A Little Bit More About Martin Mullane

At the beginning of the year, I decided to tackle the case of Martin Mullane. Martin appears in the 1869 San Francisco city directory living with my great-great grandfather T.J. Mullane. Other than knowing Martin was a tailor and likely T.J.'s older brother, I hadn't been able to find out much more information. I tracked him through the city directories up until 1880 when he disappears. I had to go back and see if I could find Martin in any census records.

The Mullanes have been very hard to locate in the census records, largely due to the misspelling of their last name. After some digging, I was able to find Martin in the 1870 Census listed as Martin Melane. Finally! That record gave me a lot more information. Martin was married to a woman named Mary, which should make things interesting since T.J.'s wife was also named Mary and they named their daughter (my great-grandmother) Mary! Such fun! Martin and Mary have three sons, Peter age 6 who was born in Ohio, Martin age 3 who was born in California, and Christopher age 1 who was also born in California. I will assume both Martin, Jr. and Christopher were born in San Francisco. Those names match up with the names I found in the 1890s voter registrations, so my guess that they were Martin's sons was correct.

There are a number of other families enumerated in the same building, but since the 1870 Census doesn't record street addresses, I don't know if there are several families living together or if they are living in an apartment building of some kind. The really interesting bit I found is a few lines down from Martin and his family there is another Mary Melane, age 23, who is a washerwoman with a son who is about 9 months old named John. I believe this is my great-great grandmother Mary Manning Mullane, but there's no sign of T.J. with them. Well, that makes for yet another Mullane mystery to figure out. Where the heck was T.J. when the 1870 Census was taken?

Finding this record, allowed me to trace Martin's family a bit more, and I located them in the 1880 Census record living on Shipley Street. Mary Mullane is listed as a widow when the census was taken in June 1880, and since I had records for Martin in the 1879 and 1880 San Francisco city directories, I suspected he may have died earlier in the year. The 1880 Census has a mortality record of anyone who had died over the previous year, so I went to see if I could find Martin in those records, and he turns up twice! Martin died in March 1880 of tuberculosis. I still haven't figured out where he was buried and there aren't any San Francisco papers available on line for 1880, so it will require a trip to a library with microfilm to see if I can find a death notice.

Knowing that Martin had died, I turned to see what I could learn about his wife and sons. The records I found for Mary stop in 1883, so that was a bit of a dead end. I was able to track Peter Mullane until 1904 when he died from tetanus. Peter was a woodworker who worked in mills in and around San Francisco. It doesn't appear that he married or had any children. Martin Francis Mullane went on to become a tailor like his father, but I can't find any record of him after 1898. I did find a Martin Mullane in the Calvary records at sfgenealogy.com who died in March 1900 who is about the same age as Martin Francis Mullane, but I couldn't find a death notice in either the San Francisco Call or San Francisco Chronicle that matched up with the date to confirm if it is the same Martin Mullane, so I don't know if it's the one I'm looking for. The youngest son of Martin and Mary Mullane, Christopher J. Mullane, became a peddler and I've been able to track him up to 1913.

So, as always with the Mullanes, there are a bunch of new puzzles and mysteries to work out and people to track down. I still need to find evidence that the elder Martin Mullane is indeed the older brother of my great-great grandfather T.J. as I believe he is. Knowing that his son Peter was born in Ohio gives me another lead to follow, so that will be part of my next steps along the Mullane branch. My preliminary searches thus far haven't turned up any Mullanes in Ohio, but I've not done much more than a cursory search. It also makes me wonder if Martin fought in the US Civil War. My direct ancestors all seem to have been in California for most of the war and I haven't found anyone who fought in the war, but with Martin living in Ohio which was more more located where the war was going on may have enlisted at some point.

More Muddling Through the Mullanes

Trying to put the pieces together to make some sense of the Mullane branch of the family tree has been a bit frustrating. Despite sending off for my great grandmother Mary Mullane Murray's death certificate months ago, I've not yet received any notification as to whether or not it's been found. All I know is what I've been able to find online in the CA Death Index (her birth and death dates and that her mother's maiden name is Manning) and her death notice in the San Francisco Chronicle (that she had two brothers named Phillip and Patrick.) Not knowing who her parents were makes it harder to determine if the Mary Mullane I found in 1900 married to Edward Hayes is the right person. That Mary Mullane has at least five brothers and possibly as many as eight based on the names I've found living at the same addresses. Right now, most of the information I've found makes me suspect I have found the right person, but there are still several grey areas that make it difficult to be 100% certain.

