From Ballyboyle to Corglass... a Boyle family's story
Part 2 - Corglass
Peter Boyle 1894 - 1949
Peter4, it is said, eloped with Nora Corr to the United States because one or both families did not approve of their courtship. Nora was the eldest of ten children of Charles Corr and Bridget Masterson, also of Corglass. However the story may not be true, as they were married in the local church in May 1919 (a bit too public if they were to elope!) and they did not arrive in the USA until over a year later.
The Ellis Island immigration list records the arrival of Peter and Nora, and their daughter Bridget, aged 2 months, on board the Celtic from Liverpool on June 11 1920. (Bridget was later called Teresa). Peter has fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. Nora has fair complexion, brown hair and hazel eyes, and she also had a scar on her forehead. Nora had already lived in the US, having entered in 1906 and had returned to Ireland in 1913.
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Given the story of their elopement, it is interesting that the name of the ‘nearest relative or friend’ given to the immigration authorities was not any of their Boyle or Corr relations, but ‘T. Brady, Leinster House, Oak Hill Park, Liverpool’. This was his mother’s wealthy brother, Terence, with whom he had worked in Liverpool for some time before his departure for the USA. Perhaps they didn’t want anyone at home to know their whereabouts!
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Peter must have had a good relationship with his uncle Terence, since he bequeathed him £500 on his death in 1934- equivalent to two years' average wages in the USA then.
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They are both shown as going to Nora’s brother-in-law Pat Connell at Hippner, Morron County, Oregon. However, a note scribbled against Peter’s entry in the Immigration list reads ‘temp. address 1368 3rd Ave’.
Perhaps Nora and the baby went to Oregon, or to some other relatives, and this could explain the photograph Peter sent home showing him with his fellow lodgers. On the back Peter has written a note (the edge has been cut, so not all words are readable)
“This was taken (in) the summer. Patri(ck) nows all these fellows. The(y) stop with me (here)? The(y) are all different nationalities but all born (here?) One is Irish descent
One is French decent One is a Pollock (Polak = Polish?) and the other is Indian decent.
This note suggests that Nora was not with Peter (“They stop with me”), and if Patrick knows them, perhaps he had also lodged here.
Whether they ever made it to Oregon is not known, as they eventually settled in New York, where Peter worked in the drinks trade, and had a bar, Boyle's Tavern, on Wales Ave & 149th St. He and Nora had six children, Teresa (b.1920) Eileen (b.1922) Josephine (b.1924) Kathleen (b.1926) Patricia (b.1932) and Peter (b.1935). Nora's sister Helen was a survivor of the Titanic, which sank in 1912. Peter's descendants form the largest group of the clan, though few of them now have the Boyle name. Peter died on August 24 1949.
Peter's family, in reverse chronological order:
Peter, Patsy O'Connor, Kathleen Connell, Sr. Marita (Josephine), Eileen De Vito, Terry Fornal
Helen Corr ,
Nora's sister had a more traumatic journey to the USA as a passenger on the ill-fated Titanic. She was 16 when she left Ireland bound for New York City where her sisters, Nora and Mary Kate, were already living.
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She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 367231, £7 15s).
She was rescued from the Titanic in Lifeboat 14 or 16 along with the Murphys and the McCoys, with whom she was travelling. There were several other young people from the North Longford area on board, and their experiences formed the basis for some of the scenes shown in the 1997 film - in particular the episode where the gates were locked preventing the escape of third-class passengers.
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She became a domestic in New York and in about 1922 married Patrick M. Sweeney there. She spent the rest of her life in the Bronx. They had no children.
​Patrick Sweeney died 22 June 1929 at the age of 34 and was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Westchester County, New York. When Helen died at the House of the Holy Comforter in the Bronx on 9 March 1980 she was buried beside him.
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Like many other survivors, Helen was reluctant to talk about her experience on the Titanic, but there are some further details of her at https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/helen-corr.html ​
