Person:Mary Kennedy (84)

This page is incorrect, the maiden name not Kennedy. It may be Saunders, but that conclusion relies on an assumption that may not be true. I have been trying to reconstruct the proof for this page, which is very frustrating, as originally sources were non-existent, additional marriages not posted, and there was no commentary on the contradictory nature of the records that seem to justify this page.

The information on this page suggests it is based on a death record in 1882 line 11 for a Mary (Kenedy) Welch. The death record says the woman is age 73 which works out to a birth about 1809. Note also, the parents are listed as Thomas & Julia (Welch) [Kennedy?].

The 1850 census (line 5) gives the wife of Christopher Rhegan an age of 24 in 1850 so born in 1826. In 1860 (line 25) she is age 37, so born about 1823. Either way, this does not match the woman who died in 1882.

Christopher d. in the Civil War, no obvious death record is found for Mary Reagan, so somebody apparently presumed she remarried. Daughter Mary Ann Duggan's death record (note: informant is granddaughter b. 1871) gives the mother's maiden name as Mary Kennedy, so a clear assumption from there. But the 1909 marriage record of son Daniel here gives the mother's name as Mary Sanders. So it is not clear this assumption was valid.

So what happened to the children after their father Christopher died?

First oddity, Daniel Reagan's 1915 death record names his mother as Mary Welch.

Here they are living in 1865 (one year later) with their mother, Mary Ragan, widow, b. Ireland, age 35 so born about 1830 (lines 19-24). Edward is missing, add Elisabeth of the same age, and Vernon born since 1860 census.

Here they are in 1870 living with Daniel Welch and (wife? probably his mother) Mary, age 56, so born about 1814. Elisabeth is back to being Edward and Vernon has disappeared (apparently died in 1866 under the name Barnard).

Here is Mary Welch in 1880 (line 35), living with [daughter?] Mary Ann, restored to a youthful age 52, so born about 1828.

And here is the record of a 1869 marriage between Daniel Welch and Mary Saunders, age 36, so born about 1833. It is listed as her second [not third?] marriage and she has parents Edward & Mary.

Noting that the last marriage names Daniel Welch's mother as Mary, perhaps she is the one that died in 1882. A birth in 1809 would fit in well with Daniel's birth about 1840. So, assuming the above death record belongs to Daniel's mother, we search for another death more suitable to his wife, namely birth in Ireland mid to late 1820s with a father named Edward. We find a death record for Mary Welch, b. Ireland in 1827 with father Edward Saunders who died 16 Jan 1885 in North Adams.

This new death record appears to be the person who this page should represent. Based on age, and the children living with Daniel Welch in 1870, Mary appears to have married second under her maiden name in 1869. If not her maiden name, that would imply a second marriage of the widow to a Mr. Saunders and it should be called her third marriage. It not a widow, then it would be her first marriage. So either it is a Mary (Saunders) Saunders who married Daniel Welch, or it is Mary (Saunders) <assumed to be Reagan>. Daniel's mother appears to be living alone in 1880 (line 21) which combined with Mary living with her daughter suggests Daniel died between 1870 and 1880, but no record of this has been located.

But there is a small amount of uncertainty created by the 1870 census listing only Daniel's mother Mary Welch and not his new bride also named Mary Welch. Is this confusion by the census taker not realizing there were two distinct Mary Welchs in the household? Was Mary visiting somebody and so temporarily absent? Or were the children merely being watched by Daniel and his mother while Mary had married a different Mr. Welch, perhaps a relative of Daniel and his mother? Certainty is also complicated by the commonness of these names.