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Toddlers and Angels

June 4th—the day my sister Sharon died—always makes me pause.  My mind shifts back to the dark days of 1994. Then, when the veil between here and after was thin and my mind was continually occupied by thoughts of my sister - memories, regrets, wishes - I was on high alert, ever watchful for her presence.  Desperate for a sign that she was okay was a natural response to the traumatic way she died. I wanted reassurance. I found myself looking for women that looked like her in the grocery store or on the street, just to get a glimpse of her face one more time. For months, even years later, my heart would nearly leap out of my chest when I spied a young lady with long, dark, curly hair or a face that resembled hers. Of course, I was invariably disappointed when that person wasn't Sharon, and I couldn't pretend it was all somehow just a bad dream. But there were a few times, when our daughter was a baby and toddler, when it wasn't me but Anne who seemed especially attuned...
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James G. Gilbride, First to Reach America

This blog post is part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" writing challenge by genealogist, blogger and podcast host Amy Johnson Crow. Week 1 prompt: "First."

I never imagined that my Gilbride ancestors had deep American roots. Family lore told that my great, great grandfather Michael Gilbride was the first one to reach our nation's shores, we assumed in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I recall hearing that the Gilbrides immigrated from County Cork, in Ireland, but no one had any more information than that.

Imagine my surprise then, to discover that our Gilbride family actually came over to the United States in early 1850, and that it appears James G. Gilbride, my 4x great grandfather, was the first to arrive with his family, and settle in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The Gilbrides have been in America nearly 170 years.

It was a heart-stopping moment to discover a ship manifest index on FamilySearch's "United States Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851," detailing the arrival of several persons with the surname Kilbride, a frequent variation on the spelling of Gilbride.1 The manifest listed a group traveling together which included two Kilbride men named James, a Rose, an Owen and a Frank - which my previous research showed matched the names of my 4x great grandfather and four of his children.

The group traveled on the ship "Liverpool," and though the manifest shows they were of Irish origin, they departed from the port of Liverpool, England, and arrived in New York harbor on 3 April 1850. Also in their group was Edward Kilbride and a Mary Kilbride, who were bound for New York; I theorize that they may be other Gilbride relatives. How and why they all came to be in Liverpool bears further research, though it is likely they were fleeing the effects of the Irish famine, which raged from 1845-1849 across the Emerald Isle.

Even more excited was viewing the digital images of the Liverpool's manifest in FamilySearch's database "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," and to see the group's destination: Pennsylvania!


Kilbride group from Liverpool ship manifest, in order from 210 down: Edward, Mary, James (abbreviated "Jas."), James (abbreviated X do, meaning ditto), Mary, Owen, Rose and Frank. 2


Liverpool ship manifest transcription.

A few short months later, by late September 1850, James "Kill Brine" and his family had settled in Palmyra, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and are enumerated in the 1850 United States Federal Census.3 Both James senior and junior are shown with occupation of laborer, as is another son Patrick. Rose and Francis are shown as being in school.


Meanwhile, my 3x great grandfather James "Kill Bride"and his wife Bridget (nee Egan), are show also in the 1850 census as living in Palmyra,4 with hash marks indicating they were "married within the past year." (While odd that the son James appears twice in the same census, directions for 1850 census enumerators allowed them to record a person if they were in the house at the time, even if they lived elsewhere; these two entries were done two days apart - the image below on 28 Sept. and above on 30 Sept. 1850.)


James died in 1872, and left his land to Francis, who died in 1904, after which the land was sold. James Gilbride's descendants fanned out to other areas - Scranton and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, while others moved to Minnesota, Ohio and beyond (with this Gilbride descendant deep in the heart of Texas!).

Our American story began with James Gilbride's arrival in 1850 - my first Gilbride ancestor to come to these shores.

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 1 "United States Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Citing NARA NAID 569666. National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
2 "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939V-559C-54?cc=1849782&wc=MX62-DW5%3A165754801 : 21 May 2014), 086 - 14 Jan 1850-8 Apr 1850 > image 607 of 781; citing NARA microfilm publication M237 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

 3 1850 United States Federal Census, Pennsylvania, Wayne County, Palmyra, family of James Kill Brine, Ancestry.com, Roll: M432_835; Page: 101A; Image: 201, family number 202, accessed 1/3/2019.

 4 1850 United States Federal Census, Pennsylvania, Wayne County, Palmyra, family of James Kill Bride, Ancestry.com, Roll: M432_835; Page: 98B; Image: 196, family number 154, accessed 1/3/2019. 
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