Could this be "Our" Bernard Keenan??
From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a “Missing Friends” column with advertisements from people looking for “lost” friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 31,711 records is available as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad that appeared in the Pilot.
The advertisements contain the ordinary but revealing details about the missing person’s life: the county and parish of their birth, when they left Ireland, the believed port of arrival in North America, their occupation, and a range of other personal information. Some records may have as many as 50 different data fields, while others may offer only a few details. The people who placed ads were often anxious family members in Ireland, or the wives, siblings, or parents of men who followed construction jobs on railroads or canals.
Link to the database: http://infowanted.bc.edu/
A search of the database resulted in the following information:
An advertisement on January 13, 1855 placed by Bernard Keehan (Keenan?), male. He was searching for Ellen Keenan, Patrick Keenan and Rose Keenan. All were listed with port of origin information as Home County:Armagh, Parish:Forkill, Townland:Forkill, Barony:Orior Upper, Poor-Law:Newry and Location after Arrival as Piermont New York.
Vol III 1854-1856
13 Jan 1855
OF ROSE, ELLEN, or PATK KEENAN, parish of Forkhill, co Armagh; when last heard from were at Piermont, N Y. Information of them will be received by Bernard Keehan [sic], care of Mrs Sulia [sic] Carey, Euterpe st, near the corner of Apollo st, N Orleans.
Letters written in the mid to late 1880's to Bernard from his mother Bridget, still in Ireland, often refer to Ellen and Patrick and that she has not heard from them. She does not mention Rose. If this is the correct family perhaps Rose is the wife of Patrick or maybe Rose died after they immigrated but before the letters were written?
Forkill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Birth Place of Bernard Keenan
Forkhill or Forkill (from Irish: Foirceal) is a small village in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the Ring of Gullion, near Slieve Fuad. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 366 people.
The name is pronounced as either fork-hill or for-kil and derives from the Middle Irish oircél, probably meaning "valley".
1 comments:
Hi,
Great site! Very interesting about Bernard and his family. My grandparents were also from Mullaghbawn, and settled in Liverpool, and I have just started a blog site in a similar vein to your own. St. Mary's Church which you show has several stain glass windows in memory of my grandparents, father and his 9 sisters. My name is Cormac Murphy and I am back in Ireland near Cork city. My father and grandfather were both Michael Murphy. I am one of 15 children - so I am hoping to get a few comments on my site. The site is: http://mullaghbawntoliverpool.blogspot.com/
If you don't mind, I will put a link on our site to yours, as I am sure the family will find it very interesting! Good luck, Cormac
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