Are Ellen Mulherin & Patrick McAndrew Siblings?

 

In my last post, I confided that I have been "waylaid by an unforeseen project in my McAndrew line." Patrick McAndrew (Abt. 1839 - 1892) and Ann Kelly (Abt. 1844-1925) are a set of second great-grandparents and another couple who lived in Scranton, Luzerne/Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, like so many of my paternal Irish ancestors.

Cousin Tom (of recent ChatGPT fame) frequently dangles connections in front of me like a carrot in front of a rabbit! I always bite! The current carrot? My uncle and I—descendants of Patrick McAndrew—share DNA with multiple matches who descend from Ellen McAndrew Mulherin. Are Ellen and Patrick siblings? We think so. 

Here are some of the connections we have uncovered so far between Ellen and Patrick in documentary research:

• Ellen McAndrew Mulherin and Patrick McAndrew named their children similarly, which may indicate a naming pattern honoring their shared ancestors or family members.¹ Same names are bolded below:
  

• Ellen named children, in order: Margaret, Dominick, Rose, Patrick, Mary Ann, Charles, Bridget, Catherine, and Teresa. She may have named her son Patrick after a brother of the same name.

• Patrick named children, in order, Ellen, Dominick, Margaret, Mary Ann, Catherine, Charles, Barbara, and Bridget. He may have named a daughter Ellen after a sister of the same name.
  

• Ellen Mulherin witnessed Patrick McAndrew’s 1892 will.²
  

  

  Ellen Mulherin signed by mark in witness of Patrick McAndrew's 1892 will.

  
  

• Dominic F. Mulherin renounced his right to be the executor of Patrick McAndrew’s 1892 will.³
  

   

  

  Dominic F. Mulherin, possibly Patrick McAndrew's nephew, renounced his appointment as one of Patrick's executors on 2 March 1893.

• Ellen “Mulhearn” was godmother to Patrick’s son Dominick.⁴

• Dominick and Marguerite “Mulhern” were godparents to Patrick’s daughter Barbara.⁵
  

• Patrick McAndrew was a godfather to two of Ellen’s children: Dominic and Teresa.⁶

• The Mulherin and McAndrew families lived near each other, first on Perry Avenue and later on Laurel Street in Scranton.⁷

  

  This 1898 Scranton map image shows properties owned by N. "Mulhearn," D. "Mulhaven," and P. McAndrews Est., possibly Neil Mulherin, Ellen's husband, Dominic Mulherin, her son, and the estate of Patrick McAndrew.

  
  

 

Two other McAndrew family members may have emerged as well: 

• A woman named Bridget McAndrew lived in the Patrick McAndrew household in 1870 and could be a sister, though relationships were not explicitly stated in that census.⁸
• Bridget McAndrew, age 81, is noted as the mother-in-law living in the Cornelius (Neil) and Ellen McAndrew Mulherin household in 1900.⁹
  
• Bridget McAndrew is named a “beloved sister” in Ellen Mulherin’s 1919 will. Ellen directed her executor to "provide a mass for the repose of the souls of my beloved son D.T. Mulherrin and my beloved sister Bridget McAndrew...¹⁰

I'm busy working on documenting parent/child links of each DNA match back to Ellen McAndrew Mulherin. So far it appears that each match shares the right amount of DNA and correct relationships with the two DNA testers to indicate a biological relationship between Ellen and Patrick.

 

If Ellen and Patrick are biological siblings, and the elder Bridget McAndrew is Ellen's mother as noted in 1900, then logically Bridget is also Patrick's mother. 

 

And if the elder Bridget McAndrew is the mother of Ellen and Patrick then logically she could also be the mother of Ellen's "beloved sister Bridget McAndrew."

 

There's much more work to be done, but it's an exciting start! More on this project as it develops.

 

Until next time... 

 

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2025. All rights reserved.

IMAGES

 

Paper doll chain, Clipart Library (https://clipart-library.com/clipart/2009784.htm).

 

Patrick McAndrew probate packet documents: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Orphan's Court, wills 1878-1994, No. 2680, Estate of Patrick McAndrew, filed 3 March 1893; imaged, Lackawanna Public Inquiries (https://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXRW_Views/RWH460D.aspx : accessed 27 May 2025); citing Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans Court, Scranton.

 

Atlas of Surveys of the City of Scranton & Borough of Dunmore, P.A. (Boston & Philadelphia: Graves & Steinbarger, 1898), plate 11; scans provided by Susan White Peiroth, Lackawanna GenWeb (https://www.lackawannapagenweb.com/maps/Scranton1898Atlas/maps2.html). Used with permission.

 

NOTES

All websites accessed 27 May 2025 unless otherwise noted.

 

¹ Nancy Gilbride Casey, public Gilbride/Casey Family Tree, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/34074975?cfpid=18580786356). 

² Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Orphan's Court, wills 1878-1994, No. 2680, Estate of Patrick McAndrew, filed 3 March 1893; imaged, Lackawanna Public Inquiries (https://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXRW_Views/RWH460D.aspx); citing Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans Court, Scranton.

 

³ Ibid.

 

⁴ B.S. Shuta, transcriber, Holy Rosary Church (Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Baptismal Register 1860-1887, p. 59, Dominic McAndrew, b. 11 Aug. 1867, bap. 22 Aug. 1867; transcribed from digital images, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

 

⁵ B.S. Shuta, transcriber, Holy Rosary Church (Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Baptismal Register 1860-1887, p. 186, Barbara McAndrew, b. 7 Sept. 1878, bap. 8 Sept. 1878; transcribed from digital images, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

 

⁶ B.S. Shuta, transcriber, St. Peter Cathedral (Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Baptismal Register 1855-1866, p. 324, Dominic Mulherin, b. 23 Jun. 1865, bap. 25 June 1865; transcribed from digital images, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Also, B.S. Shuta, transcriber, Holy Rosary Church (Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Baptismal Register 1860-1887, p. 145, Teresa Mulherin, b. 2 July 1881, bap. 3 July 1881; transcribed from digital images, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

 

⁷ Nancy Gilbride Casey, Scranton Area Residences Gilbride & McAndrew, report, last updated 21 May 2025, privately held by author, Tioga, Texas, 2025.

 

⁸ 1870 U.S. Census, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Scranton, 3rd Ward, p. 35, dwelling 249, family 250, Bridget McAndrew in Patrick McAndrew household; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/4998924).

 

⁹ 1900 U.S. Census, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Scranton,  Enumeration District (ED) 53, sheet 11B, Bridget McAndrew in Neal Mulherin household; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4115106_00232).

 

¹⁰  Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Orphan's Court, Estate 1208, Ellen Muherrin, 1920, will, dated 3 March 1919; imaged, Lackawanna Public Inquiries (https://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXRW_Views/RWH460D.aspx : accessed 8 May 2025); citing Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans Court, Scranton.