Tracing Your Irish Ancestors spread out into every neighborhood in Chi- cago. The website in Maps in Chicago www.chicagoinmaps.com is a great resource Tina Beaird for following Chicago’s expansion from the 1830s through the 1990s. I admit it. I am proudly South-Side Irish. My mom always joked that in order to live in Bridgeport you had to be three things: Irish, a Democrat and a White Sox fan, and if you weren’t all three of those things, you didn’t live in Bridge- port! My two Irish great-great grandfa- thers came to Chicago from Albany, New York in 1876 to build the Nativity of Our Lord Church. They were a stone mason and a brick layer and heard about the work in Chicago after the . My family has lived in the neighborhood ever since. I will figuratively ‘stir-the-pot’ by claim- ing Bridgeport is THE quintessential Irish neighborhood of Chicago. Bridge- port has been the epicenter of Chicago politics for generations. Dozens of po- lice and fire chiefs have come from our 1883 O. W. Gray and Son Map of Chicago www.chicagoinmaps.com neighborhood as well as five mayors, A great place to learn more about Chicago’s four of whom were of Irish descent. Irish neighborhoods is through the Bridgeport gets its name from the construc- http://libguides.chicagohistory.org/research tion of the and Michigan Canal in which has a neighborhood file along with doz- 1836. I&M Canal’s Commissioners began sur- ens of other resources for researching your veying land as early as 1824, but poor man- Irish ancestors from old newspapers to street agement and bankruptcy delayed the canal image files. Priceless information on your numerous times before its completion in Irish ancestors can be found in their Architec- 1848. Thousands of Irish laborers worked on tural and Building History Collection the canal from Chicago to Peru, Illinois. The http://chicagohistory.org/research/re- canal brought skilled and unskilled Irish la- sources/architecture which includes city di- borers to Bridgeport. These workers stayed rectories, photo and maps. The collection also and put their skills to use building St Brid- contains information about building permits get’s Church which opened in 1854 filed within Chicago from 1898-1912. Addi- http://lockzero.org.uic.edu/iv.html. tional permit information can be searched online through the University of Illinois at Bridgeport is just one of a handful of Irish Chicago neighborhoods that sprang up along the http://researchguides.uic.edu/micro- south-side of the in the mid- forms/permits. The Chicago History Museum th 19 Century. Other early Irish neighborhoods is also the repository for thousands of images include Canaryville, Back of the Yards, and from the photo morgue. Brighton Park. As Chicago grew, the wealth- The Chicago Daily News was often the news- ier, more established Irish began moving fur- paper of choice for Chicago’s South-Side Irish. ther south into Morgan Park, Oak Lawn, and The paper closed its doors in March of 1977 Beverly, home to the infamous South-Side and many Chicago Irish moved their alle- Irish Parade held the weekend before St. Pat- giance to the Chicago Sun-Times. Many im- rick’s Day every year. Not all Irish lived in ages from the collection have been digitized these neighborhoods. Thousands more and are available through

47 TIARA Newsletter Volume 33 Number 2 Fall 2016 http://explore.chicagocollections.org. Ex- the Inter Ocean, Chicago Herald American plore Chicago is comprised of digital collec- and Chicago Daily News which are not readily tions from Chicagoland universities and re- available online. search facilities. Thousands of images have been scanned representing major events, The local Catholic parish was the glue that ‘movers and shakers’ and influential neigh- held the Irish community together. Most kids borhoods around Chicago. went to the parish school and families at- tended mass together on Sundays. Church The , a world-class facility records are some of the best records available with outstanding genealogy and history col- for early Irish families in Chicago. Old St. Pat- lections, is located on Chicago’s near-north rick’s Church was the first Irish Catholic par- side. The Newberry is not just a leader in ge- ish in Chicago. You can find their records nealogical research, but a pioneer in digital online back to 1846. Luckily the LDS Church access to materials. Portions of their collec- digitized most of Chicago’s Catholic parish tions like their Chicago and the Midwest Col- books up to 1915 and has made them availa- lection are available through their website ble online at www.newberry.org/chicago-and-midwest. https://famlysearch.org/search/collec- tion/1452409. Several churches in Chicago They have partnered with Internet Archives started as missions to St. Patrick’s, so if you https://archive.org/details/newberry to struggle finding your family listed in your par- make over five thousand books available from ish’s early church records; browse Old St. their extensive holdings. They are the creators Pat’s books to see if they are listed. The reason of Chicago Ancestors why these church records are so vitally im- www.chicagoancestors.org which contains portant is because Illinois did not start re- dozens of tools for tracing your Chicago Irish. cording births and deaths until November Two additional resources you should explore 1877. From 1877 until 1914 these records are the Illinois Digital Archive www.idailli- were merely requested by the state but not re- nois.org which has newspapers, letters, year- quired. ALL of my Chicago Irish are missing books, photos, postcards and more docu- from the official county birth records until the menting the history of Chicago and Illinois. 1920s even though it was mandatory to regis- Also, the Consortium of Academic and Re- ter births beginning in 1914. Luckily EVERY search Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) Digital Col- one of them has a baptismal record from a lections: https://collections.carli.illinois.edu Chicago Catholic parish. includes multiple digital collections embody- ing Chicago’s rich history.

