Patrick Owens and Mary Kent

I was clearing out my inbox this afternoon and discovered a message my brother-in-law sent a year ago with numerous attachments. I had looked at a couple of them, and found they were mostly forms or requests for vital records.

However, this afternoon, I discovered that one was a copy of the marriage certificate of Patrick Owens, Marty's grandfather, and Mary Kent. They were married in Manhattan on January 17, 1915. Patrick was a widower at age 39, and it was Mary's first marriage at age 33. Marty's dad said Patrick had had a wife and family in Ireland before he emigrated to the United States.

The marriage certificate names Patrick's parents, Timothy Owens and Bridget King, and says he was an "elevator man". Mary's parents are Martin Kent and Bridget Cotter. Martin Kent was the uncle of Eugene Kent, whom we visited in Ireland in 2006.