I am looking for information on my 2x great grandfather, Bartholomew or Bartley Ford. He was born in County Mayo about 1830. He emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Wilkes Barre, Pensylvania working in the anthracite mining industry. He was a Roman Catholic by faith. He married Sarah Mahan and together they raised 8 children. He had been in the U.S. For about 40 years at the time of his death, 29 Nov 1892 at age 62. Any help is greatly appreciated.
QueenJS:
I looked on Roots Ireland from 1820-1840 for a baptismal record for your ancestor with no success. A good number of RC churches do not have records back to that time period.
The surname Ford was found in a number of parishes in Co. Mayo when you review the 1856 Griffiths Valuation. See www.askaboutireland.ie
You may have already searched the US records for more clues. Possibly his death record might show parents names. Another source would be an obituary in the local paper in Wilkes-Barre.
Roger McDonnell
Bartholomew Ford
Hello QueenJS 13
I would concur with Roger but would add if you have details of any siblings born after Bartholomew this may assist in identifying parentage. One of the traditional naming patterns follow the rule that the first son is named after his paternal grandfather.
Given the first born child was Frank (Francis) in 1862 we potentially could be looking at one particular parish in Mayo-Bekan Roman Catholic Parish, Co. Mayo.
As you will note the parish records begin in 1832 and are incomplete. The Griffith valuation a census substitute indicates that the only Francis Ford(e) appear in the Civil Parish of Bekan ( Catholic Parish boundaries are similar) - http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=46&Submit.y=12&familyname=ford&wildcard=on&firstname=francis&baronyname=&countyname=MAYO&unionname=&parishname=
A sibling born 1832 or later may offer us the only opportunity to correctly identify the County and townland, should their baptismal record remain part of the remaining records.
Hello Roger and Pat, Thank you for looking into Bartholomew Ford for me. I really appreciate your hard work! I do not know the names of his parents or of any of his brothers and sisters. I do have the names of all of his children who were all born in the US and in Pennsylvania. Pat, how did you know that his first child was Frank b.1862? Was it listed in any Ireland records?
I have Barthly's obit but it only lists his children's names and not that of his parents. That is where I learned that he came from County Mayo but not any other parish information. Barthly's wife Sarah Mahon was born in Pennsylvania but both her parents came from Ireland. I do not know where in Ireland at this time or their names at this time. In the 1870 Federal Census there were two families named McMahon living next door to Barthley and Sarah Mahon Ford. So they could possibly be brothers named Michael and John and their families?
I have been looking at the links you both sent but the server is busy so I will have to try later.
My 2x great grandfather Thomas Williamson was from County Donegal. His father was James Williamson b. about 1808 and Thomas's mother was Mary Roarty b. about 1810. Through a family story written by Francis Patrick, his great grandson, I learned that James was a Scottish Clergyman who emigrated to Ireland and then when his oldest son James was six years old, he took his family to America. James and Mary had the following children: James, Anne (Mrs. Daniel McBride), John, Thomas, who was (my 2x gg), Mary (Mrs. Frank Hanlon) and Joseph. I do know that James and Thomas were born in Ireland. I am not sure of the others yet. Thomas was a Catholic so I do not know how or why that occurred since his father was a Protestant. If you have any leads in this respect please let me know.
If you have family in America to look up, I would be happy to help.
Regards,
Jeannie Schuler
Bartholomew Ford
Hello QueenJS 13
The details relating to the Francis born 1862 were obtained from a Find A Grave memorial and an online tree at Ancestry.
Looking into the Bekan records online at rootsireland, there is a family Francis Ford and Catherine Egan with several births from 1844 to 1857 which may be too late given your birth year for Bartholomew Ford of about 1830.
The parents and birth order of siblings are like strings of DNA when searching for records. The longer the string the more certain the match will be . At present with only Bartholomew and with us reaching for the inclusion of a Francis the likelihood of nailing down a match will prove elusive.
From the 1870 US census Bartholomew and his family are living next to a McMahon family who may be related to your Sarah Mahan, but more interestingly there is a Catherine Ford aged 20 (born Pennsylvania) whose relationship you have not referred to (possibly sister/cousin)living with Bartholomew. Also the Francis I have referred to appears to be going by the name John F. Ford.
Ultimately what you can unearth from naturalisation(if applicable) marriage and newspapers in the US will prove invaluable. Also does Catherine offer you a new avenue for research, if a sister details of the parents may be in US records on an earlier census.