Brick Walls And Tall Tales

Recently I overcame a thirty year long genealogical brick wall and traced my father's paternal line back to Ireland. I started this quest in 1978, with relatives passing down the family story that my grandfather was born near Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of a cattle buyer who worked at Fort Monmouth selling meat to the troops. Well, all of a sudden a flood of old records have been making their way to my desktop to prove otherwise. Amazing stuff. Ships' crew records. Foreign birth records. US draft and naturalization records.

The records tell the tale: my grandfather (man in picture, right, with moustache, hands on hips, dark suit) was born in Ireland (he was indeed the son of a cattle buyer), left home circa 1907 and went to sea aboard Anchor Line steamships. In 1910, he landed a job with Panama Canal Steamship and Railroad Co and began making runs between New York and the Canal Zone. Despite the official statements on his kids' birth records that say he was born New Jersey, my grandfather's only connection to the Garden State was a girlfriend who left New York in 1913 and moved with her parents to Ocean Port Avenue in Long Branch.

I suspect my grandfather had his reasons for telling tales. He seems to have been politically active before he left Ireland and might have been afraid for himself and his family. The earliest iterations of the Irish Republican Army formed around 1907.

My most recent find is that my ancestor, Andrew Noble, a horse trainer who was probably born around 1825, is listed in Griffiths Valuation of Ireland. It shows him living on Fort Hill Street in Enniskillen in 1863.

So, when faced with brick walls and tall tales, be persistent and ask the hard questions. Even official records, like birth certificates and the census, can be erroneous. Don't focus too tightly on what you think you know. Keep other options open.