One of the many on-going mysteries on the Mullane side of my family tree, is the curious case of Martin Mullane. In the 1869 San Francisco city directory, Martin is living with my great-great grandfather Timothy J. (T.J.) Mullane on O'Farrell Street. It's the only occasion where Martin and T.J. appear at the same residence, but I believe they are related somehow; quite possibly brothers. (T.J.'s oldest son is named John Martin Mullane which lends support to this theory.)
In the 1869 directory Martin's occupation is listed as a tailor, so I decided to go back through the San Francisco directories looking for a tailor named Martin Mullane. This was a little more challenging than I anticipated as I found listings for Martin Mullane, Martin Mullan, Martin Mulane, Martin Mulaine, Martin Mullene, Martin Mulan, and the misspelled Martin Mullena! Fortunately, I seldom found two possible names for the same person, and when I did the addresses were identical. The earliest listing I could find for Martin was in 1867, which is four years after T.J. shows up in the San Francisco directories. Besides the city directories, I was able to find a few voter registrations for Martin (as Martin Mullan) which gave me his approximate age. According to those records, Martin was born in about 1834, which would make him about 13 years older than T.J. It also lets me know he was naturalized in San Francisco on August 2, 1869.
I was able to track Martin Mullane through the city directories up until 1880 when he disappears. In 1885 a Martin Mullane, butcher, appears living on Tehama. There is also a Peter Mullane at the same address working as a machine hand. Going from a tailor to a butcher seems like a pretty drastic career change (especially considering the five year gap between entries), but could perhaps this be the son(s) of the Martin Mullane I've been tracking? Hard to say as they disappear in subsequent directories. A Martin F. Mullane, tailor, shows up in 1891, but we're now 11 years from the Martin Mullane, tailor, that I've been looking for so I doubt it's the same person. When I find a Martin F. Mullane in the 1890 California Voter Register who is living at the same address as in 1891 and is also listed as a tailor, I discover this Martin Mullane was born in California in about 1868. So again, if he's related, Martin F. Mullane is most likely the son of the Martin Mullane I'm tracking.
With the lack of information on Martin after 1880, I am guessing he died some time around then. The particularly frustrating thing, is I'm unable to find any Mullanes in the 1870 census. I know both T.J. and Martin are in San Francisco in 1870, but I'm not completely certain where they were living. They could be at the address on O'Farrell, or they could be living elsewhere, and since the 1869 San Francisco city directory also covers 1870, the next address I have for either is in 1871. Going on to the 1880 census is also problematic. It took me a long time to find T.J. and his family in 1880 since their last name was recorded as McLay. If Martin died before June 1880, he may not be in the census at all, and, as evidenced in my search for T.J., the last name Mullane doesn't readily pop up in the 1880 Census either. As I have no certainty that Martin Mullane was married, I can't even search for his family. (I did go back and look at the record for Martin F. Mullane from the 1891 voter register and I noticed there is also a Peter J. Mullane living at the same address. He's a few years older and was born in Ohio, so if these are the sons of the Martin Mullane I'm tracking I have a few other leads to follow up.)
I'm not even sure if Martin Mullane died in 1880 as I've found no evidence of his death as yet. He doesn't appear in the records for Holy Cross and Calvary at sfgenealogy.com and I haven't found a death notice in the paper (though those don't always turn up on a search and require a more manual review.) I'm fairly confident Martin and T.J. are related, but beyond that it's a mystery. More research needed.
More Mullane mysteries ahead as I also try to figure out if/how a Michael Mullane, tailor, fits into the puzzle.
