Agnes McCearney..a mystery

[terry h]

Don't know if this will help but searched the 1881 discs for McCearney (no restriction on spelling) and only one family came up in the index.  So checked them out...as follows

Victoria Mill, Abbey Renfrew

Phillip McCearney 47  b Ireland  occ Vinegar distiller
Margaret McCearney 45 wife b Ireland
Agnes McCearney  22 daug b Nitshill, Renfrew, School Teacher
James McCearney 18 son b Nitshill Renfrew, coal miner
Jane McCearney 16 daug b Nitshill Renfrew, printfield machinist
Lizzie McCearney 10 daug b Nitshill Renfrew, Scholar
John McCearney 7 son b Nitshill Renfrew, Scholar
Thomas McCearney 4 son b Nitshill, Renfrew, Scholar
Helen McCearney 2 daug b Nitshill Renfrew
Emily Justice 36 domestic servant b England

Terry

[JAP]

I guess that Agnes is too young for Colleen's Agnes.
But it's interesting to see how the name varied.  From batch C115591 in the IGI, those children are variously recorded as MCKERNON (Agnes, James and Jane plus a Margaret who presumably did not survive), MCKEARNIE (Elizabeth, John and Ellen), and MCCEARN (an earlier Ellen who presumably did not survive).

Colleen, why do you say that she lived in Halifax for 20 years?  Do you mean before or after her marriage?  And why assume some of her family would have been with her when she married - after all, she was ca 33 (from age of 36 in 1891 and 46 in 1901 i.e. born ca 1855).

There is an Agnes MCCARNEY of the right age in the 1861 Scotland census.
MCCARNEY family at Bridge Inn, Kilmaurs, Ayshire
John Head 38 b Ireland Coal Miner; Charlette 30 b Ireland; Elizabeth 9, Agnes 7, Mary 5 - all born Govan, Lanarkshire; Anne 1 b Kilmaurs.
The marriage of John and Charlotte in Gorbals in 1849 is in the IGI.
As is Mary's birth in 1855 (starting date of statutory registration) and births of subsequent children. 

And an Agnes MCCARNEY of the right age in the 1871 England census.
Agnes MCCARNEY 17, born Scotland, Servant in a CHALLENOR household in St Helens, Lancashire.

But unfortunately it does seem that the only way forward is to get the marriage certificate.

JAP