The O'Gradys (Mullingar or County Mayo)

Hello,

The FindaGrave attachment says that Mary Elizabeth was born in New York in 1840. Yet you note that she was born in Ireland. Perhaps you might comment on this?

What was the relationship of John O'Grady to Mary E.?

Can you provide the names of Mary E.'s children, in order? That might give us a clue to her parents' names.

Thank you!

Yes, it's confusing. Our records show that Mary Elizabeth O'Grady was from Mullingar and married Joseph Willis soon after arriving in Canada or the United States with her father or brother John O'grady.

Perhaps she merely arrived in New York in 1840? I don't have an answer to this. Our ancestry records end with John O'grady (father/brother), Mary Elizabeth O'Grady and her husband Joseph Willis.

Mary Elizabeth O'Grady and her husband Joseph Willis had nine(?) children: Mary Elizabeth, Solomon, Joseph, John, William, Margaret, and Sarah. The first John and Sarah died when they were babies, but Mary Elizabeth named two new babies John and Sarah as well.

Solomon Willis married Effie Belden and had 8 children. One of these children was my great grandfather Solomon Thomas Willis.

Solomon Thomas Willis married Ruth Lucille Turner and had four sons. One of these sons was my grandfather James Franklin Willis (1926), who passed away in 2019.

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/9WMR-S8F/solomon-thomas-willis-1902-1980

If anyone remained in Ireland or the UK, it would be nice to locate and reconnect with the Willis and O'Grady side of my family.

I looked at three censuses and some other records available for Mary Elizabeth, and they uniformly state that she was born in New York. But that her parents were born in Ireland. So it is her parents you should be looking for in Ireland. Do you know anything about them? Their names, ages? Have you found Mary in the 1850 U.S. census? She might have been living with her parents at that time. Also, her parents' names may be on her marriage record.

Good luck!