Hi Karen, Census records and also US Naturalizations for those who arrived prior to September 1906, through anecdotal reports from other reasearchers, are notoriously erroneous in regard to the to the actual YEAR of emigration ... it appears that the year itself was the most misremembered part of the date. The month or time-frame is usually fairly close, or as you mention, the November 1st date could refer to the emigration rather than the arrival month. Consider name misspellings too, eg. Allan rather than Allen. You also mention your 10 year old great grandmother, but you don't name her. It may be easier to find her rather than William. You don't say in what year he naturalized ; if it was a long time later there may be other things to consider, such as ... was it really at New York? ... where did they settle? There was no need for him to have to *prove* his arrival in order to naturalize, so "New York" might have been easier than trying to explain at which port he arrived. Just some things to consider, Sue -- TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/ At 05:12 PM 2010-11-06 -0400, Karen Hoy wrote: >Hello all, > >I am hoping you can help me find the arrival of my gg grandfather, William >Allen. The place that he came from-most likely northern Ireland-is a >mystery. I just found his naturalization papers and it says he arrived in >New York 1 Nov 1882. (the census information had said they arrived in 1881) >I would like to find the ship he was on, and haven't been successful through >Castle Garden. Does anyone have access to ships arrivals by date, and can >you see what ship came in to NY on Nov 1 that might have left Ireland, and >then can you help me get the manifest? I'd like to see if there was family >on the ship with him. William should have been around 58 when he arrived. >His wife's name was Jane. > > > >Some of his daughters came to the US before he did, but there may have been >a 10 year old with them-my great grandmother. > > > >All assistance is very welcome. Thanks so much, > >Karen > > > >Karen B. Hoy > >kbhoy@comcast.net

Dear Sue, William Allen has been a challenge to find! My mother died when I was very young, and her parents were gone, so I have no family information to rely upon. Here's what I know...little as it is. ( and I do suspect that the spelling changed and the story/years were different). I know the family were members of the Church of Ireland, and were active in the Episcopal Church in Nanticoke, PA. (that's coal country). They identify themselves as being Irish (there was no Northern Ireland at the time) and cousins have said they were from the North. William's occupation is listed as laborer in the 1900 census. He was born in approximately 1824-1825. In PA in those days, the path to citizenship was three steps--the declaration, the intention and citizenship. Luzerne County, where Nanticoke is located, has lost the declarations of those people whose last names began with "A". I have the last two documents, which were filed months apart, in August and November, 1889 Nanticoke is in northeastern PA. It is equidistant from NY and Phila. It is probably that NY City was the port of entry. By 1882, when William entered this country, two of his daughters were living here, married with children. Two other daughters--Anna Belle and Louise or Lulu (my great grandmother)--may have come over then with them. William's wife's name was Jane Hamilton Allen. If there is a listing of ships which arrived in November, 1882 I would love to know how to find the ships by month and year. All assistance is most welcome. Karen -----Original Message----- From: Sue Swiggum [mailto:swig@ns.sympatico.ca] Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 6:00 PM To: Karen Hoy; theshipslist@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [TSL] Ships that arrived NY Nov 1 1882 Hi Karen, Census records and also US Naturalizations for those who arrived prior to September 1906, through anecdotal reports from other reasearchers, are notoriously erroneous in regard to the to the actual YEAR of emigration ... it appears that the year itself was the most misremembered part of the date. The month or time-frame is usually fairly close, or as you mention, the November 1st date could refer to the emigration rather than the arrival month. Consider name misspellings too, eg. Allan rather than Allen. You also mention your 10 year old great grandmother, but you don't name her. It may be easier to find her rather than William. You don't say in what year he naturalized ; if it was a long time later there may be other things to consider, such as ... was it really at New York? ... where did they settle? There was no need for him to have to *prove* his arrival in order to naturalize, so "New York" might have been easier than trying to explain at which port he arrived. Just some things to consider, Sue -- TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/ At 05:12 PM 2010-11-06 -0400, Karen Hoy wrote: >Hello all, > >I am hoping you can help me find the arrival of my gg grandfather, William >Allen. The place that he came from-most likely northern Ireland-is a >mystery. I just found his naturalization papers and it says he arrived in >New York 1 Nov 1882. (the census information had said they arrived in 1881) >I would like to find the ship he was on, and haven't been successful through >Castle Garden. Does anyone have access to ships arrivals by date, and can >you see what ship came in to NY on Nov 1 that might have left Ireland, and >then can you help me get the manifest? I'd like to see if there was family >on the ship with him. William should have been around 58 when he arrived. >His wife's name was Jane. > > > >Some of his daughters came to the US before he did, but there may have been >a 10 year old with them-my great grandmother. > > > >All assistance is very welcome. Thanks so much, > >Karen > > > >Karen B. Hoy > >kbhoy@comcast.net