Highlighting my Mulholland ancestors from County Antrim, Ireland and those that immigrated to Los Angeles and Long Beach California, United States; and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Wednesday 1 January 2014

And the wall came tumbling down

About three years ago, I found clues to some of the children of Robert and Nancy. An online tree gave enough information about a Robert Mulholland and Agnes Percy (Nancy) to lead me to some wonderful discoveries about the missing Mulholland family that my Grandmother had spoken of, that had migrated to the United States many years ago. I was in touch with the owner of the tree. However, due to the unfortunate hacking of my email address a short time later, the contact was cut and I could not get any further responses from them. There was a second tree that also had some clues about the family, but attempts to contact the owner of that tree were left unanswered.

I continued my research, and it turned out that Robert, Nancy and two of their adult children, Robert and Julia, left Ireland in 1913 for Canada and soon after had crossed the border into the United States.

Robert P Mulholland was the first of Robert and Nancy's children, I have not actually located his birth record, but I have ascertained his birth date from researching his United States citizenship application papers, which also show the birth dates of his wife Martha Lynn, and their children still living at the time of the application. 

On the 26th of December,1885, in the 2nd Antrim Presbyterian Church, County Antrim, Robert Mulholland, a factory worker, full age (over 21 years), of Ballytresna, Drummaul, son of Robert Mulholland, a factory worker, married Martha Lynn, full age, of Randalstown, daughter of William Lynn, a factory worker. Their marriage was witnessed by John Hamill and Ellen Gray. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend J McKinstry.

Source - Rootsireland.ie

In his "Petition for Naturalization" dated the 23rd November, 1923, Robert Mulholland stated that he was born on the 7th February, 1865 at Randalstown, County Antrim, Ireland and his wife Martha was born on the 7th April, 1859, also at Randalstown. Robert had emigrated to the United States from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the 20th November 1913, after travelling from Ireland to Canada with his parents Robert and Nancy, and his sister Julia, on board the Empress of Ireland. The ship departed from Liverpool, England on the 3rd October, 1913 and arrived at the port of Quebec on the 10th October, 1913.

U.S., Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972 (World Archives Project) for Robert Mulholland Source - Ancestry.com

I did some further searching on the Familysearch.org and later the Ancestry websites, and found that on the 24th November 1913, Robert Mulholland senior, Nancy, Robert junior and Julia crossed the border from Canada to the United States.

Line NumberNameArrival DatePort of ArrivalArrival ContactDeparture ContactResidence PlaceResidence CountryAgeBirth DateBirth PlaceBirth CountryGenderRace/NationalityRecord Type
19Robert Mulholland Senior24 Nov 1913Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaCanada701843IrelandMaleIrishManifests
20Nancy Mulholland24 Nov 1913Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaCanada661847IrelandFemaleIrishManifests
21Robert Mulholland Junior24 Nov 1913Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaCanada481865IrelandMaleIrishManifests
22Julia Mulholland24 Nov 1913Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaCanada301883IrelandFemaleIrishManifests

Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 for Robert Mulholland Junior - Source - Ancestry.com

The best bit was about to come....when I read their details on the "List or Manifest of Alien Passengers Applying for Admission" there was the column "The name and complete address of nearest relative or friend in country whence alien came" the response for each of them was "Son/Bro - John Mulholland 67 Roseberry Rd, Belfast. BINGO...this was the name and address of my Great Grandfather as documented in the 1911 Census of Ireland.

Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956 (2nd page) - Source - Ancestry.com

At last I had found confirmation of some of the family that had migrated to the United States.... The manifest also revealed their destination - "Los Angeles California".. this brick wall was finally starting to tumble down !

© Geoff Mulholland 2013-2016