A Genealogical Approach to Immigration in the United States

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...”

— Emma Lazarus, 1883

The topic of immigration is easily one that unifies most all Americans. With the exemption of Native Americans, all Americans can trace their ancestral roots back to other regions of the world. Some came escaping religious persecution like the Huguenots or Pilgrims, while others were forced to leave their homelands to enter a life of slavery. The reasons for immigration are as a varied and diverse as the United States itself; eliciting multitudes of questions for the genealogical researcher. But alas, where would a researcher locate potential answers to this life changing event? How has the United States ever evolving immigration policies shaped our families’ history and our ability to piece together its accurate story?  

Welcome to the Land of Freedom - an ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty: scene on the steerage deck of the Germanic. Illustrated in Leslie's newspaper, 2 July 1887. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. 

To gain an understanding of the sources available for an immigrant ancestor, it is imperative to analyze the historical period in which immigration occurred. An ancestor migrating during the Colonial Era definitely did not require the paperwork that an ancestor migrating during the early twentieth century would have. Prior to The Naturalization Act of 1790, British immigrating to colonial America were automatically granted citizenship.[1]  Out of the thirteen colonies, seven had their laws to naturalize “foreigners,”  through denization and an Oath of Allegiance. Denization granted citizenship for foreigners to obtain land, albeit that was the only granted right. A person who used this path to naturalization was not granted any political privileges; put simply, no right to vote or obtain political office. If a foreigner took what was called an Oath of Allegiance, they renounced all former loyalties to their previous country of origin and in return were given full citizen status. It should be noted that in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, all those that were living within the United States with the exemption of Native and African Americans, were made citizens. 

From 1790 to 1906, the documentation needed to naturalize changed. A Declaration of Intention, commonly called the “first papers,” included an oath of allegiance and proof of residency. This was the first step to becoming a United States citizen.  It was generally filed in a local municipal court within two years of the immigration event. After a waiting period of one to a few years, a petition was filed and all documentation and the character of the immigrant was evaluated. After all requirements were deemed complete, the immigrant was sworn in and was given a Certificate of Citizenship, or a Certificate of Naturalization. In many cases, naturalization took place in the same court in which the Declaration in Intention was filed, but not always. The Certificate of Naturalization may have been granted by the court nearest to where the applicant lived. It should be noted, dear researcher, that only men went through the naturalization process.  Women and children inherited citizenship through the father, if he petitioned for it. A great example is that of Mary Kobus Pomeroy.

Mary Kobus, her siblings and their father Thomas Kobus immigrated to Winona County, Minnesota from Prussia around 1890.[2]   Researching naturalization records shows that Thomas Kobus filed a Declaration of Intention between 1892-1896. Only Thomas filed; as previously noted, Mary and her siblings would have gained citizenship under Thomas’s petition. In 1902, Mary Kobus married James Albert Pomeroy, an American citizen.

Luckily for the genealogist, many online databases, like Ancestry or Family Search, have the information or scanned copies of naturalization petitions such as this online.  However, researching a female ancestor when the name of the father is unknown or who immigrated alone, can be trickier. First, try researching census records for the name of a male guardian, such as a father or brother. Finally, be prepared to visit the clerk’s office or local court house in the municipality where your ancestors lived.  These locations may hold the original documents and/or other clues to unlocking your immigrant’s history. 

Happy Hunting!!!

Edward Pomeroy Colley: Lost on the Titanic

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'd like to share with you the story of one of the few Irish passengers to sail in First Class aboard the famous and ill-fated ocean liner, Titanic.

Isn't it amazing how you can be doing genealogical research on one person and suddenly someone else shows up in your search - unexpected and unknown - as if to say, "What about me?"  In this case, I was researching Victorian-era actress Louise Pomeroy for our recent Facebook post in celebration of Women's History Month when I noticed one of my online search hits contained a different Pomeroy name and the word "Titanic." What was this? There were no Pomeroys on the Titanic! Or so we thought.

Edward Pomeroy Colley was born in Dublin, Ireland on April 15, 1875 to a distinguished and landed family. One of ten children of Henry Fitzgeorge Pomeroy Colley (1827-1886) and Elizabeth Isabella Wingfield (1832-1903), his father was a magistrate and landholder. Edward was a civil engineer and land surveyor with business interests in both Canada and Ireland. He shared a mansion in Dublin with his older brother George Pomeroy Arthur Colley (1866-1933) and George's wife Edith Maud Oliva Finlay (1881-1975), but maintained a home in Victoria, British Columbia, in the affluent English Bay neighborhood. During the Klondike Gold Rush, Edward had opened a mining brokerage firm in Vancouver, successfully speculating in mining stocks as well as surveying Yukon lands for mine owners.

