More on Thomas Leo Corr - Ship passenger record

The last post I shared the 1911 census images that provided me with the proof of Thomas Corr's age and family.  When I found the passenger record information I was so excited about seeing his name I forgot to look deeper into it.  The years after 1910 provided more information then older ship records did.  The country started getting a little more pickier on who they let in.  More questions were asked of the passengers and a more detailed health examination was done on the immigrants before they were allowed to step foot on U.S. soil.

The first page shows us his name Thomas Leo Corr, his age 18, occupation is Assistant Victualler, he is able to read and write and speak English.  Nationality is Great Britain his race is Irish.  He was born in Monaghan, Ireland.  The nearest relative from where he came from:  Father, James Corr lived at Church Square, Monaghan.  His final destination is New York, NY.

This is page 2 of Thomas Leo Corr's ship passenger manifest record.  He had a ticket to his final destination and his father paid his way.  He was carrying at least $50 while on his trip to the U.S.  He was planning to join with his Uncle Michael Mckenna who lived at 195 Eight Avenue, New York, NY.  He was planning to stay for at least 10 years in the United States.  He was of good health.  The following describes his appearance to us.  Complexion: Fresh, Hair Color: Brown, Eyes: Blue, Height: 5' 7", Body marks of identification:  Mole on Right Eyes.  Place of birth was Monaghan, Ireland.

With this information I now know he had at least one family member living in the United States already.  My next step is to find more about Michael Mckenna his uncle.  This was the brother of his mom Anne Mckenna Corr.  I am going to look for them both in NY City / Bronx directories as well as the 1930 Federal Census.

I am hoping I have a little luck with finding Tom Corr and his Uncle Michael McKenna in NY.

Corr Family from Ireland, part 2

I was planning to post a few days ago but my asthma has been getting the better of me.  Sometimes I feel as if my nebulizer is just an extension of my body.  Anyway, enough about me.


Well as you know, I found Thomas Leo Corr on the passenger list landing in New York.  Showing this to the grand kids they thought maybe he lied about his age he should be older then is listed.  He was running from the law for supplying the "bad" army with guns.  I figured it was possible, people didn't always know their birthdays others just lied.  I guess having huge "Sweet Sixteen" parties back then wasn't as important as it seems to be today.  The gun supplying thing I could look into...maybe there was a warrant out or something.


I figured if I could find a birth record or something.  Little did I know how much was missing in Ireland records.  So much was destroyed over the years during wars with England and the religious wars.  Yes, Ireland took a census every year for many years some were even very detailed.  The only ones left after everything is 1901 and 1911.  To think I complain about the U.S. 1890 census being destroyed at least we have all the others.


I took a chance and looked in the county he had listed on the passenger list.  In 1911 in County Monaghan, house #5 in Church Square in the town of Monaghan you will find the James Corr family with a 6 year old child Thomas Leo Corr.  This age would put his birth about 1904 which agrees with the ship passenger record.  This census also gives me information about the rest of the family.


Check out the links in order to see the wonderful information found to help me along with this families history search.

1911 Census of Ireland

As you can see the father James Corr (which was the name they had listed in the family bible) was a Cattle Dealer and Victualler.  Not sure what a victualler was I had to look it up.  One definition was, a person who sells provisions to an army another was Grocer.  Which would go along with supplying things to the "bad army" like the grand kids thought.  I think providing the enemy with anything even beef/meat would be looked down on.  On the next page, Form B - House and Building Return, it shows (# 5) had a "shop" on their property.  So he probably had a butcher shop or something similar.

1911 Census - House and Building Return

I was happy to report my 1911 census findings to the grand children and they seemed very happy with what I found for them so far.

I am doing a lot of reading about Ireland and the area the family came from in order to better understand where they are coming from.  Would you know it I found a mess of Reilly's living by the Corr family.  It would be funny if that ends up being my hubby's family.  His Reilly's haven't been in this country very long either. Hhhmmm.  

Corr Family from Ireland

Here they are the couple that started this quest for family history knowledge by their boys.

Well, after a few weeks again of not hearing anything and just about giving up on the Corr family I was contacted once again. Debbie Corr, Matt's wife ran over to my home with an old family bible in hand. She turned it over trusting me to take great care of it since it is falling apart. She tried to photocopy it - but it just didn't work. I took the Bible and promised to be careful.

The first thing I did after was sit it down on the table and take digital pictures of the opening pages that let us know when and where it was made. I then turned to the family info pages and took pictures of each page. Then the family treasure was closed up and placed it inside an archival storage box I had. I figure it should be safe in there till I get it back to the family. I plan to give them the box to help keep it safe.

I am posting the pictures of some of the family pages just incase someone reads this and can find a link to help share history with me and other members of the family.

After entering all the names and information into my FTM program, I started a quick search on Thomas Leo Corr who was the Corr family known to have immigrated to good old USA. It didn't take very long for a ship passenger manifest to come up. There he was the first name on the list Thomas Leo Corr, last residence was Managhan, Ireland and his father is James Corr just like the family bible said. I quick saved that to a file and shot a quick email to both Matt and Joe Corr telling them about what I did with their bible and the attached first bit of information I was able to find on their Corr family.



I will update more on my searches in the morning. Have a wonderful genealogy dream filled night.

On the Principle "Anything is Better than Nothing"