Samuel McGrath History

Born 1786, County Tyrone, Ireland (born October 16, 1786 according to his headstone).
Note that the ages given for Samuel for some dates in the notes of the picture on the right don't "add up". Hopefully the contributor to "Find-A-Grave" just couldn't do math!

Emmigrated to the US ~1804 (Find-A-Grave says 1804).

Married to Jan Denning March 16, 1813, [near Little York, York County, PA ?].

Jan and Samuel had at least eleven children:

Name Date of Birth Birth Place
Thomas McGrath    
John McGrath    
David McGrath    
William McGrath    
Eliza McGrath    
Robert McGrath 06-30-1829 Pittsburgh, PA
James McGrath    
Joseph Hamline McGrath    
Samuel McGrath    
Mary McGrath    
Jane McGrath    

Died ~1879, [presumably near Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, IL] (July 15, 1879, according to his headstone). Buried in Elizabeth City Cemetery, Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County, IL.

Take the link to Samuel's Find-A-Grave site. (Note this external site worked as of 7/18/2013). See the pictures from Find-A-Grave all in one spot.

Special notes:
As Samuel is the first in our McGrath line to emigrate from Ireland to the US, I'm adding in a few extra notes.

The McGrath clan was "originally" known as the Meic Craith clan in medieval Ireland. The Meic Craith clan was generally from the Thomond "kingdom".
The Meic Craith clan had particularly close ties to Clare Abbey.
In more recent times the McGrath clan is generally from County Laois (formerly Queen's County).
Samuel reportedly came from County Tyrone, which is in Northern Ireland. Although this displaces him from the concentration of McGrath's in County Laois, it might help explain that he was an Anglican-Methodist minister, and not a Catholic.
Here is an extract about Samuel from the Find-A-Grave site:
Birth: Oct. 16, 1786, Ireland
Death: Jul. 15, 1879
Jo Daviess County
Illinois, USA

Samuel was born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland. He was a preacher and "One Sunday morning he walked from his home to Savanna twelve miles, and preached in the morning, then walked to Mt Carroll eight miles and preached in the afternoon, then to Cherry Grove six miles, and preached at night, then walked home, a distance of sixteen miles that night.
He was 94 years old when he died in 1878 [this is not possible with the facts given as he would have died before his 93rd birthday - and his gravestone says he was 92]. He had a family of 11 children, 8 boys and 3 girls.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album or Stephenson County, Ill., Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1888.

Burial:
Elizabeth City Cemetery
Elizabeth
Jo Daviess County
Illinois, USA
Plot: Section A of Old Cemetery, lot 32

back to Wilmer DeLaVergne McGrath family tree