Heaney

Immigrated from Ballybaise County Monaghan IR 1859

The way that Sarah got to the United States is a story worth repeating. While living in county Monaghan, Ireland, and not quite 18 years old she contracted by postal correspondence to come to the United States and become a nanny (or housekeeper) for someone in Colorado. The money for the fare was sent to her and she sailed for New York City.

To her surprise and dismay when she got to New York there was no one there to meet her. This was 1859 and there was no telephone so she had no one to contact. The agreement was that she was to be met. She had never been away from home before and was stranded in a strange land. Fortunately, representatives of the Floyd family were looking for a white English speaking girl to hire as a nanny for young children. She was desperate and she needed something so she took the job. She had at no idea where Greenport was.

It evolves that whomever it was that was there to meet her was delayed by a storm or stagecoach accident. When they contacted the immigration authorities, they had no idea where Sarah was. They contacted Ireland by mail, and found out that she was in Greenport. They contacted her but she was happy with her job. Sarah was scared to death to go to Colorado by stagecoach, so she stayed there. Sarah had saved a lot of correspondence but in later years, Margaret Haas Heaney during a nervous breakdown destroyed a lot of records.