Four years ago I wrote the following post, click here, regarding my great grandmother Mary Finnicane/Finnochan/Finnegan Crowley. I may be getting closer to finding her.
I found a record I believe may be her death record but there is just one little piece of information missing from the document that would identify her 100% as the correct person. And, that is her husband's name, Jeremiah Crowley. Here is the record. Mary Crowley is line 24.
I found a record I believe may be her death record but there is just one little piece of information missing from the document that would identify her 100% as the correct person. And, that is her husband's name, Jeremiah Crowley. Here is the record. Mary Crowley is line 24.
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Believe it or not Mary Crowley is a fairly common name in this part of the country at that particular time. The reason I think this record may be a match is that I know that Mary was living in Chelmsford on the 1880 census and she had a child born in 1882 in Chelmsford. The age of forty doesn't exactly match because she is listed as age 40 on the 1880 census. Her father's surname is almost a match ( I have seen her surname spelled with several variations), but I have never seen another document with her parents name listed before. The record also says that she was married. Why, oh why, then does it NOT list a spouse's name??? The 1900 census lists Jeremiah as a widower. So, I know his wife died before then. The surprise in this document is that her cause of death was abortion!! Was that a spontaneous abortion as in a miscarriage or did she try to abort a pregnancy later in her life?? I have searched for a obituary for this death record and found none and I have contacted cemeteries to find a burial record to no avail. Many family members are buried in St. Patrick's cemetery in Lowell, but she is NOT there. Can a woman who had an abortion be buried in a Catholic cemetery anyway?? Does anyone else have any other ideas on where to search? Would this be enough evidence for you?? Any helped would be appreciated.
Thanks