Gateway Family HistorianA PUBLICATION OF THE ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY Vol. 10, No. 2, 2010 New York City’s Five Points Neighborhood elcome to the twenty- f you’ve heard of Five Points, you’ve most likely heard that it was hell eighth issue of on earth. That description, however, may be an understatement. At its WGateway Family Historian. worst, Five Points could have ranked higher on a “Worst Places to Live” list than would the domain of Old Scratch himself! This issue’s focus is a I country that furnished many It was literally a filthy place. Garbage was ankle-deep in the streets on a good immigrants to Missouri – day, and chamber pots were emptied out of apartment windows into the street. The smell on a hot day was unbearable. Ireland. Such awful sanitary conditions combined with overcrowding (3,000 people PLEASE NOTE: Gateway in a half-mile radius) meant that disease was widespread. Deadly diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and tuberculosis took the lives of thousands. An 1832 Family Historian is now a cholera epidemic killed one-third of Five Points’ population. bi-annual publication. How did the residents of such a hell-hole amuse themselves? WHAt’s InsIDE Five Points had 270 saloons, 500 Page 2 ... And Some Venerated bordellos, and the high rates of Ancestors crime and violence that inevitably accompany such establishments. Page 3 Ethnic Spotlight: Police estimated that at least one The Scotch-Irish murder per day occurred in one especially rough section of Five Page 4 Site Seeing: Points called the Old Brewery. Useful Websites Police recorded 5,000 murders there during a 15-year period. Page 5 New Arrivals They also admitted that some Did You Know? murders in the Old Brewery likely Page 6 They Came From... went unrecorded; there were several buildings that police would Ireland! only enter when they could do so Page 7 Help!! in force. Page 8 Contact continued on page 7 “A Summer Evening Scene at the Five Points” courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Venerated Ancestors continued from page 2 7. McLysaght, Edward. Irish 10. Woulfe, Patrick. Sloinnte provided). For each surname, the ... And Some book provides its derivation, variant Families: Their Names, Arms, Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and and Origins. New York: Crown Surnames. Kansas City, MO: Irish forms, and the locality in Ireland Venerated Ancestors Publishers, 1972. H/G and STACKS Genealogical Foundation, 1992. H/G where the name is most prevalent. 929.3415. 929.4. Best used in conjunction with The St. Louis Public Library’s Dogtown Neighborhood by Sandra 5. General Alphabetical Index Provides the etymology of over Irish surnames are listed by Gaelic McLysaght’s works (see 7, above). collections contain a number M. Brunsmann, The Saint Louis Irish to the Townlands and Towns, 500 Irish surnames, alternate spelling (an Anglicized index is also of essential reference books for by Ellen M. Dolan, and From Kerry Parishes and Baronies of Ireland. spellings, locality in Ireland where Irish research. Some deal with Patch to Little Paderhorn by Kenneth Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. the name is most prevalent, the all-important question of T. O’Connor. Co., 1984. H/G 914.15003. and color reproductions of the ETHNIC SPOTLIGHT how to find the precise locality in This “must have” reference book coats-of-arms for about half of Ireland where an ancestor lived. 3. Falley, Margaret Dickson. Irish and for Irish research lists all towns and the listed surnames. See also Others cover Irish surnames or Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research: townlands in Ireland and provides McLysaght’s More Irish Families immigration. Here are a few of the A Guide to the Genealogical the county, barony, parish, 1857 and Supplement to Irish Families, The Scotch-Irish many sources available: Records, Methods, and Sources in Poor Law Union, and Townland each of which covers an additional he term Scotch-Irish refers to Irish Ireland. 2 vols. Evanston, IL: M.D. Census of 1851 for each entry. 1,150 names. Protestant dissenters who emigrated to 1. Casey, Albert Eugene and Falley, 1962. H/G 929.3415. Since Irish records are usually not North America (most between 1717 and Dowling, Thomas E. P. O’Kief, The first (and possibly best) guide kept only on the county level, 8. Mitchell, Brian. A New Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher, to Irish genealogical research researchers must have the names Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. 2nd T1775). Scholars believe that as many as 250,000 and Upper Blackwater in provides an historical sketch of of all the other political divisions of ed. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical such persons came to North America during the Ireland. 16 vols. Birmingham, Ireland, research methodology, an Irish locality in order to find all Pub. Co., 2002. H/G 912.415. colonial period. AL: Knocknagree Historical Fund, and an extensive bibliography of appropriate records. This atlas provides clear, concise 1952-71. STACKS 929.3415. Irish genealogical resources for the maps showing each county and Most of the Scotch-Irish dissenters were A compilation of various records: serious researcher. 