Genealogy Table of Contents

FINN --- KELLY

Lawrence and Catherine (KELLY) FINN moved from Parish Kilconnel, County Galway, Ireland to England sometime after their marriage on 28 January 1838 in Parish Kilconnel and before the birth of their first child, John, in 1841. Witnesses to the marriage were Thomas Finn and Mary Finn. Lawrence and Catherine had three children born in England before they moved to the US. John born abt 1841, Michael born abt 1843 and Mary born abt 1844.

Catherine KELLY the daughter of Michael Kelly was born about 1819 in Galway, Ireland and died 7 Nov 1901 in Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., Pennsylvania. Lawrence Finn was born about 1812 in Galway, Ireland and died 13 Mar 1874 in Schuylkill Co., Pennsylvania. Both are buried in St. Patricks Cem, Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
They had 9 children: + 6. M i. John FINN, born 1841. 7. M ii. Michael FINN, born about 1843 in England, died 2 May 1889. + 8. F iii. Mary FINN, born about 1844. + 9. F iv. Catherine FINN, born 1848. + 10. F v. Margaret FINN, born Apr 1850. + 11. M vi. William FINN, born May 1855. + 12. M vii. Daniel FINN, born about 1853/1854, died 27 Apr 1887. + 13. M viii. Lawrence Francis FINN, born 30 Jul 1856, died 10 Feb 1934. + 14. M ix. Patrick FINN, born 18 Jun 1859, died 22 Mar 1933.
NOTES for Lawrence follow: The name Finn (Maginn) is chiefly found in Co. Cork today. But medieval sources on which we chiefly depend for information on this subject say there were three authenticated O'Finn septs. One of these was of Co. Sligo. The leading family of another sept of O'Finn were erenaghs (?) of Kilcolgan, Co. Galway. Descendants are still to be found in Connacht. The third sept fades out of the records about the time of the anglo-Norman invasion. [Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins; by Edward MacLysaght; third edition reprinted 1978, p. 140]

1812-20 - Lawrence was born in Galway, Ireland.

1838 - Married at this time in Parish Kilconnel, County Galway, Ireland. Catholic Parishes of County Galway are numbered for East Galway. #16 = Aughrim & Kilconnell

1841 - First child born in England

1844 - Third child born in England

1844-1848 - Lawrence and family immigrated to US most likely from England. The following describes the awful conditions endured by immigrants. -- The agonies of the forty to seventy days at sea were beyond endurance for many. The steerage was terribly crowded; ventilation was almost non-existent; and both problems were accentuated by the lack of sanitary facilities. Food was often bad, water scarce. And disease stalked many a vessel; frequently entire families were wiped out before reaching the US. The Irish as a group experienced some of the worst conditions of all who crossed.

In 1834, a Baltimore periodical reported: The number of passengers was somewhere from 450 to 517. They were nine weeks, and suffered much from want of water and provisions. Besides two tiers of berths on the sides, the vessel was filled with a row of berths down the center, between which and the side berths there was only a passage of about three feet. The passengers were thus obliged to eat in their berths, each of which contained a great many persons, say five and upwards. In one were a man, his wife, his sister and five children; in another were six full-grown young women, while that above them contained five men, and the next one eight men.

1845 - The Great Famine of Ireland known as the Famine of '47 had it's beginnings with the failure of the potatoe crop in 1845 due to blight. So our Finns who left Ireland about 1840 were not of the famine immigrants.

1842 - The Pottsville, Reading, and Philadelphia railroad opened affording daily communication in seven hours to Philadelphia.

1848 - Fourth child born in Penna.

1848 - J. Walter Coleman writing in his "The Molly Maguire Riots" recounts that in 1848 a miner in the anthracite coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania earned $1.25 per day and a laborer earned $.83 per day. Describing the difference between a miner and a laborer, Coleman writes, "Under favorable circumstances a miner could loosen enough coal in a few hours to keep his laborer busy loading for several days." Another account says that mining had many unskilled jobs to be done. Each miner had one or more laborers assigned to him, and there were other underground workers, (mule drivers, railroad operators) and a host of unskilled jobs above ground (pickers and sorters -- mostly boys) in the breakers and other outside jobs. The total of these far exceeded the skilled positions. Writing about the manner in which miners lived, Coleman says the mine owners would bring immigrants from New York or Philadelphia to the coal regions in a passenger car attached to a coal train, and assign houses to them, sometimes without any furnishing at all -- dwellings were built in blocks of two each, having one room downstairs and two upstairs. Each building was equipped with a bedstead and a few benches. Cooking and heating was done by means of coal grates, built into the sides of the houses. Father McDermott of Pottsville wrote about 1877, "...nobody who has seen the coal miner close at hand can wonder that the utter stagnation and misery of his life makes whiskey or crime a relief to it. He lives and breathes in the coal, eats his salt pork, sleeps like the pigs, goes to work in the coal again."

