Greer and Allingham, Sligo and Leitrim, Ireland
Matthew GREER was from Scotland, maybe. I don't know where. (That's as specific as it gets on his son's death certificate (William GREER). William's mother was Jane BURKARD , also of Scotland, maybe. Next thing you know, Matthew is a widower, living in Sligo, Ireland and getting married again. On the other hand, he could have been born in Ireland. Other records suggest William, Matthew and Jane were all born in Ireland.
On 23 Feb 1854, he married Ruth ALLINGHAM of Glencar in the parish church of Glenlough, Co Leitrim. He is listed as a shoemaker on the certificate. His residence is Sligo. His father is listed as Archibald GREER. Ruth's father is Thomas ALLINGHAM, a farmer in Glencar.
Glencar lake straddles the Sligo / Leitrim border. It is very close to the road from Sligo to Manorhamilton.
I have information on several births between 1862 and 1874 (Elizabeth, Letitia, Henrietta,Sarah, Rebecca, Ruth and another Matthew). There may have been other children born in the first 8 years of this marriage. Matthew GREER's occupation is listed as letter carrier on the birth certificates. His residence is Ballinode townland in Sligo. The clerk in the county registar's office remarked that he was an educated man, as he signed his name instead of making his mark. In several of the records his residence in Ballinode Cottge and in others he lives on The Mall in Sligo. He died in 1875, married to Ruth. Ruth died later in the United States.
My great-grandmother Elizabeth GREER emigrated from Sligo to NY City in the US in 1878. In the 1880 census, she is listed as a servant at the Presbyterian Home for Aged Women on E 73rd St. In 1887 she married John Tracey, an Irish emigrant from Dublin. In 1937, Lizzie Tracey died in Valley Stream NY.
Elizabeth Greer's half-brother (William Greer) is said to have brought her to the U.S. William married Elizabeth Farrington. Their son William Alfred Greer (b 1877) died when the battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbor in 1898. William and Elizabeth had three sons (Arthur, Charles and Herbert) and three daughters (Martha, Margaret, and Jane).
I have another page with more information of this Allingham family
