Help with my Scranton, Pa branch? Involves European research.

Question

I've hit an overall wall with my dad's family. In all directions.  

Here are his mother's parents:
Mother: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pastellak-1

Father: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dougherty-1089

I don't know anything about this branch, my grandmother died when my dad was young.

And here's his dad's (Andrew Seamon):
Mother: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Zayac-5

Father:
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Seamon-117

I've been told that they were both immigrants. Pauline Zayac came over at age 10-13 for an arranged marriage in the early 1900's with one or two brothers. Her parents and younger siblings stayed. Supposedly from Russia, but the caption on her picture leads me to think Ukraine.

Answer 1

Scranton is twinned with Ballina in Mayo and Creane, Hennigan etc are Mayo names. The following might help though the ages don’t always match that well.

It looks like Francis Dogherty married Mary Hennegan in Q1 1865 at Ballina:

Name	FRANCIS DOGHERTY
Date of Event	1865
Group Registration ID	N/R
SR District/Reg Area	Ballina
Returns Year	1865
Returns Quarter	1
Returns Volume No	9
Returns Page No	7

 

Name	MARY HENNEGAN
Date of Event	1865
Group Registration ID	N/R
SR District/Reg Area	Ballina
Returns Year	1865
Returns Quarter	1
Returns Volume No	9
Returns Page No	7

Francis Dogherty and Mary Hennigan had several children in Currower (my gg grandfather is from there).

• 18^th June 1866 John: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1866/03525/2296836.pdf
• 24^th March 1868 Bridget: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1868/03436/2261294.pdf. This one may have died young:

Name	BRIDGET DOHERTY
Year of Death	1875
Group Registration ID	N/R
SR District/Reg Area	Ballina
Deceased Age at Death	7
Returns Year	1875
Returns Quarter	2
Returns Volume No	9
Returns Page No	9

• 26^th January 1877 Thomas: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1877/03018/2105825.pdf
• 10^th April 1879 Francis: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1879/02914/2067598.pdf

After that we have Francis Doherty and Mary Hennigan in Currower:

• 12^th September 1883 Pat: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/cert_amends/cert_1883/1997114a.pdf
• 27^th May 1886 Bridget: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1886/02588/1956162.pdf
• 26^th April 1890 Annie: https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1890/02415/1899975.pdf

Now there is a confusion factor of a Michael being born to Anthony Dogherty and Mary Hennigan on 1^st January 1870 in Currower - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1870/03355/2229907.pdf

That’s quite a wide span of years so it may represent two families with matching names.

The latter children appear in the 1901 census: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Sallymount/Carrower/1573311/

In 1911 the ages of their parents had jumped a bit http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Sallymount/Corrower/701210/ to bring them more in line with the marriage date. Mary is shown as having 10 living children but only five of these are listed in the census returns plus John and Thomas leaves three unaccounted for. Mary is given as being 69 that would have her giving birth from the age of 24/25 to 48/49.

The best candidate for Mary’s death is https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1932/04878/4319816.pdf which has her dying at 85 on 18^th April 1932 in Currower with son Francis in attendance.

Francis lived on until the end of the year dying aged 90 on 31st December 1932 in Currower with son Francis in attendance - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1933/04864/4314525.pdf.

Comments

Thomas was baptised in early October 1876 ie 3 months before he was born. The parents are listed as Francis Doherty and Mary Hennighan, the witnesses as Michael Hennighan and Bridget ? - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632288#page/7/mode/1up

The same occurred with Francis who was baptised on 10th January 1879 - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632288#page/15/mode/1up

 

This register only goes back to 16th June 1875 though.

 

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Ooh, thank you! Do you happen to know how to get back farther? Or...how to find more info on the Creans? I am at a total loss once I get out of American records. I want to learn!

Since I posted the question; I have found Michael's obituary; it includes siblings. All of this info is matching! The only thing is that there are eight siblings mentioned in the obituary. John, Thomas, Frank, Patrick, Mary, Anna, Winnie, Bridget. Plus Michael would be nine, so I think we're still good here. Maybe "10" is the first Bridget you listed, who died young. Or maybe at some point they just quit counting, lol.

So for the 1911 Ireland census we have Francis, Patrick, Bridget, and Anna. I have the American 1910 Census showing Michael settled in Scranton. John is also settled in Pa, Winnie is staying with him. Thomas is mentioned as having stayed in Ireland in Michael's obituary (1935).

Which leaves Mary. I don't know where Mary is in 1911, but I do know that she came to America at some point, married a man named Stoeber, probably lived in Chicago for a few years, and was institutionalized in Pennsylvania for "manic depression" by/around 1935, where she stayed until she died. I would love to fill in the gaps for her.

