I found my great-grandfather Pat and one sister (listed as 3-year-old Mary but maybe was supposed to be Margaret?) and their parents (Pat and Bridget) [and also, presumably, Bridget's sister, Susan Bradley] coming through Ellis Island in 1858 (my great-grandfather was seven years old and their last name was spelled McGeen and shows that they came from Liverpool). They ended up in Colfax, Placer County, California, as the Maginn family and I haven't found any document showing them listing anything more specific than "Ireland" as birthplace. When the younger Patrick filed for an 1875 marriage license in Placer County, California, to marry Esther Murray, a Margaret Maginn filed at the same time to marry Alexander Cameron McAlpin. My great-grandfather's also included in a Placer County history book as "the second of four children;" the same article also mentions his aunt, Mrs. Margaret Maginn Hawkins, had left Ireland in 1855 to come to Placer County, California. And ancestry.com showed me an 1852 Liverpool birth and baptism for Margaret Magin with parents Patrick Magin and Bridget Broadley. And rootsireland.ie showed me a January 1848 Kilkeel baptism record for a Mary Maginn. I'd like to try to find out my family's Ireland parish and whether I have any relatives still there! Thank you!!
Jennie Maginn Bauer
Thursday 14th Jan 2016, 01:10AMMessage Board Replies
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Hello Jennie,
As you prpbably know Ellis Island didn't open until 1892, so immigration records for the years before that can be found at www.castlegarden.org. Most of the ships that carried the Irish to America left from Liverpool, but they called into Cobh in Co. Cork to pick up all the Irish. So it would be prudent to keep searching for records in Ireland. Most records list port of departure instead of port of embarkation which really can throw a spanner in the works when searching.
If however your folks were from the northern counties (and I can believe that the pronounciation of maginn could sound like mcgeen) then it is unlikely that they travelled all the way down to Cobh to get the boat.
Have a look at www.castlegarden.org and griffith valuation for Co Down, where Kilkeel is located.
Sorry I can't be of more assistance. You seem to have covered all the bases already.
Kind regards,
Anne Dennehy
Thursday 14th Jan 2016, 04:04PM