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Hi,

The father's name was George and he was born in Ireland. That is all we know about him.

We know nothing about the mother - but the first daughter of Alexander and his wife was called Sarah - his wife's mother was not called Sarah - so we think that might have been Alexander's mother's name. Hence why the above census record is of interest as the mother is called Sally - which I have read was a nickname for Sarah in Ireland.

Thanks for your interest - any assistance you can provide would be appreciated.

Kgarrad and heywood, thank you both very much for this information.

Most of this definitely makes sense.

We have no information on Edward's parents (other than he was born in Ireland (no location known), so presumably his parents were also in Ireland). The only information we have on Bedelia's parents is based on her New Zealand death certificate:

Bedelia Margaret McNulty (born Roscommon about 1830):
- father Edward John McNulty (occupation Land Surveyor)
- mother Margaret McNulty (nee Green)

We know that Edward had 3 children (2 definitely with Bedelia - the first one we thought might have been with a different wife as James' was born about 5 years before Edward and Bedelia got married, so this fits exactly with the census information above).
- James, born in England (no location known) about 1846.
- John Thomas (known as Thomas), born in Yorkshire, about 1854.
- Edward Joseph, born in Manchester, about 1857.

Based on what I've learnt recently, I did a search on Free BMD and have found:
- a James McNulty born in Leeds in 1846.
- a Thomas McNulty born in Leeds in 1853.

All very exciting information. I guess I need to order some certificates now.

Any other suggestions regarding the marriage or other places to look are appreciated.

Thanks again for your help.

We are trying to find any record of the marriage of Edward McNulty and Bedelia Margaret McNulty about 1850.

Their death certificates in New Zealand are contradictory - one says they were married in Leeds (about 1850) and the other says Manchester (without a date specified).

We have tried searching on Free BMD but the closest we could find was an Edward McNulty and Bridget McNulty marrying in Leeds in 1851.

We have also thought of census records, but we are unsure if they were in the UK in 1851 (marriage is "about 1850") or 1861 (we know they were in New Zealand in 1865 but we don't know when they left the UK, although we understand a son Edward Joseph was born in Manchester in 1857 (we can't any record of this either)). Both Edward senior and Bedelia were born in Ireland.

Having tracked our ancestors back in New Zealand, this is our first attempt at tracing them back to the UK, so apologies if we've missed something obvious.

We're not really sure what to try next and any suggestions would be appreciated.