Hello, I am interested in finding any information about the above mentioned relative, my great great grandfather James Patrick May. The information that I have is that he was born in Milltown, County Mayo about 1820-1824. His parents names were James Patirck May and Bridgid May (maiden name unknown), Story is that he left Ireland with his brother, Martin May and traveled first class. The passage was paid for by two maiden aunts who were unhappy with the girl in Ireland that he was in love with. We think that he arrived by way of Canada. His brotther, Martin, was ill when they arrived and he was in a hospital at that time. Supposedly, James went back to try and find what happened to Martin and could find no information. James settled in Penn Yan, New York. I believe his sister was living there with her husband, John Brown, born appox 1800. His sister's name was Mary May, born approx 1829. In the 1865 New York State Census, there is a Bridget May, age 80 years old living with John Brown and Mary Brown who I think is the mother of James, Martin and Mary. Don't know the date of death of Bridget May and whether she is buried in New York or Ireland. James P. May married Ann Elizabeth Queenan of Sligo County in Penn Yan, New York approximately 1850. They had nine or ten children, lived in that area until they moved to Pennsylvania in abount 1873 or so. Any information that can be found would be greatly appreciated.
Henry
Saturday 20th Apr 2019, 05:16PMMessage Board Replies
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Henry:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
There are almost 100 townlands and towns in Ireland with the name Milltown. Ironically, none of them are in Co. Mayo. Possibly he did live in a Milltown in Mayo but when the townland names were standarized around 1851, the area where he was born was give a different name.
I did check the subscription site Roots Ireland but could not locate a James May or Martin May or Mary May in Mayo or Galway in the 1820s. Many of the RC parishes in both counties do not have records back that far.
One possible location for your family may be the border town Milltown which is in north Galway very close to Mayo. Just a hunch. He may have lived on the Mayo side but the next big town was Milltown. (Emigrants tended to say they were from the closest big town rather than their townland).
You can add James' emigration story to our XO Chronicles site and possibly someone will see a connection. https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/ancestor-database
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Saturday 20th Apr 2019, 06:01PM -
There are records for what appears to be your family at the Family Search site, apparently created by one of your relatives (at least one of the contributors is named May). The records show both James and his father James, but not his mother. They also do not show his siblings, so you may be able to add info to the existing records. Other records there also agree with what you said above, such as his marriage to Ann Elizabeth Queenan and their first child, Mary Ann, being born in Penn Yan in 1851.
Some of the records indicate that the May family lived in the townland of Knocknaganny in County Mayo. which is in the parish of Kilcommon, not far from the border with Galway, and only a few miles from the Milltown which Roger mentioned above. You can find more info about Knocknaganny here: https://www.townlands.ie/mayo/kilmaine/kilcommon/kilcommon/knocknaganny/.
The Family Search site is run by the LDS church, but is free for all to use, and it's the largest genealogical database in the world. It is actually arranged as one giant family tree, rather than separate trees set up by various people, and you can access the site here: https://www.familysearch.org Once you do that, you'll need to create a (free) account, but they don't ask for much in the way of personal info, and (in case you're worried) no missionaries will seek you out afterwards. Once you're logged in, you can find the younger James at his record ID#, which is KL16-PPV You'll be able to see easily how to maneuver up and down by clicking on other names, including that of his wife, which you'll see in James's record. If you get hooked on the site, you may want to take a class at one of the Mormon Family History Centers about how to use the many features which it offers.
The online parsh records for Kilcommon only go back to 1857 for baptisms, so there will presumably be no record for James, but there are some marriage records for 1821-1829, so there's a chance that you might find a marrriage record for James's parents. You can access the Kilcommon parish records at this site: https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1067
kevin45sfl
Saturday 20th Apr 2019, 06:38PM -
Thank you to both Roger and Kevin for the information. Judy Henry
Henry
Thursday 2nd May 2019, 12:03AM