I know that Mary Mullane Murray was born in 1871. That means she should show up in the 1880 census, but when I searched for her name, nothing came up. Ditto when I searched on any of the brothers who were born before 1880. Not having her parents' names meant a bit of a road block for searching. I knew the Mullanes should be showing up in San Francisco in 1880, but I couldn't figure out why they weren't. Since I'd already had this experience with the Murrays not showing up due to undigitized pages of the census, I turned to the city directories and looked up all the Mullanes that were listed in 1880. I only found three: Cornelius Mullane, teamster, living on 25th between Douglass and Diamond; Michael Mullane, groceries & liquors, living at 446 Natoma; and Timothy Mullane, porter Lawrence Ryan, living at 25 Fillmore.

That wouldn't be too hard to search. At least, that was the thought. None of the three turned up in a general search of the 1880 census. Great, that meant browsing page by page again! At least I had the reference to narrow down the enumeration districts. Cornelius should show up in Enumeration District 183, and I find Con Mullane (age 30) working as a milkman. He is married to a woman named Maggie and has a one year old daughter Eliza. There are no other children, so that should eliminate him from my list as Mary's father. Michael should show up in Enumeration District 133 or 134, and I find 446 Natoma in Enumeration District 133, but no Michael Mullane. Drat! Last try is Timothy who should show up in Enumeration District 223. I scroll through the pages looking for 25 Fillmore and find a record for T.J. McLay (age 32) working in a furniture store living at that address. He's married (Mary, age 35) and has seven children: John (10), Mary (9), Joseph (7), Thomas (6), Phillip (5), P.H. (4), and E.W. (11 mos.) Well, that matches up with the Mullanes I found around 1900, but the last name is completely different.

I head back to the city directories and go forward and backward on Timothy Mullane at 25 Fillmore, and in the 1881 city directory Timothy J. Mullane is listed as "furniture, r.25 Fillmore." I find him at 25 Fillmore as early as 1872 and continuously thereafter until 1888. His listed occupation varies over the years, but the address consistency leads me to believe that the census enumerator misheard the last name for Timothy Mullane in 1880. By the 1891 directory, Mary Mullane, widow, shows up at 45 Belcher which is the same address I found Miss Mary J. Mullane in 1896 living with what appears to be six brothers.

So, Timothy Mullane and his wife Mary are the parents of the Mullanes I found in the San Francisco City directories of the late 1890s/early 1900s. Phillip and Patrick (P.H.) show up with Mary again. Mary is 9 years old, which means she was born in 1871 which again matches up with the information I have for my great grandmother. Edward (E.W.) also shows up again, and what I've found out about him so far leads me to believe he was one of my Mary's brothers. Still, none of this is confirmation.

While I strongly suspect I've found the right family, I'll need to search further on Michael Mullane in order to eliminate him as a possible father to my Mary Mullane. (And it is entirely possible that he is an uncle, so more information will be useful!) If I can ever get her death certificate to turn up that might save me considerable time.

1880 Census

As you may recall, the Murray family was missing in the 1880 census -- the pages I believed they were recorded on were missing from the microfilm. I sent an email to the National Archives in Washington, DC asking if they still existed and if so how I could obtain a copy. About a week later I received a reply that the original pages were not stored in DC and I should direct my query to the Missouri State Archives. This struck me as a bit odd, but I followed the link provided and submitted the query again. I got a response back that they only kept records for Missouri (which makes sense) and I should contact the California State Archives (which also makes sense.) 

I sent off my query for a third time, and on Wednesday I came home from work to find a message on my machine from the CA Secretary of State. They had found the pages and would send them to me at the address I had provided in my email request. Well, that sounds promising! (Not to mention surprising -- I expected to have to pay for copies!)  I didn't want to get my hopes up in case what was sent was the first four available pages (5-8) rather than the pages I was looking for (1-4.) 

I arrived home tonight to find an envelope from the CA Secretary of State in my mailbox, and inside were four sets of 11" x 17" pages stapled together in groups of two. I looked at the top of the first page, and found "Page No. 1, Enumeration District 196, San Francisco." Woo hoo! I scanned down the first page and saw Harry Place on lines 8-18 -- wow, they should appear on page 1! They're not on the first sheet, so I turn to the second sheet for lines 19-50. Line 20 -- there they are! John (age 38), works at a laundry, Bridget (37) is keeping house, John H. (11) and Mary A. (9) are at school, and Marshall E. (5) and Ellen A. (2) are at home. Joseph isn't born yet.

