Hello KarenM:
Thanks for your response KarenM. Both of them went to the U.S. as I have found later records of this. But I have not been able to find anything prior to 1866 after the end of the Civil War. The 1900 and 1910 Censuses have W.J. McLernon immigrating in '58 or 1864 so I am pretty sure they entered the U.S. before or during the war.
Thanks