Tuesday, January 23, 2007

One Plus One Equals Two

Ellen (Doherty) Boland born 1858 in Farrah Cobrayo Ireland was grandmother to my grandmother Anna Marie McCaffery Gallagher.

Records show that Ellen came to Philadelphia from Killala, Ireland on September 6, 1908. She arrived on the ship "Friesland" with her husband John (1858), daughter Ellen (1892), son John (1895) and a grandson Michael Cafferty (1905).

What I found interesting in these ship records was the name Michael Doherty who was listed as one of the people already in Philadelphia which the above family were to meet. Michael Doherty was listed as "step-brother" to Ellen Doherty Boland. At the time, I did not have any clue to what, who or where this Michael Doherty came from, was related too. However, I found him in the 1910 Census Records as living on 3741 Sharp Street (near the 3700 block of Cresson) as a boarder who came to Philadelphia from Ireland in 1908, worked as a Laborer in a Foundry and had listed as a fellow boarder Daniel Melvery.

Guess who Daniel Melvery was? Katherine Boland's future husband. Katherine or better known as Aunt Kate was the daughter of John & Ellen (Doherty) Boland, sister to Bridget Boland McCaffery and Aunt to my grandmother.

Ahhh, family connections and why XYZ married XYZ. Daniel Melvery (1895) came to Philadelphia from Ireland in 1907. Guess who else came to Philadelphia from Ireland in 1907?
Yes, you guess it, Katherine Boland.

This all makes me think that the Boland, Doherty, Cafferty and Melvery Families all knew each other before they even immigranted to America. Fantastic. Really.

Anyway, there was one other name listed as the original contact person here in Philadelphia for Bernard & Mary (Boland) Cafferty when they came to America from Ireland on April 30, 1906. The contact person listed was John Boland's brother Martin Boland who at the time resided at 186 Calumet Street in the East Falls Section. I researched Martin Boland's immigration records and it appeared Martin Boland has been in this country since 1888. He was born in 1863.

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