Tuesday Tip : Read A History Book

Last night I wrote about my great great grandmother Johanna Riordan Gallagher. My Irish immigrant grandmother. I know so little of her and her life it is sad. No stories told to me by my grandmother. What can I do?

I know that she was born in Ireland and came to America in the 1850's. There is a Joanna Riordan who came on the " Lockwood " in 1852. This could be her. I checked the " Lockwood" list for other Riordans and only other name listed was a Marlin Riordan age 35. Johanna is listed as 18 years old. I was told her father was Dennis Riordan so who is Marlin? Maybe a relative, maybe not. Did young women 18 years old travel by themselves? I have no idea.

My goal is to read more books this year. I have read a fiction thriller already. Of course I started it end of December, but finished it this year. I want to read more non fiction. I want to read books that will give me an idea of what my ancestors went through.

Tonight I plan to start a book I bought several years ago when I visited Ellis Island. I have looked through it but never really read it. It is " The Irish American Family Album " by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.

As of now I only have one photo and no stories of my great great grandmother Joanna. I do hold out hope that some where out there I will find more photos of her and her husband Patrick Gallagher. For now I will view photos of other immigrants and hear their stories. Their stories are my ancestor's stories.

Thanks for stopping by.. hope that you come back again.. Grace

Matrilineal Monday Johanna Riordan Gallagher/Gallaher

Matrilineal Monday is the female line of a family. This line can be so much harder to research and ends in brick walls a lot of times.

Joanna Riordan Gallagher/Gallaher is that brick wall.

So many of my ancestors came from England and came over early in our country's history. So many of their stories have been researched and documented. They are recorded in stories of the towns they lived in.

But Joanna and her husband Patrick have to be my difficult family lines. They did not come to the United States till the period of the potato famine in the 1850's. I do not have much on them except the census reports of the time they lived in Wisconsin.

It is so much easier for me to work on the lines that are easy. I hope to attempt to find out more about them and their lives this year. I plan to find articles and books to read about Ireland and the potato famine. I better want to know what it was like for them to cross the ocean hoping for a better life

Because of joining http://www.ancestry.com/ I do know more than a year ago. I have access to census reports from my home computer.

I do know from the census that Joan was born in Ireland. From the little information I have from family members I learnt that her maiden name is Riordan.

There is a passenger list for a Johanna Riordan coming to the New York port arriving the 15th of October 1851. That she embarked from Cork and native country being Great Britain and traveled on the Lockwood. I believe this means her ship departed from Great Britain. She is listed as a work woman.
Now I can not be sure this is her but it is a possibility.

The 1860 census has a Johanna and Patrick Gallagher living in Annsville, Oneida, New York. Patrick is listed as 30 years and Johanna as 26.

By the 1870 census Joanna and Patrick are living in Hamburg, Vernon, Wisconsin with daughters Mary 4, Bridget 2 and son William 7 months. Daughter Katherine my great grandmother was born 1874.

Patrick passed away 3 January 1898 in Lacrosse county, Wisconsin leaving Johanna to reside with her daughter Mary and son William. Johanna lived until the 12 of July 1902. She and Patrick are buried La Crosse Wisconsin.

This is just facts and so much is not known of either her or Patrick. I do know they were Catholic and when my great grandmother got pregnant out of marriage and had my grandmother Grace in July,1893, they were not happy. Story within family is that they turned Katherine's picture to the wall.

In December, 1893 my great grandmother Katherine married another man, Appleton in La Crosse Wisconsin at a Methodist church. By 1900 they were living in Mora Minnesota.

My grandmother never talked about her mother and grandmother to me that I can remember.
I did not know that my grandmother was born out of wedlock until she had passed away and then it was told to me by my mother and aunt and uncle in a whisper.

At that time they showed me a picture of my grandmother's birth father. I am so glad that they shared this information with me. Being born out of wedlock in the 1890's was a much different situation than today.

I plan to travel to La Crosse Wisconsin this spring and find their graves and request there death certificates. Then again I just may have to request them earlier. I am hoping to find out their true birth dates from the death certificate or tombstone.

I hope to link up with other family members through Katherine's sister Bridget and see if they have any letters or stories to share. I have had brief contact but it has not come to any real information

Katherine's sister Mary never married and her brother William passed away accidentally in 1911. Question is was it really an accident but that is unknown and another story.

Thank you for visiting and please return again soon as I try to add depth to my great great grandmother Johanna Riordan Gallagher ..

.. Grace

Surname Saturday Riordan Family Line Ireland to Wisconsin

This picture is of Johanna and Patrick with two of Bridget's children before 1898.

Tonight for Surname Saturday I am at the Riordan family line using an Ahnentefel Report.

I know really nothing about this family and have searched very little. It is a real brick wall for me.
My great great grandmother Johanna Riordan came from Ireland in the 1850's. She married Patrick Gallaher another Irish immigrant. Did they marry in Ireland and travel to USA or did they meet and marry. Sadly I have no idea.
They lived and died in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and are buried there.

For now this is what I have on this line

1. Grace Zion daughter of 3. Muriel Day and 2. Arthur Zion

3. Muriel Day daughter of 7. Grace Daly Esler and 6. William Henry Day
7. Grace Daly Esler daughter of 15. Katherine Gallaher/Gallagher and Andrew Daly. Katherine and Andrew never married.

15. Katherine was born 10 May 1874 La Crosse Wisconsin and died 19 March 1940. She married Appleton Esler of Minnesota. With Appleton, Katherine had two more children Merle Esler 1906, and Jesse Wayne Esler 1909.
Appleton had two children before he married Katherine, Tillie and Russell. They were raised by Appleton and Katherine. My mother and her siblings never knew Andrew Daly and thought of Appleton as their grandfather.
15. Katherine Gallaher/Gallagher daughter of 30. Patrick Gallaher/Gallagher and 31. Joanna Riordan

31. Johanna Riordan was born about August 1833 in Ireland and died in La Crosse, Wisconsin the 12th of July 1902. Johanna married Patrick Gallaher before 1866 ( 1838 - 1898). Together they had four children, Mary 1866, Bridget 1869, William, and Katherine 1874. Mary never married and William died early so there is no descendants from either of them.
At http://www.ancestry.com/ I have listed her father as Dennis but I need to prove this and find out her mother's name.

My clues are to see if I can get death certificates for them and then to find family that is related through my great grandmother Katherine.
She had a sister Bridget that married and had children. This will have to be my link to them.
I also have some old photo albums that belonged to Katherine and maybe her sister Mary. I will need to pull these out to see if there is any hints there.
At one time a distant cousin contacted me through http://www.ancestry.com/ . On my to do list is to contact this person again. I saved her email to me so I do know what she has found so far. Even though she offered to share copies with me this has not happened as of yet.
Thanks for stopping by.. please come back again soon.. Grace