Roll Call: Gourd, Robinson

[sngourd]

Looking for info on Richard Gourd (possibly William Gourd) and Mary
Anne
Robinson, married to each other, or at least having children
together. They
and their daughter Diemma (Emma) Gourd (maybe born around 1839) were
possibly born in Mountmellick, Queens (now Laois) County. Mary Anne
Robinson was probably born around 1813, Richard probably around the
same time. This information on Mountmellick was taken from Emma's
records at the Westchester County Alms House; the records indicate
that Emma and her parents were all born in Mountmellick. Apparently,
she had some sort of mental challenge that had her institutionalized.
The alms house records also listed the father, Richard, as
"intemperate" and the mother, Mary Anne, as "temperate." One
possibility is that Richard never came over to the U.S.; he may have
died before Mary Anne came, but that would just be speculation on my
part. One thing that supports that theory is that Mary Anne is buried
without her husband; I have found her grave site near New York City,
at St. Paul's Episcopalian Cemetery in Mount Vernon, NY.

There
appears to be a St. Paul's church in Mountmellick also; perhaps she
was a
member of this Anglican church. One of the genealogists at New England
Historic Genealogical Society thinks that Richard Gourd may be Richard
Garde, who was a silversmith in Dublin and York. Some of his silver
work can easily be found by Googling that name. I have doubts only
because I have not yet made a connection with any records between
Richard Garde and my family, or to Richard Garde and Mountmellick.
However, it looks like Richard Garde may have been of Huguenot origin
and it looks to me like Mountmellick was a Huguenot area.

Other children that Richard and Mary Anne had were Ernest William
Gourd (my great-great-grandfather, born around 1842), George Gourd
(who I can only find records of in passing in records mentioning his
widow, Mary [last name unknown, later married William Halsey], he had
apparently died and left a son, Harry Robinson Gourd), Sarah R. Gourd,
Maria Abby Gourd (possibly born 1852, married John Maher). Ernest
William Gourd's U.S. Civil War army records state he was born in
Dublin.

I have not found any records of them in Griffith's Valuation, but they
may have left Ireland before it was published. Gourd is a very
uncommon name, especially in Ireland (but if the name is Garde, that
is more common). All of the Gourds related to my family in North
America that I know of will be gone soon as all the men have had
female offspring.

There is a Richard Gourd listed in Irish Death Notices at
http://www.irelandoldnews.com/obits/obidxg.htm -- not sure if this is
the
right one or not. This death date would have probably been after all
of the
members of this family had emigrated to the U.S., but he may be a
relative.

I also looked in a couple of commercial directories that list
merchants from
Mountmellick around the dates that would be appropriate (early 19th
century), and found nothing for Gourds or Robinsons that looked
relevant. I
wish that I could find the links again, but I'm not sure where they
are.

Any leads that anybody can refer me to would be appreciated.


--
Stuart Gourd
http://www.facebook.com/sngourd
http://stutennis.blogspot.com