Chicago to Ireland and Back Again

Fr. Tom McIntyre, CM, provided Elaine Beaudoin with the following story via an email on  May 5, 2003. 

CHICAGO TO IRELAND AND BACK AGAIN

I WAS ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD THAT SUMMER OF 1923 WHEN MY FOLKS DECIDED TO MOVE BACK TO IRELAND TO FARM MY GRANDFATHER'S FARM.  HE WAS A SICK MAN WHOM RECENTLY HAD A STROKE BUT DECIDED TO FARM IN IRELAND SINCE HIS EYESIGHT IN ONE EYE WAS AFFECTED.  IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS ON A TRAIN IN MY LIFE, AND I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE TRAIN RIDE TO NEW YORK.  I THINK I WAS GLUED TO THE WINDOW FOR THE WHOLE TRAIN TRIP WHICH TOOK A COUPLE OF DAYS OR CLOSE TO IT.  IT WAS A STEAM ENGINE AND DIDN'T GO VERY FAST, BUT WE SAW PLENTY OF FARM LAND AND ANIMALS, the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE.  I WAS FASCINATED BY ALL OF THE SCENERY. 

WE DEBOARDED IN NEW YORK, AND EMBARKED ON OUR VOYAGE TO QUEENSTOWN, IRELAND (PRESENTLY CALLED COBH).  SINCE IT WAS 80 YEARS AGO, THE SHIP WAS NOT VERY MODERN, I WANT TO ASSURE YOU.  IT WAS MORE LIKE A TUB THAN AN OCEAN LINER OF TODAY.  THE VOYAGE WAS A LONG ONE.  ABOUT TWO WEEKS BUT WHO WAS COUNTING.  IT WAS A GRAND EXPERIENCE FOR ME AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIP.  THE NEW EXPERIENCE OF BEING ON AN OCEAN LINER, SUCH AS IT WAS IN THOSE DAYS.  THE TRIP TOOK ABOUT TWO WEEKS, AND THE MOST MEMORABLE PART OF IT WAS THE STORMS.  THE SHIP HAD NO EQUALIZERS OR BALANCERS AS MODERN SHIPS DO, AND AS A RESULT DURING THE STORMS WE WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON DECK.  I CAN STILL REMEMBER THE BOAT ROCKING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, TO THE POINT THAT ALL THE DISHES AND FOOD SLID OFF THE TABLES.  YET THERE WERE OTHER DAYS WHEN THE SEA WOULD BE RELATIVELY CALM.  ON ONE OF THESE DAYS, A GIRL'S HAT BLEW OFF AND LANDED NEAR ME.  I PICKED IT UP AND RAN TO THE RAILING, AND THREW IT OVERBOARD.  IT THRILLED ME BUT I CAN STILL REMEMBER MY MOTHER GIVING ME A GOOD TALKING TO, AND LETTING ME KNOW HOW BAD A BOY I WAS.  I CAN STILL REMEMBER HER JUST ASKING ME OVER AND OVER AGAIN: WHY???   THE OTHER EVENT I CAN STILL REMEMBER VIVIDLY IS ARRIVING AT QUEENSTOWN.  THE GREENNESS OF THE ISLAND WAS VERY VISIBLE FROM THE SHIP, AND I WAS IMPRESSED.