1850 - Anti-Catholic feelings ran high in many parts of America during the 1840s and 1850s, accompanied by rioting in Boston, Cincinnati, New York and in 1844 in Philadelphia. Incoming groups of immigrants have always been poor, Irish peasants particularly so, and under the hostile treatment that they received they created a real problem but one undoubtedly magnified out of all proportion to its importance. The "No-Irish Need Apply" signs displayed by employers in various parts of the US about the middle of the nineteenth century were indicative of the widespread anti-Irish feeling. Although Irishmen were brought to the coal regions in great numbers by the mine operators, a similar antagonism existed there between them and the older races.

1850 - Age 30 (b. 1820) in Norwegian Twp., Schuylkill Co., PA on 20 Sep 1850. [census, p 836, line 5]

1853 - The first mine opened in Girardville, Schuylkill Co.

1855 - Age 37, filed his Declaration of Intention to become a citizen in Pottsville, Schuylkil Co., PA on 3 Sep 1855. In the Pottsville Court House records there are only 3 Finns who were naturalized in the 1850s: a John Finn on 5 Dec 1853 was sponsored by Thomas Houlahan; our Lawrence Finn; and a James Finn age 22 on 17 Dec 1857 sponsored by a John Finn.

1856 - Son, Lawrence Francis, born in Girardville, Schuylkill Co. PA.

1857 - Granted citizenship on 7 Sep 1857.

1860 - Age 48, living in Norwegian Township, Schuylkill Co. PA. on 25 Jun 1860.

1861 - Northern opposition to the Federal government during the Civil War is a phase of history which is not well known, however, organized Irish resistance to Civil War conscription in the coal regions has been clearly proved. Widespread immigrant resistance to the draft suggests, at least, that the new arrivals were being selected in greater numbers than their neighbors. While opposition to the war has been widely publicized, "it is not so well known that both the Germans and the Irish furnished more troops to the federal armies in proportion to their numbers than did the native born northerners." Poor men were by the military torn from their homes, their wives and children left without support. This was done in a most cruel manner. They were in numbers chained to ropes, which were tied to the saddles of dragoons, and thus from distant points were marched into Pottsville, sent to Fort Delaware and Fortress Monroe, and left to languish in prison. Labor all over the country was suspicious of the war, as being "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." In August of 1862, Lincoln ordered a draft of 300,000 militiamen...17,000 were to come from Pennsylvania. But opposition to the draft in Schuylkill County was so strong that to avoid a bloody conflict a subterfuge was employed to give the impression that Schuylikill County's quota had been met by volunteers and the conscripts were released from reporting for duty.

1863 - The period from 1863-1868 was a turbulent time in the anthracite region. In 1866, the Lebanon Courier wrote, "There is probably no district of the country of the same dimensions, within the US, that harbors so many vile and desperate characters as portions of Schuylkill County. And the law seems to be inoperative there, or unable to arrest crime or punish criminals. The incessant brawling diminished not at all; assaults filled the pages of every issue of the Journal.

1864 - The era following the Civil War was one of great labor unrest in the coalfields, as miners, crowded into company towns, found themselves in peril of their lives from "black lung" disease if they were spared death from explosions or cave-ins. Mining conditions were horrendously unsafe, but owners proved generally callous to the miners' plight. In the late 1860s and 1870s a secret organization of miners, the Molly Maguires, formed in eastern Pennsylvania and attempted to force improvements upon the owners through terrorist activities. Although not a union, the Molly Maguires were one of the forerunners of mining unionism, which finally came in 1890 with the founding of the United Mine Workers Union. [Reader's Digest, Family Encyclopedia of American History]

1867-1873 - Brother-in-law, Daniel Kelly, died and Lawrence Finn was appointed administrator of his estate. Between 1867 and 1873 there were numerous papers filed at the Schuylkill Co. Court house attempting to get Lawrence Finn to make an accounting of Daniel Kelly's estate by Michael Kelly. There is no evidence that he ever did file a report for the estate.

1870 - Lawrence age 55, Catharine 55, both b. Ireland in Norwegian Twp, Minersville P.O.

1871 - January 10. The entire anthracite region shut down on strike. By the first week in February the entire region was in pain from loss of paychesks. The Miner's Journal editor wrung his hands in horror, describing in detail the "Destitution and Death" that was being visited upon the area. Reports were filtering in that "men, women and children are suffering from lack of clothing and food, and especially children, among whom many deaths are occurring from being insufficiently clad and from hunger."

