Seeking information about my Irish GG-grandparents Johanna O'Mara (born c.1832) and Thomas White (b. 1829).

Question

I am trying to locate specific information about my great-great grandparents - namely where exactly they were born in Ireland; the names of both of their parents; their exact dates and location of emigration (they arrived to the U.S. separately); the date and location of their wedding in New York, and information about their naturalization. I have searched and searched but cannot seem to nail down these specifics. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer! It is truly appreciated. 

Known information:

Thomas White: born December 1829 in Ireland. Father’s name possibly Patrick White. Immigration year 1852. Died May 19, 1907, in Mineola, New York. 

 

Johanna M. O’Mara (alternative spelling Mara, Meara, O’Meara, Ó Meadhra): born c. 1832 in Ireland. Middle name was possibly Mary or Margaret. Father’s name listed on death certificate was Patrick Meara (possibly born c.1808). Mother’s first name listed as Mary. Immigrated c.1849 to New York City. Johanna died on April 4, 1899, in Mineola, New York from injuries she sustained in a tragic fire. 

 

Thomas and Johanna married in New York between 1852-1857. They may have known one another and came from the same location in Ireland. 

 

Thomas and Johanna had at least 6 children together in New York including John J. White (b.1857, d.1922); Charles White (b.1859, d.1907); Mary Elizabeth White (b.1863, d.1937); James White (b.1864, d.?); Thomas White (b.1868); and Julia A. White (b.1871, d.1883). 

 

Thomas and Johanna lived in Mineola, New York on their farm listed as North Hempstead, Nassau County, New York in the census records. 

 

Comments

Start searching new york records for death registrations, obituaries, history of their children that might give more information about where they came from.  

Read the history of the area they lived in and see if they mention anything about them in the newspapers and see if you can locate their shipping records to see if they came over with others you could research to learn more about where they came from.

Registrations of births, marriages, deaths, etc.  were not required in Ireland until the mic 1840's,  if you know where they come from some of the parishes may contain earlier records but not always.  The earliest census are incomplete and begin in the 1820 or 1830's and are only the heads of families.

Just wondering where you got the information that you do have on them for example that his father's name may be Patrick?  Irish naming patterns are usually that the 1st/eldest son is named after the paternal grandparent, the 1st daughter is named after the maternal grandmother, the 2nd son is named after the maternal grandfather and the 2nd daughter is named after the paternal grandmother.  This can not always be true if the eldest has died at a young age.

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Thank you for your reply, Lynn. I have done all of the above and have collaborated with extended family members who have done the same. The information I included above contains all known information about them.

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Hi again, Lynn. To answer your question regarding how I obtained the names of their children, this came directly from the census records, and Johanna's father's name from her death certificate. I am familiar with the traditional Irish naming pattern, so I thought perhaps their first born son may have passed away, taking the name Patrick with him. Just a theory.

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Well these are the Patrick Meara's who paid Tithes (to the Church of Ireland/Anglican, everyone had to no matter what religion) on land they rented (applotments) for the years around 1828, it may or may not give you a location to start looking.  http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=meara&firstname=patrick+&county=&parish=&townland=&search=Search

I could find any on the irish census of 1841 or 1851 but then we don't have all the census materials from those dates.

Patrick/Thomas Whites are too many to consider but you could have a look for them.  

The Catholic registries are on line but they are not searchable you have to know the parish and then go through the books on line one page at a time looking for information - as I am doing for another country right now.  If you are interested just search Catholic church records ireland and they will come up.

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Thanks again, Lynn. Yes, the tricky part is how common these names were and not knowing precisely where they lived in Ireland. I have been slowly combing through the Catholic registries, Tithe records, Griffith's Valuation, national and local newspapers and archives, both in Ireland and the US, but it's a very slow process. I have learned a great amount about them from what others have already gathered and what I have discovered myself, but the facts I listed in my initial post that myself and others are searching for lay hidden.

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It is a struggle just keep moving along as you are doing, sometimes it is still out there or sometimes I find that I need to look at something in a different way.  In my family I thought my great grandfather would be named after his grandfather however his first name was not the same as his grandfather but his second name was the same.  They had given my grandfather his maternal grandfather's first name and his paternal grandfather's second name.  And then some people are always known by a second name or nickname rather then their original birth registration name.  So many ways to throw people off.  Good luck.

Answer 1

The New York, Irish Immigrant Arrival Records, 1846-1851, database on www. ancestry.com - https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5969&h=594350&ssrc=pt&tid=113902528&pid=222065210778&usePUB=true - has the following entry:

Thomas White (age 21) - born ca. 1830 - male - arriving out of Liverpool - Ship Guy Mannering - workman - headed to New Jersey - arriving in New York on June 16, 1861

A descendant has claimed in an ancestry.com family tree that it's the same Thomas White as yours, though the name is common enough that it's hard to know if that is right without more.

Comments

Thank you for your reply, Roger. On the last census record I have for Thomas in 1900, it lists his birthdate as December 1829 and his immigration year as 1852. Other documentation supports these facts as well.

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Patricia:

   I had a typo - 1851, not 1861, for the immigration year.   That makes him a somewhat better candidate.

One of these days, I'll learn to proof myself better.

                                  Roger