I have researched the Murphy family and have an amazing amount of information. One of the problems I have is finding information on Thomas' sister Mary.
Thomas was born in 1877 in Brooklyn, NY. His parents were Honora (Nora) Quinlan and John Murphy. They also had 2 other sons, Patrick and Michael both died very young. They had two daughters, Mary and Margaret (Maggie).
In researching I had found Maggie living with her Mother and brother Thomas in the 1900 census. She was married to James Coyne and had a son John. I was able to get documents on her family because I had her married name. The sister, Mary, was not living with them in 1900 so I assumed she either died or got married. I was going to check for a death record but it was a daunting task. I would have had to look from 1880 when I find her with the family (the last census before the 1900 census) to 1900 when I don't find her. There were just too many Mary Murphy's. I would have to see every death certificate to see who the parents of the Mary was to confirm I had the right Mary. The other document, marriage, was just as impossible because I had no married name.
I have the family tree on Ancestry for all to see. When someone sees a name they think might be connected to their family they contact the owner of the tree. I was contacted by someone looking for Honora and John Murphy and their daughter Mary. It has happened before but this time a lot of things look like it could be a connection. They have a death certificate for Mary Murphy McEvoy saying her parents were Honora Quinlan and John Murphy. One of the first things I asked was did they have a marriage certificate? No they couldn't find one. Since that time I have looked and found nothing either. Looking under Mary Murphy is not the way to go. Looking under McEvoy is a better chance of finding the certificate, you would think. I have found there are several ways of spelling McEvoy and then spelling it by sound adds a few more. We do have the first name, Edward A. But I still have not been able to locate the document.
I thought if I got every document for the family there might be some clues. The women looking for information said that the grandson of her Mary is John McEvoy born in 1934 and his father was John born in 1898. They also had a daughter name Mary born in 1902. So I got the birth certificate for John born 1898. It lists his parents as Mary Murphy and Edward A. McEvoy. I have found this Mary and Edward McEvoy in the 1900 and 1910 census. In the census they indicate they were married in 1897.
I found all this information but none of it helps confirm that this is the same Mary Murphy that was the sister to Thomas Joseph Murphy.
I really feel the only way I'm going to find confirmation is to find the marriage document. They ask for the bride and groom's parents names. Since I have not found anything in the index for the New York Cities five boroughs, I'm going to look at the area that they were living and find the churches. Possible they were married in church and the information was never sent to the city.
