ST. LOUIS, (INDEPENDENT CITY)

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Permalink Reply by Sue McCormick on August 18, 2009 at 6:44pm

The Genealogy in St. Louis site with which this discussion group is associated has a map of the various neighborhoods in St. Louis. There are discussions of each area, including the churches which belong to the area. Start with an area you believe is correct, then move out a bit, if you are missing information. (The map did not include the parish of my old home neighborhood, because the church itself isn't in the described limits of the neighborhood.)

In general, the city and county are roughly divided by a line which follows Lindell to Forest Park. Anything north of Lindell (and Forest Park) is "North St. Louis" and "North County." Anything south of this line is "South St. Louis" and "South County." The area immediately to the east of Forest Park, and a fan-shaped area including the park and the county west of the park are also known as "The West End" and "West County."

The oldest Irish settlement I have heard of was called Kerry Patch. It was immediately north of the downtown area (just north of Washington Avenue). Kerry Patch was not very Irish in the 1930s when I first heard the name applied.

My mother grew up in the area now known as "The Hill;" when she lived there her neighbors were of German, Irish, and French descent. Now most of the inhabitants are of Italian descent.

For Catholic Church records of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, go to http://www.archstl.org/archives/. I believe this site will help you ask questions of the Catholic Church for St. Louis (and also for surrounding areas).

I hope this is of some help.

Sue

Permalink Reply by Patricia T. Hefferon on September 15, 2009 at 6:49am

Thank you. Has anyone had any luck contacting the Diocese? I have not heard from them. I have ordered the Catholic Church marriage and birth record films from Salt Lake. I'm sure it'll be a monumental task to check all the Irish parishes but hopefully successful.

Permalink Reply by John Newmark on August 19, 2009 at 6:27am

North St. Louis is just a geographical section of St. Louis City, and is in Missouri. You don't say what year the marriage occurred in, which may make a difference. The marriage may have been prior to surviving records. (Occasionally city records go further back than the state archives do -- Offhand, I don't know if this is the case with Missouri and the City of St. Louis.)

If you can provide the names of your great great grandparents - those of us with access to some online databases might also be willing to do a quick search of them for you.

Permalink Reply by Gail Holzhausen on August 19, 2009 at 1:21pm

About what years are you interested in? The STL public libraries main branches ( downtown and on S. Lindbergh) have microfilm from all the Catholic parishes. When you have an address for your gggrandparents ( perhaps census or city directories, which the libraries also have) they have a map with the parish boundaries marked. you can then review the appropriate microfilm to find marriges, baptisms etc.

Permalink Reply by Gail Holzhausen on September 5, 2009 at 10:09am

A lot of St. Louis folks married on the Railroad that ran from E. St. Louis Il. to Waterloo. It was called ( informally) the marriage train and was a fast way of marrying. I think there was no waiting period. You can check with the Monroe County Courthouse in Wterloo Il. to see if there was a marriage filed.

Permalink Reply by Patricia T. Hefferon on September 15, 2009 at 6:45am

I've never heard of this....very interesting. Thank you for that information.
Census records indicate the marriage of my GGgrandparents took place in 1869 or 1871. Their names are: Martin King and Kathrine Curran, both born in Ireland. Martin was from Galway according to his obituary and Kathrine was from Sligo and her father was Patrick Curran. Her mother was ______Hannon. Martin King's father, John or Thomas, was in St. Louis from about 1837. He fought for the South during the Civil War. His son Edward (Jerry) fought for the Union. Martin, himself, came to St. Louis at age 15 abt. 1851 as a stowaway. His father sent him back to Ireland because of political unrest and Civil War looming. However, he returned abt. 1855. I have heard that he worked on the railroad, unconfirmed. Pat

Permalink Reply by Ellen Naliboff on January 17, 2010 at 3:29pm

Pat, The Family History Library Catalog has the Index to males' marriage license (FHL US/CAN Film
528147). From that you get the license number and then request a photocopy of the microfilm or order the microfilm and do it yourself. The license was signed by the officiant who included his address (or church name). From there, get the sacramental register for that parish from the FHL. The entry includes the names of the parents. The IGI has many marriages taken from the civil marriage licenses, also.
The easiest way is to use Ancestry.com which has Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1670-1946, the early Catholic records of marriages, births and deaths.
Ellen