My Year In Genealogy/ More time at home online

More time at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant more hours online researching my family history. Spending more time researching produced some great results. Information I've been looking for for years surfaced online. I discovered that Granada, Nicaragua church and civil registration records were now online; something I never expected would happen. I visited Granada, Nicaragua and wasn't able to get access to the records. I've written to my family's parish church and  civil registration offices requesting copies of documents but never received anything back. Seeing the records myself I understand why my family couldn't be identified, the surnames and sometimes first names were different because of illegitimacy and the use of middle names. Accessing these records was a highlight of my year. Another highlight was seeing more family photos online and some given to me by family. Newspapers added stories to go with names I've collected. Being able to search Irish Deeds online was another highlight. 

My month by month progress in 2020:

January: I began the year by reviewing the past decade genealogy wise in a blog post.

February I spent time reviewing Burgenland, Austria church records. I was able to add a few names to add to my Burgenland family lines. I also watched the live streams from Rootstech.

March was spent researching record groups I learned about at Rootstech. I also took a look at the 23andMe DNA family tree I learned more about from a Rootstech presentation.

I also learned about the new photo colorization feature from a Rootstech presentation. As the lockdown began here in California photo colorizing provided me with something to do during this period in March. 

With so much time at home I was able to catch up on some genealogy videos I had missed. Listening to the 2019 Rootstech London presentation  "A Strategic Approach to Irish Genealogy" , by Maurice Gleason I discovered that Irish deed books were online at Familysearch. I was really excited about the ability to search these online and get copies of my family deeds. 

April: I continued my Burgenland church books research. I was also able to build an expanded DNA segment map by comparing segments with a first cousin once removed. Her segments greatly expanded by DNA map for my Grandfather Rudolph Kapple's line. Below is a map of segments I received from my Paternal grandparents. I was very happy to make some progress this year filling in this map. 

 May: Still staying home I continued to read through the Burgenland, Austria church books:

June: I'm the administrator of the Forgey/Forgy & Forgie DNA project. One goal of this group was to confirm whether everyone carrying this uncommon name was related. In June we learned that all Forgeys are at least not closely related within the last few hundred years. A new Y tester matched another Forgy outside our most common Y DNA haplogroup. The most common haplogroup among the early testers was I-M223. A male with the surname Forgy later tested in the R-M269 haplogroup. It was impossible to say whether there was a recent break in this man's line or there was a second unrelated Forgy line? Another Forgey joined our group this year and match the man who previously tested. They appear to be distantly related confirming a different line came to this country and may have come by the surname Forgey/Forgy by a different route. It was very nice to make some progress in this group. 

Another huge breakthrough in June, and for the year that matter, was discovering the Granada, Nicaragua church and civil registration records were online at FamilySearch.org. I was able to find copies of my Grandmother Graciela Del Castillo's church and civil registration records. Records for her parents, Grandparents, Great-grandparents and siblings. I also found a diary written by a friend of my Del Castillo family in Nicaragua. I compiled all of the information into a book I posted on Archive.org.

July: In July I received a copy of a Certificate File I ordered. I've ordered a couple of these files in the past 2 years. I've been ordering them for the photos on the certificate. Sometimes you can find these photos free online with naturalization documents. Unfortunately the online records for my family didn't contain a photo. Someone shared a number of unmarked photos with me and these certificate photos have helped with my photo identification. I received the file for my Great-Aunt in July and was able to compare her with unidentified photos. I was able to ID her in a couple photos using photo comparison software. 

I was able to find photos of distant relatives on naturalization documents online. 

August: A photo of a Great-Uncle surfaced in August. When I signed into my Familysearch account a photo suggestion came up. It was supposed to be of my Great-Uncle William Kappel who was killed in Germany during WWII. He was killed pursuing a sniper at the end of the war. I had never seen a photo of him. The source of the photo wasn't listed but it looked like it came from a Newspaper. I was eventually able to track it down to a Chicago paper. There was a small obituary included. That was a great find this year! 

