notice about birthplace or parents
- Nicholas died in 1885 - also no additional info
- Nicholas was a laborer and later a distiller
- They owned a house in NYC in the 1860's - they sold it to a guy named John Woods and then bought it back a year later, so I'm thinking he was a friend or family member from back home
- Nicholas, Margaret, son John (and his wife) and some grandkids are buried together in Calvary Cemetery in NYC, but no extended family are buried with them
DNA:
- My mom's DNA indicates Northern Ireland and northern parts of Ireland - she has other family from Cavan
- She has matches in the Louth DNA project on GEDmatch, but nothing definitive - no surname matches yet
My hypotheses that they are from Louth is based on the following:
- Due to the unusual surname of the godparent (McStave), the DNA, and the frequency of given names Nicholas and Rose, County Louth looks like a very good candidate
- There is a potential marriage record in Castletown, Dundalk on 28 April 1843 between Nicholas Chambers and Margaret Reneghan or Ronaghan (transcription only on RootsIreland - no originals on NLI site. I asked the church if they had originals, have not heard back.) Witnesses: John Chambers and John Rooney
- There is a potential baptism for son Patrick on 7 May 1846 in Dowdallshill. Godparents: Thomas Callan & Eliza McIver
Other Chambers in Dundalk area:
- The only Catholic Chambers family I have found for the timeframe that Nicholas was born is John Chambers (1792-1866) and Esther/Hessy McKinney (1793-1875). They baptized 7 children in Castletown between 1815 and 1832 (Rose, Pat, John, Thomas, Catherine, Anne, and Alice). Of course, no Nicholas, but there is a 5 year gap between Rose and Pat.
- John Chambers died in 1866 (I have his death certificate). His wife Hessy signed as the informant.
- Hessy/Esther Chambers died in 1875 (I have her DC too). Hessy Kindlan signed as the informant, but I don't know if this was her daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc. She was married to Owen Kindlan (of which there were many!)
Any suggestions or clues from people familiar with Dundalk or Louth in general would be most appreciated! The McStaves were mostly on the Cooley peninsula, but John Chambers and family were definitely in the town of Dundalk.
Tentatively planning to visit next summer (2026) if I can get a little more confidence that I'm in the right place! Thank you so much in advance!
