Sunday, November 22, 2009

Mary LNU

This week Randy Seaver, at Genea-Musings, has tasked us with:
Hey, genies, it's Saturday Night, time for some Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (where's my Mission Impossible music...drat, lost it), is:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.


Number #13 in my tree is my great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Camfield Carlisle, the adopted daughter of Michael and Sarah Ann (Wisner) Camfield. There may be records somewhere in Onondaga County detailing her adoption but I haven't looked for them. For me her adoptive parents are my family history. Perhaps one day I'll look into it more and discover the reason for her being given up.

The ancestor that I really should focus more effort on is number #21 in my tree, my 2nd great-grandmother, Mary. I am really focused on my maternal ancestors at present so I have done very little research on Mary.

My line to Mary is:

Me
>Harvey G Berry, 1926-2000
>>Mary Leith Kelly Berry, 1900-1970
>>>James Kelly, 1856-1936
>>>>Mary, born ?? - died ??

The first I find Mary is the 1855 New York Census, Jefferson County, Adams, page 217:

Michael Kelly, age 33, born Ireland, resident 2 yrs, alien
Mary Kelly, age 35, born Ireland, wife, resident 2 yrs, alien
John Kelly, age 2, born Canada, child, resident 2 yrs, alien
Ann Kelly, age 11/12, born New York, child

So from this I learn she was born about 1830 in Ireland. She moved to Canada at some point prior to 1853, when son John was born and very shortly after his birth the family moved to Adams, NY.

I believe she spent the remainder of her life in Adams, NY.

1860 - age 27, born Ireland
1870 - age 33, born Ireland
1880 - age 45, widow, born France, parents born Ireland
1900 - age 69, widow, born Aug 1830 Ireland, parents born Ireland

I believe Mary died about 1901 so I should be able to find a death certificate for her that may give me more information. I have searched the local papers available at Old Fulton Post Cards, however there may be more in the South Jefferson Historical Society clipping file.

My grandmother was named Mary Leith Kelly. Could Leith have been Mary's maiden name?

I travel often to southern Jefferson county as that is where my sister lives but rarely travel further to Adams or Watertown. So I need an afternoon off where I can go and see what records can be found.

2 comments:

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