Hi James, I would love to discuss the FORDs and MEAR/MEERs with you. I have been to St. Muredach's Church in Ballina where Bridget (1812-1887) & Bartley were married in 1833. Bridget lived in Bunree neighborhood of Ballina, which is almost right around the corner from the church. Padraig MEER also showed me where she lived, sadly the house near the oldest part, bottom of the road, is in great disrepair (I took a picture). The family also had a farm outside of downtown in Shanaghy area (now part of the City of Ballina) where they grew vegetables which presumably they sold, probably at the big town market. Ballina was a market center for northern and eastern Co Mayo and western Co Sligo. My cousin's g'father recalled he & his brother used to walk back & forth between the house & farm before their family left for America about 1830-35.
When B&B came to Chicago, they opened a grocery, which Bridget cont'd to run until she was very old (listed in Chicago directories) and I think they must have had prior experience doing that.
Bartley was from Ballina...the church ladies told me that if he had been from anywhere else, like Galway, the register would have said so "because that is the way it has always been done". I think he had some good business skills, and was able to earn pretty good money working for the I & M canal building administration when they came to IL. Canal headquarters was located in Lockport IL where their daughter Ellen FORD (LEWIS) was born. This may be because Bartley had worked In a business or at the big market, or at least he had had a good education in Ballina. (In Chicago he was a Police Constable and a Voting Precinct Leader, acc to records of old City that show payments to him for that, so again, he likely was literate, unlike many of the Irish immigrants of that time.)
I have found some other FORDs close to his age who lived in Ballina, with close ties to Killala & Lacken towns, just north of Ballina. Three girls married to HEALEY, HORAN & MCHALE family of Rathlacken and Ballina, and their father's name was James "Jimmy" FORD, the same as Bartly named his oldest son. This family likely moved into Ballina from Killala at some earlier point in order for this to happen. I have found absolutely no evidence that this family came from Galway. Two of the daughters moved to USA in 1850 with their husbands' families, going to Scranton & Lackawanna PA area where the only available jobs were in the coal mines. Bartley was very fortunate to go to America earlier when opportunities were better.
MEARS/MEER/MAIRS is all the same family in Co Mayo, regardless of spelling. I believe the church register says MEARS? My 3rd cousin spells it MYERS "because that is how the American immigration officer wrote it down" when his family came into USA. (The Gaelic accent is difficult to understand, if you are not familiar with it...I had a very difficult time). I believe Bridget's parents to be Owen MEARS/MEER (1795-1860) + Ann "Nancy" NAUGHTON (abt 1795-). Bridget was likely the oldest child in her family. We have dna matches to descendants of those siblings, at an appropriate genetic distance. Please write to me and join our dna project, if you haven't already. I would love to hear from you, and I have even more info, including baptism record for Bridget FOY FORD.
Libbet
bbyboom@hotmail.com