The ’s Branch has an extensive Chicago History Collection. Thousands of images, books, maps and architec- tural drawings are available for in-depth research. Digital copies of the Chicago Herald Examiner from 1908-1918 http://digital.chipublib.org are available for free. They have placed some of their more popular images from their Neigh- borhood Collections www.chipu- blib.org/archival_subject/neighbor- hoods online as well. Sadly, a large por- tion of the library’s extensive newspaper collection is only on microfilm. If you are ever in Chicago, it is worth a trip to the microfilm research room to access over Karins Family Record in author's personal collection 150 years of Chicago newspapers like 48

The Catholic Church oversaw more than just collection is derived from early books, indexes vital statistics. The archdiocese oversaw poor and newspaper resources. Another great ave- houses like the Little Sisters of the Poor and nue for finding your Chicago Irish is through orphanages and homes like the Catholic Boys Internet Archives www.archive.org. This is Asylum in Bridgeport as well as hundreds of one of my favorite resources for tracking down parochial schools. Contact the Chicago arch- early Chicago families. Hundreds of books are diocesan archives available, free of copyright, to download and http://archives.archchicago.org for addi- use in your genealogy research. Remember tional records. You can find more information births and deaths weren’t recorded until on Chicago’s Catholic churches through sites 1877, so there is nearly 50 years of Chicago like www.chicagoancestors.org. Here, Catho- history represented in these early histories lic churches are pinned to a Google map plat- before vital records registration began. form showing information on the opening and closing of the church, the ethnicity of the pa- Television and film sensationalize Chicago’s rishioners and where the records are now gangster history. Irish mobsters like Dean held. The http://en- O’Banion, Terry “Machine Gun” Drummond, cyclopedia.chicagohistory.org also has chap- and George “Bugsy” Malone are a few of the ters on Chicago Irish and the aforementioned more ‘colorful’ Chicago Irish. If you’ve found Catholic parishes, homes and orphanages. that your relatives might have run with the likes of Bugsy Malone, there are places to look Chicago and for those records as well. The Chicago Police Irish are nearly Department Homicide Index 1870-1930 synonymous. www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/ar- Dozens of na- chives/databases/homicide.html or the Cook tionalities call County Coroner’s Inquest Index 1872-1911 Chicago home, www.ilsos.gov/isairad/cookinquestsrch.jsp but for whatever may offer some clues to your family’s gangster reason, the Irish past. Another avenue of research is the Cook have dominated County Clerk of the Circuit Court Archives our collective which is the repository for criminal, family minds and and probate court records. They sampled hearts for gener- their criminal court records, only keeping a ations. Charles small percentage of the original case files, and Comiskey owner destroying the rest. Luckily many of the dock- of the Chicago ets are still available to browse on microfilm White Sox was in the archives offices. A list of their archival the son of well- holdings can be found here: respected alder- www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/?sec- man, “Honest” tion=RecArchivePage&RecArchivePage=ar- John Comiskey chive_holdings. The Clerk of Court is also re- who was born in sponsible for wills and probate. Recently An- County Cavan. cestry released a new database All Illinois, Charles Comiskey Mayor Richard Wills and Probate Records 1772-1999 which Internet Archives A. Daley’s family includes a healthy number of Chicago records http://bit.ly/2aMV39U hailed from http://search.ances- County Waterford. Irish-American celebrities try.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9048. This like Bill Murray, Chris O’Donnell, and John database is not comprehensive, so if you do Cusack all call the Chicagoland area home. not find all of your Chicago ancestors, contact From Claire to Tipperary, every county in Ire- the Cook County Clerk of Court Archives for land is represented in the neighborhoods of additional information. This office was also re- Chicago. Ancestry has a database pertinent to sponsible for handling naturalizations. An in- your Chicago Irish research called Chicago dex to Declarations of Intent can be found at Irish Families 1875-1925 http://search.an- http://12.218.239.55/NR/default.aspx. cestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3524. This

