John Marrinan married Ellen Fitzgerald in Greenville in 1866. She was born in Macroom, County Cork, around 1841. Ellen Marrinan died in 1920 prior to her husband at New Paris. Her body also was interred at the St. John's Catholic Cemetery.
Ireland history includes a series of terrible famines due to the potato blight. Many Irish immigrated to the United States during such periods, as undoubtedly did John Marrinan. He most likely sailed from Galway, which probably represented the largest port near Ennistymon.
John Marrinan arrived in 1865 at New York according to his entry in the 1920 census. He found his way to Cincinnati. There he was offered some money to join the army (approximately 1865). The Civil War, however, undoubtedly ended before he was ready to go into actual military service.
John Marrinan came on north and settled in New Paris. It is not clear at this point why he chose New Paris. There probably were other people from the same part of Ireland. There is a lot of limestone in County Clare as New Paris.
He went to work for Samuel Smith 'burning lime' in the kilns on the ends of town. This was very hard and hot work. A daughter said she would take her father lunch at the kilns, and "even on the coldest days of winter he would be drenched with perspiration."
After coming to New Paris, John Marrinan married Ellen Fitzgerald. They were married at St. Mary's Church. Greenville is approximately twenty miles north of New Paris. According to their marriage certificate, she had immigrated in 1866.
There also is a story about Indiana. It was around 1983, and Eileen Marrinan Conley was assisting a sixty plus year old surviving spouse of an hourly employee with her General Motors (GM) life insurance claim following the recent death of her husband. Eileen recalls that she walked with a cane, and appeared older than her years.
The practice was that Eileen Marrinan Conley would usually meet with the surviving spouse one-on-one to help them with all the details. As part of the process, the claimant was required to provide key documents such as birth and marriage records.
This was unique in two ways. First, this woman also brought a record of name change from when she was around 21 years old, and only about a year before her marriage. "In the benefits business you run into a lot of personal documentation (especially for health insurance)," and Eileen Marrinan Conley had not actually processed anything involving a court name change before.