Hi All, I am new to your list. The reason I am here is that I have found at several websites that the most likely county where my two surnames McNAMARA and MULVEY would occur together is county Leitrim. I have a married couple, James McNamara b.abt 1830 in Ireland (where??) married to Sarah Mulvey b. abt 1832 in Ireland (where??). They were in Wheeling, West Virginia USA by 1852 when their first child was born. I cannot find them as a couple in the passenger lists (* see below), nor can I find a marriage record for them in West Virginia (too early). I cannot get the diocese of Wheeling to help me with church records and have darned near given up, it has been about six years now and they are still working on it. Assuming that they did indeed meet and marry in Ireland, is there anything I can learn by searching the records for Leitrim County? I do know that Sarah's father was Thomas Mulvey from her death certificate. But I have no parents, no siblings at all for James McNamara, nothing to nail these people down to anyone else. Thanks for any advice, Nancy (* I Did find one Sarah and James McNamara as a couple but these seem to be far too old. The time frame is right, 1851, but the birthdates make them born about 15 years too soon. Would there be a reason for them to lie about their ages that much? MCNAMARA JAMES age 35 Ireland USA LONDON GOODWIN 061 11-01-1851 11/01/1851 MCNAMARA SARAH age 30 Ireland USA LONDON GOODWIN 061 11-01-1851 11/01/1851 Same boat, same arrival day, but the birthdays would be off, they would be born in 1821 and 1816, so I am guessing NO.)

Hi Nancy, Have you tried posting a query on the correct county for the city of Wheeling, WV Rootsweb site, asking for a volunteer to possibly look up the church records at the churches or the archdiocese archives (if they exist)? As for ages, I have one ancestor for whom I have made the following notations: 1856 28 Jan - Marriage - age 40 [b. 1815] 1870 28 Jul - Census - age 57 [b. 1812] 1880 5 Jun - Census - age 75 [b. 1805] 1885 6 Feb - Death - age 73 [b. 1811] So you can see, age wasn't a terribly important fact to 19th century persons. Most ancestors have done better, and averaged over three years, though. It could be that they just didn't remember. I would look at the births of their children, and try to figure out a marriage date from that. And then compare that with the passenger list - would the timing have been right? And then I would search the 1860 (and 1850) census to see how many James and Sarah McNamaras there are - to see how rare that is. Because it doesn't seem too rare to me, and so might be another couple on that ship. Oh - did you look at the English 1851 census for this couple? I hope others will reply, too, about some of your questions. Susan On 7/24/06, Nancy & Ted <hootmon2@earthlink.net> wrote: > Hi All, I am new to your list. The reason I am here is that I have found at > several websites that the most likely county where my two surnames McNAMARA > and MULVEY would occur together is county Leitrim. > > I have a married couple, James McNamara b.abt 1830 in Ireland (where??) > married to Sarah Mulvey b. abt 1832 in Ireland (where??). They were in > Wheeling, West Virginia USA by 1852 when their first child was born. I > cannot find them as a couple in the passenger lists (* see below), nor can I > find a marriage record for them in West Virginia (too early). I cannot get > the diocese of Wheeling to help me with church records and have darned near > given up, it has been about six years now and they are still working on it. > > Assuming that they did indeed meet and marry in Ireland, is there anything I > can learn by searching the records for Leitrim County? I do know that > Sarah's father was Thomas Mulvey from her death certificate. But I have no > parents, no siblings at all for James McNamara, nothing to nail these people > down to anyone else. > > Thanks for any advice, > Nancy > > (* I Did find one Sarah and James McNamara as a couple but these seem to be > far too old. The time frame is right, 1851, but the birthdates make them > born about 15 years too soon. Would there be a reason for them to lie about > their ages that much? > MCNAMARA JAMES age 35 Ireland USA LONDON GOODWIN 061 11-01-1851 11/01/1851 > > MCNAMARA SARAH age 30 Ireland USA LONDON GOODWIN 061 11-01-1851 11/01/1851 > Same boat, same arrival day, but the birthdays would be off, they would be > born in 1821 and 1816, so I am guessing NO.) >