A young woman from California, with help from a few others, now has a very large family tree, which includes James and Ellen (Connor) Moran, their children, including Patrick, the main subject of the project, and his known siblings, and all of their descendants. The research now dates back to the early nineteenth century in Ireland. The information seems to fit together nicely, but proof is lacking in a number of areas and there are some conflicts to resolve.
When was Patrick born?
A U. S. Naturalization Index Card found on Ancestry.com, shows in Vol. 7 - 614, a Patrick Moran, of Spencer, MA, born Ireland, 15 Nov. 1943, was Naturalized Oct. 26, 1870 in Worcester Superior Court, Worcester, MA. Our Patrick Moran married, Catherine Waters in Spencer in 1869, and they were living in Spencer at the time of the 1870 census. From the information on that index card, we should be able to order a copy of Patrick's Naturalization records from NARA https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=Start&SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov, or from the Massachusetts Archives http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arccon.htm . The Naturalization records, may or may not, have the townland where he was born. Often, such records, will just say Ireland. Sponsors should be noted, and it will be interesting to discover who Patrick's sponsors were. My bet is that at least one of his brothers sponsored him.
The 1900 census entry says that he was born in Nov. 1847. The 1865 Massachusetts census in Ware, has a Patrick Moran, soldier, age 22 [b. abt 1843] enumerated in household of James and Ellen Moran. (We know that Patrick, was in military service until Nov. 1865, and that his parents were James and Ellen, and that he had sisters Mary, Eliza, and Johanna, and that the family had lived in Ware.) The above Naturalization Index card indicates a birth date of Nov. 1843, and we also have a transcribed church record for a birth or baptismal of a Patrick Moran, of Kilcooly, son of James and Ellen Connor, with March 1843 as the date.
Do all of these records pertain to the same Patrick Moran?