I REMEMBER THE FARM OVER IN IRELAND.  MAYBE BECAUSE IT HAD NOT CHANGED MUCH IN THE 50 YEARS AFTER THAT WHEN I WENT BACK AGAIN AND SPENT SOME TEN OR TWELVE VACATIONS THERE FROM 1971 UNTIL THE LATE 80'S.  THE FLOOR OF THE COTTAGE WAS OF HARD EARTH, COLD AND DAMP FOR BARE FEET.  THE CHICKENS AND SOME OF THE OTHER CREATURES ROAMED FREELY ABOUT THE "GARDEN" AS THE YARD IS CALLED IN IRELAND.   AS A RESULT THE GARDEN WAS NO PLACE TO GO WALKING BUT I LOVED IT, AS I WOULD GO OUT AND WALK AND RUN ABOUT WITH ALL THE ANIMAL DEBRIS RUNNING BETWEEN MY TOES.  THE THING I DO REMEMBER -- MAYBE I SHOULD FORGET??????  THEN THERE WAS THE DAY THE DONKEY KICKED ME DOWN AND WAS ABOUT TO STOMP ON ME BEFORE SOMEONE PUSHED HIM AWAY PHYSICALLY.  I GUESS HE COULD HAVE KILLED ME IF HE KICKED ME IN THE HEAD.  I REALLY DO NOT REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT THE TRIP BACK.  I FORGOT TO MENTION THERE WAS NO RUNNING WATER INTHE HOUSE, ONLY BARRELS OF RAIN WATER THAT WOULD RUN OFF OF THE ROOF.  BATHING WAS DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY FOR MY SISTERS.  TOILET FACILITIES WERE IN AN OLD BUILDING OFF OF THE GARDEN, WITHOUT EVEN TOILET BOWL OR SEAT.  PRIMITIVE, IT WAS. 

WE MADE THE TRIP BACK TO CHICAGO WITHOUT INCIDENT, AND I DO NOT REMEMBER IT.  BUT I DO REMEMBER MOVING TO 171 N. LEAMINGTON TO AN APARTMENT BUILDING WHERE WE LIVED FOR A SHORT TIME BEFORE MY FOLKS PURCHASED THE HOME AT 4737 GLADYS IN RESURRECTION PARISH.  MY DAD WENT BACK TO WORK ON THE STREET CARS UNTIL HE SUFFERED ANOTHER SEVERE STROKE IN 1937 THAT LEFT HIS ONE SIDE PARTIALLY PARALYZED, BUT HE WAS ABLE TO WALK AND TALK BUT NOT WORK.  IN 1939 HE SUFFERED HIS THIRD STROKE, AND I VIVIDLY REMEMBER MY MOTHER WARNING ME THAT THIS ONE WOULD PROBABLY BE FATAL, AND SO IT WAS.

Why Did Thomas McIntyre not stay in Ireland in 1923?

In 1923, Thomas and Ellen (Walsh) McIntyre and their five children traveled to Ireland to visit Thomas' parents, Lawrence and Mary (Ginty) McIntyre, on their farm in Lislea, County Sligo.  Elsewhere in this blog is information about that trip including the passport from the travels.

My Dad, Larry McIntyre, over the years told the family he really believed they might stay in Ireland when they went there in 1923. He said he thought the farm was wonderful and remembered being in the field behind the house and suddenly being confronted with a bull which chased him until he jumped over the fence to safety.  He thought it was great fun.  His brother, Fr. Tom, told me that the family never intended to move to Ireland but was only visiting.  At the time of the visit Dad was about 10 and Tom was 4.  My Dad also said his sister Mary hated the farm and definitely didn't want to live there.  She was 12 at the time.

On our trip to Ireland in 2011, I had the opportunity to meet a second cousin Patrick O'Hara.  Pat is the great-grandson of John and Bridget (Cawley) Walsh.  John and Bridget are also my great-grandparents.  Pat's grandmother Bridget (Walsh) O'Hara, sister of Ellen (Walsh) McIntyre, told his family the story about what Thomas said when his father asked him if he wanted the farm. Pat has graciously shared the story with me and allowed it to be video taped.

Note: Pat refers to Thomas McIntyre's wife as Bridget, but her name really is Ellen.  Filmed on the Walsh Family farm, July 26, 2011, in Knockahoney, County Sligo.

Origin of Walsh and McIntyre names

Walsh

 This famous national locational and descriptive nickname surname derives from the pre 7th Century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon word "waelisc", meaning "foreigner" or perhaps more likely in the passage of time, "stranger". Be that as it may it is one of the ironies of history that the invaders from North Germany and even the later Vikings, should apparently refer to the people that they conquered or at least drove from their original homes, as 'The Foreigner" and even more so that the name should have stuck. The surname is popular in many areas and countries, there being a large "Walsh" contingent in Ireland, where it is the fourth most popular surname, and even a small number in France, originally in the Nantes area. The modern surname is recorded in a wide variety of spellings, including Welch, Welche, Welsh, Walsh, Walshe, Walch, and Wellish. The early surname development includes examples such as Walter Walsheman of London in 1279, Simon Welshe of Bedford in the year 1279, John Walsh of Roxburgh, Scotland, in 1330, Margery Wellis in the 1327 Pipe Rolls of the county of Essex, and Lawrence Walsh of County Mayo, Ireland in 1588. The first recorded spelling of the family name is from Ireland. This is believed to be that of Haylen Walsh, the son of Phillip the Welshman, and dated 1171. He is recorded as being with Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, in his initial invasion of Ireland in that year. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

McIntyre

Information on the origin of the McIntyre name can be located at the McIntyre/Ginty Genealogy Blog.

