James Mealy Irish emagrated to U.S.A. 1885?

Question

he left liverpool seek work would like to where he lived in U.S.A. He was my grandfather and would be grateful for any information

Answer 1

contact the public records office in UK and Ellis Island in NYC perhaps?

Answer 2

You say he left liverpool, might be difficult to find information since his point of departure was not ireland. It would be very difficult to find info on him without further information like where in ireland he was from, birth cert, parents marriage date and place of marriage, records would be kept of marriages in parish churches.

There is one more difficulty, During this time a number of proslatizing schools existed in ireland. These schools were supposed to be charity schools but had a hidden agenda, their aim was to convert catholics to protestants by providing shelter and education coupled with hard work.

This can s***w up a lot of seazrches because it can provide dead ends if you did not know that he attended one of these schools, even if he reverted back to catholism as many did the official records would say different and inaccuracies would occur.

Information was not given freely to the british and the census was not trusted.

Good luck, if you have all of the information, like where he was from and his parents information, there may exist some form of records.

Surnames can provide a clue to where a person is from in ireland. I am not sure what part mealy is from.