Question: I believe that my Irish immigrant to Massachusetts in the 1860's had a sibling already in New England. Family story states that he took out ads in the newspaper to find him to no avail. Can you advise a way to search for these adverstisements?
Answer: Many Massachusetts Irish read the Boston Pilot newspaper. This newspaper published a column entitled "Missing Friends". It was very common for relatives to seek out lost immigrants in their family through this paper. NEHGS started to publish these advertisements in the 1990's in a book series. This same series covering 1831-1920 can be searched online on American Ancestors at: http://web1.americanancestors.org/Search.aspx?Ca=098&Da=263