Limerick

Limerick City dates to the Vikings about 1830.  The Irish Historic Towns Atlas has a great history of Limerick online that tracks the city through the centuries.  The  Limerick Archives has a digital collection of Government and Private papers dating from the early 1700s on.

Portion of Hardiman Map of Limerick 1590 - Limerick Archives

By 1841 the City of Limerick had 48391 residents.  In 1851 that number had grown to 48785.  The increase no doubt was due to the fact that so many who had been forced from the townlands to the cities for looked for work or perhaps emigration possibilities. From that time on the population decreased, reaching a low of 37115 in 1891.

Limerick county's population shrunk by less than 25%, from 330,029 to 262,132 in 1851.  While this is a smaller decrease than elsewhere in Ireland, it is still significant. 

James Madden left Limerick in 1850.  We believe that Anna and a child Willie followed shortly thereafter, just a few of the many that left due to the great famine. 

The area of Limerick city where we believe James lived was not likely to have been included in the city numbers above, or in the county numbers for that matter, as it seems he lived in the greater city area but in the County of Clare.

How long James had been in Limerick is also unknown.  With no Y DNA connection to any Madden family and no christening or marriage record found, it is impossible to place him in a family, all connections are supposition. 

• Irish Historic Towns Atlas Online: Limerick 
• Limerick Archives
• Brief Timeline of Limerick History
• History of Limerick - Wikipedia 
• Limerick in Dropbox 

Limerick in Clare

Family tradition has been that James Madden was from Clare.  However, James' emigration and naturalization documents state he was from Limerick.  I always figured he must have been from the area near the Shannon River, but could not reconcile the difference in counties and no Irish records helped me out.

Well....I regret to say, I did not spend enough time with a map, for part of the city of Limerick lies in County Clare.  The documents in the US do not say County Limerick, just Limerick so perhaps a city not a county!!!!

Gortatogher - Griffiths

In fact in Griffith's valuations there is a James Madden in Gortatogher, which is in Parteen RC Parish and St. Patrick's Civil Parish.  Both cover areas on both sides of the Shannon, thus are in both Limerick and Clare.  Might this be a solution to our dilemma?

James' parents are named on his death certificate as James and Mary. This might be a mistake, however, the fact that there are James' in every generation gives some support to the notion that it might be correct.  Other names to look for would be Thomas and John.  There is also the possibility of William, remembering the Willie listed on James and Anna's tombstone.  Willie can also be a female (Wilhelmina), so far the only source is on the tombstone.

It is unfortunate that the Catholic marriage registers for Parteen, which begin in 1814 have a gap for the years 1836 to 1847.  It seems probable that James and Anna married during that time period.  This could well explain the inability to find a marriage record for them.

Family: James Madden

New York State Census - Albany page 49 Eastern District 7th Ward  

28 Jun 1855

1815/1824 Ireland - 1894 Albany NY

James Madden was born about 1818 in Ireland. Or maybe his birth year is 1824, or 1815.  Pick a record and get a different date.  The 1855 NY census lists his age as 33 (1822).  The 1875 NY census says 60 (1815).  This concurs with the 1860 and 1880 US census which list his age respectively as 45 and 65, but the 1870 census says 52 (1818).  James' death certificate (18 May 1894) gives his age as 76 which agrees with the 1818 birth date.  Complicating the issue is his Declaration of Intention to become a US citizen. Filed in 1854 it lists his age as 30 giving a birth year of 1824.

The declaration gives us further information, stating that he sailed from Limerick and that the had been living in Limerick.  This is in conflict with family tradition that states he was from County Clare.

There are multiple possibilites.....

First it is possible that the Declaration is not for our James Madden.  The information is scanty even if the timing is logical.  There might have been another James Madden arriving in Albany between 1850 and 1855.

There is one record for a James Madden sailing from Limerick.  James Madden age 30 on Lady Peel from Limerick to NY 10/17/1850.  This adds another birth year (1820).  This most likely is the immigration of the person who filed the Declaration of Intention in 1854, but the birth years are off by four years.  Is it my James??

When was James born and where in Ireland was he from?  Calling Great-Great Grandpa....please give me a hint!!

Clare and Limerick both border the Shannon River.  James' wife Anna was a Fitzsimmons and the largest concentration of Fitzsimmons families are found in Limerick, but they are very close to the river, leaving the possibility open that James is from Clare.

Unfortunately, I have not found christening or marriage records for the emigrating James in either county.  Compounding the commonness of his name is the fact that his father's name is equally common and the only name we have for the wife of the first ancestor is Mary.

Adding to the confusion is the search for the immigration of Anna Fitzsimmons Madden.  I found a very promising record for an Anna Madden sailing on the Vandalia from Liverpool in September 1851.  I liked this record because she was sailing with William (age 4) and Catherine and Patrick Fitzsimmons. [Willie Madden is listed on his parents tombstone, but found in no US records] However, in examining the complete passenger list we also find James Madden on the page before her entry.  This might still work, but that would mean that the Declaration of Intention found that states he sailed from Limerick might not he his.  Or, did the ship originate in Liverpool and stop in Limerick to pick up additional passengers.  Records are not comprehensive.  If James did not board in Limerick, we are back at square one as he could be from anywhere!

Oh, I love research!!!!

All that said, I'm still looking.  The US and NY census records found are for the right James Madden, and the death certificate is certainly his, but the ships records and Declaration might not be. Somewhere there is a linking record, a tie to Irish records....I keep searching.

James, Anna and their children Willie, Marie and Margaret are buried (or memorialized) in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, Albany, NY.