In July of 1788, Robert Brett posted a message in the Maryland Journal responding to an earlier advertisement posted by Reuben Merriweather. In this post he says that he visited the Brig Greyhound in port during July of 1786 and met Abraham Byfield on the ship. He says that he spoke with him because Abraham had come from the same area of Ireland where Robert Brett had once resided and they had some friends in common.
From this we can speculate several things. First, Abraham's indenture contract must have been for three years as these posts are two years after his arrival and Reuben Merriweather claims that Abraham has a year of his indenture to complete. Second, if we can determine where Robert Brett came from in Ireland then Abraham probably came from the same place as they knew some of the same people.
I've not found a newspaper notice of the Greyhound's arrival at Baltimore in July of 1786, but I did find a notice of a Greyhound captained by Maxwell that arrived from Dublin in November of 1785. If this is the same Greyhound then Abraham may have also sailed from Dublin - not that that helps us determine where he had been living.
Brett's posting also mentions that Abraham asked him to forward a letter to Timothy Lanahan who had been on the ship with Abraham. Wouldn't you love to see that letter!
I'm thinking that some investigation into Robert Brett and Timothy Lanahan might be in order. This might yield some clues about Abraham's residence in Ireland. That could lead to other records to research.
Have you made any headway on this? I was thinking the same thing regarding research into Robert Brett and Timothy Lanahan's backgrounds.
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