One hundred fifty-seven years ago this week, my great-great grandparents James Levens and Margaret McElhenny were married.
My great grandmother Sophia Levens was raised in Centralia, Pennsylvania, a mining town, but came to Philadelphia sometime before 1900. I learned that her mother was also from Philadelphia when I found the book Schulkill County, Pennsylvania: Genealogy – Family History – Biography, volume II:
James Levens, father of Mrs. Ebert, was a native of Ireland and emigrated to America, landing at Philadelphia, where he made his home for a time. Going to Port Richmond, near Philadelphia, he there married Margaret McElheny…
James Levens and Margaret McElhenny were married on October 8, 1855 at the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Port Richmond, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Rev. J Rudderow. This is yet another record I found in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Pennsylvania Church and Town Records database available on Ancestry.