Francis Robert and Francis Joseph McGuire

My McGuire and Romaine (or is it Rohman?) line almost completely evade me.  I have found that I might actually have more definitive information about my Romaine's as opposed to my McGuire side.  The irony is killing me because my given last name is McGuire.  Of all the surnames in my line, my own last name is the one that gives me fits.

Francis "Frank" Robert McGuire (1908-1993) was my grandfather.  I have notes from when I interviewed him about his family line.  The best he could offer were his siblings names, parents names, and his McGuire grandparents' names.  While that was pretty good at the time given the disjoint in the family, I am now wanting much, much more.

The disjoint that I refer to is my grandfather's own father, Francis "Frank" Joseph McGuire (about 1878-about 1946).  He had some problems.  Most likely drinking.  He took off to the "high seas" and did not return to his wife and four living children.  I have not truly been able to figure out when he baled on the family but by 1930, he was not in the picture.  Whatever happened to Frank Joseph McGuire?  Well, he was in Long Island City according to my uncle.  My uncle is one of the oldest grandchildren and he indicated that the "high seas" was actually Long Island City.  That's certainly a big clue.

Another clue that I have is my grandfather's Certificate of Baptism.  I almost want to say this is better than a birth certificate or a death certificate.  The following is my transcription:

Certificate of Baptism
Church of St. Louis
This is to Certify that Francis Robert McGuire
Child of Francis J. McGuire
and Mary Romaine
born in Brooklyn, New York on the
22nd day of February 1908 was Baptized
on the 8th day of March 1908
According to the Rite of the Roman Catholic Church
by the Rev. J.R. Farrenkopf
the sponsors being John Romaine
and Margaret Connors as appears from
the Baptismal Register of this Church.
Dated October 8th, 1935

Signed, Rev. Joseph P. Herbert, Pastor

This duplicate certificate was probably obtained before my grandfather got married.  Mind you, St. Louis Catholic Church was in Brooklyn, New York.

So, that's a pretty good source document.  It has a lot of great information that I already knew.  In the way of new information, I gleaned the church name off of it and, very likely, my great grandmother's brother's name.  My only question is, where are the McGuire's?   While Frank J. McGuire is indicated, there's no McGuire sponsor.   I guess I have to move on to something else.

The next bit of information that I have is the parents of Francis Joseph McGuire.  They were Charles McGuire and Sarah McGrath.  My grandfather indicated that Charles was from Fermanagh, Ireland.  I have to admit that seems rather generic to me knowing now what I know of Irish geography.  The McGuire name and County Fermanagh are almost synonymous with each other.  It probably is actually harder to find a McGuire in Brooklyn (and I don't think you'd have to look too far) than in Fermanagh.