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What records are available for Philadelphia from the 1884-1900 time period? I am trying to discover who my g-grandmothers (Catherine Ford or 'Kate", "Katie") parents were. Or at least where my g-grandmother and her siblings were living in that time period. The siblings immigrated from Ireland in 1884 to Philadelphia on the Lord Gough. The passengers are in alphabetical order and there are no adult Fords listed with them. The siblings are listed as Bridget 16, Kate 14, Patrick. 11, and Martin 8. There is also a Thomas Ford 8 listed with them though I am not sure if he is related. I was not given his name as a sibling from interviewing family members. Kate and Patrick's ages may be mixed up also. Bridget is listed as a servant and never married. Catherine married Ellis Pasmer Lafferty in 1900 in Philadelphia. Martin married Rose Ward in Philadelphia in 1902. Patrick married Rose McCormick in Philadelphia in 1902. Marriage records give no indication of who their parents were. I believe Catherine died on March 17, 1965. This is according to info given by my grandfather several years ago, before he died. I am not sure where she died.Possibly in Philadelphia or Ocean Gate New Jersey I have also been told that Catherine was from Loughrea,Galway, Ireland.

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Permalink Reply by Paula Ackroyd on March 24, 2010 at 9:59am

Try this site: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

I have had good success with finding birth, marriage and death records for the time period you mentioned.

Permalink Reply by Paula Ackroyd on March 24, 2010 at 10:03am

Here is an example of the information available:

Name: Ellis P. Lafferty, Jr.
Death date: 12 Dec 1909
Death place: Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Gender: Male
Race or color (on document): White
Age at death: 1 day
Estimated birth year:
Birth date: 12 Dec 1909
Birthplace: West Phila
Marital status: Single
Spouse's name:
Father's name: Ellis P. Lafferty
Father's birthplace: Ocean City, Indiana
Mother's name: Catharine Ford
Mother's birthplace: Ireland
Occupation:
Street address:
Residence: Philadelphia, Penna
Cemetery name:
Burial place:
Burial date: 14 Dec 1909
Additional relatives:
Film number: 1405111
Digital GS number: 4009105
Image number: 474
Reference number: cn 27427
Collection: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Graf on March 25, 2010 at 2:56pm

Paula,

Thanks for the information.

I have searched the above records at family search and have had luck finding the marriage records through the index. They have not shed any light on who the parents of the Ford siblings are. I have also searched the death records and found the above Ellis and also Patrick Ford's daughter Catherine. The Ford siblings all lived past 1915 when the death information ends. None of them are in the Social Security Death Index either so I am not sure when they died. Patrick I lose after the 1920 census. Martin is in the 1930 census. Catherine Ford Lafferty died early to mid 1960's either in Philadelphia or Ocean Gate NJ. Bridget Ford I am not sure of since I am not sure if I have found the correct one in the census. I just know that she never married and according to not so reliable family history, worked for the well known Dupont family. I take that information with a grain of salt though.

Elizabeth

Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on March 24, 2010 at 10:20am

Have you found death records for Catherine and her siblings? That would be the best record to locate parents names- you might also try baptism records in Ireland if they exist-

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Graf on March 25, 2010 at 3:05pm

Kate,

I have not been able to find the death records for any of them. None are in the Social Security death index. According to what my father found written down from his parents, Catherine died March 17, 1965. He is not sure if she died in Philadelphia or had gone to live with her daughter in Ocean Gate NJ. I also looked at the records from the Loughrea parish in Galway, Ireland where she supposedly came from, but they were in very bad shape. I hve searched the GRO also since they were all born during the time that births were supposed to be registered in Ireland but can not pin them all down to one set of parents. There are a whole lot of Catherine, Patrick, Martin, and Bridget Ford/Fordes in Galway!

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