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Finding my Parish

TyroneDonacavey (Tyrone)

Hello

I'm trying to discover who some of my Irish ancestors were and when they migrated here to the US. My mother's side of the family is the Irish side with the name Echols which was once spelled Eccles (with other variations on the name). The Echols family origin is in the UK, however they eventually migrated to both Wicklow and Tyrone counties. I was able to stumble upon someone named Annie Eccles who was born in 1891 and was later aboard the ship The Columbia migrating to the US. Her port of departure was Londonderry and she arrived on September 02, 1906 in New York, USA. She may have absolutely no connection to me, however she is the only person I found who was also from the Tyrone County as my Coat of Arms stated where my ancestors migrated from. She's the only person who has come close to being one of my ancestors. If someone could help in any way, especially clarifying Annie's role as one of my possible ancestors, it is much appreciated! Thanks!

Link to Annie's Passenger Record, she is Line 0005 - http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passRecord.asp?MID=05488202900876738112&LNM=ECCLES&PLNM=ECCLES&SYR=1890&EYR=1910&last_kind=0&town_kind=0&ship_kind=0&TOWN=TYRONE&RF=5ÐS=49&TWN=Tyrone&pID=102284160124&

 

 

-Samantha

IrelandXO member

2 replies

Hi Sam

The only birth/baptism record of Ann Eccles around 1891 is 1887 in Antrim.

The parish is Tullylish which is now considered to be in Down; I wonder if it could have been Tyrone in the past but couldn't find any evidence of this. However I looked at Annie's passenger record and it says last place of residence rather than where born so this could be her but the 4 year difference in the years is a worrry; however, with literacy and transcription errors you never know.

There are some promising public member trees on ancestry with Eccles info - do you have access?

Maybe you need to tell us what US info you have going back and we can pick it up from there

Col

ColCaffIrelandXO Volunteer

The 1901 Irish census has 387 Eccles, mostly from the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh & Tyrone though there is a scattering elsewhere too. No Echols.

I wouldn?t read too much into Londonderry as the port of departure. People travelled from all over Ireland to join boats to the US, and though she may well have lived near Londonderry, she could have come from anywhere in Ireland. (By far the busiest port of departure was Liverpool, with far more emigrants leaving from there than ever left directly from Ireland. So if you were happy to cross to Liverpool to join your boat, crossing Ireland didn?t bother you either. There was a lot of competition for the business and shipping agents often included the costs of getting to the port of departure in the ticket price).

The only Ann Eccles of the right age in the 1901 census is this one (she?s probably the one that Col has identified):

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Antrim/Shankhill/Agnes_Street/947527/

Unfortunately she?s still in Ireland in 1911, so she can?t be your ancestor. There are a few others in the census of approximately that age. However I think you probably need to try and get her parents names from a marriage or death certificate, or some other source in the USA, to be sure you have the right one. It would also be helpful if you knew her exact religious denomination as that too will narrow the search.

There are 9 female Eccles born in Tyrone in the 1901 census, but none named Ann aged c 9/10.

I read somewhere that the Eccles in Ireland were probably descendants of Welsh settlers who came in the 1600s.

The borders of Co Tyrone were changed in the early 1600s but they never included any part of Co Down.

Ahoghill AntrimIrelandXO Volunteer

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