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Edward Pomeroy Colley (1875-1912), lost his life on the Titanic

I noticed both Edward's brother George and their father Henry also shared the Pomeroy name. As I have found that "Pomeroy" given as a middle name often signals the maternal lineage, I started with that assumption - a decidedly American assumption. Titled Europeans play by different rules when it comes to family names.

Here's a quick genealogy of Edward's family. The Colley family arrived in Ireland in the 16th century. Captain Henry Colley served under the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and was granted lands in Carbery, County Kildare. He was knighted in 1576.  Fast forward a few generations to 1747 and the Colleys marry into the Pomeroy family when Mary Colley (1723-?), only child and heir to Castle Carbery, wed Arthur Pomeroy, 1st Viscount Harberton (1723-1798). The title of Viscount Harberton passed down through each of the three Pomeroy sons, Henry (1749-1831?), Arthur James (1753-1832), and John (1758-1833). After the death in 1833 of John Pomeroy, 4th Viscount Harberton, his son John James Pomeroy (1790-1862) succeeded to the title of 5th Viscount Harberton.

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Carbery Castle today

It was then I discovered the answer to my question. In 1830, John's younger brother George Francis Pomeroy (1797-1879) assumed the surname Colley and moved his family to Dublin (I assume this came with an inheritance through his grandmother, Mary Colley, but I have not researched that aspect). I also started to see the name Pomeroy had been given to the children. George Francis and wife Frances Trench (1800?-1871) gave the name to two of their sons, Henry Fitzgeorge Pomeroy Colley and George Pomeroy Colley (1835-1881) (Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley of Boer Wars infamy). Henry and his wife Elizabeth had ten children, seven of whom had Pomeroy in their given name, including Edward Pomeroy Colley.

Therein lies the answer to how a Pomeroy became a Colley. It was not a nod to the maternal line, but to the paternal.

Because Edward Pomeroy Colley had business on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as family in Dublin, and the income to afford frequent travel back and forth, I've been able to trace him sailing on the Umbria in July 1905, the Campania in March 1906, the Lucania in April 1908, the Mauretania in 1909, the Lusitania in April 1911, and - finally - the Titanic in April 1912. At the time, ocean liners such as these sailed into New York and travelers like Edward would make their way across the U.S. to Washington State, heading north to cross the Canadian border. Although not a U.S. citizen, Edward nonetheless showed up in U.S. Passenger Lists for this reason. According to the Kildare Observer in an article published shortly after the Titanic tragedy, Edward had been in Ireland for Christmas 1911 and was returning to his home in Canada. The article goes on to recount Edward's last night on the ship, attending a concert in the first class reception area on D Deck and retiring to his cabin just after 11 p.m. He drowned the next morning - his 37th birthday. Reportedly he was "one of the heroes who sacrificed his life for others in the disaster." His body was never recovered.

A final letter Edward wrote to his sister-in-law Edith Maud Olivia Finlay (1881-1975), wife of his brother George Pomeroy Colley (1866-1933) and affectionately known as Edie, gives us a glimpse into life in First Class. The letter was auctioned off a few years ago after it had been in the Colley family's possession since Edward's death. He had posted it in Queenstown, Ireland where the ship made its final call before heading across the Atlantic.

Mount Colley, Yukon Territories, Canada was named for the late Edward Pomeroy Colley who surveyed this area in 1905 and 1906.

The Canadian government named Mount Colley in the Yukon Territories for Edward Pomeroy Colley, who had surveyed the area in 1905 and 1906.

Finally, during my research into the Colley and Pomeroy families of Dublin, I discovered some supposed famous family connections. While I have not verified these, I'll discuss them here and let the reader decide. Burke's Peerage, both the 1869 and 1880 editions, state that Edward had a paternal uncle named John Thomas Colley (1828-1855) who died in California. This would have been during the California Gold Rush, so perhaps Edward was not the first in his family to seek fortune in North American gold. While I found records for quite a number of John Colleys coming to America at this time, all were listed as some type of laborer with the exception of one. A passenger manifest for the ship Liverpool arriving in New York in 1849 listed a "Mr. John Colley, 23, Gentleman" from Ireland among the ten obviously upper class passengers identified as ladies, gentlemen, one servant and a doctor. All were given the honorific "Miss, Mrs., Master, or Mr.", whereas the remaining passengers are simply listed by name and occupations such as mechanic, farmer and grocer. I also found two references to Edward being a descendant of the Duke of Wellington and uncle to novelist Elizabeth Bowen. 

Edward Pomeroy Colley lived a short, but interesting life during a period of expansive growth in both the U.S. and Canada. While he was a British citizen, we can certainly claim him as a North American Pomeroy.

What is a Hamlet?

If you're doing research in New York State (outside of New York City), you may be wondering what the difference is between a hamlet, a village and a town. Understanding their places in local government can help greatly in locating historical records. Ruth Hotaling, Historian for the Town of Pompey, located in Onondaga County in Central New York, clears up the confusion between a hamlet and a village.

From The Town of Pompey Historical Society newsletter, January 2016, vol. 1, p. 6.

What is a Hamlet? Town Historian Ruth Hotaling explains…

Hamlet is one of those nebulous words that we use. In our Town of Pompey, a hamlet is where the early settlers settled in groups to build a small community comprised of homes and shops (small businesses). Old dictionaries tend to have a definition for the word that is closer to the current commonly accepted definition. Our 1941 Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Fifth Edition, defines hamlet as “a little cluster of houses in the country, esp. belonging to a parish or village.” In New York State, hamlets are not the same as villages because they do not have an independent governing body. All of our current five Hamlets originally had a schoolhouse, and most of them had a church. The focal point for hamlets, early in their development, tended to be their churches. Today, our Hamlet residents tend to identify themselves by their school districts, which can be very different from the Hamlet in which they live. The children of our five Hamlets are served by five different districts: Fabius-Pompey, Fayetteville-Manlius, Jamesville-Dewitt, Lafayette, and Cazenovia. Hamlet boundaries are defined in the Town’s Master Plan. Change to any of these areas requires passage of a local law by the Pompey Town Board. Our Town has had several Hamlets that are no longer recognized as such. Examples include Buellville (assimilated into Oran), Berwyn/Marionville (part of Lafayette since 1825), and Log-City (came to its demise as Pompey Hill prospered). So, what do you think? Mull over the word, hamlet, for a while – let us know what it means to you!

Copyrighted material.   Used with the permission of the Town of Pompey Historical Society. The Town of Pompey Historical Museum and Research Center is located at the corner of Pompey Center Road and Route 20. For more information and directions, visit www.pompeyhistorical.org.

"The Terrible Gulf Storm": Sabine Pass, Texas and the Great Flood of 1886

This past Sunday, the Syracuse, NY Post-Standard had a small paragraph noting that NBC TodayShow weatherman (and SUNY Oswego alum) Al Roker was releasing a new book, “The Storm of the Century,” on August 25. The book details the horrific events surrounding the Great Hurricane of 1900that hit Galveston, Texas.

August 27, 2015 was the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which caused so much devastation tothe Gulf Coast. Just a month after Katrina - on September 24, 2005 - Hurricane Rita came ashore.

The surge from that storm destroyed more than 90% of the structures in Sabine Pass, Texas. Sabine Pass is small community, part of the city of Port Arthur, lying on the channel that separates Texas and Louisiana and provides access to Sabine Lake.

In 1886 Sabine Pass, Texas was also the home of the Pomeroy family – mother Eliza, 51; sons George J., 24, Reuben W., 18, Brick Fred (who went by Fred), 15 and Charles D., 13; and daughters, Lovey, 11 and Lizzie J., 8. Eldest son George J. had married Laura Jones three years earlier and they may have had a young child. Two other daughters, Mary Louise, 29, and Oneida “Ida”, 21, were married and living elsewhere in Texas. It appears this large family had lost their patriarch, George Pomeroy, sometime between June 1880 and October 1886. The last mention we find of him is in the1880 U.S. Census where he is listed as a 55 year-old river pilot.

