Looking for Boyles

Dear midsummersage

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

There is a Michael Boyle listed on Griffith?s Valuation in Co. Clare in the Parish of Kilfearagh. He was leasing about an acre of land:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&Submit.x=29&Submit.y=18&Submit=Submit&familyname=Boyle&firstname=Michael&baronyname=&countyname=CLARE&unionname=&parishname=

There is no way of knowing however, if this is your ancestor or not. I had a look on rootsireland.ie but couldn?t see a baptism record for Edward for the relevant timeframe. Have you tried searching Ancestry.com for any mention of your ancestor?s name in member family trees or messages? Ancestry is also hosting ?webinars? on their site. The latest focuses on how to use Irish records when you do not know where your ancestor is from. Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Prior to 1864 we are dependent on parish records and these begin at different times depending on the parish.

If you learn anything new please let us know

Best wishes

Clare Doyle

Genealogy Support 

Thank you so much! Unfortunately, this would not have been him. The date on this purchase was 1855 and I have Ellis Island records that place him coming to America in 1856. I can't imagine him buying land just to move to America a year later. Thank you though!

Leigh

Thank you so much! Unfortunately, this would not have been him. The date on this purchase was 1855 and I have Ellis Island records that place him coming to America in 1856. I can't imagine him buying land just to move to America a year later. Thank you though!

Leigh

Hi, I'm quite familiar with this particular Michael Boyle, who married Ellen Howe and settled in Iowa. I've been trying to track down his origins for 17 years or so. If you're a descendant of this Michael Boyle, I really need to get in contact with you. My information indicates that Michael Boyle emigrated to the United States in 1847 (based on his obituary). He married Ellen Howe in 1857 in Wisconsin.

I suspect that you have blended together the stories of two different people, because land records show that Michael purchased land in Jackson County, Iowa, in 1853. His story is not a good match for someone coming through Ellis Island in 1856. In fact, Ellis Island was not used for immigration until 1890. Before that time, immigrants came to New York through a facility known as Castle Garden or Castle Clinton.

I have a fair amount of information about this Michael Boyle, my great-grandfather, on this Web page:

http://family.boyle.net/michael/

Please do get in touch with me because I am hoping to put together a family tree for all of Michael Boyle's descendants - and if you do have some information that's relevant to this Michael Boyle, I would love to incorporate that.

The Howe side of the family is much better known, thanks to some lucky strikes in the town census for Miltown Malbay. Ellen Howe's parents were John Howe and Ellen Murrihy / Murry, who lived in an area known as Carrowduff / Carhuduff, which is near Miltown Malbay and Quilty in County Clare. The elder Ellen and several of her children lived for quite some time in the DeWitt area of Iowa. I would love to find some more information about descendants of those children as well.

The Howes may have known Michael Boyle and his family in Ireland. There's also an apocryphal story claiming that Michael Boyle and the Howes came to New York, perhaps worked on an extension of the Erie Canal, and went on to work on the railroad, which is how they eventually came to be in Iowa. But we have to be careful to keep our facts straight so that we can have a valid story rather than a mishmash of mixed-up information.

You can send an email to family@boyle.net, and we can compare notes. Best and thanks, Alan Boyle

Sorry ... It looks as if the message was posted multiple times due to issues with the verification system.

No problem, all taken care of!

Clare

Genealogy Support