Sarah Ann McCloy comes to America from Ireland

It's difficult to write a blog that is useful to people looking for relatives. For the most part you want to see the names and dates and then if they match read the stories. However, names and dates aren't that interesting out of context, so I will try to balance it with short posts.

Here is what I know so far:
In 1880, James McAfee and his wife Sarah were living in Greeley, Colorado
James was born in 1809 in Ireland and died in Denver, Colorado in 1893. However he visited relatives in Oakdale, Illinois just before he died.

His wife Sarah Ann McCloy McAfee was born in Ireland in 1831 and died in Denver, Colorado in 1901.

Both bodies were shipped from Denver to Evans, Colorado for burial, but no graves are marked for either of them. In the same cemetery are Samuel J. McAfee and his wife Sallie Bovard McAfee and one of their sons who died as a child.

Below is a biography page from a book about the history of Oakdale, Illinois, describing Sarah Ann McCloy, her mother and brothers coming to America. I don't have an annotation for it, because it came from another relative who posted it on Ancestry.com This person also believes that their father came with them to America and died and is buried in Oakdale, Illinois.

 I wish I knew who the Chambers were.

 

 

 

 

 

This article was written by Martin Cameron McCloy for publication in a book. I'm not sure if it was his book or he added to another book. I think I can find out though because I believe he lived here in Colorado.

 

 

 

 

I began searching for my great grandparents, James and Sarah McAfee, for over 30 years. I have traced them to Greeley, Colorado in 1880.

Others in my family believe that James is related to Samuel McAfee who was living in Greeley at the same time and had a sheep ranch in Hardin, Colorado, just outside of Greeley. There are many records on Samuel McAfee that trace him back to Oakdale, Illinois where the McCloy family also lived.  Other records trace his family back further to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then Ireland.

Since my grandfather was adopted by James McAfee, we don't actually know anything about his birth parents. The family story is that the children were born to a family named Smith and their mother died when they were about school age. Their father had a job which required him to travel, so he asked James and Sarah to adopt his children. In 1880 Will was 8 years old and his sister Nannie Jane was only 4.

I believe that Sarah Ann was a McCloy because Mary McCloy was living with them and listed as the mother in law on the 1880 census. Sarah's father was John Thomas McCloy Sr. and her mother was Mary Brady. Her brother John Thomas Jr. was living in Greeley, Colorado in 1880, died and is buried in Denver, Colorado. Her older brother Samuel Moffatt was first living in Pennsylvania, then St. Louis and eventually Oakdale, Illinois. He was a follower of  Rev. Andrew C. Todd who brought settlers from Oakdale to Evans, Colorado, a city right outside of Greeley. So Mary, the mother, Samuel the oldest, Sarah and her younger brother John Thomas, Jr. were all living in Greeley, or Evans, Colorado at some point in time, however Samuel quickly moved on to Santa Anna, California where he helped Rev. Todd establish a Covenanter Church.

Did you ever have a mystery in your life that you just couldn't solve?

Well that is the reason I began to write this blog.


 About thirty years ago I was told, for the first time that my grandfather Will McAfee, was adopted. No one in my immediate family knew anything about who adopted him or where, but I was determined to find out. I never met my grandfather because he died before I was born and my father died before I was curious about finding my grandfather, so no clues there. Still no one  told me the truth until I was much older and I think I learned about it from a cousin, Bill McAfee.

 It took me almost ten years to find any records of my grandfather, Will McAfee, and his sister Nannie Jane McAfee who were listed on the Colorado portion of the 1880 United States Census, living with a James and Sarah A. McAfee as their parents. Mary McCloy was noted as the mother-in-law. Also listed on the same record were J.T. Smith and Frank Tompkins. I went to the Federal Center in Lakewood, Colorado, where they had the microfilm of the 1880 census and looked for days before I actually found them. I had no idea where they were living when my grandfather was a child. After I found them, I went again to get a photocopy of the actual 1880 census record of his family.

Now I had lots of mysteries to solve. One thing was certain though, I could start in Greeley, Colorado where they all lived in 1880, that was more than I knew when I started.