The Quinns of Montana

My family arrived in California via Montana. My grandmother was a Quinn. Her father, John Peter Quinn (1892-1984), was born in Montana and is my link to the Quinn family, who settled in Boulder Valley and Helena. My 3rd great-grandfather, John Quinn (1830-1885), along with his wife Hannah Hallisey (1845-1870), were among the first settlers. I’ve always been interested in the Quinns and their Montana stories, so I return again and again to try to build out the story.

Today’s mission was to learn about Hannah Hallisey. With genealogy, it is a game of inches. I think of incremental improvements in a very long game. On a typical day, I will spend a couple of hours on research and come away with only one new fact. Today, while working on Hannah, I learned about her father, Daniel Thomas Hallisey Sr. (1804-1880), through a marriage record. Daniel, or Dan as he was known to friends, was my 4th great-grandfather and an immigrant from Cork, Ireland. I enjoy finding immigrant ancestors. I find adding the Immigrant tag to a person immensely satisfying.

Today was special as I also found an alleged photo of Daniel Thomas Hallisey. It is a horrible photo, and if you squint at it just right, you can just make out two people, men I think. One of those two is Daniel. It will take a bit more time to figure out which one. My first step is to reach out to the person who uploaded it and ask if they have a higher quality scan. I think it would help.

Daniel was an immigrant, but he traveled to America as a child. His father, John Hallisey (1768-?), immigrated as well. The records for John are scarce. I have him tagged as provisional for now. I will need to upgrade to Ancestry’s International edition to do much more. I’m not willing to spend the money on it yet. I already spend too much on the base edition.

A retirement goal of mine is a road trip to Helena. I’m building out a list of places to visit, including a few graveyards. I have maps showing where my family lived and played, so I can also see those for myself if they are still there. Plus, I understand the museums are first-rate.