I found the newspaper at the online site Newspapers.com. I hadn't searched there in a few years and didn't realize the Mattoon, Illinois newspapers were now available there. This led to many mentions of my family in the local Mattoon papers. These bits of information have provided me with stories and other information supporting the Mason/Owens lineage. I can't stress enough how enormously helpful the newspaper information was.  

More information from the newspapers led to more photo finds at Ancestry.com. With time on my hands I was able to add more family photos to my own tree. 

September: I ordered a copy of my Great-Great Aunt Bridget "Sister Mary Kathleen" Mullen's Alien file. I was curious whether she ever became a US citizen? She had been in the United States for decades before she registered as an alien in the 1940's. I was also wondering if she mentioned any other siblings on one of the alien forms. I knew my Great-Grandmother came to America of course. I didn't know if any other siblings did? I had noticed according to a WWI draft registration card a Thomas Mullen gave the name and address of my Great-Grandmother. I thought this might be her brother but couldn't confirm it because the card didn't state their relationship? The alien card did answer the question as to whether Sister Mary Kathleen became a citizen. She became a citizen in the 1950's. It didn't list any other relatives, however, other than her parents. 

An Aunt also sent me family photos in September of my Mother Edna Forgey-Kapple's family. I loved seeing photos of my mother as a young woman and child. It's also nice to see more photos of my grandparents, and my mother's siblings. There seems to be much more photo sharing due to the lockdowns because people have time to digitize the photos and upload them. 

October: I continued researching Newspapers for any family information. I found a story about a Great-Great Aunt Julia Kurta-Deutsch who was nearly murdered by her husband. That was a shocking find. I shared this information in my Halloween blog post. 

November: I decided to push to confirm my Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen's brother also came to America. I knew he was living in Chicago, Illinois when he registered for the draft during WWI. I lost track of him after that. I did see someone matching his description in Arizona in US Census records. Newspapers came to the rescue again. I found an obituary for the Thomas Mullen I was interested in. It mentioned my Great-Uncle Edwin Mason who lived in El Monte at the time of his Uncle's death, and his sister Sr. Mary Kathleen Mullen. That was a great find. 

December: I upgraded a paternal Aunt's DNA test to include mtDNA at Family Tree DNA. Her maternal line is Irish. I was quite surprised when her haplogroup, U5a1a2, turned out to be most common in Finland. Researching the haplogroup its origins appear to have been in the area which is now Ukraine and it spread across Europe during the bronze age. It appears that these bronze age migrants contributed substantially to the genetics of the people of the British Isles and Ireland. So surprisingly the Irish may not be substantially Celtic as once believed.  

I've collected up the Y and mtDNA haplogroups for my ancestors and used DNA Painter to record them on a pedigree chart. 

This year I discovered my paternal grandmother had a half-brother I never heard about. Sadly he had run-ins with the law. I discovered mug-books online at Ancestry.com and was able to get his mug-shot so now I know what this black sheep looked like. 

December was also the month when MyHeritage rolled out a new DNA feature called Genetic Groups. The areas included are accurate for me, but Ireland isn't included in my groups. 

As I stated before I uploaded my Del Castillo family history to Archive.org. I also made some corrections to my Owens Family history and uploaded the book again. I copied blog pages as pdfs and merged them into a single pdf and uploaded it to the same site. 

My goals for 2021

1. I'm carrying over a goal I've had for years now which entails finding a Browning male in my line to DNA test. 
2. Breaking down my Campbell brickwall is something I've been working on for years now. I'm thinking mtDNA testing may help if I can find the right person. 
3. I would like deed records for my Burgenland ancestors. 
4. I'm always looking for more photos. As you can see below there are still photos I lack. 

Staying home had some positive aspects. Putting even more hours than usual into researching my family paid off. The results of my research have been rewarding. The old photos, that are new to me, and the stories I've unearthed have enriched my life. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and success in finding what you're looking for in 2021! 

