Looking For MORRISON Family in the USA!

A few years before my maternal grandmother died, I sat her down and asked her a few questions about her mysterious family. Mysterious, I call them because we knew so little. My grandmother grew up in an orphanage from the time after her mother died. She had sporadic visits from her father until he died but she really knew very little of her extended family.

The few details that my grandmother did know were sketchy, to say the least. She knew that her father had siblings back in Ireland, although how many was an uncertainty. She thought that he had a sister who went to America.

Back in those days there was no such thing as Internet research. I was a member of a family history library. Research was painstakingly slow. We looked up books and microfiche and we sent letters out. These days, with a touch of a button, your query about a long lost relative is already on the other side of the world.

My grandmother died a couple of years later. I was able to find out some information for her, including where her parents were buried. But her father's family were still an unknown factor.

Now, thanks to a third cousin about fifty times removed who lives in Ireland and was able to give me a few snippets of information, I think I've finally found my American connection!

This mystery relative was able to give me a married name! From that, I used my ancestry.com membership to scout more information. I've now discovered that my great grand aunt immigrated to Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, USA in 1914! She and her husband had two daughters who grew up as American citizens. From looking at phone book records, I've been able to work out that my grandmother's aunt was still alive right up to at least 1965 and probably beyond.

It's so sad to think that my dear little old grandmother whose own relatives were so scarce, had a whole group of family living in America. If only she had known where they were. She would have been so excited!

I am stuck in my research though. Public records seem to fade out as they get closer to current times. For that reason, I'm asking anyone who stumbles across this blog who happens to be from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, to think back. I am searching for a Jane and Elizabeth MORRISON who were both born around 1910 and who were my grandmother's cousins. I have no idea of their married names and I am guessing that they are no longer living, but they may have descendants who are! Feel free to let me know!