My Irish Family in Nebraska - The Starting Point

My Irish Family in Nebraska - The Starting Point

The starting point for my Irish ancestry is located in the southeast corner of Nebraska, specifically in the present day counties of Thayer and Jefferson.

(Original map can be found at Ancestry.com: Link)

Arriving in the state as early as 1869 by means of railroad work and the Nebraska Homestead Act of 1862, the Lardners, Cashmans, and Costelloes of my family line first settled themselves on the land surrounding the towns of Alexandria and Fairbury, Nebraska.

• James and Mary (Cashman) Lardner, first arrived in 1869 due to James' job with the Burlington Railroad in Ashland, Nebraska before moving on to Thayer County in 1870 and beginning their farm.  Mary's parents, William and Mary (née Cavanaugh) Cashman and their family arrived soon after, settling first in Saunders County in 1870 and then taking up a homestead in Jefferson County in 1872.

• John and Mary (King) Costelloe and their infant son first homesteaded in February of 1876 after following Mary's mother, Mary (King) King Cavanaugh and her step-father, Patrick Cavanaugh who arrived in the state in 1874.

For those families who took advantage of the 1862 Homestead Act, the paperwork that the families needed to file to gain ownership of the land that they were living on is now being scanned and uploaded online.  Working with the NARA in Washington, D.C, Fold3 (a website that is primarily geared towards accessing various military documents) is making the documents available to the public.

In order access the files you will need to be a paying member of the site.  However with that being said, I have found through my research that the cost is minimal, especially considering the number of family members I have that have participated in the program.  Instead of paying for individual searches through NARA or local offices, I paid a one time fee for year long access to ALL of their available records (this especially handy for all the military members of my tree!).

A description of their project can be found here: LINK

Currently they only have 57% of the available records scanned and posted online, but they continually add to the database.  So if you do not find your relatives in your first search, you may find them at a later time when more information has been added.

A list of the land offices that currently have documents already online can be seen here: LINK

In these records I have found naturalization information/documents, detailed descriptions of the homestead (house, crops, out builidings, etc), the number of people who were living on the farms, date of  a family's arrival/homestead on the land, and so on.

The files are great sources for genealogical material!

A word to the wise on searches in the Fold3 system... the search field will generally only search for whatever names you place in the blanks.  I have found it necessary to search, at times, the various possible misspellings of first/last names even with there 'sounds like' option.  So be patient and be creative.

If you have any suggestions for location land documentation or if you just feel like commenting.  Please feel free to leave a message.

All The Best,
Jessica