52 Ancestors: SMALL. A small amount of time in the United States.

 

52 Ancestors: SMALL. A small amount of time in the United States.

John McDonough came from Ireland on the ship SS Republic and arrived at the Port of Boston, Massachusetts on 2 September 1904 with his family (1). Just four weeks later he was dead, leaving a widow and at least 12 children.  He was about 60 years old and the cause of death was cerebral apoplexy.

 

According the ship manifest, John and his family were going to his daughter in New York City, a Mrs. John Ireland. John McDonough also had three living siblings in the United States, all in Greenwich, Connecticut: Frank McDonough (my g.grandfather), James McDonough, and Annie McDonough McSweeney. Another sibling, Eliza McDonough Cullen, died in 1894 in Greenwich. He also had a brother, Patrick McDonough, who remained in Ireland. His brother James would suffer a tragic accident on the RR tracks in Greenwich just a year later.

 

John McDonough died on 10 October 1904 (although his death is recorded in the Family Bible

as “John McDonagh, brother of Frank McDonagh, died October 24, 1904”) in Brooklyn, New York and his parents on the death certificate were John McDonough and Lizzie Brady (2); the same parents as given for his siblings in America and Ireland. There is no birth or baptism record for John McDonough found in Ireland, but his siblings were all born in Clonbroney Parish, County Longford, around the village of Ballinalee, so it is likely he was also born there, probably about 1848 or 1849. Clonbroney Parish records started after 1848, so if he were born there, he would not have been recorded in the parish records.

 

It’s not clear why he and his brother remained in Ireland, while all of his America-bound siblings came in the mid-1880s, nor why he chose to come to America at this time. He had been living in nearby Templemichael Parish, where he married Marie Quinn and where his children were born. He was also enumerated there in the 1901 Ireland census. [3]

 

It is tragic that he died so soon after coming to America. Fortunately, his widow did have an older, married daughter already living in Brooklyn, and McDonough siblings not far away in Connecticut. He and his wife are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. Although his time here in this country was small, he left numerous children who went on with their lives in their new country.

 

[1] “Massachusetts, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1963,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8745/: accessed 12 February 2020) entry for SS Republic, stamped page 66, lines 3-10, John McDonagh, 2 September 1904; citing NARA microfilm publication T843, roll 76.

[2] Certificate of Death, State of New York, City of New York, #20033, John McDonough, 10 Oct 1904.

[3] 1901 Census of Ireland, County Longford, Templemichael, Cloonahard, digital image, National Archives of Ireland (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/), house 3, John McDonagh.