IMMIGRATION

Of our Willoughby family the immigration appears to have been done with several trips of a few family members at a time, but the family all went to Ohio, at least at first and most have been proven to have gone to Uhrichsville specifically. This raises several questions. Why did they go to Uhrichsville, Ohio? Is it possible that other family members were already residing in this place? Is it possible that this mysterious family member or members also help provide money for the needed passage fares? 

James’ wife[1], also named Bridget, (Bridget C. COLLINS[2]), was born[3] in Clare County, Ireland so it is probable that she and James were married before they came into the U.S. Unfortunately, she dies before the 1900 census so the information from that record is not available to determine what year she entered the U.S. While James, his sister Bridget and possibly his wife Bridget left before Patrick (the father) died in 1878 the rest of the family left after his death but not necessarily together. The dates of immigration are not known but I have a theory based on the collection of the records I have found, namely, the available census records and one passenger list. I believe[4] that 2 of the children, James and Bridget Willoughby, left for America before 1880, possibly in 1875[5]. Brother and sister were living in West Virginia in time to be enumerated in the 1880 census. James is listed as married with 3 young children all born in the U.S. with the oldest born in Ohio. This information puts James, for sure, in the U.S. sometime in 1877-1878. Since a birth record hasn’t been found for this child in Tuscarawas County it is not known if he was born in that county[6] or somewhere else in Ohio.

Using the passenger list database online for Castle Garden, New York, a listing[7] for John Willoughby (son of Patrick and Hannah), was found. He is listed at age 17, entering the New York port on 23 May 1883 on the ship S.S. “Samaria” out of the ports of Liverpool and Queenstown. (See Figure 2) The passenger list has not been located as of yet and since there is no 1890 census available, the next record where John is found is the 1900 census[8] living in Mill Township of Uhrichsville, Ohio. When the census enumerators for the 1900; 1910 and 1920 census asked for his year of entry, whoever gave the answer never gave this year (1978) as the year of entry.

There is a christening[9] record that places Patrick WILLOUGHBY (the son) still residing in Ireland with his wife and children along with his sister, Mary Teresa (WILLOUGHBY HANLEY) on the 1^st November 1885 for his youngest child’s christening (Catherine WILLOUGHBY). So, it appears that the third group of the family to immigrate consisted of Patrick, his wife, Catherine, (Catherine COSGROVE), children: Michael, Mary, Catherine, mother: Hannah and sister: Mary Teresa WILLOUGHBY. This group has not been found listed on any of the passenger lists databases. It was easier for people to enter the U.S. if they had a destination and means of support to report at the time of entry. The process of immigrants entering into the U.S. during the time period of 1852-1890 was reported[10] and published in The New York Times in the Marine Intelligence Column on 23 December 1866. (See article at end of this chapter.)

As seen in the table below, determining the year of immigration by using the information found in the census records remains a guessing game. As the databases for passenger lists continue to be added to and evolve it is to be hoped that finding these people on passenger lists will happen in the future. It was also cheaper to travel to Canada by steamship from Britain then cross the border into the U.S. from the land.  

Table 1: Year of immigration given by WILLOUGHBY family in the U.S. census:

NAME	1a.	1b.	2.	3.	4.
Hannah	1882	18	Deceased
James***	1875	25	Deceased
Patrick	1884	16	Deceased
Bridget	1882	18	1880	Unknown*	Deceased
John	1881	19	1881	1886	Deceased
Mary Teresa	1885	15	1865	1880	1889**
Michael	1886	14	1885	1884	Deceased

                        1a: 1900 census – Year of entry into U.S.

                        1b: 1900 census – Number of years in the U.S.

                        2: 1910 census – Year of entry into the U.S.

                        3: 1920 census – Year of entry into U.S.

                        4. 1930 census – Year of entry into U.S.

* Note: The informant for this census evidently did not know the answer to this question.

** Note: Very difficult to read and appears to have been written over.

*** Note: The 1880 census does not ask the year of entry into the U.S. The census year was May 31, 1879 through June 1, 1880.