Bill, If you haven't done so already, the Naturalization Papers and Records for your McDermott ancestors should be researched. Since they arrived after the Chicago Fire, the records *should* be there. For most of my Illinois research I use the IL Secretary of State and State Archives global database. Also, since you are an IL resident, the fees are quite low and in most cases, for IL residents, you can order records on-line. 1) Review "Naturalization Papers" & "Naturalization Records" at this URL: http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/irad/rd_countycourt.html#5.29 2) Another alternative is from the not-for-profit group: Cook County ILGenWeb Genealogy 
NATURALIZATIONS Lookups at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilcook/Lookups/lookupnaturalizations.htm There are a few volunteers who will do this for you for free or a small fee at Cook County IL GenWeb. 3) Family History Library (FHL/LDS resource): Topic: Illinois - Naturalization and citizenship - Indexes Titles:
Soundex index to naturalization petitions for U.S. District & Circuit Courts - Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 / United States. District Court (Illinois : Northern District) View: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=232846&disp=Soundex_index_to_naturalization_petition&columns=*,180,0 Authors: United States. District Court (Illinois : Northern District) (Main Author) & United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service (Added Author) Synopsis: "Both District and Circuit Courts in the Northern District of Illinois kept records concurrently until 1911 when the U.S. Circuit Court was abolished. Patrons should check both courts when searching for citizenship records during these years". "Researchers should search records of the court in which the naturalization occurred. Many courts retain custody of these records, others have been transferred to state and municipal archives". You can utilize these alternatives to discover the McDermott's port of embarkation, ship, et al. Good luck! Kathleen Hannum ___________________________________________________________________ --- wm.karr@insightbb.com wrote: Olive Tree Genealogy <otg@csolve.net> wrote: The problem with the Boston arrivals is there is an 8 1/2 year gap on M277 (which is titled Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston MA 1820-1891) The gap is from a April 1874 to 31 Dec 1882. -That is because there are no Federal records of any kind prior to 1883 (due to fire) and State Department copies were used in their place. ____________________________________________________________________ Bill K.: I have, over the last year, meticulously combed the ships arriving to the US during the latter part of 1881 and beginning of 1882 for Michael and Mary McDermott. They were married on 25 April 1881 in Haslingden, Lancashire, England and had their first born, John, on 25 May 1882 in Chicago, IL. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com