|
a.
|
Note: Volume VI of the series of books "The Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants Arriving at the Port of New York, 1846-1851" lists a John Sweeney, age 20, a laborer, who arrived in New York on January 20, 1851, on the ship A.Z. from Liverpool. There is no proof this is the correct John Sweeney, but it seems to be close to the correct age.
John Sweeney was apparently a carpenter all his life. Sweeney family genealogist speculates that he worked his way across the country to Bloomington building train depots. His obituary in the Bloomington Pantagraph states that he worked for Hayes & Evans, a contractor, and helped build many of the older buildings in Bloomington-Normal, including some at the university. After that he worked in the shops of the C & A railroad until about age 68 according to his obituary. Great-grandson John Sweeny of New Jersey has some of John Sweeney's tools with his name "branded" on them.
The funeral notice for John Sweeney on September 19, 1902 (Bloomington Pantagraph) states that his pall bearers were two grand nephews and four nephews: David, James, patrick, John, and Edward Sweeney. This is significant in helping to establish John's relationship with the Edmund Sweeney family because these are all names of Edmund's sons. Also an older woman named Catherine Sweeney is living with John in one census and with Edmund in another, indicating that she is probably the mother of both of them. Although there is a birth record for Edmund in St. Nicholas Parish in Castlelyon, there is no birth record for John. However, the records from 1829 are missing. John will could have been born in that year because he is listed as being 74 years old in his obituary.
Lori Sweeney Mooney, a Sweeney family genealogist, writes: "John paved the way for the rest of the [Sweeney] clan to arrive, of that there is no doubt, for he left Castlelyons first. . . . John left about 1852, probably from Cork Harbor via Liverpool to a larger ship and then to Canada, it was much cheaper right after the famine to go that way. John picked up the carpentry trade and worked his way from Canada down through upstate NY always making his way west, building railroad depots. The Chicago and Alton RR recruited thousands of Irish to come to buuild their railway and apparently, John was so impressed with the lay of the land and the soil content of McLean County he decided to stay and sent word tothe family back in Ireland." John's nephews began to come over: first Michael (the third oldest) in 1866 after the Civil War when there would be no chance that he would be drafted to fight; followed by John in 1867; then John's brother Edmund and his wife Bridget came with the younger children, leaving only the oldest son (who inherited the land in Ireland] and the oldest daughter behind.
|
