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Different first names

TipperaryUpperchurch (Tipperary)

I am trying todetermine if Thomas McNamara and his wife, Judith (Johanna?) Dwyer are my great great grandparents. According to rootsireland info, they were married in Upperchurch in November 1831. Rootsireland shows baptism records for three children,Mary McNamara born 1834;John McNamara born 1835 and Anne McNamara born 1843, all in Upperchurch.

My great grandfather was John McNamara; he died in 1914 in New Orleans. He had two sisters, Mary McNamara Ferguson and Annie McNamara Broderick. All three siblings got to New Orleans, Louisiana during the time of the Great Hunger and all three died in New Orleans. I don't know what year they arrivedor which port of arrival in USA. I recently obtained Annie McNamara Broderick's death certificate. She died in New Orleans in 1923. The death certificate shows she was the daughter of Tom McNamara and Johanna Dwyer, both natives of Ireland.

I am wondering if Judith and Johanna might be the same person and Thomas and Tom might be the same person. The info on parents on the death cerficicatte might be incorrect as to spelling since Annie died many years after coming to the USA. According to my family, John McNamara did come from Tipperary but there is no family record of any particular town and/or parish.

3mermaids

5 replies

Hello Mary,

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.

 

I would suggest that you look for recurring names through  the records that you've found, and yes as all the church records were in Latin then I think it may be possible that Judith and JOhanna culd be one and the same. Obviously Thomas and Tom are the same person.

Anne

IrelandXO member

Thomas and Tom are interchangeable personal names and I have often come across Judith and Johanna used for the same person. It seems probable that this is the correct family as the personal names of the children match the family names you have. However I notice that the Upperchurch baptismal date for Anne is 1843 and the famine years were approx 1846 -1849/50 so this would mean she was very young to travel to New Orleans without parents or did the parents travel also? Have you found any of the family in the 1860 US census it might help to clarify dates of birth etc. 

I had a group of related families that travelled to New Orleands in 1848 and finding them in the US Census was a great help to confirm their origins.

 

Clare 

Clare Tuohy

Thomas and Tom are interchangeable personal names and I have often come across Judith and Johanna used for the same person. It seems probable that this is the correct family as the personal names of the children match the family names you have. However I notice that the Upperchurch baptismal date for Anne is 1843 and the famine years were approx 1846 -1849/50 so this would mean she was very young to travel to New Orleans without parents or did the parents travel also? Have you found any of the family in the 1860 US census it might help to clarify dates of birth etc. 

I had a group of related families that travelled to New Orleands in 1848 and finding them in the US Census was a great help to confirm their origins.

 

Clare 

Clare Tuohy

Thomas and Tom are interchangeable personal names and I have often come across Judith and Johanna used for the same person. It seems probable that this is the correct family as the personal names of the children match the family names you have. However I notice that the Upperchurch baptismal date for Anne is 1843 and the famine years were approx 1846 -1849/50 so this would mean she was very young to travel to New Orleans without parents or did the parents travel also? Have you found any of the family in the 1860 US census it might help to clarify dates of birth etc. 

I had a group of related families that travelled to New Orleands in 1848 and finding them in the US Census was a great help to confirm their origins.

 

Clare 

Clare Tuohy

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