An interesting day....

My ancestor James Maron emigrated to Australia from County Meath in 1864 as an assisted emigrant. He married in Sydney in 1866 to Catherine Stanley, another native of County Meath. On their marriage certificate, James’ parents are listed as John Maron and Margaret Newman.

According to the Athboy Catholic Parish Registers, on 14 February 1830, John Maron (Johannis Miaran) and Margt Newman were married. I don’t believe there was a catholic church in Athboy at this time and I’m thinking it is possible that the priest travelled to the small townland of Knockshangan (where both Marons and Newmans lived), to celebrate the wedding there. The witnesses to the marriage were Thomas Murray and Patrick Newman, most likely Margaret’s brother, I think. A third witness first name is Maria (or Mary), but the surname in the register is illegible.

On the same day there is a baptism recorded in the Athboy register for a Patrick Maron (Patriciam Miaran), son of Johannis Miarin and Margt Newman. One of the sponsors was Patrick Newman and the other is illegible in the register. The two entries are linked by the same parents’ names, the same spelling of the surname (Miaran), and the same sponsor / witness in Patrick Newman. It looks like a new priest recently started in the parish and makes a note of that in both documents. If these records are about the same people, it seems as though the priest came to the house on the day Patrick Maron was born, married the parents John Maron and Margaret Newman, then baptised their newly born son Patrick.

See attached for copies of the two documents. Has anyone ever encountered something like this? Does anyone have any thoughts on what is going on here?