Mary Anne McMahon was born a McEnhill and married John McMahon in 1903. Her parents were my great great grandparents – Hugh McEnhill and Catherine McGale. They had a son called Hugh – her brother – who was my great grandfather. And his daughter Norma married a McMahon called Felix – and they were my grandparents.

Mary Anne seems to have spent part of her early life in the United States – which might explain why she married very late for those times, in her 30s. Two of her brothers, Francis and William, emigrated to the US and stayed there. Francis became a lieutenant in the US cavalry and fought in Cuba and the Philippines.

Maybe things didn’t work out for Mary Anne in the US or she yearned for home. For whatever reason, it’s back in Ireland that she gets married and has children.