Hello! I'm brand new to Wikitree.
I want to learn more about my mother's maternal grandmother, Mary (Barrett) Sheehan. Census records say that she was born in Pennsylvania in 1874 or 1877. She moved as a young adult to New York City, to work as a seamstress for Bloomingdale's. There, she married James Sheehan, was widowed young, and raised two children (Clara Marguerite and Bartholemew Sheehan). While her children were young, she worked as a cook for a wealthy family named Gilsey. When Clara died in childbirth, Mary raised Clara's children (Janet Leahan Radmore and Rhoda Leahan Diehl). She died in New York in 1953.
I would like to know who Mary Barrett's parents were, and what became of them. My mother had the impression that Mary and a sister, Anna, were "farmed out" to relatives. Mary grew up in the Girardville/Connerton area of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and Anna may have grown up in West Virginia, and visited New York several times. Based on some other patched-together evidence from obituaries, I believe the family in Girardville that raised Mary was named Conry or Conroy, with a daughter of about the same age named Rose (married name McDonald). The Conrys were probably cousins.
Mary Barrett's marriage certificate indicates that her parents were Peter Burritt and Margaret Willis, both born in Ireland. I have searched for Margaret Willis and Margaret Conroy connected to a Peter Barrett or Burritt, without success.
I feel like I've hit a lot of dead in this search, including trying to find out anything at all about Mary's sister Anna, despite the fact that 5 of Mary's grandchildren are still living--apparently she never told any of them anything about her life. I hope that people with more experience and expertise will be able to put together some of the missing pieces.
Thank you for reading this, and please excuse any newbie mistakes I have made.
