I am fortunate to have had the opportunty to visit the townland in Longford where my ancestors lived.
My second great grandmother Ellen M.J. Heavy, daughter of James Heavy and Margaret McGrath, was born at Garvagh and baptized at Ballymacormick 13 June 1825. She was in Boston before 8 February 1849 when she married Patrick McAleer. Pat McAleer was born at Drumnakilly, Termonmaguirk, Tyrone, and became a successful carpenter and businessman in Boston; Ellen gave birth to 10 children, 6 or them survived to adulthood.
Ellen M.J. Heavy (McAleer) died on Easter Sunday, 30 March 1902, and is buried in Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA, with her husband and six children.
Ellen's sister Mary Heavy, baptized at Ballymacormick 9 June 1818, was married at Boston in 1848 to James Byrne, stairbuilder, and they raised a family in Boston.
Ellen's brother John Heavy, was baptized at Ballymacormick 29 Aug 1811. John sailed on the "Brig Breeze" from Dublin to to St. John, New Brunswick, in 1834, and settled in New York City, where he was a cartman and opened bank accounts at the Emigrant Savings Bank for himself, his father, and his sister.
James Heavy was born in Ireland about 1787. He married about 1810 Margaret McGrath; the baptisms of 7 children are recorded in the parish registers of Ballymacormick, listed as the children of Jacobi Heavy and Marcella McGrath. The Tithe Applotment Books list James Heavy at Garvagh in 1834. By 1852, James was at Natchez, Mississipi, and by1856 he was a cartman in Manhattan, New York City, where he died in 1862.
The wife of James Heavy, Margaret McGrath, according to family tradition, died and was buried at sea.
I would love to share information with friends and relatives on both sides of the pond.
