Week 31 (July 30-Aug. 5) Earliest Ancestor

For 'Earliest Ancestor' I am going to focus on my great great grandparents David Mulholland and Eliza (McCrae).  They are by no means the earliest ancestors in my research, but they are the earliest ancestors where I hit a brick wall and am struggling to go further with my research. 

David Mulholland died in Eurobin, Victoria, Australia on 10 April 1902 at the age of 71.  He left behind wife Eliza Jane (nee McCrae) - although I have never found a marriage record for the couple - and 7 surviving children.  David's death certificate records his parents names as David Mulholland and Margaret (McGee) and his age at death 71.  Death notices describe David as being 71 years of age and a colonist of 42 years, putting his birth at around 1831 and his arrival in Australia around 1860. His headstone in Bright Cemetery states he is a native of County Antrim, Ireland.

Eliza - or Elizabeth, survived her husband for 23 years, dying 28 October 1925 in Myrtleford.  Her obituary, published in the Albury Banner and Wodonga Express on 6 November 1925, describes Eliza as having "reached the advanced age of 85 years, 63 years of which were spent at Eurobin" and states that she was born in County Belfast, Ireland.  This puts her birth at around 1840 and her arrival in Australia around 1862.  Eliza's death certificate - under the name Eliza Mulholland - gives her parents names as James McCrae and Mary.

I have, thus far, found no records for either family in Ireland.  Neither have I found a marriage record for David and Eliza in Australia or Ireland.  I have located a marriage record for David Mulholland and Eliza McGee who married 14 July 1854 in Kilmore, Armagh, Ireland listed in the Catholic marriage registers.  I am very doubtful this is my couple, as Eliza would have been only 14 years old and the county does not match the data I have for either of them.

I will keep looking, however, in the hopes of breaking through this brick wall and continuing further back along my Irish ancestry, finding even earlier ancestors on this line.  Any relatives out there with any information about this family - please get in touch!