Mike Ryan

My great-grandfather was a Michael Christopher Ryan from Ireland. I have no idea where from though. I have managed to find out from some US records that he was born around 1866, and migrated to the US in 1892. He was aboard the SS City of Paris. Are there Irish records showing his migration from Ireland? The ship manifest does not give me much. Thank you!

Hello Lisa, 

It's so great to hear about your Irish roots! I am more than happy to see if I can point you in the right direction for more information about your great-grandfather. :)

Have you been able to locate the passenger arrival list for the SS City of Paris? Sometimes you can find clues on there, as well as the city or place in Ireland they left from. 

Do you happen to have any information on his other relatives, like his parents or siblings? Did he perhaps travel with someone to the United States? 

Hopefully some of our expert members will provide you with more tips, information and resources for your research. 

Warm regards,

Melin

Hi Lisa,
I am delighted to hear your great grandfather was from Ireland and I hope some of these links below will help you with your search.
Most areas Lisa would have regional researchers who could carry out a more detailed information on your behalf once you have gathered some additional initial information.
I suggest you contact Feargal from Armagh Ancestry who could help you with your research. Fergal can be contacted on researcher@armaghbanbridgecraigavon.gov.uk
https://visitarmagh.com/places-to-explore-2/genealogy/
A Genealogy Conference will be held at The Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh from 17th-19th May 2019. The cost to attend this is - Friday & Saturday or Friday & Sunday - £20.00 and all 3 days - £30.00. Details on how to book this great event will be published in two weeks’ time on https://visitarmagh.com/
PRONI for any Northern Ireland research https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni
The National Archives for the Republic of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/
Good luck with your search Lisa and maybe you will find other relatives that may still be in Ireland.
Kind regards,
Marion 

Hi Lisa

Births in Ireland were subject to civil registration from 1864 and all birth certificates for Ireland from 1864 to 1916 can be searched and viewed, free of charge, at www.irishgenealogy.ie. This website records the birth details of 65 Michael Ryans in 1866!

If passenger arrival records at your end don't record a county of origin of your Michael Christopher Ryan you should check US sources, such as census records, newspaper obituaries etc, to identify any clues as to a place of origin in Ireland of Michael.

Thank you so much for your help on this matter. 

My Mike Ryan seems to be quite elusive here in the United States. The passenger lists do not state a county or town that he was coming from. Just that it left from Queenstown and Liverpool. It does look like he was traveling with a Michael Moloney It looks like Moloney was already a US citizen, and I did find his naturalization papers in which his sponsor was a Matthew A. Ryan. I'm pretty sure this is a huge hint, but I haven't had time to chase it yet. 

The only reason I have as much information as I do about Mike is this. My niece and I have literally been beating our heads against a wall trying to find out any information about him. All my mother ever knew was that he left the family when her mother was 2yr old. About a year ago I was shown a death record for a Willie Ryan in Utah with the parents of Priscilla and Mike as the parents. This was six or seven years after he supposedly left! They finally indexed the full death records recently, in which I was able to find out Mike's age and what he did for a profession. I'm pretty sure I located him in one census because of an age match, in the Wyoming and Utah area. Also because of knowing his age now, I was able to pinpoint his ship records. There was only Mike Ryan that was headed to Wyoming. My gut is telling me that this is him. 
While I do have other Irish lineage, my Ancestry DNA test has me kind of from the Munster region. I don't know if that is of any help. I also have Fitzgerald's and Mooney's(on my mother's fraternal side). These are next on my list, because we haven't been able to find them either, even though I have a somewhat better idea about them. 

Again, I really appreciate your help.

Hi Lisa,

It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes trying to find the people you want. Brian has given you some great tips already, and 65 Michael Ryan entries is, in the grand scheme of things, not all that bad.

My next step would be checking them against death records, and setting aside the ones whose death has been registered in Ireland that you can find and focusing on the ones that have no further entries.

Also, Matthew is probably a good angle to pursue at the moment, as he may of course have been related quite closely to your Michael or he may be a red herring, as can happen, but I think finding out a bit more about him may be of help to you.

Munster would make a good initial focus for any searches, and logistically speaking Cobh (then called Queenstown) would be a natural port of exit.

Wishing you lots of luck on your searches!
Cornelia