My great-great-grandmother Ellen McAuliffe lived a brief but consequential life. Born around 1844, probably in Ireland, she arrived in New York in 1857 and died in Brooklyn in 1875 at just 33 years old. Her death record provides no information about her parents, leaving a gap in our family history that I’m working to fill.
Through collaboration with my Australian DNA cousin B.H., I’m investigating whether Florence McAuliffe and Ellen Healy of Listowel Ireland were Ellen’s parents. The evidence includes DNA matches descending from this couple, Ancestry’s ThruLines algorithm suggestions, and a marriage record for Ellen’s proposed sister Catherine that names these parents.
While I cannot yet prove this connection, the combination of DNA evidence, geographic consistency, and documentary hints points toward the McAuliffe Healy Listowel Ireland family as Ellen’s likely origin.