Hi. I'm seeking information regarding the Guilfoyle Family's immigration to the United States, probably to New York, probably between 1840 and 1856. I do not have a first name, although it may have been John. Their son, John Joseph Guilfoyle, was born in New York in August of 1856. He is listed in the 1900 Census in Troy, New York, showing parents born in Ireland. I'd like to find out where they originated in Ireland (Tipperary??), name of ship, port of arrival, date of arrival, etc. The surname may have been spelled: Guilfoyle - Gilfoyle - Kilfoyle - McGuilfoyle - McGilfoyle. Any help?

On 31 May 2006 at 14:46, Jan Griffiths wrote: > Hi. I'm seeking information regarding the Guilfoyle Family's > immigration to the United States, probably to New York, > probably between 1840 and 1856. I do not have a first name, > although it may have been John. Their son, John Joseph > Guilfoyle, was born in New York in August of 1856. He is > listed in the 1900 Census in Troy, New York, showing parents > born in Ireland. > > I'd like to find out where they originated in Ireland > (Tipperary??), name of ship, port of arrival, date of > arrival, etc. > > The surname may have been spelled: Guilfoyle - Gilfoyle - > Kilfoyle - McGuilfoyle - McGilfoyle. > > The very first thing I'd do is check the USA 1860 census to find out the names of John's parents. Given the number of spelling variations of the surname you will have trouble finding them on a ships list and verifying they are the right family without first names Then I'd hunt in 1850 census to see if the parents show up. If yes, you've narrowed your timeframe for immigration. You can start your census search at http://allcensusrecords.com/ You will find links there to the various years online plus a Comparison Chart which will help you determine the bigger sites with census records. Once you've found John's parents (and any older siblings of John born in Ireland) you can start on passenger lists. There are indexes to ships passenger lists for most ports for the time period of interest to you. You can get a list of film numbers (NARA & FHC) at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nara_indexbyport.shtml Scroll down to the state you want and click on the link, then find the film # you need, then decide whether to order it in to a nearby FHC or have NARA do a lookup. The staff of the National Archives will undertake a search of the original records for a fee. You can also search using Steve Morse's One Step pages at http://www.stevemorse.org/ You want Castle Garden and pre- Castle Garden search engines. Castle Garden existed as a processing station for immigrants between 1855 and 1890. For more help with this time period see "Castle Garden: Ships Passenger Lists to New York 1 Aug.1855 - 18 Apr. 1890" at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/castle-garden.htm Lorine -- Lorine McGinnis Schulze * Olive Tree Genealogy (Ships Passenger Lists) http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ * Naturalization Records http://naturalizationrecords.com/ * Images of Ships Lists http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/ships/ otg@csolve.net or olivetreegenealogy@gmail.com