 

 

Correcting My Previous Blog Post on Irish mtDNA Haplogroup U5/ And some additional information

Beakers National Museum of Archaeology Dublin. 2019 Trip 

Corrections to my previous blog post about my Aunt's mtDNA Haplogroup U5 or as the author of the The Seven Daughters of Eve would put it Ursula Clan. I had put forward the theory that maybe our Irish maternal line came during the Viking era because this haplogroup is most prevalent in Finland. It may have been there long before the Vikings arrived. It likely came to  Ireland many times through invasions and migrations over the centuries. . 

The Ice Age scattered the haplogroups as humans moved south out of ice covered regions. 

Invasions replaced entire populations, and the decimation of populations through disease would result in a change in the makeup of certain areas bringing in new haplogroups  to the area. Subclades of the introduced haplogroups would form due to mutations. 

U5 was in Ireland very early. It likely came in with the first waves of settlement in Ireland after the Ice Age. 

Here is a list of migrations and invasions into Ireland (likely U5 carriers came in on every wave). 

1. "The Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions were profound cultural shifts catalyzed in parts of Europe by migrations, first of early farmers from the Near East and then Bronze Age herders from the Pontic Steppe." ... "The oldest Gaelic literature describes the origins of the Irish people as a series of ancient invasions." (From PNAS January 12, 2016 113 (2) 368-373; first published December 28, 2015; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518445113)
2. The first Viking Raids began in Ireland in AD 795. 
3. The Norman invasions began in AD 1169.
4. The Ulster plantation began around AD 1609.

The earliest U5 haplogroups found in Ireland date back to a little over 5,000 years ago. You can see a list of these in Roberta Estes blog post  "Ancient Ireland’s Y and Mitochondrial DNA – Do You Match???".

Our family is particularly interested the subhaplogroup U5a1a2a which may have originated around 2,500 years ago or less. 

Here are the earliest instances or our haplogroup:  

1. U5a1a2a: 4050-3650 years ago (older than some estimates?). A similar mitosubclade U5a1 previously had some women belonging to the Baden culture." (Proceedings of the Academy of DNA Genealogy Boston-Moscow-Tsukuba Volume 13, No. 2 February 2020)
2. Ua1a2a Neolithic Germany, Benzingerode-Heimburg Sex F. Age BC 2287 -2041 Beaker?
3. Ua1a2a Bronze Age (Beaker Culture) Great Britain, Hasting Hill, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England Sex M. Age BC 1930 -1759
4. Ua1a2a 900 AD Female Norland, Norway
5. Ua1a2a 1000 AD Female Demark

Looking at the evidence so far it looks like Beaker Culture people may have spread our subhaplogroup around Western and Northern Europe before the common era. Beaker people were likely Yamnaya people who migrated from what is now Ukraine. After the common era Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and Normans likely spread this subhaplogroup. 

More about the Beaker people from the publication Nature: "However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries."(The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe). 

Around 2,000 BC we know that the exact subhaplogroup of your maternal direct line was in the locations with pins on this map in what is today Germany and the UK. 

The subhaplogroup Ua1a2a may  may also have already been in Ireland round 2,000 BC brought by Bronze age Beaker people? "Beakers arrived in Ireland around 2500 BC and fell out of use around 1700 BC." Wikipedia  "Bell Beaker culture".

From Beaker folk burials Ireland. National Museum of Archaeology Dublin. 2019 Trip 

Maybe some day it will be possible to identify which wave of migration each subhaplogroup is from? It would be nice to know when our direct maternal line ancestor first arrived on a beautiful shore in Ireland. They just need to keep digging up those Bronze Age skeletons. 

