Miles is a fairly common man's name among McSweeney and Sweeney families, apparently due to a famous Sweeney ancestor. My Miles McSweeney was born in Missouri, probably St. Louis, around 1860. By 1880 he was married to Ellen Scollard and they had two children (Mary and Edward). They had several more children but only Mary (May), Edward, Michael. Sara (Sadie) and Myles lived beyond 1900. Ellen died in 1894 and Miles vanished about the same time. He is not mentioned in the coroner's investigation of Ellen's death so I assume he had already left.. Daughter Mary (May) married Ed Podgen and raised a family in St.Louis. Edward married but died childless in 1906 and was a deputy constable. Michael died in 1910 - no information on his life as yet. Sara (Sadie) married Charles Miller -- stayed in St. Louis and had 4 kids. Myles moved to Jackson, Michigan and married and had a son named Myles. Only Myles retained the "Mc-" spelling. The others changed to "Sweeney". Family tradition is that Miles went to California. I have no evidence to support this idea as yet. Miles did have relatives in New York City and his daughter, Sara, lived with them briefly after her mother's death and was probably there in 1900. My current guess is that Miles McSweeney was the son of Edmund and Ellen McSweeney who previously lived in the same house as Miles in 1880. Edmund died before 1870. the 1870 census shows Ellen and a 10-year-old son named Jerry. I'm speculating that this Jerry was Miles. Any suggestions, comments, questions or information is welcome. Ken Hartke