I first learned of Emily when I was looking at my 2nd great-grandmother, Teresa's death certificate. It listed her parents as Patrick Devine and Emily O'Leary. I also had a copy of Teresa's baptismal certificate which listed her mother's maiden name as Sheridan. So, was Emily's last name O'Leary or Sheridan? I would be more inclined to believe it was Sheridan rather than O'Leary because that name on the baptismal certificate was supplied by Emily herself whereas the name on the death certificate was the informant who might not really know. I had two last names for Emily and needed to confirm the correct one. I contacted the church where she was baptized and ordered her certificate. I was surprised to see this one had Emily's last name listed as Sheldon. Both baptismal certificates I now had with names of Sheridan and Sheldon were handwritten/typed by someone in the office. I didn't want to bother the church again but I needed to know the correct name. The man I spoke with was very nice and made a photocopy of the page with the entry for Teresa's baptism. I can see the handwriting with the name Sheldon.
Emily J. Sheldon was born approx. 1846 in the beautiful Emerald Isle. I do not know what county in Ireland my 3rd great-grandmother was born. She immigrated to the United States in 1851 and by 1865 was married to Patrick and step-mother to his three children from his first wife. I traced Emily and her family through the years using census records. I believe this family fell off the face of the earth and were unavailable for the 1880 federal census. The 1890 census was destroyed by a fire but Emily resurfaced again in 1900 living as a divorced lady with her youngest son, 18 year old William. In 1905, Emily was living with her daughter, Emma and Emma's family according to the New York state census. The next census taken would have been in 1910 and I have no idea where Emily was.
I searched and stalked for years thinking I would never find Emily until one day I made a great discovery. I have made many great discoveries over the years, some that would have me doing back flips if I were acrobatic like that but my "favorite discovery", which is actually the topic for week 7 is finding Emily. I had a hint on Ancestry.com which was a Canadian death record for an Emily Devine who was born in Ireland near the year of birth for my Emily. At the time I only had the U.S. subscription so even though I was able to see that there was a hint, I was unable to actually view the record. I asked a friend who had the worldwide subscription to look up that record and email it to me.
I finally found Emily! I learned that she had been living in Ontario, Canada for the last ten years of her life. The last five were with her daughter, Emma and son-in-law, Simon. She died 12 March 1928 in Toronto, Ontario. So, if she moved to Canada in 1918 then where was she in 1910? I couldn't find her in the census. The informant on this death record was Emily's son-in-law, Simon and I guess he didn't know her parents names because that was left blank. I guess it would be a waste of time and money to order an actual death certificate. Emily was buried in Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery three days after her death.
Rest in Peace, Emily
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