Source: The Internet Surname Database.  Accessed June 5, 2010.

Ellen Walsh McIntyre, Death Certificate, 1941

Helen (Ellen) Agnes Walsh McIntyre died on the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday, November 26, 1941 at 10:00 a.m. in her home at 4737 W. Gladys Avenue, Chicago. Her death certificate says she lived on Gladys for 15 years and owned her home. Ellen did not work outside of the home, at least since the start of Social Security and her death certificate states she did not have a Social Security number. Her birth date is recorded as October 26, 1883. From her birth certificate, we know she was born in 1881 and on the birth certificate is states her day of birth as October 12.

Her son, Thomas J. McIntyre, is the informant on her death certificate. He gives her birth place as County Sligo, Ireland; father as John Walsh also of County Sligo; and, only a first name for her Mother, Ellen. We have since learned that her father is in fact John "Jack" Walsh, but her mother is Bridget Cawley. Her son Thomas was living with her on Gladys Avenue at the time of her death.  He was only 22 years old at the time.

She died of uraemia, due to chronic nephritis and hypertension.  Prior to death she had influenza which probably intensified her health issues.

Helen/Ellen was buried, alongside of her husband Thomas J. Sr., in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois on November 28, 1941, the day after Thanksgiving.

For additional information and a transcription of Ellen's death notice see Thomas and Helen McIntyre, Mt. Carmel Gravestone and Obituaries

Ellen Walsh, Birth Certificate, 1881

Ellen Walsh was born on October 12, 1881, or so her birth certificate states. I have not been able to locate a baptismal record for her and wonder, if like her husband Thomas J. McIntyre, was her birth reported several months after the actual birth. But, for now, October 12 is the "official" date.

She was born in Knockahoney, a small townland in County Sligo, only a few miles from Lislea, where Thomas J. McIntyre was born. Her father was Jack Walsh and her mother Bridget Cawley Walsh. Jack was a farmer. From her birth certificate, it shows that her mother was the informant on the birth certificate and since she signed her name with an "X" she was mostly likely illiterate.

When I was in Dublin in 1998, I went to the General Register Office and requested a copy of her birth certificate which you see above. In Ireland, in the1880s, births were recorded in "Register Books" so this image is a contemporary copy, hand written in 1998 from the original Register Books.

Thomas J. McIntyre, Declaration of Intention, 1908

In 1790 citizenship required a two year residency in the U.S. and one year in the state, to be of good character, and to be performed in a court of record.  The laws affecting naturalization changed over the years and who was responsible for granting citizenship also changed.

The naturalization side of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) did not come into being until Congress created the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization by passing the Naturalization Act of 29 June 1906 under the Department of Commerce and Labor. The new agency became responsible for overseeing and supervising the courts in the naturalization of aliens and for keeping a duplicate of each court's final naturalization records. Prior to that date, naturalization was exclusively a function of the courts.

The intention of the Basic Naturalization Act was to provide a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States. The law, effective 27 September 1906, was designed to provide "dignity, uniformity, and regularity" to the naturalization procedure. It established procedural safeguards and called for specific and uniform information regarding applicants and recipients of citizenship status.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service was separated from the Labor Department and placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice in June 1940. In 2002, the INS was dismantled and many of their functions became the responsibility of the new U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Sources: Szucs, Loretto, They Became Americans. Ancestry Incorporated, 1998; Szucs, Loretto and Sandra Luebking, editors. The Source, 3rd edition, Ancestry, 2006.

