April 23, 2011:

Folks,
 
My name is Andy Moynihan.  I was just reading your on-line historical information about Patrick Christopher and his 
immigration to Canada.  Y'all (I'm from Texas) are to be commended for its detail.  Perhaps you can help me.
 
My grandmother was Margaret Christopher from Yonkers, New York, USA, my birthplace.  Just this week I was able to confirm her 
family's roots through County Waterford, Ireland.  I was trying to see if there's a common link for your Patrick and 
the Christopher line I'm in.  I took a screen shot of my ancestry page (below) which shows my Christopher line back to 
William Sr. in the late 1700's.  The information I have for William Jr. indicates he was born in Knockane, Kilmacthomas, 
Co. Waterford in 1833.  No location info for his father as of yet.  Do you know anything about Patrick's family that 
would indicate there's a connection?  Thanks for the assistance.  Once again, great work on your write up.
 
Andy



Al,

Thanks for responding. There's one Member Connect input on Ancestry.com that does indicate that your Patrick's parents 
and my ggg-grandfather's parents were one and the same but as of yet have been unable to confirm it. It would be neat if 
we can ever verify the connection. I think your idea of adding a link is great. On this side of the border our resident expert 
is Judy Christopher and I know she would have much more impressive information to offer. If for some reason she can't then 
you're free to use my screenshot. Either way I'd like to include my email address to stay in the loop. Sorry, the Murrin name 
doesn't ring a bell but might to Judy.  I'll keep stirring the pot and see if I can uncover some more intel.  We'll be in touch.

Thanks, 
Andy
______________________________

Good morning Allan,
You may certainly add my e-mail address to your bytown information that would be great.
I have saved all the information on bytown and the information regarding Patrick and Nora Drohan Christopher you sent.  
Funny I have searched Ancestries ship list and Ellis Island. for both without success.  Happy you found that info.

Another question for you.  There was a John Christopher who was in Yonkers in 1860.  He had a daughter Helen. Wife's name was Catherine.  
They also came from County Waterford.  Catherine lived to be 90yrs old, she died in 1930.  I believe that John might have 
been a relative of Patrick, William and John C. and that led them to Yonkers.  Does this John and Catherine ring any bells for you?
Thank you so much for anything you can contribute and I will reciprocate.

Judy Christopher--Michael Christopher 
______________________________

Good morning, everyone:
 
Taylor Kennedy sent along an e-mail yesterday regarding the Christophers in New York. I’m forwarding it to you all in my 
next e-mail. Thanks Taylor!
 
I think it would be better if we cc all of the above persons as the list of contacts is growing!
 
Here is what I have regarding my Christopher branch who went to New York City from Ottawa, Canada: Bertha Christopher Murrin 
was my grandmother’s sister. My Grandmother was Catherine Theresa Christopher. She married John George Burns, my Grandfather.
Descendants of Bertha Christopher 

Generation No. 1 

1.  BERTHA CHRISTOPHER  (THOMAS2, PATRICK1)1 was born February 19, 18891, and died 1976.  She married LEYLAND MURRIN.   

Notes for BERTHA CHRISTOPHER:
Married Leyland Murrin of Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Her ashes were put into the coffin with her sister,Martha in 1976. She and Martha died within a month of each other.
They are buried in the cemetery of Our Lady of the Visitation at South Gloucester, Ontario.

Her daughter, Doris Murrin, died in 1996 and her ashes are also buried in the Christopher plot at Our Lady of Visitation.

Eileen is her daughter also. (Aileen / Aline?)

Sponsors at her baptism were Dennis Christopher and Julia Ralph.
        

Children of BERTHA CHRISTOPHER and LEYLAND MURRIN are:

                   i.    DORIS MURRIN, b. 1932; d. 1996.
                  ii.    EILEEN MURRIN. 

Notes for EILEEN MURRIN:

Possible spelling is ALINE 

                 iii.    BERTHALEE MURRIN.
                 iv.    JOHN MURRIN.
                  v.    GEORGE MURRIN.

 
I’ll forward to the group - Judy’s, Andy’s and Taylor’s e-mails shortly. 
 
Judy: Is it OK with you if I add your e-mail to our web site as a contact for other Christopher researchers? My plan is to 
start a new page for Andy’s material and your e-mail on www.bytown.net and link the two pages together.
 
Thanks for this.
 
... Al

Judy Christopher has sent along the following census information regarding the Murrin family:

Some info found on Bertha Christopher Murrin.
 
U S Federal Cenus Brooklyn, Kings County NY 
Leland Murrin Head of HH b. in Oklahoma, USA, age 25 guard at Customs House NYC
Bertha (Christopher ) Murrin Wife b. in Osborne Canada age 27 at home.
Chn:
Bertha age 7
Aileen age 4
W. John age 2
The family lived at 57 60th St. Brooklyn NY.
 
Judy C
__________________________

and thanks to Taylor Kennedy for the following research: He has also sent along some pictures of ships and copies of original census records from NY.

Hello Andy and All
 
I checked out Ancestry.ca, seems to be quite a few using the same information and sharing, so I did what I 
like to do and start from scratch.
First checked the church records for anything relating to Patrick Christopher who married Mary Fitzgerald as to his 
original location. Nothing, no border crossing by either family from what I could determine quickly.
 
