The Last Immigrant!

CRAIL-O'NEIL: Sticking with the Crail family for another post, I move on to Aaron Crail's wife, Catherine O'Neil, the last of my ancestors to arrive in the US. Catherine was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1833 or 1834. [Hey there has to be some mystery with this family!] According to family lore, Catherine's brother or brothers were about to be impressed by British soldiers when her father, Peter, stepped in and was fatally wounded. The fate of the brothers was unknown. Mrs. Mary O'Neil died shortly thereafter. Catherine went to work as a domestic to earn passage to America. At the age of 18, she left Liverpool, England for the US. If she was born in'33, then Catherine emigrated in 1851/2; if born in '34, then departure was 1852/3. [Census records with year of immigration show three different years - naturally.]

I was originally told that Cate arrived somewhere between Boston and Galveston - a big help! Several years later, I came across an immigration record that fit Catherine rather nicely - arrival at New York on 25 August 1852, age 18. If this was my Catherine, then she would have turned 19 roughly four months after her arrival, making her birth year 1833. My uncle had a sudden memory jolt and told me that she did indeed arrive in New York!

According to the family, Catherine made her way from New York to the Indianapolis area, where she took a job teaching locals how to read. One of her pupils was Aaron Crail, who was several years her junior. The couple married in 1857. Aaron and Catherine had five children, including a set of twin girls, before Aaron enlisted in the 124th Indiana in 1864. During the torrential rains at battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the siege of Atlanta, Aaron fell victim to "lung fever." After his discharge, Aaron returned home. He and Catherine had another son in 1866. Aaron died of tuberculosis in the spring of 1868. Catherine was left a widow with six children ranging in age from 10-2. She was awarded a widow's pension in 1869.

Catherine moved to Miami Co., Indiana, where eldest son James became a blacksmith.  She returned to Indianapolis by 1900 and moved in with the family of brother-in-law John Crail. Catherine was in Shelbyville, Indians in 1909 and back with her eldest son James in Chicago in 1910. Shortly thereafter the Crails moved back to Indy. Catherine lived out her years with daughter Martha in a house on S. Belmont.

Catherine gave her grandkids the same gift each Christmas - a piece of candy and a silver dollar. My mother and uncle recalled celebrating Catherine's 100th birthday. She was of sound mind until the day she died. My uncle described her as a miniature version of Maureen O'Hara. He also recalled family members fanning her open casket during the viewing due to an extremely hot July. Catherine outlived four of her six children and never remarried.

Now back to that 100th birthday party. Catherine's gravestone reads 1834-1934. Her death certificate has her year of birth as 1834, but it was originally written as 1833 then crossed out. If she was born in 1834, then Cate died at 99. If she was born in 1833, then the family did indeed celebrate her 100th birthday.

Her d