We have a handwritten doc by my great grandfather born at Glendine near Tralee, a James George Fleming (b.1857), writing that his mother, Mary Wharton (b.1837) was the inspiration behind the Rose of Tralee poem by Mordaunt Spencer "her beau at that time." However, the dates don't lend credulity to his belief since Mordaunt Spencer published a book containing The Rose of Tralee in 1846. Mary Wharton was 18 when she married James' father William Fleming (b. 1819) in 1855 after Mordaunt Spencer's believed love affair with her. So we don't know how or why he believed this and are intrigued by the Mulchinock love story of a generation earlier with Mary O'Connor, both of whom were b. in 1820, as the story goes, which is a perfectly believable story in my view. We are nonetheless of Irish AND English decent with my Gran's hubby's family hailing from Birmingham.