Monday, March 26, 2012

The Mystery of Mary Mullane

After hitting a couple of road blocks that required field trips during work days, I turned my attention to my grandfather Edward’s mother, Mary Mullane. I’d found a death record for her in 1940 and it gave her middle initial “J” and her mother’s maiden name as Manning. Armed with these bits of information, I sent off for her death certificate and then started looking elsewhere to see what I could find.

Having had success with the San Francisco city directories already, I started there to see if she might turn up. I found a Miss Mary J. Mullane living on Belcher Street in 1896 and 1897. There were quite a few other Mullanes at the same address, all men. My best guess is one is her father the rest are brothers, but which ones are which I can’t really tell. Having an address will make it easier for me to find her in the census records, so I head off to check out the 1900 census.

Huh. Well, this is weird. In 1900, Mary Mullane is still living at the address on Belcher, but now she’s Mary Hayes and she and her husband Edward Hayes are living with her brothers Joseph, Patrick, and Edward. Did I find a different person with the same name and about the same age or was my great-grandmother married twice? I decided to check the 1910 census, maybe Edward Hayes died? I find her again, though this time her husband is listed as Dennis E. Hayes and another brother, John, is living with them. Curious.

Maybe I’m wrong and I’ve found the wrong person. There aren’t a whole lot of Mullanes listed in the city directories though, and most of the ones that were listed were all in that house on Belcher in the late 1890s.

I decide to go looking for more information on Mary Mullane, and that means newspapers. First I checked the San Francisco Call on line and found a notice in the April 21, 1900 edition for marriage license issued to Denis E. Hayes and Mary J. Mullane on Belcher Street. I also stumble upon a death notice for a Mrs. Mary Mullane, who seems to be the mother of Mary J. Mullane. (Why, oh, why are there so many repeating names!) It lists her children as John, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Phillip, and Patrick and mentions she is the niece of “J. Manning.” Seems to be the right family, but still…

Next stop, it’s off to the San Mateo library and the microfilm for the San Francisco Chronicle. Let’s see if her death notice provides any insight. There is no mention of Dennis Edward Hayes, which I didn’t expect, but there is a mention of two brothers, Phillip and Patrick. Those brothers show up in the death notice for Mrs. Mary Mullane and I can find them living at the same address on Belcher in the late 1890s, so the odds are I have found the right person.

So, if Mary Josephine Mullane was married to Dennis Edward Hayes as late as 1910, what happened? I haven’t been able to find a death notice for Mr. Hayes, but if I’ve found the right Mary Mullane she was married to Marshall Murray by 1914 when my grandfather Edward Murray was born.

I asked my father if he’d heard any stories of his grandmother having been married before, and he said he hadn’t. As I kept poking around I was aware that the 1940 census records were about to be released, so I decided to brush up on what information I could find there. I wasn’t really planning on mining much information from the 1940 census – I know a lot about the people that would likely turn up in it – but a bit of explanation caught my eye.

For all women who are or have been married:
·     Has this woman been married more than once? (Yes or No)
·     Age at first marriage.

Well, what do you know? So now I have a reason to look for the 1940 census. It won’t be as easily searchable right away, but I have the information I need and I should be able to find the right page to see if there is an answer to this question. My only fear is that the census enumerator didn't survey the Murray family before my great-grandmother Mary died in July 1940 and therefore the information got missed.

April 2, 2012, can’t wait!

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