James

James was born in County Tipperary on November 30, 1844. His parents were James O Dwyer and Catherine Ryan. His father died during the Great Famine and James and his family moved to Leeds in Yorkshire, England where James grew up. He arrived in San Francisco in 1867 when he was 22 years old.

Margaret was born in Castlemagner, County Cork on July 7, 1847. Her family migrated to Ausable, Clinton County in upstate New York when she was an infant. In April 1865 Margaret and her siblings boarded a ship to Panama, walked across the isthmus and boarded another ship to San Francisco where they arrived a month after leaving their New York home.

Coming soon:

My Dad’s Letters