Donahue's Marry in New York City-

This copy of the marriage record for the Thomas and Mary was included in the Pension File of Thomas Donahue. His wife, after his death, had to prove the marriage did occur and through correspondence sometime in the late 1890’s with the church where she married in New York City she was able to obtain a copy of the record. This in turn was surrendered to the Government to be included in the file.

Company “G”, 1st U.S. Artillery, Assigned To New York Harbor-

Thomas arrived in New York from Mexico probably in 1848 or 1849. After Congressional ratification of the treaty with Mexico ending all hostilities between the two counties the US flag was lowered and replaced with the Mexican flag in Mexico City on June 12th 1848. Sometime during the next twenty three months, between June of 1848 and May of 1850 when Thomas and Mary married, the Artillery Division arrived in New York City. Thomas and Mary were married on May 12th, 1850. Thomas was discharged three days later on Wednesday, May 15th, 1850.

New York City-

The 1st US Artillery was assigned duty at Fort Columbus on Governor’s Island in New York Harbor at the completion of their mission in Mexico. New York of course was probably the largest point of immigration in the US at the time as it continued to be for many, many years. The predecessor to Ellis Island was Castle Garden, a site of an early Revolutionary War fortress on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, the location of New York City. The immigration records of the time are available on the Internet and the process of locating the actual arrival date and ship manifest for our great-grandmother Mary (McKeough) Donahue is still not determined. There are a few likely entries that very well could have been her record of arrival.

Duty On Governor’s Island New York- Very Near The Hub Of Irish Immigration-

Being posted to Governor’s Island gave any military man ready access to the community of new Irish immigrants congregating in the Five Points area of New York, near what is called the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The Battery, where Castle Garden was located, the location of the Immigration processing center was an area of available housing affordable to new immigrants. It was the logical area for new immigrants to attempt to gather together amongst others from their same homeland. The majority of immigrants at the time of course were the Irish and the southern tip of Manhattan Island was where they gathered. The logical point of landing in New York for one leaving the military installations on nearby Governor’s Island by ferry was in the area of the Battery or the Five Points district where Irish culture was well established. It was a place to find mutual support among the newly arrived immigrants, many probably confused and frightened. To be able to mingle with those that shared many common dire experiences and speaking with the same Irish accent must have been comforting.

The Concentration Of Irish Immigrants Brings Opportunity To Socialize With Those From The Homeland-

With all the new Irish immigrants concentrated in New York the man certainly had the opportunity to socialize with those from his home country. During his weekend passes he had free time to journey by ferry into the city enabling him to make new friends and thus meet his new wife.

How did Thomas meet his new bride? One can only imagine how that came about but perhaps their shared Catholic faith had something to do with it.

Mary McKeough Donahue

Abt 1825- 1900

The Church Of The Transfiguration- It Still Exists-

The primary if not the only Catholic parish serving new immigrants during this period was the Church of the Transfiguration in the Battery area of New York where Thomas and Mary were married.

The Internet pages for the parish are easily found and a good history of the church can be found there. The pictures one finds of the church are of the current edifice, not the one that existed at the time of the Donahue marriage. The current building was purchased from another denomination in the mid-1850’s, five years following the Donahue's wedding, when the existing Protestant congregation decided to locate to a facility elsewhere in the city. Perhaps with all the Irish present in the area the need for Protestant religious services dwindled prompting the desire to relocate. Just where the original parish church was located I have been unable to find but most certainly it was in the same general area, somewhere within the Five Points district.

From: http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/11640918#editorialreview

Citysearch Editorial Profile -- By Elaine Heinzman

New York's oldest house of worship for Catholics has a saint to its credit.
Editorial Rating: Recommended

Background-

In 1801 the English-speaking descendants of German Lutheran emigres spent $15,000 to build a substantial stone church, before it passed into the hands of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The church was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1853; Father Felix Varela, a Cuban-born pioneer of Catholic journalism, had founded the parish in 1827. Mother Frances Cabrini, named "Saint of All Immigrants" in the 1950s by Pope Pius XII, established a school at the Transfiguration Parish in 1899.

Features-
Though this Georgian-style building possesses simple stained-glass accents, its pitched windows are in the more elaborate Gothic Parish style of mid-1850s England. The country's largest Chinese-American congregation and others attend daily masses given in Cantonese and English, with Sunday services also conducted in Mandarin. The church offers everything from a competitive parochial curriculum and kindergarten program to bible study and English as a Second Language course work.