From Ballyboyle to Corglass... a Boyle family's story
Part 2 - Corglass
Ellen & Bridget
Nowadays, we tend to think of emigration as an activity of young single people who are pursuing opportunities more or less voluntarily. But when they made their way to the New York Ellen2 Boyle and her husband Hugh Brady are already middle-aged with seven children that we know of, ranging from about 18 to new-born. Here we see a whole family group uprooting themselves from what must have been a long established home and way of life. This pattern is more like modern refugees escaping the devastation of war and natural disasters.
Between June 1850 and March 1851, 90,000 Irish people arrived in New York port alone. Although the worst ravages of the famine were easing by 1851 the great exodus that left Ireland for the New World at that time was in full flow. Four years of starvation and disease had taken their toll of the survivors, and the determination to escape what must have seemed a doomed land drove them to endure the hazardous six-week crossing.
It seems reasonable to speculate that the presence of their successful brother Terence would have helped to alleviate the appalling conditions faced by most Irish immigrants at this time.
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Terence2 would undoubtedly seen this advertisement (and many like it), for it appeared on the same page as his own regular advertisements. He may have booked a passage for his older sister Ellen2, for she and her family arrived on the Isaac Webb in early 1851.
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There is little information about Bridget2. She married Matthew Ryan and had one daughter, Mary. As we have seen, Matthew Ryan was at Terence2's address in the 1850 Census, but there is no mention of Bridget2. She died before 1886. Mary Ryan was still unmarried in 1886, when she was living in San Francisco.
The Isaac Webb, on which Ellen2 Boyle Brady and her family sailed to New York in 1851. Although some sources give the launch date of the Isaac Webb as February 2, 1851, this should probably be 1850.
​Ellen2 was born between 1803 and 1805. She married Hugh Joseph Brady sometime before 1833. ​Hugh was from Carrickateane, Clonbroney parish, not far from Corglass. There are no church or civil records to provide any more information about Hugh, but there were still Bradys living in Carrickateane at the start of the 20th century, as shown in the 1901 census records. In addition, Carrickateane adjoins Gaigue, the home townland of Bridget Brady who married Ellen's nephew John Boyle in 1890. Brady is a common name in this area, but it’s just possible that they were related.
​​The Ships Passenger List for the Isaac Webb records the arrival of some 600 passengers, nearly all Irish, in the port of New York on February 17, 1851 [Glazer & Tepper, 1985, p.555]. The Isaac Webb was only one of five ships that arrived that day. On board were Hugh Brady (aged 50) and his wife Ellen2 Boyle (46). They were accompanied by their children Maria (10), Hugh (8) and Catherine (4). The Passenger List also records that their youngest child, baby Terence had died on the voyage, one of 48 passengers who did not make it.
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The older children, Bridget, Ellen and Ann, do not appear to have travelled with them on the Isaac Webb - they may have come to the US separately.
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The eventual husbands of two of the daughters would have been neighbours in Ireland. James Sheeran who married Ellen was born in Ballinamuck, and Bridget's husband William Stakem (or Stacom) was from Kiltycreevagh, both places within a few miles of Corglass. It's not known whether they knew each other before arriving in the US, but the families would have been acquainted.
Ann married Donegal-born James Dougherty. The birthplaces of Maria's husband, Patrick McSweeney, and of Catherine's husband John J. Talley aren't known, but given the close-knit nature of the immigrant Irish community and it's place at the bottom of the social hierarchy of the US in this period, it is likely that they were born in Ireland or of Irish parents.
Though Ellen2 and Hugh Brady seem to have stayed in New York, as did at least three of their children, Ellen (Sheeran), Maria (McSweeney) and Catherine (Talley), the others - Bridget (Stakem), Ann (Dougherty) and Hugh moved west to California.
Until the arrival of the railways about 1870, travel from New York to California was difficult and dangerous. The overland trails took many months, and as many as 10% of migrants died on the journey. The most popular route was to sail from New York to Panama, cross the Isthmus of Panama by foot or horseback, and then sail to California. This route was over 6,000 miles and could take 33 to 35 days. Travelers faced the risk of malaria, yellow fever, and highway robbers.
Even after the introduction of the railways, (if they could afford the $40 rail fare for a transcontinental trip -the lowest fare for the worst accommodations) emigrants had an uncomfortable experience. "Their cars, fitted with rows of narrow wooden benches, were often coupled to freight cars, and they were constantly shunted aside to make way for the expresses. Thus the westward trip from Omaha, which took four to four and a half days for the swells in First Class, might last ten or more days for the emigrants. And every one of those days had hours of boredom and discomfort. The emigrants endured the journey because they had to." (Riding the Railroad)
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The six children who survived to adulthood gave Ellen2 and Hugh Brady thirty-three grandchildren that we know of. It is likely that there are now many hundreds of descendants of Ellen2 Boyle.
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Ellen died about April 29, 1880 at 22(?) 7th Ave, 16th Ward, Manhattan, NY. Hugh died about October 30, 1870 in 127 West 19th Street, 16th Ward, Manhattan, NY.
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