Henry Family, New York Arrival/Departure or Immigration/Naturalization Records

[KrisWilson]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on finding more records of my x2 great grandparents who lived in Manhattan, New York. They were both born in Ireland and I have records for Marys parents and her siblings that were born in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland.

I have listed the records I have below of their time in New York, Marys husband James Henry was a Horse groom and holster who died of insolation in the Aug 1896 heat wave in New York and Mary was re-married in Scotland a year later in Jun 1897.

So I know that Mary departed New York sometime between Aug 1896 - Jun 1897 to travel to Scotland with her two daughters, would there be a way of determining which port she may have took back and finding departure lists?

I also wondered if there would be immigration records or possible naturalization records for the couple, on James Henrys death certificate it states 11 years in US (Since 1885) this may have been a guess by the person who wrote the death certificate but I wondered if it could help source an arrival date?

The couple were married since their first child's Fannys birth in 1887/8 so I don't know if they were married in the US or Ireland, one theory I have that a Roots Chat member found would be this 1887 marriage in Allendale, Ottawa, Michigan: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N3NZ-45N?lang=en which lists Marys birthplace as Ballycastle, Ireland and the couple are similar ages to other records.

Again if this theory was true, which port would they have arrived at from Northern Ireland to arrive in Michigan or would this have been a Canadian port?

Here are my records to date:

Mary Welsh (Also spelled Walsh / Welch)
Married Name: Henry (Also spelled Henery / Hendry)
Born: Ireland, Ballycastle or Derry/Londonderry (In Poor Law Record, Scotland)
Between 1868-1872

1887/8 Daughter Fanny Born (My great grandmother)
Can’t find birth cert, marked born in New York in other records in Scotland.
Name also shows up as Fanny / Frances
Death record birthdate: 29 Nov 1888

1890 Daughter Annie Born
Have birth certificate with the details
Father: James Henry, Born: Ireland, Age: 30, Occupation: Groom (Horses)
Mother Mary Welsh, Born: Ireland, Age: 21
Number of child of mother/living: 2 (Would be Fanny and Annie)
Residence: 316 E 33rd, Manhattan, New York

1890 NY Police Census
James Henery 28
Mary Henery 22
Fanny Henery 3
Annie Henery 8 months
Residence: 316 E 33rd, Manhattan, New York

1896 Husband Died
Have record, died of insolation in heat wave
Occupation: Holster (Horses)
James Henry, Age: 41
Born: Ireland,  How long in US: 11 Years (Since 1885)
Aug 1896 in Manhattan

Travelled with her two daughters Fanny and Annie
from New York to Scotland between 1896 - 1897

Re-married in Wishaw, Scotland Jun 1897
Have all census records and some Poor Law Applications for her
Died in Motherwell, Scotland May 1944 Aged 72 (Born: 1872)

James Henry
(Also spelled Henery / Hendry)
Born: Ireland
Between 1855-1862
Died Aug 1896 (All other details above)

My earlier post on this family can be found here:
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=883330.0

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for taking the time to read through.
Kris

[shellyesq]

Canada seems like the most likely possibility if they went straight to Michigan, but I wouldn't rule out other options.  I had ancestors who went to Ohio by way of New Orleans around 1850.  East coast ports followed by a train trip could be a possibility too.

I didn't see any definite passenger lists for Mary & the daughters in 1896-1897, but is it possible they left earlier than that?  Maybe they went overseas for a funeral or for Mary to care for a sick relative and James met his untimely death because no one was there to see how he was doing?  I don't recall if there was any discussion in the previous thread about James' estate, but if there were anything happening in that area, that might indicate where Mary & the daughters were living shortly after his death.

[KrisWilson]

Hey Shellyesq,

Thanks for the reply, looks like I may need to run two lines of research for the Michigan theory and if they were based in New York City throughout their time in the US.

I have been searching through passenger lists for the last few days and I'm pretty stumped on when Mary left with her daughters as there doesn't seem to be anything showing up within that window so you may be right that she left earlier.

 I haven't looked in to anything on James' estate, I will admit I'm not too clued up on wills and probate records as I have not researched these before. Would I find this using the year of his death or would I need to know when he wrote a will?

Thanks for all of your help so far, it's been a boon!

[shellyesq]

There are some various New York probate records here.  https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1920234  Usually, the records come from after the date of the death or even years later.  Some people filed wills before their death, but I think that tends to be more common among people with more money to leave.