At the time of my great-grandparents births, Swineford was a small market town known for its considerable swine trade. The town suffered greatly during the Famine years. The picture below shows a typical cottage of the mid-nineteenth century.
Michael and Sarah were married March 22, 1869 in Swineford. A short while later they moved to Lowpark, a town about 9.5 km. away where their first child, Mary was born on February 12, 1870.
Evidently, Michael and Sarah had planned to emigrate to America, because the records show that the family arrived in New York on April 11, 1870 aboard the SS Nevada, two months after Mary’s birth.
The SS Nevada made its maiden voyage in 1869, and was built for the immigrant business between Liverpool, Queenstown (now Cobh), and America. It was constructed primarily for steerage class passengers. The ship had one funnel and two masts. In 1870, the voyage took about twelve days.
I am assuming that the SS Nevada docked at Queenstown on this particular voyage, otherwise the Butlers would have had to sail across the Irish Sea to Liverpool. Needless to say, the trip alone from Lowpark to Queenstown, Cork, a distance of about 295 km. had to be an ordeal for the young family.
Upon arrival, Michael and his family traveled to Philadelphia, and settled in Germantown. They were living in Germantown at the time of the 1870 U.S. Census, which was conducted on June 3, 1870. What brought them to Germantown is an unanswered question. I know that a Patrick Butler, who was born in Ireland about 1840, and was a laborer as was Michael, lived in the same boarding house at the time the census was taken.
What fascinates me about this story is the timeline and circumstances surrounding the Butler’s immigration. From the time of Mary’s birth on February 12th to the time the census taken on June 3rd in Germantown was less than four months! It is hard to imagine a newly married couple with a new-born child, probably with very little money, traveling from Lowpark, Mayo to Queenstown, Cork, then a 12-day Atlantic Ocean crossing in steerage, and ending up in Germantown in such a short period of time, and under what must have been very difficult conditions. Times in Ireland must have been so bad, and the promise of a better life in America so strong to cause a young family to undertake such a journey.
1870 United States Federal Census about Michael Butler
Name: Michael Butler
Age in 1870: 22
Birth Year: abt 1848
Birthplace: Ireland
Home in 1870: Philadelphia Ward 22 District 71, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Germantown
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Michael Butler 22
Sarah Butler 20
Mary Butler 4/12
Scene in Germantown, about 1874
Germantown Avenue, about 1889
Washington Lane, Germantown, about 1874
One of the interesting challenges to genealogy projects is that the research never seems to end, new information continually surfaces.
No comments:
Post a Comment