Include Non-Related Second Marriages in Your Search by Keith Murphy
I have been looking for years to find the first Irish immigrant Murphy in my family. I could trace back to my great-grandfather Edward C. Murphy of Indianapolis. My dad, now 87, thought he was born in Ireland and spoke with a brogue, but could never verify the birthplace. My research led me to believe that it was likely that he was born in Indiana. Only one census record said he was born in Ireland, but that same census said his mother was born in Indiana!
I visited the county and state records in Indianapolis to find his birth date and place, hoping to dig further into his past, but to no avail. Before leaving Indianapolis on my fruitless quest, I thought I would check-in with the county marriage records. After my grandmother died, he married a Katherine Prendergast, whom I had little interest in, since she was not a blood relative. I had the book and page number or their wedding certificate, which I had found through Ancestry.com.
Down in a basement of a city building, there it was on microfilm! Not only did they have the marriage certificate, they had the application which contains much more information.
On the application he had listed James Murphy, born in Ireland, as his father! Eureka! (I gave the lady who helped me a tip.) I also learned that he was married to an Elizabeth Cloud of Noblesville, Indiana, and that my great-grandfather was born there.
It was one of those long-shots that I so frequently read about in your paper, but I thought it would never happen to this very amateur family sleuth.