Margaret (Penn) Keane McGrath, of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

2019-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

Continued from William McGrath, Ennis, County Clare, and Butte, Montana.

Having found William McGrath's parents, James McGrath and Margaret Penn, I decided to look for their parents.

The McGraths

In 1901, James McGrath and his father Maurice both said they had been born in County Clare, but in 1911 they said County Tipperary. On the advice of a researcher with the County Clare Facebook group, I looked in Tipperary first, but didn't get far, since I didn't know where in Tipperary to look. So I switched to the Penns.

The Penns

The civil records of Margaret Penn's marriages to Thomas Keane and James McGrath both said that her father's name was James. I found a couple possible sets of parents for Margaret in Ennis. There are James Penn and Mary Barry, who had a son Pat, born March 7, 1846. And there are James Pinn and Anne Dedy, who had a son John, born August 15, 1853, on Sail Street, Ennis.

Fergus River, Ennis

There were a few other Penns mentioned in the records I found. A Francis Penn is in the Ejectment Books of County Clare, in Drumcliff Parish, holding land in 1823. Francis is also mentioned in the Tithe Applotment Books done on July 26, 1825, holding land in Cloughleigh in the Parish of Drumcliff.

Francis is probably the same person as Frank Pinn who, with his wife Bridget Madigan, had a daughter Eliza on December 12, 1846. One of the sponsors was Mary Pinn—possibly Mary Barry the wife of James above. Bridget apparently died in the 2nd quarter of 1869 at the age of 59. I didn't find a death record for Francis.

Another relative may be Mary Pyne, who with her husband Thaddeus Linnane, had a daughter Agnes, August 18, 1854.

And on Griffith's Valuation of Clare, finished in 1856, there is the household of Hannah Penn on Cloughleagh Road, Cloughleagh, town of Ennis. Hannah apparently died in the 1st quarter of 1867.

All the above were in Ennis, County Clare. I couldn't tell for sure if these individuals were related to Margaret Penn, mother of William McGrath, but since I found them I thought I would gather them here, in case someone else is looking for them and comes across this article.

Sources

Catholic parish registers of Drumcliff, at nli.ie
County Clare Library website
Civil Registrations, at https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/
Griffith's Valuation at askaboutireland.ie

Credits

The image of the Fergus River, Ennis, was found at wikipedia: File:Ennis r-fergus.jpg, and is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. The terms of the license are at that link as well.

William McGrath, Ennis, County Clare, and Butte, Montana

2019-09-01T00:00:00-04:00

In March of 1936, Mr. William McGrath of Butte, Montana, received a letter from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.(footnote)The image of the envelope to William McGrath was once on the Jim Forte Postal History site but is no longer. I am not connected with the site. It was addressed to him c/o the Post Office, and there was a stamped note on the envelope that said "Second Notice." What can we learn about Mr McGrath? Was he from County Clare?

I found two men by that name in Butte, Montana, in that time period. The first was an accountant, born about 1865 in the Irish Free State. In 1930 he was living with his wife Lottie and son Francis at 415 West Galena Street. He owned the home. I didn't find him in 1940.(footnote)"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XC9S-MTT : accessed 11 January 2018), Wm Mcgrath, Butte, Silver Bow, Montana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 36, sheet 1B, line 54, family 18, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1262; FHL microfilm 2,340,997.

The second was a single man born about 1890, also in the Irish Free State. In 1940 he was a lodger in the household of Evelyn Krekula at 240 East Broadway. He was working in a copper mine and had lived in Butte in 1935. I didn't find him in 1930.(footnote)"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBQ8-XMB : accessed 30 December 2017), William Mcgrath in household of Evelyn Krekula, Ward 1, Butte, Election Precinct 11, Silver Bow, Montana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 47-9, sheet 13A, line 3, family 282, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2230.

Of the two, I decided that the addressee on the envelope—if it was either man—was more likely the second. Living in a boarding house, he would probably have more reason to leave his mail at the post office to be called for.

