Margaret Gallagher and William Heath

"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Margaret Gallagher was born in Ireland in 1823-1830. Her parents' names are given on her death certificate as Daniel Gallagher and Bridget Mcgeetinger. At a guess, Bridget's last name was actually McGettigan. When a Gallagher and a McGettigan got married in 19th century Ireland, the most likely county for them to do it in was Donegal. Donegal was also the county with far and away the highest incidence of Daniel Gallaghers in the Title Applotment (1823-1837) and in Griffith's Valuation (1847-1864). Therefore it's likely that Margaret was born in Donegal.

According to the 1900 US Census, Margaret immigrated to the States in 1843. She probably immigrated before she was married. The immigration records show an overabundance of Margaret Gallaghers of the right approximate age arriving during right time period, but I was unable to find any similar records for Margaret under her married name and its variations. Also, all of Margaret's children that we know of were born in New York.

By 1848-1849, Margaret had married William Heath - or Haight or Hyatt. The only definitive records I have for William are the 1850 US Cenus and the 1855 New York State Census, so I know that he was born in Ireland in 1823-1825 and not much else about him. His father's name may have been Patrick.

Margaret and William's oldest daughter Ellen was born in New York City in 1848-1849. At the time of the 1850 US Census, the family was living in Ward 2 in Brooklyn. (In fact, Margaret was to live in Brooklyn for the rest of her life.) William "Hyatt" was working as a labourer. In the 1855 New York State Census, the family was enumerated in Ward 5 in Brooklyn under the name "Haight." William was working as a barman. There were now three children, all said to have been born in Kings County, i.e., Brooklyn: Ellen, Bridget born 1850-1851 and Patrick born in or about 1854.

Two more children were born in the next five years: Mary in or about 1855 and William in or about 1858. By 1860, however, Patrick had died and William Sr had vanished. Margaret and the surviving children were enumerated in Ward 2 in Brooklyn under the name "Heath." Unfortunately, the 1860 US Census didn't record marital status. Margaret was described as keeping a boarding house. She had three lodgers, all Irishmen: Bernard Rodgers, age 25, Dennis Gallagher, also age 25 and John Clarise, age 26. (There's nothing to indicate that Dennis was related to Margaret.)

The 1860-1861 Brooklyn City Directory (all hail Tom Tryniski, the creator of fultonhistory.com!) includes a listing for a widow named Margaret Heath who was widowed and lived at 78 York Street. She's not listed in the 1861-1862 directory, but she appears in the 1862-1863 directory as a widow who runs a boarding house at 63 Pearl Street, two blocks away from 78 York.

In the 1865-1866 directory, Margaret Heath's address is given as 4 Jiffany Place. If that's meant to be Tiffany Place, then it's a bit of a jump from Pearl Street, about 2.4 km. This would be consistent with the fact that by 1865, the family was living in a different ward, Ward 6. They were enumerated under the name of "Haight." One more child had been born in or about 1863: Patrick. The 1865 New York State Census did record marital status, as a well as a few other items of interest. Margaret was widowed. She'd been married once and had had six children:

The 1865 census listed no lodgers but did include a cousin, a 30-year-old Irishwoman named Mary Mcavay.

It looks very much as if Margaret may already have been widowed in 1860, which would explain William's absence on the 1860 US Census records. There's a William Health born in Ireland in 1823 who died in the City Hospital in Brooklyn on January 26, 1860. However, this raises the question of the younger Patrick's parentage. One possibility is that he was Margaret (but not William's) son. Another possibility is that he might have been Margaret's grandson. Her oldest daughter Ellen would have been about 15 when Patrick was born. A widow who had one more child a couple of years after her husband's death would have been the target of some gossip, but a young girl who bore a child out of wedlock would have far worse to deal with. It's understandable that Margaret would have claimed the child as her own.

I have no further information about Ellen after 1865, as I haven't been able to find either a marriage or death record referring to her parents. On the 1900 US Census, Margaret said that she'd had six children, only two of whom were still living. I know that the two living children were Mary and Patrick, so this suggests that Ellen was deceased by 1900.

I was unable to find records for Margaret and most of the children in the 1870 US Census at all. The 1869-1870 Brookyln City Directory describes her as a widowed laundress living at 293 Hicks Street, nine blocks away from Tiffany Place. The 1870-1871 directory gives her address as 291 Hicks.

