One of the most valuable sources of information on the Irish Matriarch has been census records. These are readily available to anyone that has a library card with the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Visit their web site: http://www.prattlibrary.org/ . The databases include a category listed as "Biography and Genealogy", which offers free access to Heritage Quest. Among other things, you can look through U.S. Census records from 1790-1930. There are other companies on the Web that offer this for a fee, such as http://www.ancestry.com/. Heritage Quest can be a bit difficult at times, as they tend to list heads of household, while Ancestry lists everyone. If you have the time, Baltimore County Public Library has free access to Ancestry on their in-house computers.
The image included in this blog is the 1920 census record that includes the Irish Matriarch. It appears that she was a native Gaelic speaker who arrived in the U.S. in 1853. I compared this to other records, and concluded that census records can be a bit erratic. They were compiled by visitors to individual homes, and I would suspect that the person writing down the information trusted whatever they were told, by whoever told them. As I reviewed other census records pertaining to Agnes Bettie Kenney Burgan, I found contradictions in her age and date of immigration. I am looking forward to reviewing ship passenger lists for the period, and her Death Certificate. Hopefully, they will be more accurate than a census record might be.
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