Hi all, I am new to this list and hope someone can point me in the right direction. My g-grandfather, William O'Brien arrived in New York on 1 Nov 1851 on the ship Nathaniel G. Weeks (London to New York, departed 25 Sept 1851). William stayed in new York for about 15 months and left New York to Panama on the ship SS United States on 5 Feb 1853. From there, on to San Francisco. I am trying to find immigration information upon his arrival in New York. I know he is a native of County Limerick, but I need to find the parish or town name he was from to continue my research in Ireland. It is also possible that he married his wife Catherine while in New York. Her maiden name is believed to be O'Brien also. William sailed to San Francisco alone and his wife may have traveled later. All of our records in San Francisco were destroyed in 1906 and all the information I have found on him and his family was through newspapers. If anyone can point me in the right direction for this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Mike O'Brien obrienm@netwiz.net Monterey, California

Dear Mike: Fifteen months is a very short time! If it is the ship manifest you are looking for (you already have the ship name and date), you can access that by ordering the film at your local FHC. The manifest may or may not give you more detail. Probably not (in that time period), but it's worth a shot if you don't already have it. That will be the only "immigration" record you will find. He certainly wasn't here long enough to be naturalized so he probably did that in SF. In that early period, the natz don't usually give you much more than "Ireland" anyway, even if he did file his intent here. But, there is one source that you may have a slim chance of finding that information (from NY records) from. The Emigrant Savings Bank records begin in 1850 and since you have such a narrow window when he was here, you have a relatively short search period (an account established 1851-53). If he opened an account at that bank, the information could include the parish or townland name. That's a big "if" however. One of the difficulties will be to determine who your William O'Brien is. It is a very common name and there could be many. The only way to sort him out (if he's there at all) would be to look at all William O'Briens for that timeframe. Possible. You have the ship name and date, which will help because that information is usually a part of the record as well. So that could confirm whether you have found the right guy or not. Anyway, that would be my suggestion. There aren't many sources for that information in that time period. The usual ones are tombstones, obits, and these wonderful ESB records. I don't know where in your area they are available though. I assume you've already checked for a death notice and seen his grave? I assume you've done all of your census work? If they lived to 1900, that census should tell you how long they had been married. Or, from others you can guesstimate by the birth of the first child from the 1860 census for SF (if the first child lived to that point). You didn't mention whether he was Catholic or not. If so, he most likely did not have his marriage to Catherine registered (civil registration) except by the church. Which church would be the big question and where (what county). Again, the commonality of the name and no firm last name for Catherine creates a bit of a pickle. If they married in England before departing you could be in luck there. Even Catholics registered marriages with civil authorities in that time period. Like many Irish, he may have been living and working in England before he emigrated to the US. Those records should be available through your local FHC as well. But, with the marriage, your biggest problem is the uncertainty of Catherine's maiden name. I would try to pin that down before doing anything else along the lines of a marriage search. For instance, have you acquired all the death certificates for all of her children? I'm not clear about what may or may not be included in a CA death record, but for later periods, here in NY, they include the mother's maiden name. Obtain any and all marriage records of her children. They should have her maiden name... If birth records exist in your area for the period, the same. Or baptismal records. Don't trust just one source. Obtain as many documents as you can. You increase your chances of determining the information you seek with every bit. My two cents worth... :) Best regards. Nancy. Nancy Coleman NLColeman@worldnet.att.net NYC & LI Research Services www.GenealogyPro.com/ncoleman.html ncroots@worldnet.att.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike O'Brien" <obrienm@netwiz.net> To: <IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 1:24 PM Subject: [IRISH-NYC] O'Brien Research > Hi all, > > I am new to this list and hope someone can point me in the right direction. > > My g-grandfather, William O'Brien arrived in New York on 1 Nov 1851 on the ship Nathaniel G. Weeks (London to New York, departed 25 Sept 1851). > > William stayed in new York for about 15 months and left New York to Panama on the ship SS United States on 5 Feb 1853. From there, on to San Francisco. > > I am trying to find immigration information upon his arrival in New York. I know he is a native of County Limerick, but I need to find the parish or town name he was from to continue my research in Ireland. It is also possible that he married his wife Catherine while in New York. Her maiden name is believed to be O'Brien also. William sailed to San Francisco alone and his wife may have traveled later. > > All of our records in San Francisco were destroyed in 1906 and all the information I have found on him and his family was through newspapers. > > If anyone can point me in the right direction for this information, I would greatly appreciate it. > > Mike O'Brien > obrienm@netwiz.net > Monterey, California > > > > ==== IRISH-NEW-YORK-CITY Mailing List ==== > Do you miss receiving MISSING LINKS and SOMEBODY'S LINKS? If so, > just subscribe to: > http://www.petuniapress.com/ > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >