As my mom likes to say, "On St. Patrick's Day, everybody is Irish." She has memories of going out with friends, doing pub crawls, wearing her button that says, "Kiss Me I'm Irish." No matter if you are Irish or not, you celebrate it as if you were. Well, I learned something this past year. I learned that I am actually Irish on my father's side.
This really shouldn't be such a shock. I did a DNA test a few years ago with 23 and Me and my results came up with a high percentage of Irish. That blew my mind. Cause most of my research has led me to Germany, not Ireland. Well, going through my Papa's paperwork from the Military, he had listed on a paper as "Irish-American" for his Nationality. I was like, "What?!" So looking up my tree and following the line back, I found Harry Hill. He was born in New York, but both of his parents were from Ireland, so he was full-blown Irish. Holy cow! So let me introduce you to Harry Hill.
*Disclaimer: All the information I am presenting is from records I have found. I am still in the process of proving and sourcing his life. He is actually one of my brick walls. I posted my sources below.
Harry Hill was born in New York on May 24, 1845. As of right now, his life in New York is unknown, as I haven't officially found him yet. He came to St. Louis, Missouri around 1871, just after the 1870 census (of course). He worked as a painter for most of his life in St. Louis. He even had owned his own Painting business with a gentleman by the name of Joseph C. Mukish. They ran ads in the City Directories that advertise House and Sign painting. Their business was located on South 16th Street. He was also a member of the I.O.O.F Laclede Lodge #22.
He married Magdelena Barbara Primus on May 17, 1879, in St. Louis, Missouri. The marriage record I found butchered her last name as Bremers. They would go on to have five children: Alice Barbara, Ellen Henrietta (My Great-Grandma), Rosilene, Gertrude Kate, and Harry Hill Jr.
Unfortunately, his life was cut short. When his youngest was only about 4 years old, Harry Hill died on December 3, 1898, from Pernicious Anemia. He is buried in Normandy, Missouri at St. Peter's Cemetery. They held the funeral at their residence on High and Vine Street, which is Oddfellow brothers attended.
Ancestry.com
As you can see, I do not know much about my Irish Ancestor. I've tried tracing back farther, but keep hitting that doggone brick wall. I picked up a new book to try and help me with my research called Finding Your Irish Ancestors in New York City by Joseph Buggy. My biggest problem is making the connection to New York from St. Louis. I have some possible leads, but nothing concrete. Maybe by next St. Patrick's Day, I will have made more progress.
Do you have Irish Ancestors? Who are they? Have you traced them back to their homesteads? Share your stories below!
Sources:
1880-1930 US Federal Census - Ancestry.com
Missouri Marriage Records & Indexes - Ancestry.com
Missouri Death Records - Ancestry.com
U.S. City Directories - Ancestry.com
Missouri Death Certificates - Missouri Digital Heritage
St Louis Post Dispatch - Newspapers.com
St Louis Globe-Democrat - Newspapers.com
Harry Hill Memorial - FindaGrave.com
U.S. Social Security Applications - Ancestry.com
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