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Ellen Nunan and Thomas Murray
It is hard to believe a document as sparse as the 1910 census can tell us almost everything we know about an individual. That is the case with Ellen Nunan, oldest daughter of Joseph and Mary Nunan.
From the 1910 census we know Ellen Nunan Murray was the head of the household at 204 Noe in San Francisco. The census says she arrived in the United States in 1870 at the age of 19. Her age is stated as 59 in April 1910 and her year of immigration as 1870. If we accept this information, her brother John Joseph was then 14 years old, and accompanied her from County Cork, Ireland. However, these ages do not agree with the information obtained from the Kinsale Parish records (see Joseph Nunan chapter). According to church records she would have been 24 years old in 1870 and her brother John 18. These ages seem much more likely.
Ellen was married five years after arriving in the United States to Thomas Murray and had five children, three surviving; Joseph born in 1876, John J. born in 1880 and Loretta born in 1885. In the census she is described as a widow having been married 35 years, but we do not know when her husband died or what his occupation was.
At the time of the 1910 census, all three of her children lived with her. Loretta is shown as Loretta Ayers, although her husband is not listed. We know Loretta was still married and not a widow; she is shown having two children but they were not living at the same address. Son Joseph is listed as single, his occupation is "moulder" working in a foundry, while son John J. appears to be divorced having been married for 9 years and works as a wagon driver.
Also living with Ellen Murray is her nephew, John Francis Nunan, and his wife Anita and baby son, Raymond. Her brother John Joseph also lives with her. It is clear that they all live together in her home since she is listed as the head of the household and the next such designation is at the next address. The census also tells us this was a rented home.
Helen Nunan remembered "Aunty" Murray but did not remember that she was her grandfather's sister Ellen. The last time Ellen Murray is listed in the City Directory was 1920 living at 132 Fillmore with her brother, John J. From 1924 to 1932 John J. continued to be listed at the Fillmore street address as does Joseph and John Murray.
The close relationship of Ellen and John J. Nunan and their emigration from Ireland followed a pattern common to the age and culture. After the 1849 famine Irish families changed their traditions of dividing property into small portions among all their children. Property was not automatically passed on to the oldest son. In heritance was determined by patents based on factors which included their choice of wife for a son and the dowry she would bring. Daughters with little or no chance of making a favorable marriage (which included the responsibility of the care of her husband's parents!) would often choose to emigrate. They often took jobs to earn the money for their passage.
There was a tradition of close relationships between brothers and sisters. An older sister would often work long and hard in America to send money home for passage for their siblings. Part of their wages always went home to help support the families left behind.
In the Nunan family, Ellen as the older sister, undoubtedly paid the passage for John Joseph. Their closeness lasted until the end of her life, 28 April 1925. She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, CA. Unfortunately, contact between the Nunan descendants and the Murrays seem to have been lost.