I was able to use the directories to find 289-293 Hicks Street in the census records for Ward 6 in Brooklyn. It's building 386, in between 297 Hicks (385) and 287 Hicks (387). It contains 12 families (numbered 896-907 in the census). In the 1869-1870 directory, the heads of two of these families are listed as living at 293 Hicks, Margaret's address. Two more are listed as living at 291 Hicks. One is listed as living at 289 Hicks.

In the 1870-1969 directory, all of the heads of family listed at 291 and 293 Hicks previously are now listed at 291 Hicks. In addition, one of the heads of family previously unlisted is now listed at 291 Hicks. The family who previously gave their address as 289 Hicks is still hanging in there at 289.

The building described as 386 in the 1870 census is indubitably the right building. But there are no Heaths enumerated there. Maybe no one was home? Or they were too busy or just didn't feel like answering the door? Tenements can be a bit of a maze. Maybe the census taker missed their apartment? Didn't realize there was one more floor to the building? Any of these things are possible.

(The buildings currently at 291-293 Hicks Street date from 1901. We don't know what the buildings looked like in 1870.)

I do have a possible identification in the 1870 US Census for Margaret's second daughter, Bridget. There was a Bridget Heath, 20 years old, who lived in Ward 6 in Brooklyn with the Thorn and Perry families and worked for them as a domestic servant. She herself was born in New York, but both her parents were "of foreign birth." The address was 157 Clinton Street, five blocks away from 291 Hicks.

By mid-1974, Bridget had married Edwin Ross Hearn, the son of Maria Elizabeth Ross and William Lowder Hearn, born in Delaware in 1841. The Hearns had moved up to Brooklyn from Missouri for the duration of the Civil War. Edwin remained there after the war ended to look after the family's tobacco business. I can reasonably state that if it hadn't been for the Civil War, one pair of my great-great-grandparents would have never met.

The 1875 New York State Census found Margaret Heath living at 589 Hicks Street in Ward 6 with her remaining children, Mary, William and Patrick. Mary was working as paper box maker. On August 27, 1879 she married Michael Francis ("Frank") Dowd, a bookkeeper two years her senior and like her, the Brooklyn-born child of Irish parents.

By 1880, Margaret, William and Patrick had moved to 113 Harrison Street, still in Ward 6. William was working as a labourer, and Patrick was working in a tobacco factory. In fact, Patrick's obituaries were to state that he started working for the Lorillard Tobacco Company at the age of 11 or 13, ie, in 1874-1876. Did his brother-in-law Edwin help him get hired?

Also living with the Heaths were Mary and John Gallagher, born in or about 1865 and 1869 respectively. The Gallagher children were listed as Margaret's niece and nephew. They were probably siblings, although this isn't definite. Both were born in New York of Irish parents, suggesting that at least one of Margaret's brothers had immigrated to New York. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to track down any more information on Mary and John.

Patrick married Mary Anne Connors in 1883-1884. Mary had been born in Brooklyn in 1864-1865, the oldest daughter of Irish immigrants Annie Cunningham and Charles Connors. In an interesting coincidence, Mary's maternal grandmother was Catherine Heath.

By 1892, Margaret was living with Mary and Frank Dowd and their children at 85 16th Street in the 22nd Ward of Brooklyn. As of 1900, they had moved to 96 15th Street. The 1900 US Census recorded that Margaret had immigrated to the States in 1843 and that she had had six children, only two of whom were still living. The two living children would be Mary Heath Dowd and Patrick Heath.

Margaret may or may not be the sister of Hugh Gallagher, a "dealer in glass" who died in Brooklyn on June 22, 1910, and whose parents were also Daniel Gallagher and Bridget McGettigan. According to his death record, he was born in Ireland in 1849. However, earlier records suggest he was actually born in 1831-1837, which makes him closer in age to Margaret. He immigrated to the States in 1850-1852, where he married an Irishwoman named Honora Dineen and had nine children that I know of.

I wasn't able to establish any more definite links between Margaret and Hugh, nor was able to narrow down Hugh's place of birth. The birth records in Donegal don't go back that far. The only possible clue is that on the 1930 US Census, Hugh's and Honora's daughter Mary Gallagher Murphy noted that her father had been born in Northern Ireland, while her mother had been born in Ireland. Note that Hugh had passed away 11 years before the Partition of Ireland in 1921. Mary may have remembered hearing her father say that he was born in the northern part of Ireland.

Home

Comments and Questions

In memory of Janet A Werner, 1931-2015