General Notes

Terrance May wrote:
By the way, you might have already caught this error, but TIMOTHY MAY (AFN: 1NJ9-BD), born 1775, was married to ELLEN BRIERLY, not ELLEN TOBIN (AFN: 1NJ9-C6), born about 1805, as is shown on the ancestral file maintained by the LDS Church's Family History Library.

I came across this error 10 years ago when I was reviewing microfilmed Canadian census and church records in Salt Lake City in order to corroborate and/or add to the ancestral file information.

The 1851 Ontario, Canada census shows a Timothy May, age 24, living with a Timothy May, 72, and Ellen Brierly, 60.  The younger Timothy is my 2nd Great Grandfather Timothy Franklin May (1826-1912); Timothy MAY and Ellen BRIERLY are his parents.  Based on their ages at the time of the census, Timothy and Ellen were likely born in 1779 and 1791, respectively.

Next, in the records of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Douro, Peterborough, Ontario I found the following entry:  On January 16, 1853, Timothy F. May (son of Tim May and Ellen Brierly) was married to Ellen Mahoney (daughter of William Mahoney and Mary Tobin).

Both sources clearly establish that the elder Timothy May's wife was named Ellen BRIERLY not TOBIN.  So, the Ellen TOBIN, daughter to Thomas TOBIN and Jane CLIFFORD may have lived, but she was not Timothy's wife.

The reason for the apparent mix-up of BRIERLY and TOBIN appears to be that TOBIN is the mother's maiden name reported on Timothy F. May's death certificate in 1912.  There is a TOBIN in the family, but it is Mary TOBIN, and she is the mother of Timothy's wife Ellen who predeceased him in 1883.  The information provided on Timothy's death certificate, which was provided by my Great Grandfather John May, is in error.