This confirms a few things for me, the first being that the 1870 census record that I found was indeed the right family. It looks like Mollie's proper name was Mary, so I'll have to keep searching on both names. Nellie apparently shaved a few years off her age when she married Edward Nelson since she shows up as 2 years old in June 1880. Since she was born in July, that would mean she was born in 1877, which is a year earlier than the age for her in the 1900 census. I have 8 other sheets of paper covering pages 2-4 of the Enumeration District and I plan to look them over to see if there are any other clues that might be useful. So glad to know I was on the right track and was able to find my family despite the missing records.

More McDonoughs?

I have spent more time than I could have imagined staring at census records from 1880 looking for the Murray family.  As I've mentioned earlier, the pages I expected them to turn up on are currently missing.  However, one benefit of the scrutiny I've given to this particular set of records has pointed me in another direction while I await an answer from the National Archives.  I noticed that there is a Patrick McDonough living on Filbert in 1880, in the same Enumeration District where I expected to find John and Bridget Murray.  Since Patrick McDonough lived so near the Murrays, I wondered, could he be related to Bridget?  Maybe a brother?  Patrick McDonough is 45 in the census record and a native of Ireland, which would make him about 5 or 6 years older than Bridget, so it's a possibility.

I decided to track Patrick backwards to see if he was indeed related to Bridget and started paging back through the San Francisco City Directories.  When I got to the 1864-1865 directory (printed in Oct 1864), I made an interesting discovery -- a Bridget McDonough working as an ironer at the Russ House Laundry.  Is this "my" Bridget?  It would seem likely, since in the 1867 directory she was working as a laundress and according to the 1900 census she arrived in the US in 1866, which is close enough in time to think they are one and the same.  Another discovery in the 1864-65 directory is a Betsey McDonough working as a domestic at the Russ House Laundry and a Thomas McDonough working as a porter at the Russ House.  Could these be other relatives?  None of the Russ House McDonoughs appear in the 1865-66 city directory (printed in Dec 1865), but there is a Thomas working as a laborer in 1867.  Whether or not that is the same Thomas, I'll need to look further.

I've only begun digging on these possibilities, so it is too soon to tell if they are indeed relatives.  The Russ House McDonoughs would seem a good possibility but I'm having a bit of difficulty tracking them in my preliminary searches.  Patrick McDonough is a little more iffy.  A closer look at his census record from 1880 shows his oldest son, John H. McDonough, was born in Pennsylvania in about 1860, which would have him in the US quite a bit before Bridget. That wouldn't be a reason to eliminate him as it is quite possible that he came over earlier and assisted Bridget's immigration.  I'll need to do some more digging, especially in the 1860 census of Pennsylvania to see if I can turn up Patrick and his family.

I was a bit curious about the Russ House since it clearly appeared to be a hotel in the 1860s, but I wasn't familiar with it. So I did a quick search and found this.  It helped to learn that the original building no longer exists, so I'm not a complete failure as a fourth generation San Franciscan (ok, we'll add an "-ish" to that since I've never lived within the city limits of San Francisco.)  Alas, that the rebuilt Russ Building was the tallest building in San Francisco into the mid-1960s is probably something I should know.

First Field Trip

As useful as the internet has become in the 21^st century, it can’t do everything. I long knew that this trip through the past would require making trips to libraries and cemeteries and who knows what else. So with a little vacation time, I planned my first outing to find some information in person.

The Murrays aren’t turning up in the 1880 census for San Francisco. I’ve found what I am fairly confident is their address for that year: 6 Harry (now Harris) Place. It’s a one-block street off Laguna between Filbert and Greenwich, so it would be easy to miss in an enumeration of the census. I don’t think that’s what happened. After going half blind scrolling through pages and pages of images for the 1880 census trying to find Harry Place, I was able to find a site that helps find census enumeration districts by street name. That sped up my search tremendously – Harry Place was in the 196^th enumeration district. I was pretty sure I had already looked at that set of images on line, but I went back and took a closer look. I discovered that the on line images for the 196^th enumeration district start on page five with the 40^th family visited! Well no wonder I wasn’t finding them – there are four pages missing from the digitized images. The new question is were those pages not digitized for some reason or are they missing? The only way to find that out was to go to the National Archives in San Bruno and take a look at the microfilm and see for myself. Being a federal agency meant it was only open during weekdays, which meant I needed a vacation day to go check out the microfilm.

