52 ANCESTORS 52 WEEKS -

 BEGINS WITH A VOWEL

ALICE is a name that appears in my family tree frequently. It is also in several different branches of the tree.  I think it was just a popular name in the 1800’s that everyone loved.

The earliest Alice in my tree is Alice McGuigan born 25 July 1842 in Tynan, Armagh, Ireland.

Birth Register from National Library of Ireland website.

(25 Alice of Patr McGuigan & Mary Hughes, Sponsors Michl McMullin and Rosy McStorey Crossdall)

Alice was the only girl born to Patrick and Mary (Hughes) McGuigan.  She had 3 brothers, Patrick born in 1825, Peter born in 1839 and Thomas born in 1846.

Alice married Edward Mooney 8 May 1877 in Crossdall, Armagh, Ireland.  Alice and Edward had a son Peter born 27 November 1879.  Once I had these documents I wasn’t able to find anything else about this family.  The family wasn’t in the 1901 Ireland Census, so I starting looking in the U.S.  I found the marriage certificate for Peter Mooney in 1918 in Massachusetts indicating his parents as Alice McGuigan and Edward Mooney and that he was born in Armagh, Ireland.

   Massachusetts, U.S., Boston Archdiocese Roman Catholic Sacramental

                                                    Records, 1789-1900

I thought that my grandmother, Mamie McGuigan and her sisters were the only ones in the McGuigan family to immigrate to the U.S.  I was wrong, her Aunt Alice and cousin Peter Mooney immigrated to Massachusetts.  In the 1920 census, it indicates that Peter came to Massachusetts in 1885.  I find Alice Mooney widow of Edward in Massachusetts in the1902 directory.

I don’t know if my grandmother knew that her Aunt and cousin were in Massachusetts.  I surmised that she did know they had left but maybe not where because she was living in the same town and didn’t leave until 1892.