Grace Family, County Wexford
Hi, I've been researching family, but I think I've hit the wall, so to speak. I'm researching the Grace family of New Ross/Ballyanne, County Wexford (though I wouldn't be surprised if they came from Kilkenny). I'm descended from these folks. My great grandfather was Richard Grace, who was born 1840ish ... I'm not sure of the exact year. He was married to a woman named Ellen Dreelan ... or Dreeling ... or Dreelin ... or Drealin ... or Drealan ... her name has literally been spelled every possible variation on their children's birth records. She was born 1850ish, and appears to have died in 1879, 10 days after the birth of her son James. The Graces had 8 children; Michael (b. 1863), Richard (b. 1865), Bridget (b. 1867), Patrick (b. 1869, Margaret (b. 1871), Thomas (b. 1873), John (b. 1877), and James (b. 1879). I've found birth records for all the children. I've found that Richard Grace was a boatman and a laborer. I'm fairly sure that after Ellen died in 1879, Richard married again, to a widow named Ellen Leahy Murphy in 1880. The family immigrated to the United States in 1881, except for Richard Jr., who appears to have stayed behind, and passed away in 1886. The thing is, I can't go any further back. I haven't been able to figure out who Richard's parents were, as there seems to be a number of Richard Graces born around the same time and in the same region. If I'm correct and Richard married Ellen Murphy, their marriage certificate indicates his father's name was Michael, which seems plausible, providing that I'm correct that Richard did remarry ... on the passenger list in 1881, there is a wife listed, but the ink is badly smudged and the name is illegible ... though where Richard settled in the US (Pennsylvania), in the same town there was a woman named Ellen Grace who died in 1899 of the grippe (influenza), which I think is the right one. Given the records available, is Richard my stopping point, or is there a way to find out who his parents were, and if he had any siblings? Ellen Dreelan is also tough; I found a baptism from 1850 for someone named Ellen Dreelan, daughter of John Dreelan and Mary Walsh, from Ballinakill, Laois, Ireland ... though if she was born in 1850 and baptised soon after, then she was only 13 when her first child was born, which seems a bit unusual. I also have been unable to find any marriage record between Richard and Ellen. Again, I don't know how long the family has been in the New Ross area ... for all I know, it could have been recent and the family could have been from elsewhere. Can anyone give me any advice, insight, or suggestions about how to move forward with finding out more about the family in Ireland? Once they come to America I have almost all of them tracked down and their descendants tracked down, but I'd like to see if I can get farther back than just my great-grandparents.