Hugh Mathew Ryan and Mary Ellen McInerney

Hugh Mathew Ryan was the first member of our clan to settle in the United States.  I was able to locate two references to his immigration to the United States.

According to this record, Hugh arrived in the port of New York by way of Liverpool on May 2, 1849 -- just after the height of the Potato Famine.  He sailed on the ship Constitution.  I am not sure if he was the first member of his family to arrive here, but he is listed in the 1850 Census in Pigeon Twsp,, Vanderburgh Co., Indiana.  This township is part of present-day Evansville, IN.  The Census also includes a reference to 14 year-old Mary Ryan living in the same residence.  I've always assumed that Mary was his younger sister.  The Census, completed in August, states that Hugh is 24 years old and that he is employed as a "brickmaker".

Today I found an 1850 Census document for Mary Ellen and her family.  It had alluded me before because of how McInerney was spelled. As so often happens in genealogy,I discovered that some of the assumptions I had about when she came to the United States were wrong.  The first three children of Matthew and Margaret were born in England.  The next three were born in Pennsylvania.  The remaining children were born in Indiana.  Later census documents showed that they had two additional children for a total of 11. Since Mary (Ellen) was born in England abt.1830 and the next child was born in Pennsylvania in 1833, we can conclude the family emigrated in the early 1830s.

Matthew Mcinnery
Age:	52
Estimated birth year:	abt 1798
Birth Place:	Ireland
Gender:	Male
Home in 1850 (City,County,State):	Pigeon Ward 6, Vanderburgh, Indiana
Family Number:	154
Household Members:	Name Age Matthew Mcinnery 52 Margarette Mcinnery 45 Lawrence Mcinnery 25 Michel Mcinnery 23 Mary Mcinnery 18 Matthew Mcinnery 17 Bertholomew Mcinnery 13 Johanna Mcinnery 10 John Mcinnery 7 James Mcinnery 5 Thomas R Mcinnery 3 Ellen Mcguire 80 Martin Muhler 32 Laurence Link 26 Anthony Porthouse 19 John Murphy 20 Henry Garvin 22

Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: Pigeon Ward 6, Vanderburgh, Indiana; Roll  M432_176; Page: 375B; Image: 283.

A couple of other interesting facts emerged.  Every one of the men in this household over the age of 17, with the exception of the father, was employed as a brickmaker.  That was the occupation also listed for Hugh Ryan and is probably partially responsible for how the young couple met.  I cannot decipher the occupation of the father, but he had assets of $4000 -- a good amount of assets for that time period.  I think it is possible that Ellen McGuire is Mary Ellen's grandmother.  Seventeen people comprised this one household.

I am not sure what attraction Evansville, IN had for these new immigrants, but I know that there was an Irish Catholic community in Evansville and that the 1850 Census listed eight Ryans.

One of the joys of my search for Ryan roots was locating a copy of the Marriage License for Hugh and Mary Ellen.   Since they got married on May 4, 1852, I was able to determine that my Irish ancestry in this country begins with them.  The Church record of the marriage lists Patrick and Mary Ryan as witnesses.  I know Mary was Hugh's younger sister, at least they shared a residence, but who was Patrick?

I was able to contact the Diocese of Evansville in an effort to identify marriage and baptismal records for Hugh, Mary Ellen and several of their children.  They were very helpful.  I asked them to identify what church in the Evansville area served the Irish Catholic population.  I was told that it was most likely Assumption Church and a check of their records bore that out.  Here is a picture of the church, which at one time served as a cathedral.  Unfortunately, it was torn down to make room for the Evansville Civic Center.

So who were these people?  What do we know?  How did they support themselves? Did America live up to its reputation as "The Promised Land"?  Let's explore together.

Setting the Scene

When my mind's eye visualizes Ireland, a place I hope to visit in the next year, I think of lots of green, rocky shorelines, and pastoral farmlands -- often with sheep dotting the landscape. Everyone I know who has been there cannot stop talking about the beauty of the place. My daughter told me when she traveled there that she had this immediate sense that she was "home".  She said that she felt like she looked like the people, and they like her.  What could possibly have prompted our ancestors to leave such an idyllic place?  We all know the answer -- starvation is a great motivator.

Recently PBS aired a series called Faces of America moderated Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  He was profiling the Irish family history of Stephen Colbert.  Stephen Colbert's family came from County Limerick (as did ours). Click on this segment to find out about the Potato Famine:        A Very Sad Period in Irish History

The program went on to say that there was actually intentional starvation of the "paupers" of Co. Limerick.  Families were offered free passage to the United States, but only if the entire family agreed to be relocated.  The policy was a sort of Final Solution for the underclass. The book Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt depicts the depths of poverty experienced by many in our homeland.

We are fortunate in our family to have a family history.  The original was written by Hugh Mathew Ryan "for his wife, Mary Ellen Ryan (nee McInerny)".  I have found McInerney spelled with many variations in different sources. The copy I inherited from my mother has a handwritten note that says the history was copied by Hugh's daughter, Margaret, on November 30, 1884.

Some things are ambiguous.  For instance, the first line refers to "Hugh Mathew Ryan" and says that he died of old age on September 8th, 1855, in County Limerick, Ireland.  (Throughout these posts, I am going to take the liberty of correcting some of the obvious misspellings from the document I have).  Right underneath this statement, it discusses Mary Ellen Ryan, wife of Hugh M. Ryan, and says that she died on July 2nd, 1902.  It was actually July 3rd, 1903 in Cincinnati.  What I wouldn't have given if Hugh had included the name of his mother.

The next GREAT clue came from a notebook I inherited from Grandma Ryan. Her notebook has the best clue of all -- it says that Mr. Mathew Ryan died of old age Saturday, September 8, 1855 Seat of Parish of Green, Lemirick (sic) Co., Ireland.  Her spelling matches the spelling used in the original.  One of the interesting observations here is that the father is referred to as "Mathew" and not "Hugh Matthew".  Having the name of the small town is fantastic!

Her notebook goes on to discuss a Jeremiath (sic) Ryan, son of Mathew Ryan, who enlisted in 1855.  This seems to imply that Jeremiah is the brother of "our"  Hugh Matthew.

Luckily for genealogists, you can still get service records.  Here is the copy of the record for Jeremiah that totally supports Grandma's notes.

I thought I had it made.  I knew Hugh Mathew's name,  I thought his father's name was Mathew, I had the name of a probable brother, and I knew they came from Pallasgrean (multiple spellings) in Co. Limerick. My excitement was premature.  In the next post, I will tell you what I learned about Pallasgrean.