Hi.
I'm grasping at straws, but we've all reached that point in research at one time or another...

I'm hoping against hope that someone perusing the 1850 census has come across my people, somewhere, in any state...

Michael Foley and Bridget (probably Murphy) were my 3great-grandparents. The earliest I can find them is in the 1860 Fed. Census in Jersey City, 1st Ward. Michael, b. abt 1800, and Bridget, b. abt 1802, had living with them Henry, b. abt 1832; Johanna, b. abt 1840; Margaret, b. abt 1842; and Michael, b. abt 1845. That younger Michael is my gg-grandfather. A distant cousin has family mementos that lead me to believe that Johanna and Margaret were Michael's sisters, but Henry comes from out of nowhere, and disappears into thin air, as well. Can't find him in any later census, anyway, where I can link him to this family. Piecing things together, I have reason to believe there was at least one other child of Michael and Bridget's, Mary, b. abt 1835. She went on to marry James Mathews (hey, Cuz Jeanine!), and on her death cert., we find Bridget's maiden name. Mary's young daughter, Adelaide, is with Bridget and Johanna and Margaret in the 1870 census, but going earlier, we can't find evidence of Mary Foley Mathews with her family.

Has anyone seen my family in the 1850 census or any other source record before 1860?

Thanks in advance,
Jeanne