Myles Moriarty had a sister Margaret?

So let's recap what we know. 

There were 2 Moriarty families in the Caherdaniel/Castlecove area that are related to us. I'm including a very rough sketch of the family tree to help visualize it.

Michael Moriarty of Coad married Gubby Sweeney of Coad in 1850. They had a daughter Mary who was born in Reen in 1852. They then had several more children: Myles (my great grandfather,) Margaret, James the Schoolmaster, Cornelius, Michael, and Helen.

Apparently, our Michael Moriarty had a brother (we don't know his name) who had at least 3 children: Michael Moriarty (Fr. Edward's grandfather,) James Moriarty the gold miner, and Mrs. Sullivan.

We've heard about our Caherdaniel cousins so let's get back to our Loughane family. We know a little bit about Mary Moriarty mentioned above who married locally and more about James Moriarty, the schoolmaster.

I didn't know about Margaret Moriarty until I received an email from Jane Dowling. She was someone who had a Moriarty relative from Loughane – Abbey Moriarty - who MAY be the sister of our Michael Moriarty of Loughane. Jane and I had emailed back and forth - this is an email that she forwarded to me:

"Begin forwarded message:

From: "Michael Dwyer" <Mfdwyer@adelphia.net>
Date: January 21, 2006 6:43:35 PM EST
To: "Jane Dowling" <keto1@earthlink.net>
Subject: Dreenauliff Dwyers

Jane,
Attached is a summary of the Dreenauliff Dwyers. As you may know, this townland is about six miles from Sneem. Patrick, my great-grandfather, came to Newport where he married Katie Dwyer from Caherdaniel.
You may recognize some familiar names.
Michael

# 3 ii above lists Michael Dwyer - born 24 Sep 1859 in Derreenauliffe, Kerry, Ireland; married MARGARET MORIARTY, on 15 Jan 1889 in Newport, Newport County, Rhode 

Island; died on 5 Oct 1927 Cranston, RI.

That entry caught my eye so I read on to the 3rd generation - #3 Michael Dwyer.

Michael Dwyer worked for the New England Steamship Company as a marine engineer.  
It goes on to say that Margaret Moriarty (daughter of Michael Moriarty and Abbie Sweeney) was born about 1858 in Sneem, Kerry, Ireland!! She died 25 Jan 1917 in Newport, Rhode Island.

When I reviewed the Dwyer family chart from Michael Dwyer of the above email, I was quite excited with the information about Margaret! Then I saw that a Michael Moriarty was a sponsor for Margaret Dwyer in 1861. And then there is a John Moriarty who is a sponsor for Julia Dwyer in 1871. Are they all our relatives? Is Michael Moriarty our relative from Loughane? What about John Moriarty? Derrenauliffe is close to Loughane - down the Gleesk Pier road for those familiar with the area. The Dwyers were neighbors of the Moriartys.

So this email really set me off on the trail of Margaret Moriarty. I haven’t yet (30 January 1912) found a baptismal record for Margaret on www.irishgenealogy.ie or www.familysearch.org. Of course, I think this was the time when Fr. Michael Walsh was pastor in Sneem, and it is well known that he was a poor record keeper.

But Nuala Aylward (the Schoolmaster's daughter) found an old address in her father's diary - he was this Margaret Moriarty’s brother. The address for Margaret was c/o Maurice Murphy, Spruce Street, Newport, Rhode Island. 

We know that Margaret was born about 1858 in Loughane and was married in Newport in January 1889 according to research by the Dwyer family. So when did she arrive in Newport? 

I found several Margaret Moriartys emigrating from Queenstown in Cork to New York - ages 16 to 25 from 1878 to 1882. But these early passenger lists do not give enough information to determine if one of these was our Margaret. I've included the passenger list from the S.S. City of Richmond which departed from Queenstown and arrived in New York on 27 May 1882. This Margaret Moriarty - #450 - was 25 years old - her destination is simply listed as United States of America. Where was she going? Was anyone meeting her?

The S.S. City of Richmond was built in 1873 and was part of the Inman Line. The company's owners were Irish Quakers who provided better steerage conditions for their passengers. 

I didn’t find Margaret Moriarty in Newport in the 1880 U.S. Census, but I did find a 20 year old Margaret Moriarty working as a servant at 155 Mill Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She and her parents were born in Ireland. 
Also in the house is 68 year old widow Frances Patterson and
30 year old Mary Patterson - they were born in Massachusetts.
Cynthia Ingraham is 56 years old and was born in Rhode Island, but her parents were born in Massachusetts. 

I don't know if this is our Margaret Moriarty, but I did find Maurice (Morris) Murphy on Spruce Street in the 1880 U.S. Census of Newport. This was the old address that the schoolmaster had for his sister, but Margaret Moriarty was not listed with the family. No street number is listed. Morris Murphy is a 40 year old carpenter living with his wife Mary, who is 35, and his four sons and his daughter – John, Mortimer, Morris, John, and Nora - the children were all born in Rhode Island. Interesting that 16 year old John is not listed as going to school, nor is he working - and he and his father cannot write. 

So was this Maurice/Morris Murphy from Sneem or Caherdaniel? Was he a relative? I have more information about the Murphys but that is for another story.


I know from searching the Rhode Island Directories that there is no Margaret Moriarty listed – women really weren’t included in the directories – they were usually either wives and their husbands would be listed, or they were working as servants so their employers would be included. But I did find a Maggie Moriarty in the 1885 Rhode Island Census of Newport’s Ward 2. She is #3 on the page. I can’t quite make out the district number – is it 204 or 209? Family # is 202. Number in family is 5, but only Maggie is listed. Relation to head of family is servant – she is 26 or 28 years old. She was born in Ireland – parentage is Ireland. Occupation is a servant. Looks like she can read and write. This is an odd census – no address which is not that unusual – but no family is listed. I’m not sure how we can find out for whom she worked.

I’m not sure where else to look for Margaret – she is not in the Newport Directories, there is no 1890 U.S. Census, and she is married before the 1900 U.S. Census.

I did just find (9 June 2013) an index listing of Margaret's marriage to Michael Dwyer on 15 January 1889 in Newport, Rhode Island. Her birthdate is given as 1861 - she is 28 years old. Michael Moriarty and Abby Sweeney are listed as her parents. This was on the Mormon's www.familysearch.org:

Indexing Project (Batch) Number:	I09532-0
System Origin:	Rhode Island-EASy
GS Film number:	2188896
Reference ID:	p. 88

Maybe this is what the Dwyer family genealogist used for information. We could look it up at the Mormon Library or, better yet, write to Newport's City Clerk for a marriage certificate which might tell us where they were married and who the witnesses were. When I win the lottery, I will get all these baptismal, marriage, and death records.

So what about Michael Dwyer … maybe we can find him although we don’t know when or where he first arrived in the U.S. either. But if we can find him, we may learn more about Margaret Moriarty!