Ginnelly descendants return to Blacksod Bay
by ionaddeirbhile
Chris and Rick Goffin USA, descendants of the Ginnelly Family, Mullet Peninsula, County Mayo. The Ginnelly Family sailed on the SS Austrian from Blacksod Bay 25th May 1883 for Boston arriving 7th June.
Dennis Ginnelly and his family were the first of my family to migrate to the United States. Dennis and Bridget (Lavelle) Ginnelly had 10 children, 7 sons (James John, Denis, Martin, Patrick, Anthony, James, and Dennis James) and 3 daughters (Mary, Sabina and Margaret). The children were born at either the town of Morahan or the town of Binghamstown, Belmullet district in County Mayo. Two of the sons died as young children. Their oldest son James Ginnelly did not emigrate with the rest of his family. Dennis emigrated from Blacksod Bay with his wife and 7 of their children. They traveled on the SS Austrian, leaving on the 25 May 1883. Their reported destination was Hudson, Wisconsin but the family appeared in St Paul, Minnesota (about 25 miles from Hudson) in 1887 where they remained for the rest of their life. Dennis and his sons (now named McGinley) appear to quickly find work as laborers but later some became insurance agents, proprietor of a bar named McGinley’s, proprietor of oil station, teamster and blacksmith. Only 5 of the children married. Dennis died 15 years after arriving in the USA; his wife died 4 years later.
In September 2013 I traveled to Ireland to visit the towns where my relatives had lived. I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Blacksod Bay where the owner told me about the Ionad Deirbhile Heritage Centre and Rosemarie Geraghty who had spent years researching the families who had benefited from the James H. Tuke fund and the assisted emigration scheme. The Heritage Centre in Eachleim Ireland was a pleasant surprise. It had abundance of information much larger than the modest façade of facility suggested, especially related to the Tuke fund and assisted emigration. I found all sorts of genealogical information including the lists of participants in the assisted emigration scheme and the name and date of ship they travelled on. One of their web sites www.blacksodbayemigration.ie has proved quite useful. I also found out that there is a beautiful memorial at Blacksod Bay commemorating the people who had used the assisted emigration scheme to move to the USA or Canada. The James H. Tuke fund was created to help relieve the poverty of families living in western Ireland. The fund required that the family must be healthy, must travel together as a family, would have a sponsor in the USA or Canada, would not be dumped on the coast but generally relocated to interior cities such as St Paul, Minnesota where jobs awaited them and they were provided with new clothes and traveling money. It was at the Heritage Centre that I discovered that Dennis Ginnelly had applied for and been approved for this emigration assistance. That explained the mystery of where the money came from allowing Dennis Ginnelly to move most of his family to a new life in the USA.
Dennis Ginnelly’s oldest son James Ginnelly (my Great grandfather) stayed behind because he had married and started his own family. James Ginnelly and his wife Bridget (Lavelle) Ginnelly had 8 children (William Patrick, John, Martin, Margaret, James, Agnes, Mary and Catherine). Their son John Ginnelly has arrested in 1897 according to the citation for the “Riscue 7 Head Of Cattle Which Were Being Conveyed To The Pound” in other words he took back cattle that had been confiscated from the family. For this he was sent to the Castlebar Jail. Shortly after he was released in 1899, he immigrated to, St Paul MN and lived with Dennis’s family. In July 1900, William Patrick Ginnelly, James’s oldest son immigrated to the same address as his brother John. In May 1902, Martin and Margaret Ginnelly immigrated, then in May 1903, James Ginnelly and his daughter Agnes Bridget Ginnelly (my Grandmother) immigrated and finally, in May 1904 the mother Bridget Ginnelly immigrated with her children James, Mary and Catherine Ginnelly. The Ginnelly family as a whole helped the remaining members of the Ginnelly family to migrate to St Paul. They provided funds for travel, a place to live in St Paul and jobs or help getting jobs. My Grandmother remembers shortly after arriving, at the age of 12-14 years old, being responsible for bringing containers of beer from McGinley’s bar to the homes of good Irish women who would not go into a bar but had a thirst. All the family help each other get by. From 1905 onward, most of the Ginnelly sons worked for the railroad.
John Ginnelly married a Sarah Barrett in April 1910. Sarah and her family were also from the Mullet. Sarah’s parents Richard Barrett and Nora (Walsh) Barrett family also took advantage of the Tuke fund and emigrated from Blacksod Bay to St Paul Minnesota on the SS Prussian on May 1883.
Blacksod Bay Assisted Emigration Sailings 
This is all very interesting history to me. My grandfather, age 8 at the time, his parents and three siblings sailed on the same boat to arrive in Boston and then settling in St. Croix Co., WI for a while and ultimately, St. Paul, which is where I live. I will be visiting Belmullet and this incredible Heritage Center in just a few weeks. I know it will be a very moving experience for me.
I envy you your upcoming trip. I found the Mullet peninsula strangely attractive. I was very taken with the area. You will really like Rosemarie Geraghty at the Heritage Center. If there is anything I can help with before (or after) your trip please ask. Have a great trip!
Jane,
Rosemarie is my cousin and she notified me that someone was at the Heritage Center related to Kennedy’s buried at Erin Prairie. My grandparents lived to the west of the Kennedy’s on Cty. G in St. Croix County. I remember my mother and uncles being friends of Miles and Mary, brother and sister. They are probably your relatives.
Hope you were able to find family information. Rosemarie is a great person to have help you.