In 1906, The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization required all aliens to be registered. Residency requirements for citizenship were two years to file intent and five years for final papers.  Final papers comprised the Declaration of Intention, Oath of Allegiance, and certificate of naturalization.

Thomas J. McIntyre declared his intention to become an American citizen on March 18, 1908 by completing the Declaration of Intention (often called "first papers"). The Declaration of Intention was made by an alien, as a preliminary to naturalization, before a court of record, to the effect that it is his intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States.

He filed his first papers in the Circuit Court of Cook County.  The document reads:

I, Thomas McIntyre, aged 28 years, occupation Motorman, do declare on oath that my personal description is: Color: White, complexion: dark, height: 5 feet 7 inches, weight: 180 pounds, color of hair: Black, color of eyes: Grey, other visible distinctive marks: none;  I was born in County Sligo Ireland, on the 14th day of April, anno Domini 1879; I now reside at 35 Flournoy St. Chicago, Ills.  I emigrated to the United States of America from Queenstown, Ireland on the vessel Majestic; my last foreign residence was County Sligo, Ireland.  It is my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to Edward VII King of Great Britain and Ireland, of which I am now a subject; I arrived at the port of New York, in the State of New York on or about the 22nd day of April, anno Domini 1903; I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy; and it is my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein: So Help Me God.
Signed: Thomas McIntyre
Subscribed and sworn before me this 18 day of March, anno Domini 1903.
Signed: Joseph E. Bidwill, Jr., Clerk of the Circuit Court, by B. W. Reid, Deputy Clerk.


He had been in the country since 1904, but he writes 1903 on the Declaration.  Also, he makes himself a year younger, by stating he was born in 1879.

In 1910 he completes his Petition for Naturalization and takes his Oath of Allegiance.

Thomas J. McIntyre Arrives in America, 1904

The ship S. S. Majestic, part of the White Star Line, left Liverpool, England on April 13, 1904. On April 14 it stopped at Queenstown (now Cohb), Ireland picking up the remainder of its passengers before making the Atlantic crossing. Thomas J. McIntyre boarded the ship in Queenstown. Per the New York Times of April 21, 1904, the ship Majestic was "off Fire Island at 9:18 p.m. April 20." The following day the April 22, 1904 New York Times reports the Majestic arrived on April 21.

For April, the weather was quite cold when Thomas arrived. The evening of April 20 was only 34 degrees, more than 20 degrees colder than average for that time of the year. It would warm slightly the next day, but still be colder than normal.

The ships' "Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U. S. Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival" lists Thomas J. McIntyre along with four others whose last residence was also Aclare, County Sligo.  Although, I know of no relationship to Thomas, they were neighbors in Ireland and made the voyage with him.  None had ever been in the United States before and each carried $20.00 as did Thomas.

They were:
Patrick Leonard, age 20, laborer, going to join his sister Mrs. Mary Mulroy, 6000 LaSalle Street, Chicago
Mary Murphy, age 20, maid, going to uncle John Reynolds, 5546 Union Avenue, Chicago
Anne Leonard, age 19, maid, going to sister Mrs. Mary Mulroy, 6000 LaSalle Street, Chicago
Anne Leonard, age 21, maid, going to cousin Mrs. Mary Mulroy, 6000 LaSalle Street, Chicago

Thomas states he is going to join his cousin, Patrick Madden, who lived at 963 Robey Street, Chicago.  Robey was renamed Damen Avenue a few years later.

In 1904, the White Star Line had six ships (Majestic, Arabic, Oceanic, Teutonic, Celtic, and Cedric) that made the trans-Atlantic voyage on a regular basis. Each week, two ships would leave either the port of New York or Liverpool, crossing the ocean. The S. S. Majestic which arrived on April 21, would leave New York City at 10:00 a.m. on April 27 headed again for Queenstown and Liverpool.

McIntyre Passport Application, 1923

Thomas and Ellen McIntyre and their five children, Mary, Lawrence, Blanche, Catherine (sic) and Thomas applied for a US passport on June 12, 1923.  Fr. Tom McIntyre tells that Thomas Sr. had had a stroke and going to Ireland with its climate was suggested to aid in his recovery. They left New York on June 30 and returned to the U.S.A., entering at Ellis Island, on September 8, 1923.