While I was working on Bernice Hurley, 1922, Newburgh, Cleveland, I came across John and Bridget (McCartan) Mcavoy living on Elmo Street, Cleveland, in 1900. Both of their mother's maiden names were Sloan. With surnames like those going for them, they almost had to be from the Rostrevor - Kilkeel area of County Down. It took a little while but I was able to trace them back there. I'll discuss John in this article.
John and Bridget were married November 9, 1897, in Cleveland, most likely at St Agnes Church. As mentioned, in 1900 they were at 2455 Elmo, Ward 26 of Cleveland, in 1900. They moved to 9536 Meech Avenue by 1916. John was hit by a train on July 7 of that year and died at the age of 54. Bridget remained at that address for most of her life. They had no children.
John's death certificate listed both his parents: Patrick Mcavoy and Elizabeth Sloan. With that information I went to familysearch.org and looked for other people with those parents. I found his sisters Elizabeth, Margaret, and Mary in Cleveland, and brothers Peter and Daniel on the Irish birth registers. The Cleveland death notices mentioned another sister, Rose.
Elizabeth's death certificate said she had been born in "West River" Ireland. Since there isn't any such place, and since I was already leaning toward South Down as their place of origin, I figured the informant–another Elizabeth Mcavoy, by the way–meant to say Rostrevor.
From there I went to the Irish civil and parish records and found most of the family, except for John himself. His parents Patrick and Elizabeth are on the 1901 Census of Rostrevor with daughter Rose still in the household. And Patrick Sr.'s death record named another daughter, Sarah Sloan, who provided his information.
Someday I might write an article about all the men in Newburgh who died being hit by a train. John Mcavoy is the fourth I have found. But for now, we will go next to his wife, Bridget McCartan—Kilkeel to Cleveland.
Sources and details for John Mcavoy's family are in the Trees > Ohio Families section of this site.