George Pomeroy was born in Vernon, Oneida County (did that inspire his daughter’s name?), NY about 1822 (1). He enlisted in the U.S. Army in June of 1844, but records show he deserted less than3 months later (2). By 1850, George was in Rio Grande, Texas and listed his occupation as mariner. He married Eliza (Elizabeth Ogden) about 1856 (3) and by 1860 was living in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Civil War did not pass George by as he served with the Texas Volunteers, Confederate State sArmy, from 1863 to 1864. After the war, the family settled in Sabine Pass where George made a living as a boatman and river pilot (4) and was appointed Justice of the Peace for Precinct 3, Jefferson County. (5)

In October 1886, Sabine Pass was the second largest town in Jefferson County, boasting a new rail line and an optimistic outlook on continued growth as a major coastal port. On the afternoon of October 12, just two months after a hurricane had destroyed the Texas port of Indianola, a fierce storm ravaged the town of Sabine Pass. The hurricane's strength lay in its 100 mile-per-hour winds and the swiftly rising water that swept homes off their foundations and carried people and animals as far as 25miles away. Eighty-six people, including entire families, were killed, and only two of 77 houses remained intact after the waters subsided. Stories of survival are documented as well, signifying the determination of residents to endure the storm. (6) One of those survival stories found the Pomeroy family prominently featured.

By October 14, headlines across the country screamed the news that Sabine Pass had been destroyed. The New York Times stated, “Last night during the overflow a hotel containing 15 or 20persons was swept out in the bay and the occupants were drowned.” On October 15, survivors werebeing located and their harrowing storied appeared in the newspaper. An article in that day’s edition of the New York Times tells of two survivors who reported that the water began to rise from the Gulf and the lake about 2 p.m. and rose rapidly. “The citizens of the doomed place did not realize the imminent danger until it was too late to escape.” (7) This is the first we see of the loss of members of the Pomeroy family: “Mrs. Pomeroy and family of three.” That number would grow.

The October 16 edition of the New York Times listed, “Mrs. Pomery [sic] and three children.” Belowthat, “Mrs. G. Pomery [sic] and child.” Was this Laura, wife of George J. Pomeroy, and their youngchild?

From the October 15 Boston Evening Transcript , details began to emerge.

The water kept rising, and between three and four o'clock the smaller houses began toyield to the resistless force of the waves, which not only moved them from theirfoundations, but turned them over on their sides and tops. A little later the larger housesbegan to give way, and death by drowning seemed in store for every person in the place.Great fatality accompanied the giving way of the buildings.

Two brothers named Pomeroy were picked up by a schooner in Sabine Lake. They had been in the water thirty-six hours clinging to their capzied [sic] yawl. Their mother and sister and Mrs. Captain Junker, her son and [a] little girl of the party were lost. ThePomeroys report that fifty lives were lost at the Porter House, where the people hadcollected as the best place of safety. It went to pieces at nine o'clock. Many persons aremissing.

The Galveston Daily News shared the heart-breaking story told by the surviving Pomeroy brothers,Reuben and Fred, on October 16 in a story titled, “Scenes of Great Suffering”:

This in brief is the story. The storm made its appearance Tuesday about noon... There were about forty-five women and children at the Porter-house tavern and some fifteen or twenty men...A yawl was hitched to the house, the water having risen about four feet, when the end of the house was blown off and the remaining part of the structure began to shake; the yawl was manned to its fullest capacity, and an effort was made to reach the high ridge back of the town. On the yawl were... Mrs. E. Pomeroy and two daughters...Mrs. Laura Pomeroy and child, Fred Rube, Geo. and Charley Pomeroy... Of these only Fred and Rube Pomeroy are now alive. Let Rube Pomeroy, a boy about 18, tell the story of the yawl Tivas: "About half past 9, when we went on board, the yawl was loaded down to the water's edge, and I and my brother Fred jumped on a plank that was floating near, in order to light it off. I caught hold of the stern of the yawl, and held to it. These a was terrible rough, and several times we were almost cast off the plank, but I held on to the yawl for dear life. The wind seemed to be blowing in every direction. The yawl was danced around without any effort being made to direct it. Homer King became much excited. He prayed aloud and frequently jumped up and caught his wife in his arms. This excited the other women onboard, and they all began to jump up and cling to each other. During one of these spasms a wave struck the yawl and nearly half filled it. All of them rushed to one side and the boat capsized and some of them were never seen again. Carlisle Junger got hold of the bottom of the upturned boat with one hand and held his mother with the other. I grasped my mother and held on for sometime, but in a few minutes she died in my arms. My two brothers, George and Charlie, were clinging to the yawl, too. The plank on which I and my brother Fred were drifted away from the yawl, but in about two hours we run on to it. We (Fred and I) in the meantime had got ahold of one of the life-saving boats. It was drifting around. We crawled in, but there was nothing to guide it. Carlisle Junker and my two brothers were still clinging to the upturned yawl. We tried to reach them but could not. They told me they could not hold on much longer, as their fingers were nearly worn off. Carlisle Junker told me that his mother died in his arms. The yawl drifted away toward the lake and was found by W. B. Crawford, of Beaumont, and a search party about two miles inland yesterday morning. Of course they were all drowned. They fought for their lives, but could not win. The boat I was on drifted around and finally reached shallow water beyond the railroad between the two Neches and Sabine Rivers, and finally was picked up by the schooner Andrew Boden.

