Free on line Irish Civil Registrtion Records

For any of us that are doing Irish Genealogy and Research, September of 2016 was a big day for us. Why you ask?
Because that is when the civil vital records from Ireland's General Register Office, otherwise known as GRO went on line for free. To view civil records go to https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/agreement.jsprds

They have the following on line:

• Births         1864-1915
• Marriages   1882-1940
• Deaths         1891-1965

They will have some earlier dates on future updates. The end dates are due to privacy law restrictions.

You can search their site for free and they have a lot of images to view. You will need to sign in and a small easy test to prove you are not a robot, but then you view all the images on line that are available for FREE.
There is a great section explaining what they have available and also a section telling you where to get other Irish records. some examples are as follows:

• Civil Records
• Church Records
• Census Records
• Property Records
• Migration Records
• Graveyards
• Geography
• How to 

Also a great section on HOW DOES THIS SITE WORK?
The site gives a great number of resources. If you have Irish Ancestors do not delay in checking it out.

 

Under marriages I found  the records of two cousins twice removed. They are the children of James Nolan the brother of Sarah Nolan, my Great Grandmother on my Father's side of the Family. 

You may remember that I couldn't find any records of the two eldest children (James and Jane) of William & Anne Eliza (Maguines/Magennis) Nolan (my great grandparents) coming to America. James is Sarah's older brother found in the 1881 Scotland's Census. Sarah, her father William, and her brother Joseph were living with James and his wife Mary Ann and their daughter Susan. Susan is one of the marriage images that I found. William Nolan her younger brother is the other image I found.

I will continue to use this site to find other cousin records. But I wanted to get the word out as quickly as possible for you to find this wonderful new research website for your Irish ancestors. HAPPY HUNTING  on https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/

MAY THE LUCK OF THE IRISH BE WITH YOU.

Anne Eliza (Magennis) Nolan in 1910 Census

 After the 1900 US Census the next record to search for Annie Nolan is the 1910 US Census as her tombstone states she died Feb 9, 1919.  I searched for Eliza Nolan and sure enough I found her on HertiageQuest; she is in the 1910 census but that Eliza is the daughter of Wm. and Annie Nolan.
inscription as follows:
      Nolan, Annie, head, F,W, 70, Wd., mother of 10 children, 8 living, born in Ireland, parents born    Scot., English, immigration year 1887, speaks English, no occupation, unable to read or write
      Nolan, Eliza, daughter, F,W, 28, S, born in Ireland,parents born in Ire English, immigration year 1887, Reeler, flax mill, W, working on April 15, 1910, 0 weeks out ot of work 1909, able to read and write
       Nolan, Margaret, daughter, F,W, 22, S, born in Ireland,parents born in Ire English, immigration year 1887, Reeler, flax mill, W, working on April 15, 1910, 0 weeks out ot of work 1909, able to read and write
They are on roll 580, ED 263, Sheet 6B, pg. 113, household 123 living at 20 Cuba Street, Andover, Essex Co., Massachusetts. on 29 April 1910.
****note Annie states she had 10 children and 8 are living. according to my research all of the eight children that I have found are still living in 1910.

To me this is very close to finding where she died. So I searched and another Eureka moment.

This was found Massachusetts. Essex. Digital Images of Death Certificates-Massachusetts deaths 1841-1920. Family Search. FamilySearch. www.familysearch.org : n.d.
The informant was her daughter Elizabeth Nolan living at 20 Cuba St.She died of Brouclio (sic) Bronchial Pneumonia. Parents are listed as John McGuinnis, born in Ireland and ______Wilson, born in Ireland. Place of burial is listed as Pine Grove Cemetery, No. Grafton, Mass.

William & Eliza Nolan and family come to America

I bet you have wondered what it must of been like for your ancestors to leave their homeland, in this case Ireland via Glasgow, Scotland for a better (????) life. I'm sure they had heard stories from their former neighbors (maybe the Steele family) and maybe their children that had already came to America before them about better job opportunities in the new land. Do you ever wonder if they were planning to stay in America or just stay in America til things got better in Ireland or Scotland?
The Nolan's as a family came over to America on the S.S. Siberian passenger ship which was built at the Govan Shipbuilding Co. in Glasgow, Scotland and launched on June 12,1884. It was owned and operated by the J & A Allan Line according to www.Norwayhertiiage.com
Were the other children that immigrated to America already here?
The following is record found on Family Search, from the " Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1891"

According to the list of Passengers from Glasgow on page 56, line 40-43 the Nolan's, arrived April 24, 1888 into the Port of Boston, Charlestown.  It reads as follows:  

        Nolan, Wm, 56, male, mill worker, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

        Nolan, Eliza, 56, fem, wife, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

        Nolan, John, 14, male, native country Scotland, going to Grafton
        Nolan, Margaret, 11, fem, native country Scotland, going to Grafton

When I was doing research for this blog posting on February 21, 2015  on FamilySearch.org I found under "Boston, Passenger Lists," 1848-1891, Index and Images another card that states they were born in Ireland and their last residence was Johnstone (Scotland), so I know this is the right family.
The most amazing fact is they brought all their things to America in a total of 8 suitcases.

