I wrote to Mrs Boyland as a result of seeing her enquiry about Grants in Tipperary in the Int. Gen. Research Register. She wrote back in Sept 1991.
Her grand mother, Maria Grant (b.6 Jan 1855) emigrated to the USA (New Jersey) from Co Tipperary in 1849. She was aged 8 then and came "by herself", and is thought to have come to live with her aunt Ann Grant Ryan. Further information followed and appears under Moyaliffe Grants in main book
The family tree she knew to descend from Henry Grant and Mary Gleeson, on the chart below,
Her sister recalls their grandmother, Maria (above) telling that as a child she remembers in Ireland the family starting out for church together and their father would go to a different church because he was not catholic
A letter dated May 1996 followed after her visit to Tipperary in 1995. She had from Upperchurch registers further information on this family. She visited the old homestead at Lisheen (now owned by the Quinn family) who were very hospitable. She met Dermot Grant and his daughter Rita, who were both "blank".
I have been in email contact with her daughter Joanne Boyland
Maria didn't "come by herself" at the age of 8. It looks like you got this information from my great aunt Rita. My grandmother remembers Maria telling her that she arrived in New York Harbor during a riot where she say people being hung in the streets. I did google search on New York riots in 1863 and came across the New York Harbor Draft Riots of 1863. The draft riots happened on July 13-16, so I started searching through the New York immigration records for July 13-16 for a Maria Grant. I didn't just find records for Maria! She is listed along side of her father, James Grant, her mother, Nancy Grant (Nancy being a nickname for Anne - Anne Feehan), and her two brothers, William and Henry. The family story matches, and the names and ages match. The 5 of them came together aboard the Great Eastern, and arrived in New York on July 13, 1863.
James Grant (b.1817) and daughter Maria
My family has been trying to locate our Irish heritage for several years. Michael (Henry) Grant did in fact go to Minnesota and died there in 1871. But, it is believed that Mary Carney married a ? Dwyer and had the child Patrick with him.Then, Mary married Michael Grant. They resided in Rice and Steele Counties, Minnesota.They had six children: Patrick, Henry, Edward, Mary, Catherine, and Magy (Margeret?)Kate Fredericksen in Minnesota