Searching for any Irish records on my Great-Great Grandfather
Edward Bulger (G9FK-HYB)
December 1859 – 11 March 1912
There has been a story that has been brought down to me that he traveled alone overseas as a young boy, possibly an orphan. But found census in the late 1800s/early 1900s that his mother was Esther Burrell (G6QP-NC1). I had provided to Ancestry both mine and my mother's DNA but do not know if there are distant relatives out there on this line. If there is guidance and help to find additional information on both of these ancestors, I would be most appreciative. It would be a wonderful gift to share more with my mother and her cousins.
Thank you.
TGottlob
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Good morning @TGottlob
Bulger is not a super common Irish surname. John Grenham's site is a good place to learn about Irish surnames and what Irish records exist. A map showing Bulger/Bolger households in the 1850s: https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=Bulger
Since Edward was born born 1864, when Ireland began keeping civil registration of births, you will be relying on church baptismal records for evidence of Edward's birth and the possible names of his parents. Do you know what religion he followed?
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Hello Aine,
My mother was raised Irish Catholic going to a catholic school in her young years. I would believe Edward was Catholic. Bulger may have been changed from Bolger/Boulger perhaps.
I will check out John Grenham's site. Thank you.
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Hello @TGottlob
Thank you for providing the FamilySearch for Edward Bulger. That always really helps in understanding your question.
I had a look at his page in FamilySearch and it was in a little bit of disarray with two wives of the same name and two sets of children, also all of the same names, descending from him.
There is lots of great information already attached to Edward and family, however, with the duplication of all people it tends to look very confusing. So I have gone ahead and reviewed each of the attached sources and combined the two replica families into one, consolidating all the sources. This should make it a little clearer for you to proceed.
As mentioned there was lots of great information already contained in the attached records. I pulled out some additional information from the US and NY census data, namely the specific addresses, and attached that to the relevant persons.
Edward lived at a consistent address for many years. With this detail pulled out, FamilySearch popped up a suggested immigration into New York on 04 April 1909 for an Edward Bulger. This Edward gave the same street address in NY that had appeared in the census data for the years before and after 1909.
So your Edward apparently visited Ireland, departing from NY some time in 1908 and returning to NY on 04 April 1909. In this 1909 Immigration record, Edward also states that he had been resident in Dublin, Ireland before returning to the US and that his birthplace was Dublin Ireland.
This may be something you already were aware of.
Edward also states in several census records that he is a naturalized US citizen.
So.... given the above I believe fruitful areas for you to investigate would be...
1 - Try to find Edward's US naturalization documents. These can be treasure trove of historic detail, potentially giving a specific birth date, specific birth location, date of initial arrival in the US and name of ship, along with many other snippets.
2 - Try to find his initial immigration documentation. This could show people who travelled with him and to what named person and specific address he was travelling.
3 - Try to find the documentation related to the 1908 visit to Ireland. This could give destination address and name of person he was visiting.
4 - Passport documentation. I am not clear when US passports commenced. They were certainly in operation by 1920. If there is passport application information, this could give lots of information and potentially a photo. There may also be a description of why the passport was required and the reason for making the intended visit.
Hope this helps.
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