Hello All,
I have been researching Bridget McNeill for many years, trying to figure exactly how I am related to her (She is, apparently, a cousin of my 1x Great Grandmother). Every year, on the anniversary of her death, I poke around online and try to see if I can find the connection. Well, this year, 2020, I came across this link (
Bridget McNeill (1880-1912) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree) which lead me to this page I had never seen before!
According to the text in the 1st Edition of
The Irish Aboard Titanic, "Bridget was to stay with a Mary Rowan in New York, a possible cousin." This text does not appear in subsequent editions, unfortunately. This in formation was taken from the ship manifest of her previous arrival in New York on 25 May 1908. Bridget's Final Destination address was listed as "Cousin Mrs. P. Rowan, Sherman St., Port Richmond, NY". My 1x Great Grandmother is Mary McNeil who was married to Patrick Rowan, hence, Mrs. P. Rowan. This Mary Rowan (nee McNeil) and her husband, Patrick Rowan, lived at 200 Sherman Avenue (the was no Sherman
Street in Staten Island at that time). This is how I know that Bridget McNeil is a cousin of my 1x Great Grandmother but I just cannot figure out exactly how!
I have since been able to discover Mary McNeil and her siblings' birth records in Castlerea, so I know the connection is there, somewhere!
I am very excited to see so many posts from relatives of hers on this thread and am hoping any of you will see this and get back to me. My e-mail is
[email protected]
Here is a picture of Bridget I obtained from a long defunct genealogy blog on the Coll surname which made mention of Bridget.
I also have a record of e-mail correspondence I shared with Senan Molony, the author of
The Irish Aboard Titanic. He was very generous with his time and information and he was THRILLED that I had a picture of Bridget!.
Thank you all for reading and please reach out, especially if you can help me finally determine how exactly my Mary Rowan and Bridget are related.
Kevin Lacy