The families sharing information have Patrick Christopher and Honora Drohan arriving in 1890 and 1891 as per census 
1900, 1910, 1920 and in 1930 Nora is a widow.
 
My immigration research says Patrick arrived June 1892 and Nora August 1892. Please find the attached hopefully 
helpful. By the way the marriage would have been also in 1892. Nora was the daughter of Frank Drohan and Margaret
Morrisey / Morrissey and born in Waterford also. She was a widow and travelled with Nora's sister Mary and brother Joseph. 
In the 1900 census for Yonkers, Margaret and Joseph are living at 168 Ashburn Ave and Patrick and Nora at 36 Parker 
Street, both in Yonkers. Census attached with immigration details. Patrick travelled aboard the RMS Etruria (picture attached) 
and Nora, her mother and siblings aboard the S.S. Germanic (pic also attached)
 
Name:
 Patrick Christopher 
Arrival Date:
 30 Jan 1893 
Birth Year:
 abt 1865 
Age:
 28 
Gender:
 Male 
Ethnicity/Race­/Nationality:
 Irish 
Port of Departure:
 Liverpool, England 
Port of Arrival:
 New York, New York 
Ship Name:
 Etruria
Years in service:
 1884-1909 
Funnels:
 2 
Masts:
 3 
Ship description:
 Built by John Elder & Co., Glasgow, Scotland. (Later became Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.). Tonnage: 8,127. 
 Dimensions: 501' x 57' (520' o.l.). Single-screw, 19 knots. Compound engines. 14,500 I.H.P. Three masts and two funnels. 
 Steel hull.  
History:
 Passengers: 550 cabin, 800 third. Accommodation later was changed to 550 first, 160 second and 800 third. 
 The last single-screw trans-Atlantic liner to break the speed record. Maiden voyage: Liverpool-New York, April 25, 1886. 
 Broken up for scrap at Preston in 1909. Sister ship: Umbria. 
Name:
 Nora Drohan 
Arrival Date:
 26 Aug 1892 
Birth Year:
 abt 1871 
Age:
 21 
Gender:
 Female 
Ethnicity/Race­/Nationality:
 Irish 
Port of Departure:
 Queenstown, Ireland (City of Cork, County Cork) 
Port of Arrival:
 New York, New York 
Ship Name:
 Germanic
 Years in service:
 1874-1905 
Funnels:
 2 
Masts:
 4 
Aliases:
 Ottawa (1905), Gul Djemal (1910) 
Shipping line:
 White Star
 Ship description:
 Built by Harland & Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, Ireland. Tonnage: 5,008. Dimensions: 455' x 45' (468' o.l.). Single-screw, 16 knots. 
 Compound engines. 5,000 I.H.P. Four masts and two funnels. Iron hull. 
 
History:
 Launched, July 15, 1874. Maiden voyage: Liverpool-New York, May 20, 1875. Won the trans-Atlantic "Blue Ribbon" in February 
 1876. Renamed: (a) Ottawa (1905), (b) Gul Djemal (1910) Turkish. Torpedoed by a British submarine in the Sea of Marmora,
 May 3, 1915, but was later salvaged. Made several crossings to New York during 1920-21 for Turkish owners. Name changed 
 to Gulcemal about 1928. Scrapped in 1950. Sister ship: Britannic. 

name:
 Honora 
gender:
 Female 
baptism/christening place:
 869, KILMACTHOMAS, WAT, IRE 
birth date:
 08 Apr 1871 
birthplace:
 Kilmacthomas, Wat, Ire 
father's name:
 Frank Drohan 
mother's name:
 Margaret Morissy 
indexing project (batch) number:
 C70145-5 
system origin:
 Ireland-VR 
source film number:
 255823
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Taylor,
 
That's some thorough research.  Patrick Christopher and Honora Drohan from Yonkers were my g-grandparents and you've 
given me some good info I didn't have.
 
I don't doubt the possibilities of cross-border connections with the families.  The fact that people from Yonkers were 
visiting Osgoode is a pretty good hint that there's something there.  Where I'm focusing on is the connection in 
Ireland before your Patrick immigrated.  William Christopher Sr. (see above chart) was born in Waterford in 1781.  He married 
Catherine Hearn and they had 3 children David, Patrick, and William Jr..  The only one I have information about is William Jr. 
who was born in 1833.  Given the fact that your Patrick was born in 1801 it's feasible that William Sr. and Catherine could
be the parents.  In fact there's at least one Ancestry.com Member Connect that believes that to be the case.  No telling if 
that's based on some guess work or real data.  I don't have a full Ancestry subscription so if there's anyone that does and 
could explore that tidbit that would be appreciated.  I also think it's interesting that William Jr. and your Patrick were 
both married to Fitzgerald ladies, however it is Ireland and that may not be too big a shocker.
 
In my mind there's enough circumstantial evidence to warrant researching it some more. Judy's been doing years of work on 
our side of the border and based on the detailed information you folks have it would be great to see the two somehow merged.  
Perhaps we could set up an annual Christopher hockey game in Osgoode.........ok, maybe not.   
 
I'll be in touch.
 
Andy