Help finding info on Irish GGGF

Question

I've been stumped for years regarding my gggf Patrick O'Connor.  Census records (starting with 1870) say he was born in Ireland in 1835, but I have found no reliable info on his early life and parentage.  The earliest document I can match to him is his marriage license: he married [[Nelson-13414|Louquincy Nelson]] in Shelby County, AL in 1866.  His 1908 obituary said he was a resident of New Orleans for 42 years, so they must have moved right away after marrying.  The paper trail is pretty easy after that.  Gggm Louquincy came from a fairly prominent Shelby County family, so Patrick did not simply step off the ship and marry her.  That suggests he had a significant connection to the Nelsons and/or Shelby for at least a few years.  So far that's got me nowhere.  The Holy Grail would be a marriage announcement or similar giving a little bio.  Does anyone have access to old Alabama newspapers, or have any other suggestions for tracing Patrick's early life?  Many thanks!

Answer 1

Maybe ?

Name:	Patrick O'Connor
Baptism Age:	0
Event Type:	Baptism
Birth Date:	1836
Baptism Date:	24 May 1836
Baptism Place:	St Michael's, Limerick city, Limerick, Ireland
Parish Variants:	St. Michaels, Limerick
Diocese:	Limerick
Father:	Patrick O'Connor
Mother:	Bridget Laheen

 

Source Citation

Catholic Parish Registers, The National Library of Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Microfilm Number: Microfilm 02415 / 06

Comments

Maybe!  How could one ever know?  Thanks!

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Patrick and Louquincy had ten children, none of them named (neither first nor middle) Patrick or Bridget or Laheen.  Don't know how significant that is, just observing.

Thanks for posting the obit on Patrick's profile!  Couldn't help noticing where you found it.  :D

Answer 2

I found Irish coming to Alabama on this site http://genealogytrails.com/ala/index.html but no O' Connor sorry.

You may also want to take a look at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sources-Ireland-Province-County#County_selectable_Sites

Lots of sources there

Comments

Thanks, Richard!  Tons of info there.

An O'Connor cousin told me her family lore is that Patrick immigrated direct to NOLA.  I've seen his name on passenger lists, etc, but the problem is always connecting the record to the man.  Same with military records.  Hence the idea to work backwards from Shelby.  He was a blacksmith by trade, so my theory is that his connection came from the Shelby Iron Works (perhaps the post-war salvage efforts) and/or the army.