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Patrick Costello

S

Surfer

proper brummie kid
I am trying to find information on a William Costello and his son Patrick...
William came from America in 1873 together with his son Patrick aged approx 5... during this time Patrick was enrolled in a Birmingham School. They stayed for about 5 years before returning to Scranton PA.
Patrick went on to become an eminent engrosser and his work is displayed in several Halls of Fame and Universities in America. His American great grandson is finding it difficult to establish what happened to them and where they stayed in Birmingham... any clues where to look would be appreciated.
 
Hi this is the work of Patrick...such a master at his craft and all self taught... He scribed many documents ..some for four American presidents...and pensioners and ink drawings of famous artists.
 

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Directories of the time usually only listed quite important people. i have looked at the 1873, 1876 and 1878 directories and there is no Costello at all listed
 
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You say that William Costello came to Birmingham in 1873 with his son Patrick who was about 5 years old. They stayed until around 1878 and returned to the US.

It would be unlikely that you could find anything about Patrick, and better to concentrate on William. Mike has checked the Trade Directories and nothing shows. Note that his arrival is noted in the newspaper and he registered at the Exchange Bureau. This looks like a commercial agency which would serve American visitors. A place that they could exchange currency and use as an address, or gain much locals information.

You tell us about Patrick, but what extra info do you have about William ?

I see that Scranton at that time was a major industrial city with connections to coal, iron and railway. Birmingham would be just the place to visit to pick up metalworking manufacturing techniques.
 
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Pedrocut said:
You say that William Costello came to Birmingham in 1873 with his son Patrick who was about 5 years old. They stayed until around 1878 and returned to the US.

It would be unlikely that you could find anything about Patrick, and better to concentrate on William. Mike has checked the Trade Directories and nothing shows. Note that his arrival is noted in the newspaper and he registered at the Exchange Bureau. This looks like a commercial agency which would serve American visitors. A place that they could exchange currency and use as an address, or gain much locals information.

You tell us about Patrick, but what extra info do you have about William ?

I see that Scranton at that time was a major industrial city with connections to coal, iron and railway. Birmingham would be just the place to visit to pick up metalworking manufacturing techniques.
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Pedrocut said:
You say that William Costello came to Birmingham in 1873 with his son Patrick who was about 5 years old. They stayed until around 1878 and returned to the US.

It would be unlikely that you could find anything about Patrick, and better to concentrate on William. Mike has checked the Trade Directories and nothing shows. Note that his arrival is noted in the newspaper and he registered at the Exchange Bureau. This looks like a commercial agency which would serve American visitors. A place that they could exchange currency and use as an address, or gain much locals information.

You tell us about Patrick, but what extra info do you have about William ?

I see that Scranton at that time was a major industrial city with connections to coal, iron and railway. Birmingham would be just the place to visit to pick up metalworking manufacturing techniques.
Click to expand...
 

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as already suggested this will be almost impossible to find out any info of their time in birmingham...could i just ask did patrick have a middle name ?

lyn
 
I tried the Rates books as well and drew a blank. They may have stayed in Loging Housses in which case would likely not be listed. School records from then are unlikely to exist.
 
I am a bit puzzled ! From what you say… before emigrating (late 1840s) William lived and worked in Birmingham for a few years. 20 years later (late 1860s) new he could find work in the coal mines in the West Midlands.

So he had been in Birmingham prior to the 1873 visit ? You also say that Patrick Costello had the opportunity to attend grammar school. It does not seem likely that William would be able to afford this education if he was just a worker in the coal mines ?
 
Pedrocut said:
I am a bit puzzled ! From what you say… before emigrating (late 1840s) William lived and worked in Birmingham for a few years. 20 years later (late 1860s) new he could find work in the coal mines in the West Midlands.

So he had been in Birmingham prior to the 1873 visit ? You also say that Patrick Costello had the opportunity to attend grammar school. It does not seem likely that William would be able to afford this education if he was just a worker in the coal mines ?
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Williams American great great grandson has records to say he was born in Ireland and initially went to Birmingham to find work. Then he emigrated to Scranton where he married and had his son Patrick.. in 1873 he then moved back to Birmingham again to work either in the mines or perhaps steel works. My understanding is that it was not a grammar school but what we call in Scotland a public school...a school provided by the city and not expensive.. .This is where Patrick ,its believed, learned how to use pen and ink..
 
Thanks. It would probably have been hard to enter a grammar school as a Catholic in those days. Also may be relevant that as there were no mines in Birmingham, he could well have been involved in other manufacturing.
 
See here for Patrick…

“P. W. Costello, a remarkable penman, was born to poor Irish immigrant parents, William Costello and Bridget Langan, in Minooka, now a part of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the Anthracite Coal Fields.

As a young boy he discovered an innate talent for art. Following exhausting days picking slate in a coal breaker, he spent his free time at home practicing penmanship and drawing. With formal art training out of reach, he relied on his own motivation and creativity to develop foundational skills in design, lettering, and illustration. After two decades trying to balance art and politics, he focused on art and went on to become one of the pre-eminent American engrossers and portrait artists of the early 20th Century.”

 
Does the above indicate that Patrick returned to Scranton at the age of about 10 years old and was employed having to work picking slate in a coal breaker ?
 
Astoness said:
thanks..and what year was william born ?

lyn
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William , Patrick's father was born in 1835 in the parish of Cong , Barony of Kilmaine, County Galway.
For a period of time before emigrating to US, he lived in or near Birmingham where he probably worked in coal mines or steel mills.
He emigrated to America from Liverpool in 1856.
Economic uncertainty brought him and his young son Patrick back to Birmingham in 1873..and that's where the case goes cold until his return to America on 1877.
 
Pedrocut said:
Does the above indicate that Patrick returned to Scranton at the age of about 10 years old and was employed having to work picking slate in a coal breaker ?
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Yes...Patrick's great grandson has a tremendous amount of information re Patrick. The missing piece of the jigsaw is the period of 1873 to 1877 in Birmingham.
 
From another source it shows William as a coal miner and that Patrick due to financial hardship had to work as a breaker boy for two years before he went to work in a neighborhood grocery store-a move that got him out of the mines.

Presumably this was on the return from Birmingham. As Mike has said in Post 8, if William was just a coal miner he would not appear in directories. If he did not commit a crime or be involved in any notable event he would pass under any radar. I feel that, as others have not uncovered the details of the short stay in Birmingham, it is going to be difficult to uncover any further details.
 
It looks to me as if most people who have delved into PW Costello have come to the conclusion that he was educated in Birmingham. Yes his father registered at the Exchange, but Birmingham would be the place he would arrive at from probably Liverpool, (from Philadelphia). If he was employed as a coal miner he would have to travel daily to a pit in the Black Country, which seems very unlikely. Who would look after Patrick ?
It seems more likely that after registering in Birmingham he moved out to the Black Country ?
 
Hamstead is today considered part of Birmingham. He could have worked there, or at a pit close to there. Someone compiling a life story, who did not know Birmingham history, is likely to call that Birmingham
 
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I don’t think the deep coal at Hamstead was operational until the late 1870s. However there were some pits on the Calthorpe Estate on the edge of the South Staffs coalfield still in limited use.
 
Pedrocut if you are willing to provide your email address I can forward you the email i have received from William and Patricks descendent ..there is a lot more detail in that email.
 
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