Hi Darlene,
You are right! Mary and Miles were my dad’s aunt and uncle and I remember visiting my great uncle Miles when I was quite young. He eventually moved to St. Paul, which is where I live. What was your grandparents’ surname? I sent Rosemarie a graphic of land plots from Emerald, WI. I’m sure your relatives are listed on the illustration.
Where do you live?
Hi Jane,
My grandparents were Geraghty’s – Patrick and Margaret. They are not on the plat you sent as they still lived in St. Paul until about 1918. They would buy the farm from Ernisse – about two and a half miles west of Kennedy’s. There is also a Michael Maloney to the west of Kennedy’s who was a relative of my grandfather Geraghty. He was also from Mayo. I live in Baldwin, Wisconsin so still in the area of my grandparents. I retired from teaching three years and have been doing a lot of genealogy research.
Hello MS Kongshaug
I have been researching my Geraghty family for several years and although we are not related (at least not within the last five generations) I have been interested in the other Geraghty families that ended up in St. Paul. I know that Owen, Martin and Patrick all worked for the C, ST. P & O railroad at one time or another and roomed in the west 7th neighborhood. My uncle Jim Geraghty was a priest at St. James church in the 1940s and may have ministered to Owens family. I am interested in who Patrick in Gerand when he left St. Paul. many years ago I met a family of Geraghty’s from New London WI on a St. Patrick’s day celebration.
My Geraghty’s are actually from South Mayo near Shrule and Mayo but I am exploring connections with other areas.
Kevin Geraghty
Darlene, I can’t recall if I responded to your post or not. I would love to meet up with you some Saturday if possible. I am working full time and then teach one night so I have been super busy. But let me know if you’d like to meet up to discuss our genealogy. I can come to Baldwin or we could meet in Hudson.
– Jane
Kevin,
My grandfather was Patrick Geraghty brother of Owen and Martin. Martin changed his last name to Garrity after arriving in St. Paul (first western Wisconsin). Patrick lived in St. Paul from 1906 to 1918, after injuring an eye in 1917 while working for the railroad. I have compiled a family history which includes a Kevin Garrity, son of John Garrity who lived in Pine City, MN. If you are the same person I would happily share the history with you, or even if not.
Darlene Kongshaug
I am not the same Kevin Garrity from Pine City. However, I am ironically the son of John C. Geraghty of St. Paul MN. Some years ago, my father (who died in 1986) received a letter from someone in the Baldwin WI area asking about our family connections. We were not connected as far as I could tell so we never followed up. I have a lot of information on my own Geraghty family but I have recently taken an interest in the “other ” geraghty familys that settled in St. Paul and as far as I can tell there were at least four seperate “families” with the name here between 1900 and 1920. My family which came from Shrule/Headford area; a Geraghty family that orignated in Isledeady, a Timothy Geraghty family on the east side of St.Paul whose origin is unknown and your family which was in the West 7th street area.
It appears that your group consisted of three brothers (John (Martin) Patrick and Owen) from Belmullet, all of whom worked at one time or other for what bacame the Chicago Northwestern RR. Did they come directly to St. Paul of sign on with the RR in Baldwin WI. There appear to have been other Garrity’s along with other Belmullet families in Emerald Twp prior to their arrival. Was that their original destination ?
Are you connrcted to a Henry Geraghty from Belmullet that settled in NE Minneapolis in the 1880s ??
I have relatives still living in Headford ireland and plan to return for another visit this spring . While I am there I hope to do some research on just how the name became so widely disbursed in Galway and Mayo. Belmullet is about as far from anywhere as you can get in Mayo.
I am not aware of any of the three Geraghtys, other than my grandfather Patrick, who worked for the railroad. He landed in New York and drove a coal wagon before arriving in St. Paul. He didn’t move to Baldwin, WI until later when he had lost an eye in a train repair accident. We have mail receipts where he sent money back to Ireland to help his brothers, Martin and Owen, come to the U.S.
My grandfather had a relative, Bridget Geraghty Maloney who lived in Emerald Township so he bought a farm near her and her family. I’m not sure if she was related to the other Geraghtys in the area. There are many Belmullet families who settled in the area of Erin Prairie, New Richmond and Emerald. The names on the cemetery list for St. Patrick’s in Erin Prairie is almost like the names on the passenger list. I have never encountered a Henry Geraghty in out family information.
I hope you can travel to Belmullet. It is a very scenic area. You are right it is far from anywhere.
Darlene
THE GINNELLY FAMILY OF SYRACUSE, NY – HAD GRANDFATHER NAMED “MARTIN GINNELLY” (MY GRANDFATHER). HIS WIFE, AGNES
REILLY. MARTIN GINNELLY, A BRICK MASON, DIED FROM A FALL
FROM A SCAFFOLD IN EARLY 1900’s. AGNES PASSED AWAY IN
1950’s AT AGE 93 – SO SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN BORN ABOUT 1857
IN IRELAND.(AS AGNES REILLY). THINK THEY WOULD HAVE IMMEGRATED TO U.S. AROUND 1800 – OR EARLIER, FROM MAYO.
GOING TO COUNTY MAYO IN MAY 2022. FIRST TRIP TO IRELAND.
JOHN GINLEY JR. (WITH JJG III & IV)
ginjon279@gmail.com
CORRECT THAT IMMEGRATION TO 1870 FOR AGNES REILLY GINNELLY.