Where's Mae?

When I was a baby genealogist and Internet genealogy resources were limited, I blithely searched for the Conlon family, with little satisfaction.  I searched various sites using variations on spellings, but this family would not be found.

Mae Conlon Harrington (front)
Mary (Nana) Doyle Nunn
Enjoying Anna Maria Island
1963

Mae Conlon is my grandmother’s cousin. I found Mae, along with her three brothers, Edward, George, and Lawrence living with my grandmother's parents, the Doyles, in their Manhattan apartment, in 1920. I found the boys’ 1917 WW I draft cards. In 1910 Edward, George and Lawrence were living in the Orphan Asylum for Boys in Manhattan. Where was Mae? She was not listed with the Doyles. And I still could not find their parents.

My research philosophy is to look again. New information on established sites as well as new Internet sites is available every day, so it is imperative to go back and look again.

The Conlon brick wall had me stumped so I put it aside for quite some time. As Internet resources expanded and my research skills matured, I felt ready to tackle this family line again. I checked the 1910 census; no change there. But FamilySearch.org now has the 1905 New York census online and I don’t believe I had looked there previously for the Conlons.  And there they were on June 1, 1905 living in the Borough of Manhattan, 1505 Lexington Ave, New York City. The family consisted of: Edward Conlon age 31 making his living as an electrician; Mary Conlon age 31, Edward Conlon age 7, George Conlon age 6, May Conlon age 3, and Anna Conlon age 2.

As with most genealogy searches, new information leads to more questions. I had not known about Anna; I cannot find either Anna or Mae in 1910, and most of all, what tragedy befell this family so that the children ended up in an orphanage?