After William Nolan dies his wife Annie (Eliza) is living with their youngest son John Nolan and his family in the same town (Grafton) along with John's sister Maggie (Margaret).

Annie (Maginnes) Nolan 1900 US Census

We know that William Nolan died in Grafton, Massachusetts on 5 Mar 1895 of pneumonia, so where is his wife living after he dies? If we look at the 1900 US Federal Census we find Annie living with her son John and his family and Annie’s daughter Maggie (John’s sister).

There is a lot of information and clues we can gather from this 1900 Census.[1]

1.       They are still living in Grafton.

2.       Annie was born in June 1838 in Ireland. Something more to research.

3.       She’s a widow- (so this is probably the right person).

4.        Annie is a mother of 10 children of which 9 are living in 1900.

5.       John and Maggie were born in Ireland July 1863 and Aug 1876, respectively.

6.       John and Nellie have been married 7 years

7.       Nellie is a mother of 2 children both living.

8.       John, Maggie, and Annie Nolan immigrated here in 1888 and have been here 11 years.

Facts about Annie Nolan

       1.       They are living in Grafton and all of them are buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, 17 Waterville St., No. Grafton, Ma with or near William Nolan.[2] 
       2.       Annie was most likely born 3 Jun 1832 as her tombstone states.[3] She and William were married 22 Jul 1850 in Banbridge, Co. Down, Ireland and she states her age as 20.[4] If she was born in 1838 that would have made her 12, too young to marry.
      3.       We know Annie is a widow.
      4.       I can only document Annie having 8 children, but since Anne Eliza and William were married in 1850 there is certainly room for a couple of children.

              o   Jane, birthdate unkown,

              o   James born abt. 1859,

              o   Eliza born 1861,

              o   Samuel born 1863,

              o   Sarah, born 1866,

              o   Joseph born 1869,

              o   John born 1873,

              o   Margaret (Maggie) born 1876 

 5.    John's birth inscription reads as follows:

Lisburn, Antrim Down pg 21.22.23 Superintendent Reistrar's District Lisburn- Registrar'sDistrict Lisburn-1873 Births Registered in the District of Lisburn in the Union of Lisburn- Counties of Antrim Down----13 Jul 1873 John M father William Noland living in Longstone, Lisburn, occupation Dyer and mother Ann Eliza Noland formerly Maginnes, mother marked  her  X on 9th of Aug 1873.[5] 
Maggie was born abt. Aug 1876.    
 6.     John and Nellie were married 1 Sep. 1893 in Grafton.[6]    

 7.   Maggie and John have 2 children listed on this 1900 Census.     

 8.    I will blog more about their immigration in a future Blog post.

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[1] 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Grafton, Worcester Co., MA, roll 692, ED 1632, Pg. 5.

[2] Older Blog post Thursday, January 8, 2015 and Monday, January 19, 2015.

[3] Ibid, Thursday, January 8, 2015.

[4] FamilySearch, “Marriage records, 1845-1870, with indexes to marriage, 1845-1921,” FHL film no. 101313.

[5] Familysearch, “Quarterly returns of births in Ireland, 1864-1955, with index to births, 1864-1921, FHL film 255883. P. 649, item 105

[6] Grafton Vital Records  15:190 item 31

Researching Death of William Nolan

Now that I know for sure that Sarah (Noland) Steele’s parents came, lived, and died in America, where do I start looking for records? Since I grew up in North Grafton, Worcester Co., Massachusetts I went to the Grafton Town Hall to search for Ann E. and William Nolan’s death records.  There was nothing for Ann E. Nolan's death.

I found a few records relating to my Nolan family but I want to concentrate on the one below.

5 Mar 1895, William Nolan death, age 62, Yrs., 9 Mon. ,15 days, white, married, occupation a Dryer, cause of death pneumonia, residence, place of death, and burial in Grafton, born in Ireland, parents Daniel Nolan & Annie Hamilton, both born in Ireland.

Analysis- No mention of whom he is married to so that isn’t much help.  According to William Nolan and Ann Eliza’s 1850 marriage in Ireland his father’s name was listed as Daniel Nolan so that’s a match. In the marriage record there was no mention of mother’s name so that isn’t very helpful, but I hope it will be useful later on. I think his age was 20 on the marriage record, but there was a black smudge mark over the second number and so I’m not positive. If he was twenty it would fit, as the calculated birth date from this death record would be 18 May 1832, the same date on the grave marker.

I searched for an obituary on Genealogybank.com and found one. It read NORTH GRAFTON, A Series of Deaths[1] and was dated Friday March 8, 1895. There have been 6 deaths in town this week. One of them was William Nolan, age 62 who had died at his home on Thursday night.  It talks about his funeral and that he leaves a widow and 9 children. No names but does name his pall bearers and that he was interred in Pine Grove Cemetery, which I know now as I have seen and taken a photo of Ann E and William Nolan’s gravestone.[2] Thus I have found the right William Nolan (my 2nd great-grandfather). Also hopefully I have found a lead to who his mother was from the death record if the informant knew him well.

 You can take a look at the newspaper article at     http://bit.ly/1yh2F5H

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[1] GenealogyBank.com, Worcester Daily Spy, Worcester, MA, March 8, 1895, p4. copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

[2] See Blog Post, dated Thursday, January 8, 2015.

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