On 13 Mar 2011, at 08:00, [email protected] wrote: Hello Maggie and others (re the Poole enquiry) On the theme of remarkable parallels In My Maher family, Charles 1823 Ireland came to Liverpool UK with wife Anne Mearns (Ireland 1831or 38??) and my grandmother Anna Maria born in Naas ,Kildare in 1871 and lived at 33 Swan Street, Old Swan where their son Charles was born in 1873. At 23 Swan St. there was a John Maher (Marr) 1845 Ireland married to a Liverpool woman. They had 5 or 6 children including a Charles, the eldest boy, and a Mary Ellen and of course a John. Both my Charles and this John were tailors, and there was an M.E. Maher/Marr the female witness to my grandmother's wedding in Liverpool in 1893. So I have assumed for some time that they were all friends. Then I was contacted by a descendant of John Maher/Marr who believes from family lore that John's father was a Charles and very likely my Charles's son. I had often wondered why my gt. grandparents were so "old" to have these 2 babies and suspect both had previous marriages and children. John Maher/Marr died in 1880 whereas his" father" went blind about then but lived till 1900. I'm now getting emails from the oldest of the Dublin family descended from Charles born in 1873 in Old Swan (thanks to Maggie Doyle) who was farmed out to his grandparents a great deal so I hope to find shreds of family stories about the Liverpool lot and their Irish antecedents. I guess my questions are about the validity of these surmises and how can we verify them. very best wishes, Anne Power Manchester UK