So...yay! Thank you very much! I had no clue how to narrow down the town they came from; I can't afford the international ancestry membership and did not know about the webaites that you pulled from. Thank you, thank you! I'm excited to spend a few hours reading into the history of Currower!

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Hi again,

I’m not sure there’s much more that can be done easily on the Dogherty’s.

There’s only one Dogherty family shown in Corrower in 1856 and that’s headed by Mary - http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=DOGHERTY+&countyname=MAYO&parishname=ATTYMASS She might be Francis’ mother but difficult to prove, if he had an older brother they would have inherited the family landholding. For example, Dan Doherty (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Sallymount/Carrower/1573301/). There is a Mary Dogherty who died in 1877 aged 70 but nothing else is recorded about her.

As for the father, Patt Dougherty is shown as sharing a landholding with Patt Culkin and Jno McGlin in Currower in 1834 - http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/reels/tab//004587400/004587400_00181.pdf

He might also be listed in the list of voters from 1831 and 1850 but these are not available on-line.

Dogherty seems to be an Ulster name. In the 1901 census around 75% of them lived there. 280 Ulster catholic families relocated to Mayo and Galway in 1795 in the so called “Diamond Flight”. This included three Dogherty families from the parish of Dromore in County Tyrone. Two of the 17 families from Dromore settled in Ballina, which ones isn’t known. The Dogherty families were headed by Michael, Owen, and William. Most Mayo Doghertys live further west in the parish of Kilbride.

Three Dogherty’s from Mayo are listed as claimants for damages after the 1798 rebellion: Patrick, Terence, and Edmond. Again no more information available.

More later...

 

 

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Bridget Crean took a while to find, she turned up as being born on 6^th August 1869 in Bofield - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1869/03380/2238913.pdf. Bofield is a hamlet in the townland of Carrowcastle just up the road from Currower. It’s named after the nearby Beaufield House.

Martin Crean and Sarah Glacken married on 28^th October (?) 1862 at Kilgarvin - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632309#page/33/mode/1up. Their witnesses were John Kilgallon and ? Glacken. They had several other children:

• Mary was born 11^th September 1866 in Bofield – https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1866/03515/2292549.pdf

• Kate was born on 1^st March 1872 in Carrowcastle –https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1872/03256/2193101.pdf Her name is next to Bridget’s in that issue of The Scranton Tribune.

• Anne was born 13^th June 1876 in Carrowcastle - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1876/03051/2118623.pdf

• John was born 9^th September 1879 in Carrowcastle - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1879/02903/2063414.pdf

Of course the parish registers at Kilgarvin show a somewhat different set of dates:

• Catherine was baptised on 5^th November 1871 - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632310#page/13/mode/1up

• Annie was baptised on 22^nd September 1874 - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632310#page/26/mode/1up

• Martin was born and baptised on 25^th November 1877 - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632310#page/40/mode/1up

• John was born and baptised on 27^th October 1878 - http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000632310#page/44/mode/1up

The place of birth was always given as Bofield.

The 1901 census record for them is at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Sallymount/Carrowcastle/1573328/. This shows Martin, Sarah plus children Anne, John, Michael, and James.

The 1911 record is at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Sallymount/Carrowcastle/701256/ Sarah is shown as having had 9 children of whom 6 are still living.

A lot of people suddenly “aged” after 1908 as the government introduced pensions for the over 70s but in this case it looks correct as Martin died aged 79 on 7^th September 1913 - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1913/05324/4481677.pdf, and Sarah died also aged 79 on 30^th July 1917 - https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1917/05206/4438940.pdf.

Martin Creane Snr and Jnr are shown as living at Carrowcrum in 1856 - http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=creane&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=&countyname=MAYO&unionname=&parishname=KILGARVAN&Submit.x=17&Submit.y=10

Carrowcrum is adjacent to Carrowcastle, just east of Beaufield House. These two will be father and son, if they weren’t their names would be suffixed with their father’s name eg Martin (Francis).

There’s nothing obvious prior to this.

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Good old FamilySearch are showing Francis Dogherty and Mary Hennigan's marriage details at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGDZ-53J 

Looks like the date was 15 May 1865 and the two fathers were Micheal Dogherty and Thomas Hennegan. The marriage was probably at Attymass as this is the only local parish that doesn't have marriage registers for this date. Neither of the fathers are in 1885 electoral roll for Mayo North so are probably dead by then - though we don't know whether they were alive at the time of the marriage.

A possible sister for Francis is Catherine Dogherty who married Patrick O'Brien on 7th April 1864 - her father was Michael Dogherty too.

 

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Lochaín

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Hi there you may be happy to know that the Doherty cottage is still standing in Currower, hasn't been lived in since 1969/70 when Bridget died. She is buried in the family plot in Kilgarvin Cemetery with her parents Francis and Mary and her brothers Thomas and Francis.