I’ve been following several trails through the Murray family
trying to figure out some unanswered questions. Right now, the best I have are suppositions and guesses that need
a bit more information to find out if I’m on the right track or if I’ve
identified the wrong people.
For starters, one of the unanswered questions I have right
now is who was Joseph’s wife? He shows
up in the 1920 census as married, but his wife isn’t living with him. Who is she?
Where is she? I’ve done some
digging around in the city directories trying to find all of the Murray
siblings between 1900 and 1920, and it’s rather hit or miss, especially when
I’m trying to track John, Joseph and Mollie (Mary). I’m never quite sure if the person I’ve found in the directory is
the right one.
However, I did find a Joseph S. Murray working as a driver
in 1911, which seems a good bet. I can
track him through to 1917, and from 1914-1917 he shows up with a wife named
Agnes. I’ve yet to find any record of
their marriage, so I don’t know Agnes’ maiden name. Despite not being certain this is the right Joseph, I did a
search for Agnes Murray in the 1920 census to see if I could find her. I found two that might fit. The first Agnes Murray shows up living in
San Francisco, but is single. She is
about 45 years old, from Scotland, and working as a cook. Joseph Murray would have been about 40 years
old in 1920, so it’s possible this is the right Agnes, but I don’t think it’s
likely. The second Agnes Murray shows
up in Napa. This Agnes is also about 45
years old, married, and was born in California. She is also a patient at the Napa State Hospital. I suspect this is the correct Agnes. So, if this is the right Agnes and she was
married to “my” Joseph S. Murray, what happened between 1917 and 1920 that
would put her in the state mental hospital?
Historically, that would be the end of World War I and coincide with the
flu epidemic of 1917-1918. Could something
have happened related to those events that would cause some kind of mental
breakdown? I’m not even certain what
would cause someone to be hospitalized in the early 1900s when mental illness
was no where nearly as well understood as it is today. I’ve found what I believe is a death record
for Agnes in Napa in about 1926, and need to do some more digging to see if I
am on the right track.
Another avenue I am exploring is what happened to John Henry
and Mollie? I know that as of 1909,
when Nellie died, they are both still living.
Mollie is probably unmarried in 1909, but that is about all I have
figured out. I have no idea where she
was living or how she was supporting herself.
John Henry is an equal mystery.
Other than his name appearing in the death notices for Bridget and
Nellie, I can’t find a definitive record of him after 1901. Part of the problem is that by the 1910
census, the four surviving Murray siblings – John Henry, Mollie, Marshall, and
Joseph – are all in their 30s and 40s and as best as I can tell unmarried. Their parents are dead, so I’m looking for
four single people living in a city of over 400,000 people. That’s assuming they stayed living within
the city borders. Talk about a needle
in a haystack! I haven’t been able to
find any of them for certain yet in the 1910 census, and the only thing I know
for certain is that they are not living together. The 1920 and 1930 censuses are even less help at least for John Henry and Mollie (and Joseph in 1930) since by then I don't even know if they are still living.
And then there are the McDonoughs. I still have no idea if Thomas, Betsey, and/or Patrick McDonough
are related to Bridget. There are bits
and pieces that point to Thomas and Betsey as possibly being family. I believe I have found Thomas in Chelsea,
Massachusetts in 1858. Betsey also
shows up in Chelsea in 1870, though her name is listed as Beesey. I know Bridget must have had some family in
Chelsea as her death notice in the San Francisco Call asked that Chelsea,
MA papers be copied, but I can’t find any definite connection between Thomas,
Betsey/Beesey, and Bridget. It’s also
not clear if Betsey is a sister or a sister-in-law of Thomas, but I’m fairly
certain that those two, at least, are related.
If they are related to Bridget, I do have Thomas’s parents’ names, which
will be a world of help. Patrick was a
bit easier to trace through the records, but there is nothing I’ve found about
him that would definitely tie him to any of the others.
I’m still waiting for an answer to my request for my great
grandmother Mary Mullane’s death certificate, which I’m hoping will tell me
what her parents’ names were. That
might help me unravel some of the Mullane mysteries. I still can’t figure out if the Mary Mullane I found is my great
grandmother and if it is what the heck happened to Edward Hayes.
Finally, there are the things I doubt I’ll ever find
out. In the 1900 and 1910 censuses,
women were asked how many children they had and how many survived. In the 1900 census, Bridget Murray said she
had six children, five of whom survived.
Based on the ages of her children, I suspect there was a child born
between Mollie and Marshall.
That would have been in about 1872, and since that child does not appear
in the 1880 census record he or she would have died before then. A similar situation exists with Sadie
Coleman, my great grandfather Daniel’s sister-in-law. She had three children who did not survive, one born between
1895-1900, the other two between 1900-1910.
I keep my eyes peeled for any of these lost children while I comb
through newspaper records looking for other people, but the odds of me being
able to find them are not good.
The more I search, the more I realize there is so much more
to learn and that some of the information may be lost to time. I have many library hours ahead of me as
some of the information I’m looking for just isn’t easily found online. And I’ve barely started on the
Coleman/O’Leary side, so it’s about time to start digging further into Irish
records to see what I can turn up.
