Alice...where are you?

Since Alice Foley is said to be "Miss Alice Foley" in the marriage citation, I have to assume that she was not married before. She would have been 39 years old at the time of her marriage.

When looking at census information we must take it all with a grain of salt. Enumerators notoriously made errors. We also need to look at alternative name spellings, the neighbors surrounding a family, similar surnames of families in the area, occupations and anything that might point us in the right direction.

I once found a marriage in Pennsylvania to an elusive Purdy family by noticing a neighbor who had a daughter that fit the name and age of the person I was seeking. Eventually I was able to find a marriage record.

So where was Alice in 1880 prior to her marriage? There is one Alice Foley of the right age, living in a San Francisco asylum and she is noted as "idiotic". Very doubtful. Another Alice, slightly older living with her sister Ann Brisbon in Shieldsville, MN....again doubtful. An Elyce Foley living in New York City, working at Bellevue Hospital...but she is noted as a widow. Not having much luck in 1880, I turned to 1900 to see if I could find Charles McCarthy with a wife Alice and two daughters. Again....little luck. I also tried a Charles McCarthy with a wife Mary....maybe her name was Mary Alice? No one seems to fit.

 

So I then turned my attention to another Charles McCarthy living in Southold. He was born circa 1860 in New York, parents born Ireland. I can't help but think that he is somehow related to Alice's husband Charles McCarthy. Is this her stepson? He is of an age where he could be a son of Alice's husband by a previous marriage.

For those of you who may be new to genealogical research, this certainly shows how the pieces can get added to the puzzle, but we must now add additional questions to our research. As you can see it's a never ending quest.

So let's summarize what we know so far:

Alice Foley McCarthy was born circa 1844

She married Charles McCarthy on 20 Sep 1883 in Southold, NY

She was from Brooklyn, NY at the time of her marriage.

She gave birth to two daughters, Mary c. 1885 and Annie c. 1887

She was widowed before 1910 and living on Shelter Island, NY

She died on 2 Jul 1920 probably at her daughter Mary's 133 Central Ave., Greenport, NY

She is buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Greenport, NY

Daughter Mary married Gustave Lellman and they had 6 children by 1918. Gustave died in 1917.

Daughter Annie married Alfred Huggler, unknown children.

While looking for Alice and her daughters, I came across some newspaper articles relating to Mary's husband. He appears to have died accidentally in January 1917.

 Unfortunately even though Gustave survived the accident itself, he died shortly thereafter on January 22, 1917. And we now also know that probably unbeknownst to Mary she was pregnant at the time of his death, as Margaret was born 8-9 months later.

Did anybody pick up on a descrepancy from these newspaper articles? We'll dicuss that when I return from Atlanta in a few days. And we'll dig out the New York State censuses for 1892 and 1905 and continue our quest for Alice and her husband.

Alice...where are you?

And I will also tell you about my latest DNA match....who happens to be a Foley!




Posted November 16, 2011