Disaster

One of my longstanding brick walls has been my Irish immigrant ancestor Michael Lynch, who came to the United States by way of London about 1840.  I found him in the 1850 census enumeration for Brooklyn, New York (like a needle in a haystack!) and in the January 1851 baptism record for his daughter Elizabeth (my 2nd great grandmother).

I spent years trying to find any further record for Michael.  According to the 1855 New York state census, his wife Elizabeth and their three children were living with her brother Peter Gallagher in Brooklyn.  Why?  And, where was Michael?

All was revealed when I stumbled across this article from the 13 January 1854 edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

The article got one detail wrong.  Michael's brother James was unmarried.  It was Michael who left a wife and three children after drowning in the East River.  He was about 44 years of age.

#52Ancestors