I spent another couple of hours at the Family history center today. One of the microfilms pertaining to Mary Murphy had arrived and I was anxious to view it. The contents of the film were part of the Hale Collection, compiled by Charles R. Hale, and filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949-1950 [1].
I know that there is a website for the Hale Collection here, but it does not have every cemetery listed. At least not yet.
I looked at all of the entries for Mary Murphy and found the one for the Mary who died on 23 Sept 1872 in “Connecticut.” It was a cemetery record and turned out to be the same entry for the other Mary who died the same day but was born on 8 July 1871. She was buried in Waterbury, Connecticut, about 30 miles from Hartford.
This certainly puts a damper on my hypothesis that Annie Carrigan’s mother died giving birth, but I‘m not willing to close the book on this Mary just yet: an error could have been made regarding the birth year in the inscription on the headstone, and it wouldn’t have been the first time that an error of this sort has ever occurred.
Still, I need to look at other possibilities. I will order the appropriate films to view the entries for Mary’s married surname: Carrigan. I will look at all Mary Carrigans/Corrigans/Kerrigans who died 1872 and forward, knowing, of course, that the Hale Collection is merely an index and by its definition is bound not to be a complete listing of all Marys.
I will also check for any Mary Murphys living in Waterbury, CT, in the 1870 U. S. Census.
Notes:
[1] Charles R. Hale, Hale Collection (Connecticut), FHL film 3,174.
