The Thomas of Cork - Found At Last!

In 1900, eighty-seven year-old Timothy Moynahan (1813-1902) sat on his Mercer St. (Windsor, Essex, Ontario) porch for a Detroit Free Press photographer to take his photograph. Speaking with a "bit of the brogue - just enough of the rippling dialect of the Kerry man" Timothy described his journey from Ireland to the Americas when he "was 9 years of age" in the 1820s.

 Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan 25 Nov 1900, Sun  •  Page 37

I first located this news article in the 1980s in the Detroit Public Library - Burton Collection and I was delighted to learn of the details of the voyage,  

"The Thomas of Cork, Captain Bamfield , master, was the ship upon which we sailed. She was an old war remnant, as slow as molasses in January and the trip occupied six weeks and three days."

"A lonely voyage it would have been too if it had not been for the fact that there were sixty-two women, a flute player and a piper aboard. The women were wives of soldiers that were serving the crown in this country, and they were coming over to join their husbands."

"Between the women and the musicians, the time passed pleasantly. The piper was an untiring Highlander, and he succeeded in driving all the rats from the old schooner. The music of the Scotch bagpipes will do that same you know.” 

For over thirty years I have searched every emigrant index in the hope of finding the ship "The Thomas of Cork" or the Captain "Bamfield" to no avail until this week when I found this advertisement on "Find My Past - Irish Newspapers"

 

Irish Emigrants Arrival at Cork. . . . on the Quay. Illustrated London News (10 May 1851): 387. [Note the signs with North American destinations: Boston, New York, and Quebec.]

 

When I first read the 1900 Detroit Free Press article, I wondered how eighty-seven year-old Timothy could recall such great detail about an event that happened when he was only nine years old?

The Detroit Free Press (DFP) reporter said that Timothy's "memory is as fertile as the green fields of his native soil."and this has been proven to be true and this recent development has provided some new clues for me to search.

Because Timothy told the DFP that he "came over when I was nine years of age, my folks settling in Pennsylvania where we lived three years before coming to Windsor." I have spent a great deal of time researching the port of Philadelphia for the Moynahan arrivals.

The Port of Arrival - Quebec

I have now begun to look at the port of Quebec. 

Using the dates that the Thomas of Cork sailed sailed and adding six weeks and three days using the Time and Date Calculator I was able to determine, for example,  if the ship sailed from Cork on Thursday, May 1, 1828 ...... adding 6 weeks, 3 days (normalized to 45 days) I know that the ship arrived in the port of Quebec on Sunday, June 15, 1828.

The next step of my research will involve looking at the Quebec Gazette Marine Reports. The Quebec Gazette is available online for free (4,930 issues) from Jan 12, 1775 - Nov 17, 1943. I have begun to look through some issues and have not found mention of the ship arriving yet.

The Quebec Gazette - Jun 19, 1828

The newspapers carry all kinds of marine information: the ships that arrived; the ships that were cleared; Notable passengers arriving; shipping intelligence about other ships making their way down the St. Lawrence, marine accidents etc.

The Quebec Gazette - June 19, 1828

The Port of Departure - Cork

I was never sure about which port the Moynahans left Ireland from and thanks to this latest development, I am now quite certain it was the port of Cork.

"The Port of Cork was a bustling thoroughfare and became famous throughout the world as ‘a harbour of tears’. It was a place where thousands of Irish people left their native land never to return." Source: "Emigration from the Port of Cork"

‘City of Cork’ by Thomas Sautelle Roberts, 1 July 1799. (British Library, Public Domain)

Early research on the website "Emigration From Cork To America 1800-1833" show the same three years (1826, 1827, and 1828) for the Thomasof Cork sailing to Quebec.

In 1828, Cork newspapers were running advertisements for the Canada Company (established 1826) and this may have been the enticement for our Moynahan ancestors?

LANDS IN UPPER CANADA – THE CANADA COMPANY having completed their arrangements with his Majesty’s Government for the Purchase of Lands in Upper Canada, are now prepared to DISPOSE of these LANDS to Persons desirous to settle in that Country. A Prospectus, containing a general Description of the Lands, and of the terms on which they are to be disposed to, with other particulars, interesttion (sic) to Emigrants or Settlers .....

Three Years In Pennsylvania

Confident in my current course of research based on the facts presented by Timothy in 1900 regarding the Moynahan emigration to Ontario from Cork to Quebec, there is one outstanding issue. Specifically regarding the Moynahans"settling in Pennsylvania where we lived three years before coming to Windsor."

Thank you Timothy Moynahan. Although the records for this period  are extremely challenging to find, your sharp memory and attention to details have been incredibly helpful and have pointed the way and your third great grand-niece is grateful.