A couple few more photos Bronze Age from National Museum of Archaeology Dublin

Bronze Age Canoe from my ancestral area in Addergoole, Galway

Our Irish mtDNA Result/Collecting Haplogroups at 23andMe

 

I upgraded my Aunt Loretta's Family Finder test at Family Tree DNA to include a full sequence mtDNA test. I received the results of her test yesterday which was just short of 5 weeks from the time they began processing her kit.

The main outcome of the test was learning what my Aunt's mtDNA haplogroup is. It's U5a1a2a. Haplogroups can be specific to certain areas. The U5 haplogroup is widespread in Europe, but thankfully not as common as the H haplogroups. U5 is found in low frequencies throughout Europe. 

You can watch a video about her results at this link: https://www.familytreedna.com/mtdna-journey-videos/5fd3f3cac9e77c0001d6bf09

One of the things I hoped to accomplish with this test was to find some matches from the area my Mullen/Huvane family came from in Ireland. Sadly because of record losses in Ireland it's very difficult to trace families back beyond a few generations. I was hoping that my Aunt might have some matches from the area where her maternal Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason was born.

My Aunt does have matches who have have identified their maternal direct line as Irish, but they are not from my familys area. It's very likely that few women with roots from south Co. Mayo have tested.

The map feature at Family Tree DNA is very helpful for sorting matches out because I'm looking for matches from the area my family lived.

This map shows full sequence matches who have identified a place in Ireland where their direct maternal line traces back to. The yellow pins show where 2 step mismatches' ancestors are said to be from. My Aunt doesn't match anyone closer than 2 steps. Our common shared ancestor could have lived over 1,000 years ago. Since I don't recognized any of the surnames of places that is possible. Three step mismatches are green pins. Those could be even farther back in time.



The matches closest to the area the Huvane/Rhatighan family lived would be those with a perfect match on HVR1 only, they have ancestors from Co. Galway. The Huvane family lived on the border between Co. Galway and Co. Mayo.

More on the Haplogroup

According to Eupedia my Aunt's haplogroup can be found in the following countries:

"U5a1a2: found in England, Scandinavia, Central Europe and Turkey / found in Bell Beaker Germany, in the Unetice culture, in EBA England, in MBA Wales, and in Bronze Age Poland.

Since my Aunt and I tend to get Scandinavian atDNA predictions it could be that her direct female line goes back to the Viking invasions since her haplogroup appears to stem from Finland?

Here is a heat map from Eupedia showing the distribution of the U5 haplogroup. The darker colors show the highest concentrations of this haplogroup. I'm leaning toward thinking there is a Scandinavian Viking link somewhere?

Here is an illustration of my Grandmother's mtDNA U5a1a2 line of descent:

Cousin matches 23andMe Haplogroups

I've looked at my 23andme close cousin matches and collected their haplogroups. A first cousin once removed has tested at 23andMe. Her haplogroup HV6 is very interesting because the highest concentration of this haplogroup is in Eastern Europe. This match's maternal Grandmother was Mary Kurta-Kappel, she was my Great-Grandmother. Mary was born in what is now the eastern border area of Austria; in what is now Inzenhof, Burgenland, Austria. This area used to be in Hungary. 

Eupedia lists the following countries where this haplogroup can be found:

HV6 : found in Iran, Russia, Slovakia and Britain / found in Bronze Age Poland and among the Tian Shan Huns.

I've had Slovakian predicted as one of my admixtures on the atDNA test. There were Huns in Hungary so that could be another possible source?

Below is a heat map showing the distribution of the HV6 haplogroup:

Here is an illustration of my paternal Great-Grandmother Mary Kurta-Kappel's direct maternal line:

Mary Kurta-Kappel's haplogroup is very useful because it narrows her maternal origins to continental Europe, and leads to eastern Europe. Unlike a haplogroup such as H1 thru H3 which are found all over Europe, and the British Isles, this haplogroup is found in fewer places. I didn't know where this line came from this would be a good hint.

