Please help! For over 50 years my family has searched for the marriage record of Mary Ann Reilly/Ril
My 2nd g grandmother Mary Ann Reilly L8S8-19T married Miles Mahon/Mahan about 1851 either in Springfield, Massachusetts where Miles was living or in Boston where her family was residing. I have tried through Find My Past.com to locate the Catholic parish records, but no luck. I have spent years perusing FamilySearch and Ancestry, but still no results. I have written to the Catholic parishes, searched for civil records (there seem to be none for that era.) Their son Miles or Edward was born in Springfield, Mass. in September 5, 1852, but I cannot locate his baptismal record either. Any enlightenment would be appreciated!
Thank you.
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Eldest son Miles - Per your notes - in a book, it suggest birth is in Springfield, Mass. - there is overwhelming evidence (at least a dozen) suggesting Illinois - and I could find no supporting evidence for the son's Mass. birth. This branch of your family was Roman Catholic and as noted, the child would have had a baptismal record as well. Boston Archdiocese records did not show anything. Nor did a search for M* (first name) with M*n (last name) in Springfield that would match young Miles. I would seriously question the accuracy of that book's "Springfield, MA" location - and the date of Sept 1852 also does not "fit" with the other sources.
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I have seen estimates that up to 30% of the vital records for Massachusetts were not recorded in the early years. So I think it's likely there is no marriage record that you will be able to find. I have several ancestors from Massachusetts where I wasn't able to find vital records for them either.
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Since @Jeniann Nielsen stated that so many of the vital records for Massachusetts were not recorded, this may not be useful, but I was going to suggest you try American Ancestors. Here's the web address:
https://www.americanancestors.org/index.aspx
If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it's a free partner site.
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Only some of the American Ancestors records are available as a partner site so you may want to contact AA directly for more help finding what you are looking for.
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Thanks for the impetus to reexamine all the sources, including some interviews and memoirs not attached to FS (due to lack of permission from authors). You're right, there was a son Miles Edward born in September, 1854 in Illinois, according to multiple sources. I was confused because his baptism in June 1855 did not list his name. Another boy, name unknown, was born late 1855-1856 also in Illinois and died in an accident at age 2. By studying the various records again, it is clear that they left from Massachusetts in spring 1854 without any children yet born; so back to the original question, where is their marriage record? It should between 1851-1853 in Springfield, more likely than in Boston. Thanks for your help.
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Yes, it says I need to upgrade to see the one possible record under 'Miles Munn". I already have the 1850 census that they also offered. They are quite pricey! Thanks anyway!
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if your family has searched for 50 years without finding it
then I imagine the probability is pretty high that it does not exist
(at least on an official records)
Im not implying they werent married - though that is another aspect.
but mainly just saying that there are records that have been lost or destroyed or mis indexed etc.
Everyone is different - -but if I hadnt found it by now - I would have moved on . . .
Some records will never be found - because plainly no extant record currently exists.
But that is not meant to mean that we dont do a good faith effort across a long period of time looking for it.
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Yes, Dennis, I believe they may not exist, especially the civil records are likely missing, but I have found many records recently that I have hunted for decades so I always hold out hope. I feel like their marriage records are in a Catholic parish record somewhere in Springfield, but I just do not know which parish! I have communicated with the Catholic parishes in the area, but I have been unable to get info on which Catholic parish was for the Irish in Springfield in 1850's. I will continue the hunt through the world-wide Catholic Directory.
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Yes my comments were mainly about the civil record.
other record types can remain hidden for years
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