TIARA Newsletter Volume 33 Number 3 Fall 2016 49 These records are a treasure trove of infor- http://bit.ly/2aGTjgP. If you strike out in mation on your Chicago Irish from their Chi- both of these locations you can also check the cago street address to their Irish home town. Illinois Secretary of State’s databases as well by visiting www.cyberdriveillinois.com/de- Speaking of Cook County records, no discus- partments/archives/databases/home.html. sion of Chicago resources would be complete Within the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index considering Cook County began in 1831. 1763-1900 you’ll find the Fink Index which Nearly all of the records pertaining to the city references Cook County marriages that pre- and county were destroyed during the Great date the Great Chicago Fire. This information Chicago Fire www.greatchicagofire.org on Oc- was collected by Sam Fink from Chicago area tober 8-9, 1871. Record keeping for Cook newspapers in an effort to recreate an index County began anew on January 1, 1872. A to the Chicago marriages from 1833-1871 large number of marriages from the 1930s that were destroyed in the fire. This index is and 1940s are not represented here. If you by no means complete, but it is a nice substi- cannot find your family listed in this data- tute for the burned records. base, submit a written request directly to the Cook County Clerk’s office: There are numerous genealogical, historical www.cookcountyclerk.com/vtalrecords/Page and heritage societies in and around Chicago s/default.aspx . In my own personal research, that can assist you in your research as well. I have found that both sets of my grandpar- The Chicago Genealogical Society www.chica- ents are missing in the online database, but I gogenealogy.org has several online indexes in- was able to purchase copies of each marriage cluding a decent index to surnames recorded certificate directly through the Clerk’s Office. in early Chicago newspapers. They also have an index to past issues of their newsletter which can be requested from your home library through Inter Library Loan. One of my favorite groups, no of- fense to the others, is the South Sub- urban Genealogical and Historical So- ciety http://ssghs.org/wp in Hazel Crest, Illinois. They have the employment cards for the men who worked for the Pullman Car Works building train cars from 1900-1949. These cards in- clude wages, physical descriptions and often photos of each employee. The historical society also has an ex- tensive research library with dozens of Chicago and Irish genealogy titles.

The Irish-American Heritage Center http://irish-american.org promotes Irish and Irish-American culture and history through cultural events and Marriage Certificate from the author's personal collection educational programming. The center has several hard-working, dedicated You also have access to the indexes to vital museum, library and archives staff eager to records through www.familysearch.org which assist researchers. There are three additional has Cook County births, marriages and Hibernian groups in the Chicagoland area. deaths for various years from 1871-1994. Ad- The Ancient Order of the Hibernians is one of ditionally, there are over 70 collections avail- the oldest ethnic societies in Chicago. They of- able for Illinois research here fer support to Irish Immigrants and provide scholarships for Catholic school tuition 50 www.aooh.org. Ireland Network of Chicago is focused on keeping Chicagoans involved and up-to-date on what is going on within Ireland and the Irish community worldwide http://theirelandnetwork.com. Lastly, the Irish Fellowship Club http://irishfellowshipclub.com has been in existence since 1900 and offers scholarships and grants to students. They work to promote Irish culture and learning throughout the Chicagoland area with a series of programs, golf tournaments and public events.

There is a staggering amount of information waiting to be discovered about your Chicago Irish. I must confess, there are many more re- sources that I could and should include in this article, but in the effort of finishing this article within the decade, some had to be sac- rificed. I leave you with my final handful of re- sources for those who had Irish working on the Illinois and Michigan Canal. While these sites are outside of Chicago, they are still use- ful in telling your story. I leave you with a slightly altered Irish blessing: May good and faithful records be yours wherever you roam. Illinois State Archives I&M Canal Collection: http://bit.ly/2azebJj Illinois State Archives Regional Archives De- pository System: www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/ar- chives/IRAD/iradregn.html Lewis University John Lamb Collection: http://www.lewisu.edu/im- canal/JohnLamb/section_0.pdf Will County Historical Society http://willcohistory,org

Tina Beaird is a genealogy and local history librar- ian at public library in the Chicagoland area. She is a Governing Board member of the Oswego Her- itage Association and the Northern Illinois Histori- cal League and was recently appointed as a Direc- tor to the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board which oversees grant funding to small mu- seums and libraries, for digitization and historic preservation projects. She volunteers her time with several local historical societies providing digitiza- tion and organizational support towards preserv- ing their historic records. Tina is a member of the Genealogical Speaker's Guild and has been lectur- ing on topics including genealogical research, ar- chival preservation, and Illinois history since 2003.

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