K2a2a Haplogroup 

Another interesting haplogroup from a 23andme match is K2a2a. This match is a second cousin and is a direct maternal line descendant of my Great-Grandmother Isis Browning-Forgey. This maternal line of my family shares the K2 haplogroup with Thomas Jefferson.

The K2a haplogroup is common among Ashkenazi Jews. My my Great-Grandmother's direct maternal line likely goes back to Germany. It is possible she had Ashkenazi ancestors? 

This is what Eupedia says about the mtDNA haplogroup  K2a2a:

"Ashkenazi Jews are the ethnic groups with the highest percentage of K lineages today : 32% in average, and up to 50% among Ashkenazi Jews from Germany. There are only three typically Jewish subclades of K: K1a1b1a, K1a9, and K2a2a." 

Here is an illustration of my Great-Grandmother Isis Browning's maternal direct line:

My mother's atDNA admixture predictions sometimes show trace Ashkenazi Jewish. It is possible we had some Jewish ancestry in our German lines. 

Concluding Thoughts

So far our mtDNA haplogroups have been the most informative pointing to possible areas of origin of our direct maternal lines. As far as my Aunt's full sequence mtDNA test we need closer matches in order to use the test to confirm our paper trail and extend our tree. I think the mtDNA test results are interesting and recommend testing if you're interested in delving deeper into your family history. 

My collected haplogroups recorded at DNA Painter:

Family History Related Stocking Stuffers/ Plus Personalized Greeting Cards from the 50's

 Stocking Stuffers

I love family photos so I love to find unique ways to display them. I hate to hide old photos away in albums which I only occasionally take out and look at. There are many interesting products which photos can be printed on ranging from coffee mugs to photo blankets (now you can even buy photo masks). I generally use Snapfish or Shutterfly. I also sometimes order from my local drugstores. 

Since I'm in the process of downsizing photos magnets have caught my interest. I first discovered them a couple months ago when I had some old photos enlarged and received an offer for 4x6 magnets. I decided to print one with a photo of a house my Forgey family lived in during the 1930's. It came out so well I decided this is the way to go in the future because framed photos take up so much space and buying frames can be expensive. The magnets make great stocking stuffer gifts. The magnets are space savers and neater than taping photos or using a magnet to display them on the refrigerator because they tend to warp over time and can't be easily cleaned. The full magnet backing makes them more durable and less likely to shift as you open and close the doors. 

These magnet on my refrigerator are of a photo chart I made with photos of my parents and ancestors, and my Forgey family's house in 1930's Glendale, California. I ordered them from a local CVS Drug Store. The size is 4x6. That size is the largest I've seen online. I would have liked the chart a little bigger so the smallest photos are a bit larger. I used the DIY Picture Pedigree Chart template from Family Locket for the chart below. 

If you want to make larger magnets you can order larger sheets with adhesive on them. A 12x24 sheet is for sale at Amazon. You cut it up to fit any size photos you have and stick the photos on. 

Potholders are also nice photo gifts. You can have a family tree printed on them with or without photos. 

Water bottles are another way you can share family history with your family. 

Personalized Greeting Cards from the 1950's

I was surprised when an Aunt sent me some photo Christmas cards my Grandparents received in the 1950's from friends. I didn't know they had those in the 1950's? 

Lawrence Holman pictured in this one below was a neighbor of my Forgey family in the 1930's in Glendale, California. An interesting fact about him is he debated Richard Nixon when they were college students and he beat him in the debate. He became a Nazarene Minister and his church is pictured on this card. Even though my Grandfather Forgey was a non believer, and my Grandmother Graciela was Catholic, they remained friends even after they were no longer neighbors.  

Chester and Belle Powell sent my Grandparents this card in 1950. They lived not far from my family in El Monte, California and they also lived in Glendale, California in the 1930's. 

This hand drawn card is a work of art. This one was sent to my Uncle Cecil in the 1950's I believe? Merry Christmas is written in Greek, apparently from Greek friends. My Uncle spent time in Greece while he was in the Navy. 

