March 18, 2025
Introduction: In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley explains some of the records she searched – and how she searched them – to learn about her immigrant ancestor. Katie specializes in U.S. research for family history, enjoys writing and researching, and is developing curricula for teaching children genealogy
Growing up, my dad told us about the story of our Irish immigrant ancestor, Joseph McElhinney. The story made it sound like he came alone – but he didn’t. Poking around on FamilySearch and in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives revealed that multiple McElhinney siblings came into the U.S. from Ireland. This two-part blog series will focus on one of those siblings: Robert McElhinney.
Robert McElhinney was born 22 July 1878 in Donegal, Ireland, to Robert and Margaret McElhinney. (1) His birth record in FamilySearch is an index-only entry. The microfilm is available at the FamilySearch Library.
Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html
In the index, McElhinney was mis-indexed as McTlhinney. Indexes are prone to this kind of error, so it is always wise to check the original record. There also may be more information on the original record than what was indexed.
Other records give his birth date as 22 July 1879 and the calculated birth year from the censuses is consistently 1880. Since his birth date is after the census day, he’d give his age before his birthday, which would calculate to 1880 rather than 1879. It is quite possible that the year on the birth record was mis-indexed.
The earliest American record currently held for Robert McElhinney is his marriage record in 1905. He married Jennie McIntyre on 25 October 1905 in Philadelphia. (2)
Later records indicate that Robert arrived in the U.S. in 1902 or 1903. No passenger list has been found for him yet. FamilySearch and other online databases will need to be searched. Even though Philadelphia had its own port, New York was a more popular port of arrival for Irish immigrants. Many of them migrated to Philadelphia. (3)
Jennie and Robert had two children together: Robert Edwin McElhinney in 1906 and Mildred McElhinney in 1908 or 1909. (4)
In the 1910 census, Robert and Jennie McElhinney lived in Philadelphia with their two young children and niece Bessie McIntyre. Robert was a manager at a grocery store. This census indicated he was naturalized. (5)
In 1930, Robert McElhinney lived with a different wife, Vera, his daughter, Mildred, and his mother-in-law, Annie B. Shank. They were in Syracuse, Onondaga, New York. He still worked as a manager at a grocery company. (6)
This census gives good clues to research. Vera was 34 at her first marriage and she was 41 when the census was taken. Assuming Robert McElhinney was her first marriage, they’d been married about seven years, or since around 1923. Robert was naturalized by 1930.
Robert McElhinney and his family were not found on the 1920 census. He and Jennie were searched separately since it is unknown when they divorced. Since Mildred lived with her father in 1930, it was assumed that Robert had his children with him in 1920. McElhinney is a name that can be easily butchered by those unfamiliar with it.
Some databases have search algorithms that can catch many misspellings. However, the algorithms do not catch all misspellings (or mis-indexings). For this reason, it is important to know how to misspell your ancestor’s surname. I asked my great-aunt who bears the McElhinney surname how she’d seen her name misspelled.
I also searched without the surname. In a database that let me enter multiple family members into the search, I searched for Robert with children Mildred and Robert Edwin; Robert Edwin with sister Mildred and father Robert; and Mildred with brother Robert Edwin and father Robert.
The next trick I will try will be to look at the neighbors when I search for the other McElhinneys in the 1920 census.
Because Robert McElhinney moved between New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, it is uncertain where he lived in 1920. Tracing him in city directories can help with that. I will go forward from 1910 in Philadelphia to determine when he drops off those. Then I’ll go backwards from 1930 in Syracuse, New York, to determine when he appeared in those. If there is a gap between his disappearance in Philadelphia and his appearance in Syracuse, I may need to search his name in a city directory database. Once I have identified where he was most likely living in 1920, I can browse the census for that area.
I expect the city directory method to be the most time-consuming, so I’m saving that trick for last. With him moving around a lot, it’s possible he missed enumeration in the 1920 census due to moving that year. However, it is merely an assumption until I research to confirm this theory.
Other records I researched for Robert McElhinney are discussed in the next article in this series.
Stay tuned…
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Note on the header image: old photos and correspondence.
Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html
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(1) “Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FR72-W7S: accessed 15 February 2020), Robert McTlhinney, 1878.
(2) Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Orphan’s Court, marriage certificate 192104 (1905), Robert McElhinney and Jennie McIntyre; City Hall, Philadelphia, PA; images. FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 February 2025); film #00428168, images 1352-1354.
(3) Ruth McElhinney. Telephone conversations [unpublished], 25 February 2025, told to Katie Merkley.
(4) “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 February 2025), birth certificate image, Robert Edwin McElhanney, 12 August 1906, no. 10670, digital folder number 004203613 image 506 of 1; citing Philadelphia Board of Health.
(5) 1910 U.S. Census, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Philadelphia, E.D. 767, sheet no. 1B, dwelling 11, family 11, household of Robert McElhinney; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 February 2025).
(6) 1930 U.S. Census, Onondaga County, New York, population schedule, Syracuse, E.D. 34-228, sheet no. 22A, dwelling 358, family 415, household of Robert McElhinney; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 February 2025).