Nathaniel Holmes emigrated from Strabane, Ireland, to the Philadelphia area sometime prior to August 1791. Having apparently emigrated for economic reasons, Nathaniel was not venturing into uncharted territory -- his brother, John, had already settled in Pennsylvania, though he died shortly after Nathaniel's arrival. While his mother, Isabella, and siblings, Gabriel and Elizabeth Weir remained in Ireland, Nathaniel married and raised a family in America, and evidently prospered enough that he was able to send money to his Irish relatives. A Gabriel Holmes is listed in the Philadelphia city directory for 1809, suggesting that he, too, may have joined the Irish exodus.
From the guide to the Holmes family papers, Holmes family, 1791-1805, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
