Charles M. Boyle (c.1817 - 1897) was from Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal and married Margaret Dennison, (15/8/1834 - 15/11/1919) a daughter of George Dennison and Afric McGettigan, and niece of Archbishop McGettigan. From one source she was said to be from "Cashel, Creeslough" (very close to Drumdutton where the Dennisons lived and even closer to Drumlackagh where the McGettigans lived). Charles was the son of Michael "Teague" Boyle from Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal. He emigrated to the United States in the 1840s or early 1850s. He married Margaret (probably in Pennsylvania - their first son Michael was born in Pittsburgh) and then settled with his family in St. Paul, Minnesota. He worked as a surveyor and later as a self-employed (and probably self-taught) Civil Engineer in the St. Paul area - working for a time on the construction of the Pacific Railway fom New York to San Francisco. He became involved in property speculation snd lost everything when his business failed during one of the cyclical recessions. He returned to Ireland (initially to Dublin) to seek employment. His wife and two of his three surviving children (Mary and Charles) joined him a few years later. He died (at Ballymore, Creeslough) in 1897 without returning to the US and is buried in Kincasslagh. The death certificate gives his widow's address as Massinass (where her relatives, the Harkins, lived). The death registration date is about a month after the death so it is possible she moved in the meantime. Margaret, Mary and Charles returned to the US to re-join Michael - probably not long after that (they all appear in the US Census in 1900).
On her death cert, Margaret is stated as having been 63 years in the U.S. which would put her year of immigration around 1856 (when she would have been 22 - and the year Michael was born). The 1900 Census gives her year of birth as 1833 and year of immigration as 1850 (aged 16). Her death cert says she was 60 years in Minnesota. Round numbers are always suspicious. The Census was filled in by an enumerator and the details of the death cert were furnished by Michael so the accuracy in both cases is questionable. Some corroboration is necessary. We know that Michael J. was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvannia (Death Cert and Census records) so we may assume she spent some time there also (with Charles). In the 1910 Census it looks like she had 9 children of whom 3 are still alive. Her age then (77) gives 1833 as her year of birth.
Margaret died in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1919. The causes of death were given as "Senility, Chronic Nephritis and Myocarditis"
Michael J. Boyle (19/4/1856 - 5/2/1941) worked his way up to being a Department Manager in a Wholesale Store and spent some of his career paying off his father's debts which he eventually succeeded in doing. His year of birth from the 1860 census is 1856 (he was 4), from 1920 Census it is 1852; from the 1930 Census it is 1857 when he is described as a Commercial Traveller in Dry Goods. He never married.
Mary A. (1858 - ) held various jobs and eventually became a nurse. She was still single in 1900 (aged 48) and 1920 (aged 61) and 1930 (aged 72) so it is unlikely she married or had any children. She was still alive in 1941 when Michael died.
Agnes M. (1861 - 1870)
Ellen M. (1863 - ) appears on the 1870 Census aged 7 but is not on the 1880 Census so she is presumed to have died sometime between 1870 and 1880. One source gives 1875
Charles D. Boyle (1866 - ) was a Salesman in Retail Dry Goods in 1910. In 1920 he was an inmate of Glenn Lake Sanitorium. Interestingly, this record states that his mother and father's mother-tongue was Gaelic.
George D. (1868 - 1870)
Michael "Teague" Boyle (1784 - 3/1873)
Madge McFadden (1782 - 1880)
We know quite a lot about the family because Michael kept a fairly detailed diary, extracts of which were subsequently published.
Michael J. Boyle died on Wednesday 5th February, 1941. His obituary appeared the following Friday in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on page 20. It reads:
BOYLE - Michael J., of 315 So. Exchange
St., Wednesday afternoon at St. Joseph's
hospital. Son of the late Charles
and Margaret Boyle. Survived by his sister.
Funeral from the chapel of O'Halloran
& Murphy, 215 W. 6th. at Main Ave.,
at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Services at the
Cathedral at 9 o'clock. Internment Calvary
So far as we know, Charles and Margaret had no grand-children.
Last Updated, 17/04/2011