Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

Ship Portland

There was no captain's sworn statement with this list.

A List of Passengers on the Ship Portland for Charlestown, 29 March 1803.*

Columns represent: name, age, occupation, county or town in Ireland.

    
  1 Charles       Adams              48  farmer         Limerick
  2 Margt.        Adams              39  wife           Limerick
  3 Ric.          O'Carroll          22  farmer         Bolinbroke
  4 Danl.         O'Carroll          20  farmer         Bolinbroke
  5 Thos.         Egan               29  writing clerk  Limerick
  6 Martin        Corry              58  labourer       Limerick
  7 John          Connery            29  labourer       Limerick
  8 Mary          Egan               60                 Limerick
  9 Eliza         Corry              33                 Limerick
 10 Mary          Connory            24                 Limerick
 11 Mary          Egan, Junr.        27                 Limerick
 12 Betty         Fitzpatrick        26                 Limerick
 13 Michl.        Quillan         *  48  gent.          Limerick
 14 Mary          Quinlan            46                 Limerick
 15 Mary          Quinlan, Junr.     13                 Limerick
 16 Thos.         O'Duyer            22  gent.          Limerick
 17 Michl.        O'Donnovan         26  gent.          Limerick
 18 John          Mullins            26  labourer       Limerick
 19 James         Meehan             26  labourer       Clare
 20 Patk.         Kernan             24  labourer       Clare
 21 Terence       Murray             18  labourer       Clare
 22 Patrick       Magrath            21  labourer       Clare
 23 Andrew        Lee                26  labourer       Caperas
 24 Ric.          Ennery             19  writing clerk  Limerick  
 25 Hugh          Morgan             22  labourer       Limerick
 26 James         Kerly              37  farmer         Ballyhoben
 27 John          Walsh              27  labourer       Limerick
 28 Ann           Considen           22                 Limerick
 29 John          Cummings           21  labourer       Claraline, Co. =
                                                             Tipperary
 30 Wm.           O'Brien            26  labourer       Thomas Town
 31 Margaret      Fihilly         *  24  labourer       Limerick
 32 Margt.        Hayes              18                 Limerick
 33 Mary          Callaghan          14                 Limerick
 34 Joseph        Fihilly             7                 Limerick
 35 Michl.        Fihilly             5                 Limerick
 36 John          Fihilly             3                 Limerick
 37 Mary          Fihilly             2                 Limerick
  
Transcriber's Notes:     
* This was the date of departure from Ireland.  It probably arrived 
  during the summer months.

* Since this manifest lists the port of arrival as only Charlestown,
  it could be Massachusetts or South Carolina.

 #13 surname transcribed as found, but probably Quinlan.
 #30 was marked with a ditto mark for an occupation, though none 
     of the other women aboard were.

Correspondence: 4/9/00    
#26 My ancestor, James Kerly, aged 37, from Ballyhoben and his 
descendants migrated to Western North Carolina, then on to Southwest 
Virginia from there. There were other Kerley's (spelled with an 
extra 'e') of English descent who arrived in Virginia and Massachusetts, 
but I don't think this ancestor was one of them.
 
Now, as to James Kerly, I don't know anything about him other than he 
came over in 1803 on the Portland. I've even had a hard time finding 
Ballyhoben on old Irish maps! Maybe it was a misspelling on the ship's 
manifest. I do have biographical data on his descendants, however, 
beginning with (who I think is) his grandson, David Kerly, of North 
Carolina (my gggfather), and I would be very happy to relay any information 
about the Kerly/Kearley/Kerley families of the North Carolina/Virginia area.  
The spelling of their/our name changed several times throughout the decades. 
We also have a connection to the Wheeler Family of SW Virginia.

James Kerly's ancestors migrated from Germany to Ireland in the late 1600s 
or early 1700s. I suspect they stayed in Ireland about 100 years. 
My grandfather told me this when I was a child, but our roots are so deeply 
planted in the South, that trying to trace my branch of the Kerley Family 
from Massachusetts was a wild goose chase! Tracing from South Carolina through 
North Carolina and Virginia, records started appearing and the trail was 
more logical.
 
The Kerly Family goes back a long way, documented from the time they helped 
William Wallace (Braveheart) fight the British. So, I would be happy to share 
the information I have with anyone who wants to contact me.
 
Anyone researching the Kerly/Kearley/Kerley Family of North Carolina and 
Virginia or the Wheeler Family of Virginia may contact Kristin Rossi


* This information was originally published in "Passenger Lists to 
  America" in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 
  along with a number of other lists, between 1906 and 1912, by 
  Gerald Fothergill.  These lists were found by Fothergill, while 
  searching through the British Archives, in British Museum Manuscript 
  Add. 35932. 

* It was subsequently published in "Ship Passenger Lists" by Carl Boyer 
  3rd, in 1977, Newhall, California.  Library of Congress Catalogue number: 
  76-37355.

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