Uncle Cecil Forgey looking tanned and good in Greece. 

Happy Holidays! 

Did My Great-Great Uncle Thomas Mullen Come To America? Clearing up conflicting information

I began researching my Irish roots around the year 2000. I ordered microfilms of Irish records from the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City to view church records and census records at my local Family History Center. Now many of these records can be found online at several websites.

My Great-Great-Uncle Thomas Mullen appeared on the 1901 Census in his parents Patrick and Mary Mullen's household. In 1911 he wasn't listed in that household and I couldn't spot him in another household. 

 

That made me suspicious early on that he may have come to America. Michael Mullen being the eldest son meant he would have been the heir to the family land in Pollaturick, Co. Galway, Ireland. Thomas would have had to make his own way in Ireland or migrate to another country with more opportunities. 

I searched the US passenger lists for a Thomas coming from the same area and around the same age as our Thomas. Pollaturick was the townland in Co. Galway my family came from. That being a very small, and difficult to spell, place name those who migrated from there instead gave the name of the nearest town as the place where they came from. Milltown was the nearest town to Pollaturick . 

Here we find a Thomas listed on the Ellis Island passenger lists from Milltown. This Thomas arrived in America in 1910 before the 1911 Census for Ireland.  He was also headed to Chicago where my Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason lived.  

Instead of listing his sister Helen , my Great-Grandmother, as the sister he is going to join he names Delia Mullen of Wells Street in Chicago. Delia is a nickname for Bridget. I knew my Great-Grandmother's sister Bridget came to America where she became a BVM Nun. 

The problem with this is Thomas said his father's name was Michael not Patrick. Thomas did have an Uncle named Michael who lived on the same plot of land as his parents. The land was inherited by his Uncle and Father.

I noticed a James Mullen from Milltown came on the same ship with Thomas. James was also coming from Milltown and headed for Chicago. This James also said his father's name was Michael, but he was coming to join his brother Patrick, not his sister Delia, at the same address as Thomas 421 Wells St, Chicago Illinois. This address appears to have been the location of a bar where family members seemed to have stayed until they married or found work. Apparently Patrick and Michael Mullen had a sister who married a Jennings. Members of the Jennings family ran a bar in Chicago where family members rejoin family after migrating. 

All of this information is helpful but doesn't prove anything. Mistakes were often made on documents. I needed to verify that Michael Mullen had children named Delia and Thomas. We know that Patrick and Mary had a daughter named Bridget and a son named Thomas from civil registration records and census records. 

Did Michael and Mary Mullen have children named Delia and Thomas? I wasn't able to find children by these names for this couple. It does appear, looking at the censuses, they did have a son James who isn't listed in Pollaturick in 1911, so that seems to support the fact he was the James on the passenger list with Thomas in 1910. Patrick, who was also on the 1901 census, is also missing from the 1911 census suggesting he was the brother James said he was going to join in Chicago. 

The fact that I had not been able to find a Thomas and Delia doesn't prove that was he actually was the son of Patrick and Mary Mullen but does suggest he was more than likely their son.  A mistake was likely made on the 1910 passenger list. 

My research on Thomas stood there until recently. My Uncle Ted and cousin Judy shared some photos with me, one of which included Helen Mullen-Mason and her sister Bridget aka Delia, aka Sister Mary Kathleen, and an unknown man.

 

I wondered if the unknown man could have been Thomas their brother?

I decided to try to confirm that Thomas came to this country and search for any photos of him posted online. 

I found a WWI Draft Card for him at Ancestry.com which also suggested that Thomas had indeed come to America and settled in Chicago. He gave the name and address of my Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason, Mrs. Fred Mason, which was the strongest proof yet of a link to my family. I felt confident that Thomas came to this country after seeing this but wanted a document stating who his parents were and an identified photo of him to compare with. 

