Share This:

I'm looking for the place in Ireland from which my ancestors came.  I have traced them in America back to about 1780, in Pennsylvania.  The last person I know for sure is David Wiley, born 1784 in Pennsylvania.  From a census record, it looks like David's father is also named David, and may be the person who came to America from Ireland (born about 1750-60?).  I have not been able to find immigration records for him yet, so I don't know when he sailed.

The story in the family is that our Irish ancestors came from County Cork, worked with horses, and made whiskey.  I haven't seen any records early enough to help find a location within County Cork, but I found a few  Wileys in Kilgariff, Bandon and South Cork in the late 1700s and early 1800's, and thought they might be part of the family who stayed in Ireland.  Seamus replied to my message on the Bandon message board, and said that Wiley is a common name in Mitchelstown.

Does anyone know of any resources for Wileys in the 1700s there?

Thanks for any help you can give!   Julie

Friday 5th Apr 2013, 12:51PM

Message Board Replies

  •  

    Do you know much about their emigration? The dates, the reasonwhy they left, who they may have travelled with?..etc..Generally more information was given atthe port of arrival rather than the port of departure. If you knew which city they arrived at (e.g.Liverpool, New York, etc.), this could be a good place to find more information. -And perhaps evenfind out an exact place of origin. Ellis Island: http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp Castlegarden: http://www.castlegarden.org/ US National Archives/Immigration info: http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/ The Boston Pilot; From October 1831 through October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a?Missing Friends? column with advertisements from people looking for ?lost? friends and relativeswho had emigrated from Ireland to the United States. This extraordinary collection of 40,743 recordsis available here as a searchable online database, which contains a text record for each ad thatappeared in the Pilot. http://infowanted.bc.edu/ The next thing you could do is find the counties and places in Ireland your family names are mostprevalent. Look at the website http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ and perhapssomething will match some other clue you may have found elsewhere? If nothing turnsup ? it is advisable to try different variations of the spellings of the names. If you have a possiblefirst name you could try the Irish Census 1901, 1911 at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ or the landvaluation record called Griffiths Valuationhttp://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml

     

    Thursday 11th Apr 2013, 10:34AM
  • Thank you so much for your suggestions!  I did go to the websites and do a quick search there, but everything starts in the 1800s, and my ancestor came over in the 1700s.  David Wiley Sr appeared as head of household in Pennsylvania in 1800, and David Wiley Jr in 1810.  On the 1850 Census, David Jr reported that he was born in PA in 1784.  They should appear in the 1790 US Census, but I can't find a record that matches.  It's possible that David Jr told the census taker he was born in PA when he was actually born in Ireland, if they were experiencing prejudice in their area and he wanted to appear "more American," but I have no reason to believe that - he owned a good-sized piece of land, was in this town in Ohio from the very beginning of it, and lived/raised his family there for some 45 years.  I have no idea when David Sr left Ireland...  from the ages on the 1800 census, he started having children about 1780.  That was in the middle of the Revolutionary War in America, so it's most likely that he either came to America before 1776 when the War began, or came after it ended, with some of his children already born.  I think it's most likely that he arrived in America at Philadelphia, since they lived in PA before moving on, but if he came much earlier, he would have had time to travel from NY, or any other port.  Most of the Wileys in Ireland seem to come from areas in the north, but our oral family story is that ours came from County Cork.  There are a few Wileys appearing in Cork in the early 1800s that could be clues, but I have nothing for sure at this point.  Thank you for your help, and please let me know if you think of any sources for the 1700s.  - Julie

    Thursday 11th Apr 2013, 01:09PM

Post Reply