I Found Martha!

I am using fake last names.

William John McDuff (Mc= Irish, Mac = Scot) was born in County Down, Northern Ireland, except it wasn't Northern Ireland at the time. Martha McClurg was also born in the same County, same year-1826.

William's father's name was William, so sometimes, William John used the name John McDuff as his signature.  So, when I put in William John McDuff, up popped Martha as his wife.  WRONG INFO put in by someone as confused as me, but didn't follow it through to the end.

To make matters more confusing, Martha McClurg married John McDuff, in the same County.

I had to go back to Martha's parents. to see where they lived and there I found her name.

There was information in an Ancestry.com member referring to Martha and John.  YAY.  I clicked on that family tree and---it was marked Private.  No way to access it.

Back then, Ireland was pretty much divided between Catholic and Protestant.  The McDuff's were Presbyterians.  Many genealogists don't want others to know if, way back then, their family was Catholic or Protestant.  Perhaps one of the members of the McClurg family had fought with the IRA and they wouldn't want that known to the public.

Anyway, sure enough, after a few years of marriage, Martha and John McDuff DID come to America, landing at the Boston, MA harbor.  That is why she and her husband are shown dying in MA and she being buried in Pine Grove cemetery in Whitinsville, MA.

The mystery of Martha solved.  She ain't my girl!

Okay then.  Who did William John McDuff really marry?  I found a hint of sorts.  A woman named Annie McClean.  Off on my hunt for her and her family.  I found her!  They lived in England.  Not impossible for William John McDuff and Annie to find each other and marry in Ireland.  I searched and searched and finally found an Irish census, just about the right time and there she was!  Married to a John William McDuff, and none of their children were in the tree I am researching.  Wrong guy.

So--poor William John McDuff.  I can find no wife for him, but I do know he had at least one child, because she is the direct ancestor to the people on the rest of the list.

"Only the facts, Ma'am".
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 My SS hit the checking account yesterday and I was going to go grocery shopping.  

I was not in the mood to go grocery shopping.  I was however, in the mood to go to Lowe's and look at more carpeting.  AHA.

Found a Stain Master that I really like with a sort of sale on and if I order it by May 11th, I get an upgrade to the best pad they sell.  This would be so comfortable under my feet that I probably will never wear anything but bare feet for the rest of my life.

Not only that, but--they will mail me, 4 foot square samples, free of charge, to give me a better (bigger) sense of the color.  I only requested 3 samples.  I think I like the one that is sort of grayish/greenish/bluish.  I will show them to you when I get the samples.

THEN--we can all decide together!!! :-)
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A kid from my hometown drew this picture.  It made me laugh out loud!  Some guy went into the Chase bank in Byron, (population 800), and passed a note demanding money.  Then he ran outside, got on a bike and rode away.  The County sheriff arrived an hour later, because that's how long it takes to get any law enforcement to Byron.  The kid drew the pix showing a John Deere tractor with police car lights ablaze chasing the robber.  

The reason this is so hysterical to me, it is so true of our little town.  The bank manager should have called the nearest farmer and they would have caught him just up the road.  He was found the next day in a town 30 miles east of Byron.

4-27-16.  "Never Forget"  The first bank robbery in Byron's history. LOL