1874 - Died on 13 Mar; buried in Pottsville Cemetery Lot C37 with stone that says Age 59 of Galway Ireland. In the same month that Lawrence died, the Pottsville Board of Health records showed an epidemic of smallpox and varioloid (a mild form of smallpox in persons who have previously been vacinated). The account book repeatedly shows such items as, "On motion of Dr. Ryland the clothing and bedding of Mrs. Long, 171 Lions St., was ordered to be burned by N. Johns and that council allow her $25 for same." [FHL Film #1433958]

1901 - Catharine died on 7 Nov 1901 at age 82 in Pottsville and was buried with her husband. She died of "General Dibility." She was living at 1633 W. Norwegian St. in Pottsville at the time of her death according to the Pottsville Bd. of Health Minutes for 1901-1904, pg. 134. [FHL Film #1433958] Her obituary as it appeared in the Pottsville Daily Republican, 8 Nov 1901 on page five. FINN -- At Pottsville on November 7th, 1901. Catharine, wife of the late Lawrence Finn, aged 82 years. Funeral on Monday (11th) at ( a.m. High Mass in St. Patrick's Church. Interment in No. 3 Cemetery. Friends and relatives respectfully invited to attend.

There are only two Lawrence Finns in the 1820-1846 Ships Passenger Lists index. One is 50 accompanied by Catherine age 17 on the Navarino 6 Apr 1835. [A5634]. In 1835 Catharine would have been about 17, but Lawrence should not have been that old. But their first three children were born in England, so unless they returned to England, this couple can't be our subject. The other Lawrence is 38 travelling alone on the Josephine Jul 1837 [A7299]

The US Census for 1860 for Norwegian Township, Schuylkill Co. PA shows that Lawrence Finn, whose occupation was a mine laborer, was born in Ireland. His wife, Catherine, was also born in Ireland. They had nine children. The oldest three children, John, Michael, and Mary were born in England. While the younger children, Catherine, Margaret, William, Daniel Lawrence and Patrick were born in Pennsylvania. This indicates that Lawrence and his wife lived in England in 1841 when John was born and came to the US sometime before 1848 when Catherine was born in Pennsylvania. [US Census 1860, line 4, written p.# 152, printed p.#553, dwelling #1183, family #1110]

I have searched the Civil Registrations for Births in England between 1840-1844. The following is what was found that may pertain to the three children born in England.

Jan - Mar 1841 John Finn Malling V 323
Apr - Jun 1841 John Finn Grantham XIV 374
Apr - Jun 1841 John Finn Carlisle XXV 61
Jul - Sep 1841 John Finn St. Pancras I 246
Oct - Nov 1841 John Rundle Finn Plymouth IX 379
1842 John Finn Manchester XX 625
1842 Michael Finn Walsall XVII 226
1843 Mary Finn Bolbon XXI 92
1843 Mary Ann Finn Sheffield XXII 613
1843 Lawrence Finn Holbeach XIV 399
1844 Mary Finn Bloomsbury I 77
1844 Mary Finn Gloister XI 460
1844 Mary Finn Walsall XVII 747

The actual birth registration is not microfilmed; it only shows parent's names. The British census for 1841 is not indexed. So searching for these locations would be next to impossible. Note -- that both a Michael and Mary Finn were born in Walsall. The dates are possible for our Finns.

HISTORY: Unless otherwise noted, the historical background on Schuylkill County in the above calendar is taken from: (1) Wayne G. Broehl, Jr. The Molly Maguires, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1964. (2) J. Walter Coleman, The Molly Maguire Riots (New York: Arno & The New York Times, 1969)

NOTE: The map for St. Patrick's Cemetery #3 in the church rectory has the name Lawrence Finn penciled in on the Edward Kelly plot (C7). I called the owner of this plot who lives in Reading (1994) and she had no knowledge of any Finns being buried in their plot, or that there was any family connection to FINNs.

SOURCE NOTES for Lawrence follow:
BIRTHPLACE-DEATH-SPOUSE: Tombstone on Lot C37 at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Pottsville, PA.
BIRTHDATE: Census: 1850=b. 1820; 1860=b. 1812; 1870=b. 1815
" " " " " " " " Tombstone St. Patrick's Cemetery: b. 1815
" " " " " " " " Naturalization record in the Schuylkill Co. Court House: b. 1818

MARRIAGE: FHL Film #1279215, Liber Matrimoniororum 1837-38, #220


Jan - Mar 1841	John Finn	Malling	V 323
Apr - Jun 1841	John Finn	Grantham	XIV 374
Apr - Jun 1841	John Finn	Carlisle	XXV 61
Jul - Sep 1841	John Finn	St. Pancras	I 246
Oct - Nov 1841	John Rundle Finn	Plymouth	IX 379
1842	John Finn	Manchester	XX 625
1842	Michael Finn	Walsall	XVII 226
1843	Mary Finn	Bolbon	XXI 92
1843	Mary Ann Finn	Sheffield	XXII 613
1843	Lawrence Finn	Holbeach	XIV 399
1844	Mary Finn	Bloomsbury	I 77
1844	Mary Finn	Gloister	XI 460
1844	Mary Finn	Walsall	XVII 747