Missing Friends - Irish Immigrant Advertisements 1831 - 1917

What are the Missing Friends Advertisements?

They are a list of advertisments placed in the Boston newspaper, titled the Pilot, and this particular series of books are a list of all of the people [mostly Irish] who advertised in the US newspaper, the Boston Pilot, in search of information on family and friends, particularly their arrivals in the US , [or elsewhere].

What will the advertisements tell me?

The following is an example of what is available.:-
Of THOMAS DOLAN, a native of the parish of Kiltuam, Co Leitram.He is supposed to be in the state of New York.Any information of him will be thankfully received by his father, Patrick Dolan,Roxbury,Ms

Of PATRICK GUERIN, a native of the parish of West Keatin, co Limerick. When last heard of [in 1847] he was in St Louis.Any information respecting him will be thankfully received by his first cousin, Michael Guerin, Lewiston Falls,ME.

Has anyone compiled a list of the names?

Ruth Ann M Harris [Professor of History] and Donald M Jacobs, [Professor of History,] and also Ermer O'Keeffe,[MA -History,] have worked together in different combinations to produce [known] 6 volumes from the years 1831 - 1870, which lists all of the people mentioned in the advertisements from the Boston "Pilot", with the cooperation of the Irish Studies Program and the Department of History at NorthEastern University, and published by New England Genealogical Society

There is literally tens of thousands of names listed in the books with the accompanying queries.

The Books are Titled

The Search for Missing Friends

Irish Immigrant Advertisements Placed in the Boston Pilot

Vol1. 1831 - 1850. Ruth-Ann Harris and Donald.M.Jacobs [Editors]
Vol2. 1851 - 1853. Ruth-ANn Harris and Donald.M.Jacobs.[Editors]
Vol3. 1854 - 56,Ruth-Anne Harris and B.Emer O'Keeffe, [Editors]
Vol5.1857 - 1860. Ruth Ann Harris and B.Emer O'Keeffe [Editors]
Vol6.1861 - 1865.B.Emer O'Keeffe. [Editor]
Vol7.1866 - 70. Ermer O'Keeffe,[Editor]

What value are the books to genealogical research?

Aside from the obvious value of being able to instantly access people of the surname that the genealogist is searching, one can also determine where families where situated, the advertisements often show family connections, residences, addresses of contact, ages,ships arrivals, port of departure in Ireland, port of arrival in US, native place in Ireland, known places in US.

The lists contain names of family members also known overseas.
We were able to find a reference for a James Sheedy who had brothers here in Australia in 1841, giving us a new avenue of research regarding the two brothers here in Australia, who had not left a known place of birth in Tipperary , but when James placed his advertisement in the Boston Pilot he stated the place of birth of his brothers..which as you can imagine opens up a lot of possibilities in researching the background of the family.

The books also detail other invaluable genealogical and historically important information, really are an invaluable tool for the genealogical researcher or family historian.

Where can I find the books?

We do hold copies of the first six volumes, but you can also ask around at your local genealogical centre, local,or national libraries, universities etc.