Sunday, March 1, 2009

What Brought Them Here? Margaret's Envelope Post 4

If you've just happened upon this series, you may want to start at the beginning - go to the labels listed below on the right, select Margaret's Envelope and start with Post 1 - you don't want to miss a thing!
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We left of with John and Margaret seperated by the Atlantic Ocean. Her in England and he in the US. But what brought him here? The passenger list needed studying further, which I've done and in the process I found another member of the McCann family had come to the US.

Page two of the passenger list has an area where the traveling person lists if they're going to be joining a relative or friend upon arrival here. In this box was some typed text, some crossed out text and some of what I will call "scribbling". Upon very close inspection of this area I see that he originally listed the following:

Mrs. Aspin, Friend
Victoria Rd. Pawtucket R.I.

The "s" in Mrs is crossed out making it a Mr. Aspin. The word Friend is somewhat crossed out and what appeared to be f i l is listed next to this word... Friend in Law? After zooming in to 400% I could see that the cursive lower case f was probably likely a b.. Brother in Law!!!

I then went back to the BMD database for Lancashire and found a McCann and Aspin marriage, being Catherine McCann, my great great grandmother's sister, who had married James William Aspin in 1919. The two traveled to the US in Dec of 1919 and were apparently welcoming other family to join them.
But the question remained - why Pawtucket or Central Falls Rhode Island? Work of course! This area was booming with textile mills at the time, (like many other New England cities) bringing thousands of immigrant workers to the area. John is listed as a weaver in the census records from England, not unlike many of his family members and neighbors. Those who were interested in relocating to the US were drawn to the work that they already knew, and of course the promise of a better life.

Margaret's sister was in the states only a short time before she died. I find her on the 1920 census - only a month after their arrival - living as a border in Central Falls. Then again in 1924 in the city directory for Central Falls, but in 1930 her husband James is living with a woman named Margaret as his wife. Catherine vanished from the records between 1924 & 1930. Having found this information just last evening, more research needs to be done to determine exactly when she died.

Today from Margaret's Envelope, I'm posting another postcard - this one from Margaret to John.

1 comment:

  1. Wow the stories unfold wonderfully Cindy, You are so good at this and its lovely to follow
    Hugs June xxx

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