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.

Mary Cecelia McIntyre, 1911

The first child of Thomas and Ellen (Walsh) McIntyre was born on June 23, 1911 in Chicago, Illinois.  The birth certificate notes that the parents were living at 2541 W. Monroe, Chicago at the time of Mary's birth.  The father, Thomas, was working as a motorman for the Street Railway Company.  It also provides the place of birth of the two parents and confirms family history.

By the time Mary was born, her father was already 32 years old and her Mom was 28.  The birth certificate, which was not uncommon for the time, does not include a first name.  However, Mary's baptismal record has been located and it states Mary was born on June 23, 1911 and baptized on July 16, 1911.  The sponsors were Thomas' siblings, Mary McIntyre and Laurence McIntyre.  Mary Cecelia was baptized at St. Malachy's Church in Chicago.

Although Mary lived in California, she was in Arlington Heights for Thanksgiving when she died on November 18, 1994.  Her body was cremated and as of 2009, her ashes had not been buried.

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Blanche Catherine McIntyre, 1914

Blanche Catherine McIntyre, third child of Thomas and Ellen, was born April 9, 1914 in Chicago.   Her parents were living at 2541 W. Monroe at the time of her birth.  Like her sister Mary, Blanche's birth certificate does not include her first name.  I have been unable to locate Blanche's baptismal record.  Blanche died in California on November 15, 1978.

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Thomas J. McIntyre, Petition for Naturalization, 1910

Having completed his Declaration of Intention in 1908, Thomas is now completing his naturalization process.  The top part of the first page of his Petition for Naturalization is filled in with the information supplied on the original Declaration of Intention.  It is noted that he filed his first papers in Chicago, Illinois in the Circuit Court of Cook County.  He is now filing his Petition in the Superior Court of Cook County.  This portion of the paperwork is dated May 26, 1910.

Two individuals are required to sign an "Affidavit of Witnesses" each stating he is a citizen and that each personally knows Thomas McIntyre to have resided in the United States for a period of at least five year continuously immediately preceding the date of filing as well as in the State of Illinois.  They also swear that Thomas is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States, and that he is in every way qualified to be admitted a citizen of the United States.

James Joseph Hallinan, a conductor who lives at 740 Irving Ave, signs the document first.  Hallinan was probably a co-worker of Thomas' at the Chicago Surface Line.  The second witness is William Madden, a police officer residing at 2958 Lee Avenue, Chicago.  Madden is Thomas' first cousin.  He is also the brother of the Patrick Madden, the person Thomas states on the ship's passenger manifest he is going to join when he came to America in 1904.  


On October 7, 1910 Thomas McIntyre swore his Oath of Allegiance:
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to George V King of Great Britain and Ireland of which I have heretofore been a subject, that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic; and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same."
Signed: Thomas McIntyre

Certificate of Naturalization No. 142375

Of note is the last section "Order of Court Admitting Petitioner".  It says to "Insert on following lines marriages and births occurring after petitioning and before naturalization.  Since Thomas and Ellen/Helen were married between these two occurrences what is written is:

"Helen Nacacahoone reside in Chicago Ill married Sept. 4, 1910."

When I saw this I was confused until I tried to pronounce Nacacahoone and realized it was Knockahoney, the townland where Ellen Walsh was born.

If Thomas McIntyre had not made the one week trip across the ocean in 1904 and then filled out the paperwork to become a citizen of the US in 1910, we might be in a very different place in our lives.  We are all very fortunate. 

So on October 7, 2010 the McIntyres will give thanks and celebrate the 100th Anniversary of our immigrant ancestor's decision to become an American Citizen.

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.