The big news recently for genealogists is the 1926 Irish Census is out. Right away I go to see what my 2nd great-grandfather and family are doing in Balindoon, County Sligo:
Here is George, my great grandfather’s father. My great grandfather had moved to Boston as had most of his brothers at this time. This is the left hand side of the Census.
Here is what I have at one of my Frazer web pages:
George Frazer
When I went to Ireland, I was told he was known as old George. He is 94 in the Census which would put his birth roughly at 1832. Above, I have him born in 1836.
1901 Census – he is listed as 64, so that would be a birth date of about 1837
1911 Census – he is listed as 75 so that is a birth date of about about 1836.
The reason it makes a difference is that in the 1834 Tithe Applotment, there is a James Frazer – assumed to be the father of George Frazer who lived in Derrycashel. As a result, I have assumed that George was born in Derrycashel. In the 1926 Census, George is said to have been born in Kilbrian, County Roscommon. If George were born in Kilbrian, the family may have lived there at the time and moved to Derrycashel. However, my guess is that George was baptized at the Kilbryan Church as this was likely closer to Derrycashel.
Here is the Tithe Applotment for Derrycashel:
As for my theory that Kilbryan was closer than Ardcarn, that does not appear to be right:
Another interesting fact is that it appears that George’s sister Sidney was also born in Kilbryan:
I apparently got this from the 1911 Oxfordshire Census:
Sidney was living there as a widower with her stepson. Again, this could refer to the Parish of Kilbryan or they even may have been in the Parish of Ardcarn and mistakenly thought they were in Kilbryan?
When I look at the Tithe Applotments, there are either two James Frazers or one who had land in two places:
Unfortunately, I cannot find a place in Roscommon or Ardcarn called Culticonnor. But I did find some information when I searched for Culticonnor in association with Ardcarn Parish:
Here are Cootehall and Oakport:
Here is Ardconra:
Here is Errironagh:
So truthfully, I do not know if this James was my ancestor or another James Frazer. I also could not find a Townland called Culfaghna.
William Frazer
Let’s move on to the head of household, William:
William was a farmer of 30 statute acres. He was quite a bit older than his wife. His wife’s occupation was listed as domestic duties, but I can recall seeing a picture of her working on the farm also. William was my great-grandfather’s younger brother by one year.
Here is William on the left with my great-grandfather in the middle and another brother on the right. At one time there were four Frazer brothers living in the Boston, Massachusetts area. I should be able to put a little sketch together about William.
William was born in Ballindoon on 14 March 1868. He came to Boston in 1898. From what I understand, my great-grandfather helped to pay to bring his brothers over to Boston from Ballindoon. My great-grandfather came to Boston in 1887. William came to Boston in 1898 or 11 years later.
William was a cook in 1896 when he sailed from Queenstown to Boston. Queenstown was in County Cork.
I see, William brings his younger brother with him:
There is a lot of information in here and it is somewhat difficult to line up the information. It appears that William had been to Boston before for what appears to be 5 years. So maybe between 1890 and 1895. He is staying with James his brother at 51 Westminster St. Richard’s ticket was perhaps paid for by his brother (James?). I assume that William had saved up money before as it is said he paid for his own ticket. Confusingly, the 1910 Census says that William came to the US in 1870 which cannot be right. I am thiinking that it should have said 1890.
I just found William in the 1900 Census with his brother in Portsmouth, New Hampshire:
He was one of three cooks at a hotel. The third cook was Mary Feeney. This confirms my suspicion that William first came to Boston in 1890, so about three years after my great-grandfather came to Boston.
This may be where they probably worked at 96 State Street in Portsmouth, NH:
Of course, it would have looked a bit different 126 years ago.
Now I may have to revise the timeline already. Let’s look for a passenger list from 1890.
I did find this record:
This time William is bringing David to Boston in 1908:
This ship lands in New York City and the brothers travel on to Boston from there. William is listed as a non-immigrant alien:
I suppose this is because he immigrated already in 1890. I guess William did not mind making trans-Atlantic voyages. This must have been his 5th crossing.
Another Trans-Atlantic Trip in 1901
So perhaps Richard is homesick for the family after being in the US for 5 years. On this trip, William brings his brother Richard to collect another brother Hubert. That means that we are up to 7 trans-Atlantic crossings for William. I believe that this trip was from Queenstown to Boston.
This appears to be the ship:
This ship would have been quite new at the time and took about 7 days to cross the Atlantic:
Finally, here is William in 1890, with some of his traveling companions, but not relatives:
Looks like the ship name was Pavonia:
Some Pavonia passengers:
An Updated Timeline for William
I have this on my Frazer Web Page:
I was interested in his time in Mansfield as that is where my wife lived when I met her. Here is another issue from the 1926 Census:
Amanda Frazer is listed as having had 6 children. William is listed as having 4 living children. That means that I must be missing two children who died young.
Here are the four children: Albert, Elisie, Ruth and Walter. Ruth and Walter are born in Ballindoon. But actually, the eldest son, Edward George died in Ballindoon in 1925 at age 11. That means that I am only missing one child.
I will spend more time on the 1926 Census in a subsequent Blog.
Summary and Conclusions
- Looking at the 1926 Census lead me to review a lot of information I had
- It looks like William made 8 transatlantic crossings, many more than I had realized
- The family had an additional child that I did not know about. I did not find that additional child yet, but perhaps the child was born in Ireland after the family moved there.
- I was a little surprised that my 2nd great-grandfather gave his birthplace as Kilbrian. My thinking is that he was baptized at the Kilbryan church but was likely born in Derrycashel, but there are other possibilities. His sister Sidney gave the same place for her birth in a Census after she moved to England.
- I found out a bit more about Amanda Skoog (originally Skog) but have not written about that yet.
- I found a photo of building which was likely the hotel that William and brother Richard were cooks at in 1900 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.