I am a descendant or William Brewster b. 1836 and married to Anna Bella McConnell (my g-g-g-grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side).

I have been reviewing some of the various trees and discussions that connect William Brewster b. 1836 with the descendants of William Brewster the elder of the Mayflower b. 1565 – specifically I have been reviewing the work of Jeanne E. Killick online at http://www.angelfire.com/mi/brewsterlist/wmhypo.html (thanks for sharing, the hypothesis is interesting) and the various trees on Ancestry that link my william Brewster b. 1836 with the Mayflower Brewsters. I have also been studying the information contained in the 1908 Brewster Genealogy https://archive.org/details/brewstergenealog190801jone

One of my questions revolves around religion – my grandmother Agatha Delaney (b. 1917) and (one assumes) her family in the preceding generations were Catholics primarily (fully?) of Irish decent. William b. 1836 was the great grandfather of Agatha b. 1917.

My William Brewster b. 1836 m Anna Bella McConnell – an Irish immigrant. At her death (at least) Anna Bella McConnell was a Catholic (services were held at the Sacred Heart Church with mass celebrated by Father Maloney).

Are there documents showing a conversion of the some of the branches of the descendants of William Brewster the elder of the Mayflower b. 1565 to Catholicism?

I realize that my William Brewster b. 1836 was born more than 270 years after William b. 1565 but conversion to Catholicism strikes me as odd if he were a descendant of the Mayflower Brewster line. In fact conversion to Catholicism at any time in the preceding generations would seem very odd as well.

If there was no conversion – is it odd that a Protestant would marry a Catholic in the mid 19th century?

Perhaps I am over thinking this? I’d appreciate any thoughts that folks would like to share.