On my last day of vacation, I drove up to San Bruno and took a look at the microfilm. It took me longer to find the right roll and get it on the reader than it did to scroll through the film to find out if the pages were there. Alas, pages one through four were missing from the microfilm also. Damn. I asked the librarian at the help desk if she knew what might have happened to those four pages, but her answer was about as good as my best guess – they may have been appended to a different part of the census. Since I’ve scrolled through pretty much the entire 12^th Ward of San Francisco on line, plus about half of the other images (which is considerable as there were 229 enumeration districts for San Francisco in 1880 and each averages about 20 pages) and the names aren’t turning up in a search, I’m doubtful the pages were put on to microfilm. Does that mean the pages no longer exist or simply that they were skipped when being put on microfilm? I’m hoping the latter and have sent a request to the National Archives in DC to find out.

The second part of my field trip meant heading up to Colma and wandering around Holy Cross Cemetery. From the death notices I’ve found, I knew Bridget McDonough Murray, Ella (Nellie) Murray Nelson, Marshall and Mary Murray were all buried there, but of course I didn’t know exactly where. I had hoped that Mom could come out with me and help look for the Murrays while also showing me where some of the rest of the families were (both her side and Dad’s,) but she wasn’t able to join me. Mom did have some notes on where the graves were, so I took that information with me and drove on up to Colma.

The first stop, naturally, was the cemetery office to inquire about the gravesites. Bridget and Nellie were buried in the same gravesite, but there was no mention of John. I asked the fellow at the desk if anyone else was buried in that gravesite and he said there was someone buried in 1912, but there was no first name to help identify who it was. Could John have been relocated from some place else? I believe he died in November 1890, so it is possible as burials within San Francisco city limits weren’t stopped until 1900. I asked if there was a John Murray buried around November 1890, and the closest he could give me was a John Murray who was buried in January 1890, so that didn’t help. I did manage to impress the fellow at the desk with the dates and information I had already though! He looked up Marshall Murray for me and jotted down the information for that gravesite on the map with Bridget and Nellie and off I went to see who I could find.

I drove first to Section M where Bridget and Nellie were buried. It took a while and quite a bit of tracking through the section to figure out where the row numbering started and how the plots were numbered. If I counted correctly, there wasn’t a gravestone for Bridget and Nellie and the unknown third Murray as was the case for much of this section. According to my mother’s notes, my Theler great-great grandparents are also buried in that section, but I couldn’t find them.

Nana and Grandpa Murray's
gravestone at Holy Cross Cemetery

Since section M isn’t too far from where several of my aunts are buried, I headed up there and paid my respects before heading back down the hill to find Nana and Grandpa Murray. Mom’s notes were more helpful for this stop and I found their graves fairly quickly.

Next it was over to Section V for Marshall (and presumably Mary, I forgot to ask) Murray. This section was much more complicated to figure out as there is a road that curves through it, so the graves run both horizontally and somewhat vertically along the road. I could not figure out the numbering at all and was unable to locate their grave. Most of the plots in this section have headstones, so I’m fairly confident that a second trip to go through the section more methodically than I did should turn them up.

Daniel & Elizabeth Coleman's
gravestone at Holy Cross Cemetery

Second to last stop was to find the Colemans in Section T. Mom’s notes were again helpful and had the row and number and, in this section, the graves were much more clearly marked with numbers. My father’s older brother Dan is buried here with his grandparents (my great-grandparents.)

The Dwyer clan gravestone
at Holy Cross Cemetery

On the way out, I made my final stop at the one gravesite I could find in my sleep – that of my Dwyer grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents as well as a few other sundry relatives (it’s a big plot.) They’re located right in the front section of the cemetery near the office and not far from such San Francisco and California luminaries as the Aliotos and the Browns. Who knew the Dwyers were so posh? (In actuality, the original plot was moved out of San Francisco when burials within the city limits were stopped in 1900 and many folks were relocated to Holy Cross in Colma and thus these graves are among the first in the cemetery.)

Serendipity

I've been having difficulty in locating my Murray ancestors in the 1880 census -- they're not turning up in the general searches I've run. I've found where they were living in the San Francisco City directory for 1880 and the census takers recorded addresses, so I've been paging through the census page by page to see if I can find them. Doing so is time consuming and so I've been referencing Google Maps to see if the set of records I'm looking at are in the right neighborhood. After flipping back and forth and forth and back between the map and the census, I realize something -- the neighborhood where my great-great grandparents lived in 1880 looks to be the same as where one of my first cousins recently moved with her family. I pull up my cousin's address and not only is it the same neighborhood, but it is only one block away! Amazing that 120 years after my ancestors lived and worked there that one of their descendants would wind up so near by!