My family emigrated from Ballylanders to Chicago in the 1880's

My ggg grandparents William and Judith Long (nee Shehan) emigrated from Ireland in 1888. They had three daughters: Johanna (b. 29 Sept., 1858 in Ballylanders), Catherine (b. Aug, 1860) and Mary (my gg grandmother, born March, 1865 in Ballylanders). (One of the two older daughters may have been born in Galbally. I need to go back through my notes to confirm that.) At the time of her emigration Mary was married and had a daughter named Ellen or Helen (the family called her Nellie), who was born in 1887. After arriving in the US she had two more daughters: Lottie (my g grandmother, born in 1889) and Jeanette (b. 1898 or 1899). According to the 1900 US Census, the surname for Mary and the three girls was Donovan, she and Mr. Donovan were married in 1885, and she was recently widowed (stating she had been married for 15 years).. Nothing more is known of her husband, not even a first name, which has made research rather difficult. There is a family “legend” told to me by my grandmother, that Mary's husband hated living in America, (calling it a “heathen” country), and that he went back to Ireland and died there, leaving Mary and the children in the United States because she refused to go, seeing no future for her children there. However, Mary married a second time, to a man named Sullivan, and was widowed again, so this story could be about that husband, if it is true at all.

I have the information from Mary's baptismal certificate, and it states that she was baptized in the Catholic church on March 25, 1862 (so the birth date of 1865 may be incorrect), and that her God-parents were Edm. Farrell and Hon Davern.

I have more details, and am in contact with my cousin from the Johanna Long branch of the family, and would be MORE than willing to help a researcher in Ireland with whatever info I have. I just wanted to post this as a place to start.

Renee Garvey Halm,

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA