A Mother and Child Reunion??

House originally belonging to Andrew McKenrick, Ortanna, PA, built about 1860.

So, we are back to our earliest known McKenrick ancestor, Great Great Great Grandfather Andrew McKenrick 1794-1870.  (Andrew 1, Samuel 2,  Frank 3, William 4, Barbara 5, Me 6.)  this is extremely confusing; I have tried to lay out the ancestry of each person and have put the last known ancestor in Bold print.

I have a theory regarding Andrew's mother.  His father???

With a doubt, the biggest question for McKenrick genealogists is "Who was Andrew's father?"  Inquiring minds do want to know and many of us have been puzzling over this for decades.  Andrew McKenrick 1794-1870 appears suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere  as a soldier in the War of 1812.  This is actually not uncommon during this period to have little record of children because of the fact that women and children were not listed on the Census by name.  Usually there was no record of a child until he was an adult, except Church records.  The problems with Andrew is that we don't know who his father was and therefore we cannot locate a child his age and sex in the correct household.  And we can find no Baptism record.

 I have poured over the early 1790 Census for Adams County and do not come up with any man with a name even close to McKenrick. There is a man in Westmoreland county PA, a few counties west of Adams where, on the 1790 Census, there is a Daniel McAninch.  He has 1 male under 16, 3 males over 16, and 4 females of undesignated age living in his household.  Tells us nothing.  Actually the name is difficult to read and could be something totally different.

A1790 Census, Westmoreland Co, PA..Daniel McAninch??

There is a better candidate on the 1800 Chester County Census.  Chester is just one county east of Adams County, which at the time frame we are talking, was part of York County.  Anyway-this man was Patrick McKenrick, age 26-44.  His name on the Census does look exactly like McKenrick.  He has a female living there age 26-44; 1 male under 10 and 2 females under 10.  So this gentleman was having children during the 1790s which is when Andrew was born.  Of course, there is always the possibility that the last name was actually McKendrick and is misspelled on the Census.  I cannot find a Patrick McKenrick or McKendrick on the next (1810) Census so the name may have been a total error.  Maybe he died, wife remarried and head of Household had a totally different name in 1810.  There is no way of knowing.

1800 Census Chester Co PA..Patrick McKenrick

There is one other early McKenrick; Joseph.  He is on the 1820 Census for  Cumberland County which borders York and Adams to the north.  He also has a female and children living in his Home.  He is 26-44 years old, so age is correct.  His name does appear to be McKenrick on the Census, but again it could be misspelled.  I cannot track him to the next Censii; he does not appear again.

1880 Census Cumberland Co. PA-  Joseph McKenrick

There are many more McKendricks (note the "d") on the early Censii and any of these could have been Andrew's father.  There are also numerous Hendersons, McHenrys and McHendrys etc. which are more "Englished" versions of McKenrick.  The name McKissick easily appears to be McKenrick.  I could go on and on...I find no marriage records that would account for a legitimate birth so my question is...Is McKenrick the name of the man who fathered him or the name of an unwed mother??  Usually the child is given the mother's last name if she is not married.

Okay-on to the Mother or actually the Mother Presumptive.  This is purely conjecture-there is no solid proof  of  my theory that this is Andrew's mother; it is based on coincidence and conjecture.

My candidate for Andrew's mother is Margaret Noel (1775-1850), daughter of Andrew Noel and Theresa Dillon  (Theresa 1, Peter Munier Dillon 2, Pierre Delone3).  (An interesting aside:  In her Digital book,  The McKenrick Family of Buchanan Valley, Adams County,Pennsylvania, one of my 3rd cousins , Dorothy Bailey, comments that there is family legend that Andrew's wife, Rachel Baxter, was a member of the Dillon family.  If I am right in my theory, his Mother was a member of the Dillon family.  If one plays "Telephone" with a family legend for several generations, perhaps the story gets a bit skewed?)) It appears that both the Dillons and the Noels came from Alsace. It appears Andrew Noel (father of Margaret) was Catholic; he is buried in the St Ignatius Catholic Church graveyard and donated the land for that Church.  However his parents were married in the Moravian Church, an off branch of the Protestant Hussites.  The Noels and Dillons settled in  York (now Adams) County of Pennsylvania in 1736.
I first noticed Margaret as a widow living with Andrew and his 2nd wife, Anna on the 1850 Census.  This was also the year she died.  I think originally, I assumed she was a Boarder, an elderly neighbor or friend.  But the more I thought about it, I thought that there is a definite possibility that she was Andrew's mother.  This would be the most likely reason for an elderly woman to be living with a husband, wife and several of their children.  Andrew's 2nd wife, Anna Brady was still living; her mother was named Marie Driscoll.  Therefore, I knew Margaret Starner was not Anna's Mother.  
I started tracing Margaret back through the Censii. On the 1840, she is living alone, most likely a widow. She was born in 1775 or '76. When Andrew was born in 1794, she would have been 18 or 19 years old-old enough to be his mother. I can find no evidence of a marriage between her and a McKenrick. I cannot find a marriage record for her and Husband George Starner (Sterner, Stermer) either. They reportedly married 1797.

What really made me think that Margaret may have been Andrew's mother was finding an unknown boy child living with George and Margaret Starner on the 1800 Census. The first child of George Starner and Margaret Noel, a girl, Catherine was born in 1798, the 2nd child in 1802; yet on the 1800 Census George is listed as head of Household with an adult female who would be his wife, Margaret, 1 female child under 10 years (Catherine) and 1 male child under 10 years. This could have been a son of George and Margaret who did not survive childhood, an orphaned nephew or cousin or it could be a son by a previous relationship. Coincidentally or not-Margaret's father was named Andrew. Margaret was the child of Theresa Dillon and Andrew Noel-Andrew McKenrick is mentioned twice in the accounting of Andrew Noel's estate. One comment reads "Cash paid A. McKendricks $14.05." The 2nd reads "Also-One note on Andrew McKendricks $61.66". If I am correct, Andrew Noel would have been the Maternal Grandfather of Andrew McKenrick.

1800 Census shows George Starner Household with 1 male 26-44 (George), 1 male child younger than 10 (Unknown..??Andrew McKenrick??)1 female 16-25 (Margaret) and 1 female child under 10 (1 year old Catherine 

Given names are often a great clue as to family affiliations. Andrew, I think, was named after his maternal grandfather, Andrew Noel Sr. Andrew named a son Andrew and, I think is most telling...his oldest daughter was named Margaret. After his Mother, perhaps?
One other bit of coinkydink trivia is the fact that John Dillon (John 1, Charles 2, John 3. Pierre Delone (Dillon) 4) was Andrew's (Andrew McKenrick 1, Margaret Noel Starner 2, Theresa Dillon Noel 3, Peter Munier Dillon 4, Pierre Delone (Dillon) 5) life long best friend. John was a Witness, Best man if you will, at Andrew's wedding and vice versa-Andrew was a Witness when John married Polly Noel (Who would have been Andrew's ( Andrew McKenrick 1, Margaret Noel Starner 2, Andrew Noel Sr 3)1st cousin, daughter of Margaret Noel Starner's brother, another Andrew)(Polly 1, Andrew Noel Jr. 2, Andrew Noel Sr 3). John also reportedly was in Cobean's Battalion in the War of 1812. with Andrew. If I am correct in stating that Margaret was Andrew's mother, Andrew and John were 2nd cousins, born the same year. John was the son of Charles Dillon (Delone, Dillow) and Margaret Marie Strausbaugh (another Catholic Alsatian family who arrived with the Dillons and Noels). And John married Andrew's 1st cousin, Mary Magdalena (Polly) Noel, daughter of Margaret's brother. I think. These family intermarried so often generation after generation and all the children had the same names repeated over and over. It is VERY hard to sort it out.

Codicil of the Will of Andrew Noel, my choice for Grandfather of Andrew McKenrick

So...I have stated my case for Margaret Noel Starner as the Mother of Andrew McKenrick.  I welcome any and all observations, disagreements etc.  I hope that somewhere there is a cousin who is sitting on some bit of trivia that will crack the case wide open and we will at last  know who Andrew's parents were.