Hallihan, Waterford to Massachusetts
Hello, happy to join this website - my Waterford ancestry has always been the biggest gap in my knowledge, perhaps it can be improved here. I have no parish information, just what I found in US records of the family and the word of mouth traditions. Perhaps with what I know, eventually the parish could be guessed at.
Immigrant ancestor: Patrick Hallihan, arrived in New York in 1854 with his wife Mary (Murray) and their one-year-old son Patrick (known as Patrick George in later records).
The family went first to Sterling, Mass. as shown on the 1855 state census, living with Patrick's sister Margaret and her husband Daniel Mulcahy and their two children Margaret and Thomas (both born in Ireland). The census says Patrick was 30, his wife 20, and Margaret 38. Margaret Hallihan Mulcahy died in 1869 of phthisis (TB I believe) and at the time her parents' names were given as Patrick Hallihan and Johanna Keefe. My family never knew that Margaret existed till I found her in the Mass. death records, so it is interesting to see that the parents listed match exactly with what family tradition always said were the names of Patrick's parents.
By 1860, Patrick had relocated to a farm in Holden, Mass. where he remained the rest of his life - he died in 1916. Mary Murray died of TB in 1867, and exactly 1 year later (evidently a mourning requirement) Patrick married Mary Cotter. Tradition has it that she was related to Mary Murray, and came over to take care of the family when Mary fell ill. My great-grandfather was born in January 1869 so he was clearly on the way by the time his parents married.
On Mary Cotter's death certificate from 1911 her parents are given as Timothy Cotter and Katherine McGeal or McGrail but we have no corroborating information, that is what was provided by the family to the authorities.
Patrick's children were: Patrick, Lawrence, Mary Ann, Ellen, Bridget, Johanna, and Margaret Mary (first marriage) and Thomas, James, Katherine, Alice, Timothy, William, and John (second marriage). The only child of the first marriage to survive into the 20th century was Margaret Mary, they all died young of phthisis and/or pulmonary tuberculosis.
It does look as though I know a lot, but sadly none of this has led me to a particular parish in Ireland. I looked at Griffith's Valuation online to see if there was a place where these names were all found together, but had no luck. If this meshes with anyone else's research, or if anyone knows of a parish I ought to look at, I would appreciate hearing of it!