6. Lewis, Samuel. A Topographical its boundaries for Ireland’s civil descendants of Scottish and English persons deaths, Griffith’s Valuation, Dictionary of Ireland. 2 vols. parishes, baronies, Poor Law who had been relocated to the Plantation of church records, estate books, and 4. The Famine Immigrants: Lists Reprint. Baltimore, MD: Unions, and Roman Catholic Ulster during the 17th century. Those who much more focusing on the Irish of Irish Immigrants Arriving at Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984. parishes. For the counties of remained in Ireland typically refer to themselves as Ulster Scots, counties of Cork and Kerry. Each the Port of New York, 1846- H/G 914.15003. Northern Ireland, maps for while those who went to North America usually call themselves 1851. This gazetteer provides detailed volume has its own index, and 7 vols. Ira A. Glazier and Presbyterian Congregations are Scotch-Irish. In 2008, 3.5 million Americans identified themselves Volume 16 includes an overall Michael Tepper, eds. Baltimore, MD: information on the cities, towns, also provided. as being of Scotch-Irish ancestry. index. Genealogical Pub. Co., 1983 – . H/G villages, parishes, and baronies of 929.3415. Ireland including even the smallest 9. Ryan, James G. Irish Records: On first arrival in America, the Scotch-Irish generally referred 2. Faherty, William Barnaby, The tragic Irish potato crop failure of places. Because this book was Sources for Family and Local S.J. The St. Louis Irish: An struck during the winter of 1845- first published in 1837, the place History. Salt Lake City, UT: to themselves simply as “Irish.” They only began using the term Unmatched Celtic Community. 46. During the next six years, tens names reflect Ireland as it was Ancestry Inc., 1997. H/G 929.3415. Scotch-Irish in the 1840s in order to distinguish themselves from St. Louis: Missouri Historical of thousands of tenant farmers and before the Famine. The original This useful guide provides for Potato Famine refugees. The Famine immigrants were largely Society Press, 2001. STACKS and rural laborers who were unable to 1837 edition (which the Library each Irish county a list of research Catholic, uneducated, and poverty-stricken, while the Scotch-Irish H/G-L 977.8660049. feed their families or pay their rent owns) includes a third volume that facilities and available records. It were primarily Protestant, literate, and landowners. There was little Noted local historian and author fled to North America. This bookset provides detailed maps of each also pinpoints where each type of interaction between the two groups since most Famine immigrants Faherty documents the history lists Irish passengers who came to county. record can be found (including the settled in large cities in the New England and Mid-Atlantic of the Irish in St. Louis and their the port of New York chronologically LDS Family History Library in Salt states, while most of the Scotch-Irish migrated to the South, the considerable influence on local by ship. Information includes arrival Lake City). Appalachian region, and to several Midwestern states. Some Scotch- politics, business, charitable date, ship, port of departure, name, Irish immigrants also settled in Ontario, Canada. institutions, and the Catholic age, gender, and occupation if Church. For more on the St. known. Each volume has an every- For more information, visit Scotch-Irish Americans at http:// Louis Irish, see also Early Irish name index. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch-Irish_American. Settlers in St. Louis Missouri and continued on next page Page 2 | Gateway Family Historian | Volume 10, No. 2, 2010 Page 3 New Arrivals Following are items that were the Canadian almshouse documents include spouse’s name, names of recently added to the History & listed in this book. Due to the other relatives, New York address, Site Seeing Genealogy Department collection. widespread poverty engendered by place of birth, occupation, ship, and the Potato Famine, many women and (for many immigrants) the ship 1. Dobson, David. Irish Emigrants children from broken families are and date of arrival in the U.S. The Cyndi’s List—Ireland Finding Your Irish Ancestor’s in North America. 7 parts in 4 vols. included in these records. “Remarks” column often provides www.cyndislist.com/ireland.htm Place of Birth Baltimore, MD: Clearfield Pub. invaluable information about the www.genealogybranches.com/irish.html Includes an extensive list of Co. 1997-2003. H/G 929.3. 4. Punch, Terrence M. Erin’s Sons: depositor’s family in America and Need help finding the county or town categories that may prove useful Entries generally provide Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada, Ireland as well as more detailed when researching ancestors from from which your people hailed in emigrant’s birth date and place, 1751-1858.