Rescue efforts began immediately. Boats loaded with supplies and rescue teams headed out from Beaumont, Orange, Galveston and Houston. Special legislative action provided tax relief for the storm-ravaged area, exempting citizens from payment of state and county taxes for 1886. (8)

Reuben and Fred Pomeroy went to live with their sister Ida and her husband W. W. Woolford at their home in Galveston. Reuben was employed at the US Government Jetty at Fort Point until his death on January 15,1897 at the age of 29 at his sister’s home. Fred married and worked as a longshoreman in Galveston,eventually becoming a ship’s pilot and Captain of the US Dredge Sabine. He and wife Cora had four children. Fred passed away at age 62 and is buried in Galveston. Ida Pomeroy Woolford was the last surviving member of the siblings when she passed away in June 1944. Oldest sibling Mary Louise Pomeroy Ingalls, who had lived with her husband James and four children in Jefferson, northeast Texas, had died in 1910.

More information on the Sabine Pass Great Flood of 1886:

• Daily Alta California, October 15, 1886. California Digital Newspaper Collection

• Weather Research Center, Huston, TX: Texas Tropical Storms & Hurricanes

• Texas Hurricane History, National Weather Service, Camp Springs, MD; David Roth

• The 1886 Hurricane and the Sabine Pass Lighthouse, Judith W. Linsley. Center for Regional Heritage Research, Stephen F. Austin State University

• The Great Storm of 1886: A Day of Agony and Death at Sabine Pass, Texas, W.T. Block. Reprinted from the Beaumont Enterprise , January 9, 1977

Endnotes

1. A.A. Pomeroy gives a date of death as 1898 in Galveston, TX, stating that the "entire family perished in the Galveston Calamity of 1898". However, evidence suggests this not to be the case. The 1820 U.S. Census shows Joel Pomeroy (1764-aft 1840) living in Vernon, Oneida County, NY; the George Pomeroy who resided in Sabine Pass, TX reported having been born in Vernon, NY when he enlisted in the U.S. Army inAlbany on June 23, 1844; therefore, we believe the Pomeroy family who lost their lives on October 12, 1886were the widow and children George Pomeroy, son of Joel Pomeroy.

2. US Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914

3. Death Certificate for Oneida (Pomeroy) Woolford lists her mother’s name as Elizabeth Ogden. Texas,Deaths, 1890-1976.

4. 1860, 1870, 1880 U.S. Census

5. The Galveston Daily News, Galveston, Galveston County, Texas, 22 August 1877

6. 1886 Hurricane at Sabine Pass historical marker

7. http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGulfCoastTowns/Sabine-Pass-Texas/1886-Hurricane-at-Sabine-Pass-Texas.htm

8. New York Times, 15 October 1886, “The Terrible Gulf Storm.”

9. We believe George Pomeroy died prior to the 1886 storm as Eliza Pomeroy is listed as the person whowould have been responsible for paying state and county taxes in 1886. See The State of Texas, General Laws of the State of Texas Passed at the Regular Session of the Twentieth Legislature convened at the City of Austin, January 11, 1887, and Adjourned April 4, 1887. Chap. 23.--[H.B. No. 383.] “An Act to release certain inhabitants of Sabine Pass City, county of Jefferson, from the payment of taxes assessed and now due for the year A. D. 1886, in consequence of a great public calamity. Section 1...they are hereby released from the payment of the several sums named, the same being the amount of State and county taxes assessed against them and now due for the year A. D. 1886, to-wit:...Mrs. E. Pomeroy $140”