Voices of the Irish Immigrant

Type: Publications
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Voices of the Irish Immigrant: Information Wanted Ads in The Truth Teller, New York City 1825-1844

Compiled by Diane Fitzpatrick Haberstroh, MLS, and Laura Murphy DeGrazia, CG

In the two decades preceding the Famine there was already a considerable Irish immigration to North America, and given the limited communications of the time it was easy to lose track of relatives and friends who had crossed the Atlantic. "Information wanted" ads in newspapers were a means of locating these lost individuals.

Diane Haberstroh and Laura DeGrazia have transcribed and indexed all the ads in surviving 1825-1844 issues of The Truth Teller, New York City's first Catholic newspaper. The ads mention names of several thousand immigrants living all over North America and, best of all for the genealogist, they also mention nearly 1,000 places of origin in Ireland.

In addition to a personal name index the authors have created indexes to place names in the U.S., Ireland, and other countries, as well as to New York City streets (since relatives or fellow townsmen often settled in the same neighborhoods).

The Boston Pilot was running similar ads in this period, which have been published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Haberstroh and DeGrazia checked The Truth Teller's ads against those in the Pilot and found almost no duplication. The place index shows entries from all over the U.S. and Canada, but the largest number are in New York and Pennsylvania.

The authors found original copies of The Truth Teller at the American Irish Historical Society in New York City and the New York State Library in Albany. Microfilm copies are available at the New York Public Library and Library of Congress.

Diane Haberstroh and Laura DeGrazia have also compiled Irish Relatives and Friends, a collection of similar ads from the Irish American, a weekly newspaper published in New York City in 1850-1871. Irish Relatives and Friends was published by the Genealogical Publishing Company in 2001.

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