It looks like William passed away in March of 1955. On the seventh of that month, a copper miner named William McGrath died at the Midway Bar, 118 E Broadway St, Butte, just down the street from the rooming house. He had a history of cardio-vascular problems, but the exact cause of death was unknown. His date and place of birth were June 18, 1890, in Ireland, but where his parents' names should have appeared on the form it just said "no record." William was single when he died. He was buried March 11, 1890, in Holy Cross Cemetery, Butte. The funeral director was F.X. Dolan, of Daly Shea Co., Butte, Montana.(footnote)"Montana, County Births and Deaths, 1840-2004," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKNR-X7FH : 4 August 2017), William F Mcgrath, 07 Mar 1955; citing Death, Butte, Silver Bow, Montana, United States, various county recorder offices; FHL microfilm 2,312,134.

His obituary appeared in the Butte Montana Standard on March 12, 1955 and reads as follows:

William McGrath
The funeral of William F. McGrath took place Friday morning. The cortege proceeded from the Daly-Shea Mortuary to Sacret Heart Church, where requiem mass was celebrated by the Rev. Dusan Okorn. The responses were sung by the children's choir.
Pallbearers were James Murphy, Michael Kenny, Michael Lyons, James Shea, Dill Duffy and John K. Hannifin. The Rev. Edmond Taylor conducted the committal rites in Holy Cross Cemetery.

Butte Montana Standard,
March 12, 1955, page 5

I found a reference to one more record for this man that might shed some light on where he was from, but the actual record is not on line. The United States Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003, database at familysearch.org mentions a William McGrath born June 18, 1890.(footnote)"United States Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK8J-2PH6 : 28 July 2015), William Mcgrath, ; citing Immigration, Alien Registration Number 2058422, "Index to Alien Case Files at the National Archives at Kansas City, ca. 1975 - 2012," NAID 5821836, Records of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2003 - 2004, RG 566, National Archives at Kansas City. A few clicks and a search took me to this page Alien Case File for William Mcgrath that told me that "This file consists of an alien case file for William Mcgrath. Date of birth is listed as 06/18/1890."

To order copies of the file, a person would need:
the alien name: William Mcgrath
the Alien Registration Number: A2058422
the National Archives Identifier: 5650451
the box number: 86
and the accession number: 085-06-0637

There is contact information on that page, and even more information at Alien Files (A-Files) at the National Archives at Kansas City.

With a lot of help from my friends

At this point, I thought I had done all that I could and I put this article online. A few days later, I thought I would look for a County Clare genealogy group on Facebook. I found the IGP's County Clare Ireland Genealogy Group and posted a short query at https://www.facebook.com/groups/countyclare/permalink/1795320817205701/. Within a couple of hours they found for Mr McGrath 1) the civil registration of his birth, 2) the transcription of his baptism, 3) his 1901 and 1911 censuses with his parents, and 4) his declaration of intention to become a US citizen. Here is a brief summary of what they found:

On September 28, 1939, William Francis McGrath, of Butte, Montana, declared his intention to become a US citizen. He had been born in Ennis, Ireland, on June 18, 1890. The civil registrations for that date record his birth in the Borheen, a section of Ennis, son of James McGrath and Margaret (Penn) McGrath. He was baptized two days later in Ennis Parish. In 1901 he was living in the Borheen, Ennis, with his parents, his father's father, Maurice, and two younger brothers, Michael and James. In 1911, the two younger siblings were not in the household.(footnote)Irish Civil Registrations at https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie; Ennis Parish baptism transcriptions at http://www.ennisparish.com/genealogy/; the 1901 and 1911 censuses at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/; and the image of William McGrath's declaration of intention posted at Post at Co Clare Genealogy on Facebook re William McGrath.

Conclusion

So, after a rocky start, we established that William McGrath, the addressee of the envelope, was from County Clare. I suppose there might have been a more direct route from one end of this "puzzle" to the other, but we got there eventually. It might have helped to have access to ancestry.com. Also to have been more familiar with the available Co. Clare resources. And it really would have helped if I had remembered the civil registrations were on line. But I'm a bit out of practice. Thanks again to everyone at the IGP County Clare Ireland Genealogy Group at Facebook. You can find the details under [McGrath(https://myoldohiohome.com/others/srn/c/8/8274de5a65b06f2d71917af57f1dc28c.html) in the Other Families tree on this website..

Continued in Margaret (Penn) Keane McGrath, of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.

My Old Ohio Home - Clare

Margaret (Penn) Keane McGrath, of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

William McGrath, Ennis, County Clare, and Butte, Montana