New Ancestry Database in Time for the Day of the Dead

Hospital Ship Daniel Webster

     Ancestry has a new database that may hold some clues for those researching Irish ancestors.  Called, "New York, New York, U.S., Bodies in Transit, 1859-1894", this is a database of bodies transported into, out of, and through Manhattan during those thirty-five years.  There are a significant number of Irish names included, and the available years cover the civil war period, potentially making it even more useful to family historians.

     I tried a few searches and in a matter of minutes had found two members of my family.  Cousins, both named Daniel McGarr, who were Union soldiers born at Cayuga County, New York to Irish immigrants.* The transcription of the transit record that came up on Ancestry looked like this, there are no images of the records there:

     

     This Daniel McGarr was the son of John McGarr, who I believe was the brother of my 3rd-great-grandfather Daniel McGarr of Ballyraggan, County Kildare.  The lack of an image was annoying however, after a little poking around on the net, I found the books have been digitized, and can be viewed here. It seems the easiest way to find your ancestor would be to do a search at Ancestry, find the record and date, then go to the book and use its index. The index is arranged by the first letter of the last name, then chronologically so having the date is very useful. That's how I found Daniel, whose entry differs markedly from the transcription at Ancestry:

     The transcription is not well done, the record clearly says Mc Garr with an abbreviation for Daniel-- Dan'l, there is no "Dane".  Makes me wonder who does these?  I knew from my research over the years that Daniel did in fact die at sea as noted in both the book and the transcription; on a hospital ship carrying him homeward:

Auburn Daily Bulletin May 19 1862-- Daniel McGarr, son of John McGarr, a member of Kennedy's Battery, died on the way from Williamsburg on board the hospital ship Daniel Webster the 12th inst. age 18 years. The remains were interred at Long Island but removed by friends who went to NYC for that purpose. The remains arrived at Auburn Sunday morning and were interred at the State Street Catholic burying ground.

     The register gives Daniel's cause of death as wounds and Cypress Hills Cemetery as the place of his initial interment.  It was an existing cemetery, located in Brooklyn, at that time part of Long Island. During the Civil War burial space was needed for the numerous soldiers dying in the military hospitals around New York City.  To meet the need, the federal government established a soldier's lot at Cypress Hills in April of 1862.  In 1884 the government purchased a large tract of land in the cemetery to create Cypress Hills National Cemetery, the only National Cemetery in New York City.

     The bottom entry above is Daniel's.  I'm not sure how to interpret all of it.  It looks like it could be the name of an official, JM Ars? then probably an abbreviation for, "Sanitary Commission Ship Daniel Webster".  The other soldier's entries above Daniel's end with MD and Surgeon, but of course poor Daniel had no use for either. The ship's name is a small detail, but one that would be of interest to a genealogist.  I did have that information from Daniel's obituary but if he hadn't had one, I would have missed learning about the ship if not for the register.  

     I also would have missed the eyewitness account of a nurse, found at Google Books, describing how on May 11th patients were taken onboard the Daniel Webster which sailed for New York early on the morning of the 12th; the day Daniel died on the ship.  Arrival was expected in New York the night of the13th.  The transit permit issued the 14th suggests Daniel was buried that day, four days later he was reburied in Auburn.  Proving once again that it's worth taking the time to check the original record when possible.

* A third cousin, Michael McGarr, who was born in County Wicklow, the son of William McGarr, also perished in the war.  He was buried in North Carolina where he died so doesn't appear in the database.