The draft card provided a physical description of Thomas Mullen. He is described as tall with black hair, and gray eyes. The 1910 Passenger list for Thomas Mullen said he was 5'10 and had brown eyes and black hair. I found that eye color can be interpreted in many ways especially if someone had hazel eyes the color description can vary from document to document. In 1918 I would say he would have been considered tall. The man in the photo also is taller than his sisters who were about 5'4 to 5'6 . 

I was also able to locate a naturalization index record online for Thomas. The witnesses on this card are Mark Jennings and Fredrick Bennett. The date of birth is the same as the draft card but he was living at a different address in Chicago in 1915. Mark Jennings would have been a cousin of Thomas. 

I have the civil registration birth record for Thomas but not a church record because many pages are missing from the church register. The civil registration records for most of the Mullen children are wrong because the family tended to register their children late. In order to avoid a fine they gave a later birth date for their children. Here we see Patrick and Mary register the birth of a Thomas in June of 1884 instead of May. My Great-Grandmother's birth was registered very late and apparently the family was fined. With birth dates that don't match I needed to continue searching. 

I had a great deal of trouble tracking Thomas after he appeared on the draft card. I couldn't find him in Chicago on the 1920, 1930, or 1940 Census for Chicago? I figured I would need to search country wide. The only Thomas Mullen matching what we know about his age and place of birth was in Arizona according to US Census records. He was never listed with family, but instead seemed to be working away from his family. He is said to have been married according to the Census records. I wasn't able to find a marriage record in Arizona or Illinois for him? 

In 1930 a Thomas P Mullen is listed on the US Census in Ajo, Pima County, Arizona. He is 46 years old and born in Ireland. Census day was April 1st when Thomas would have been 45. Since ages on the census can be wrong this slight discrepancy doesn't mean he isn't our Thomas. Also his age was initially given as 44 then crossed out and corrected. He is listed as a rigger in a copper mine.  

 In 1940 a Thomas P, Mullen is working in a Cotton Mill in Phoenix, Arizona. He is 55 years old on census day which was April 1st 1940. He was born in Ireland also. This matches with our Thomas would have turned 56 in May of that year. 

I was not able to find a good match for Thomas anywhere else in the country so I figured these census entries were likely for him or maybe he went back to Ireland? 

Concentrating on Arizona I finally had a breakthrough. I found an obituary for our Thomas Mullen from 1966 confirming Bridget "Delia" or Sister Mary Kathleen was indeed his sister. It also states Edwin Mason was his nephew. Edwin was the son of Helen Mullen-Mason my Great-Grandmother. My Great-Grandmother died in 1960, which is likely why her name isn't included. I'm not sure why other nieces and nephews weren't mentioned? My Grandmother Dorothy Mason-Kapple wasn't mention nor her siblings Mary or Frank? Edwin was the only child of Helen named. 

Oddly the obituary states Thomas migrated from Chicago to Phoenix in 1945? The US Census for  1930 and 1940 Arizona does have a Thomas P. Mullen matching the man in the obituaries full name. The obituary states he worked for 15 years for a Chicago Transportation service.  I still think however it's likely to be the same man. So why doesn't the description of Thomas in the obituary match with these men? It could be he spent part of the year when the weather was bad working in Arizona. His work in Chicago might have been seasonal? 

The photo of my Great-Grandmother with her sister and an unknown man looks like it may have been taken in the 1950's somewhere in the west I would guess? My Great-Grandmother was in California in the 1950's so it may have been taken there or if Thomas is in the photo the siblings could have had a reunion in Arizona? I'm still trying to find a marked photo of Thomas. It appears if he did have a wife or children he may have been estranged from them or he married and had no children? It's also possible he never married?

I'm happy with everything I've found even though I haven't confirmed who is in the photo. I feel like I have at least confirmed our Thomas Mullen came to the United States and remained here until his death. 

If anyone has any additional information please contact me at annettekapple@gmail.com.