There are many notices in the papers that James Connaughton was the Executor of the will for Michael Foley who died in Baltimore in 1871. Michael Foley's wife was named Mary according to some of the estate notices. I had assumed that James Connaughton had married Michael's widow after James' first wife died. Unfortunately, I could not find any census data for Michael or Mary to confirm this. Also, many of the details on the Maryland State Archives marriage index cards were not completed. I did know from the 1880 census, however, that James' new wife was supposedly born about 1858 in Maryland.
Again, Michael's census data did not seem to be indexed in the Ancestry.com database and searches for him turned up no results. Newspapers.com didn't help much either although Michael Foley's name is found many times. All I knew for sure about him was that he was in the liquor business, occasionally had trouble with the law and died between mid-December 1870 and mid-December 1871.
A clue to solve this mystery came several years later though. I found a 13 Aug 1882 death notice in the papers for Annie Foley, "daughter of Michael and Mary Foley". When I searched Ancestry for Annie to see if she was related to "our Mary Foley", I thought I disproved the theory that James married Michael's widow. I not only found Annie's 1880 census report but that also linked to her 1870 and 1860 census, showing her parents. Her father, Michael, died sometime between the 1870 and 1880 census years and was in the liquor business. It looked pretty likely that I found the right family. Michael's widow, Mary Foley, appears to have been born around 1835 in Ireland though, rather than the 1858 in Maryland. Also, Mary Foley was still listed as a widow in the 1880 census and obviously did not marry James in 1877.
In summary, James Connaughton did not marry Michael Foley's widow.
That's it. Case closed. At least, I thought so.
As I looked at the Foley census data, something else struck me. Michael and Mary Foley had other children, in addition to the Annie that I had stumbled upon. They also had a daughter named Mary. Born in 1858. Born in Maryland. Hmmmm….
Some of the documentation
