After I wrote my blog post last night about Mary Collis, daughter of Bridget Dolan, something occurred to me. How do I know that Mary Collis ever came to America?
Every thing I know about Mary Collis came from the refiled probate records for her Uncle, Patrick Dolan. I have part of that file in my binder under Patrick Dolan. The majority of the file is packed away somewhere in a yet to be located box from moving two years ago.
I am guessing that since I made no entry on your family group sheet for residency that it was not specified in the probate file. The file was very specific in some place and not so in others. For instance, there is testimony from a lawyer in Athlone, County Roscommon, Ireland, and a woman who lived near the Coyne cousin’s in Boston, MA. While the file contains the questioned asked, it doesn’t contain the answers given.
So now, I’m back at square one. I have Mary’s name, her mother’s name, and the fact that she was alive up until the probate was settled in 1915. That’s it.
How can you find a person if you aren’t even sure what country they lived in?
