Ottawa Valley Irish

Certificate of Irish Heritage

2011-10-01T04:23:55Z

Long awaited, much derided, ... and finally here. The site has gone live, and you can get your "plastic Paddy cert" through the newly launched Certificate of Irish Heritage website. "Plastic Paddy cert" (so apt, just great) is not my phrase, by the way, but that of Chris Paton at Scottish GENES.

But see, I'm torn. I can see the awful cheesiness; the blatant commercialism; the sentimental (though profit-maximizing) trafficking in Oyrishness (which I briefly blogged about here). And of course I'd much rather have online access to the RC records of Co. Cork, say, than a piece of paper certifying my Irish ancestry (which, you know, I already know about: hence this blog...), even if that piece of paper comes adorned with a gilt-edged title in a Celtic font, and can be nicely offset by a handsome mahogany frame. That said, I totally want to get one of these certs for each of my parents.

Apparently a "Gift Card facility is planned," but is not yet available.

Wilfrid Dontigny (Death Info Update)

2011-09-18T03:33:09Z

Ancestry.ca recently extended their coverage of Ontario civil death registrations by a couple of years (from "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1936" to "Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938").

In a previous entry, I suggested that Wilfrid Dontigny had presumably died of tuberculosis. This presumption based on oral tradition, and on a photograph of Wilfrid Dontigny (with his wife Anna Matilda Derouin and his in-laws [and my grandparents] Delia Lucie Derouin and John Eugene McGlade), taken "at the sanatorium."

His Ontario civil death registration confirms that Wilfrid Dontigny did indeed die of pulmonary tuberculosis, from which once dread disease he had apparently suffered for 5-8 years. He died (4 September 1938) at the Brant Sanatorium in Brantford, Ontario, where he had been resident for four months (but his death record lists his usual place of residence as Arnprior [Renfrew Co., Ontario]). The death informant was his mother Agnes (Simpson) Dontigny. He was 27 years old.

[Death Info] Update to the [Death Info] Update: Wilfrid Dontigny's father Joseph Phillip Dontigny had also died of pulmonary tuberculosis (on 18 May 1935, in Arnprior; death informant Mrs. Agnes [Simpson] Dontigny: that poor woman!).

Edward Paul Winke (1926-2011)

2011-09-14T01:26:21Z

My father-in-law Edward Paul Winke. Photo taken in Detroit, Michigan in 1940.

St. Michael's, Corkery Lookups

2011-08-31T15:58:42Z

I will do free lookups from the parish register for St. Michael's, Corkery (1837-1968). This register was microfilmed by the Drouin Institute in 1968, and a digitized version is supposedly included in ancestry.ca's "Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967" database. But for some reason or reasons unknown to me, ancestry.ca has only the first couple of pages of the register for "Cockery" (i.e., Corkery). Please note: the early records for St. Michael's, Corkery are more than a little bit spotty (and sometimes a little bit messy too!). There are significant gaps in coverage, and very few burial records until about the final third of the nineteenth century. (For Huntley township RCs, some early baptismal and marriage records can be found in the parish registers for other, neighbouring missions and parishes [e.g., St. Phillips, Richmond, and Notre Dame, Bytown/Ottawa]).

The early register for St. Michael's, Corkery covers both the mission of Huntley (Huntley township, Carleton Co.) and the mission of Ramsay (Ramsay township, Lanark Co., but the mission seems to have extended beyond the borders of this township: I've found records for residents of Pakenham township, for example, in the register of St. Michael's). The register begins as "Baptismal Register. Commencing Huntley, November 1837," with the baptismal record for Honora, daughter of John Dwyer and Honora Maxwell (26 November 1837). Then follows about fourteen years of Huntley township records (to March 1851). This initial run of Huntley records is followed by about 23 years of Ramsay records (from March 1845 to June 1868). Then back to Huntley with "Register for the Mission of Huntley Commencing with the Year 1864," which begins a more or less continuous run of records, up to (as microfilmed by the Drouin Institute in July 1968) April 1968.

If you want me to do a St. Michael's, Corkery lookup, please be as specific as possible in your request: include name, approximate dates, names of parents (if known), name of spouse (if known), names of spouse's parents (if known), and so on. In other words, include as much information as you already know (or strongly suspect). Limit two names per request. Email request to mcmoran [at] ottawavalleyirish [dot] com.

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Cause of Death: Conflicting Accounts

2011-08-30T01:58:04Z

James Moran (1858-1899)

James Moran was born about 1858 in Huntley township, Carleton Co., Ontario, the third of twelve children born to Alexander ("Sandy") Michael Moran and Mary Ann Leavy.

On 27 November 1883 (St. Patrick's, Fallowfield) James Moran married Sarah Jane Dooley, daughter of Thomas Dooley and his second wife Mary Coughlan. The couple had nine (known) children, with six of the nine surviving to adulthood.

Their eldest son Alexander (1884-1887) died at age two years and five months (cause of death listed as croup); and on the 28 September 1900 (a year and a half after the death of their father), their two youngest children Julia Gertrude (almost four years old) and James Joseph (2 years old) died in a ghastly accident: "by fire," notes Father J.A. Sloan in the children's burial records (St. Patrick's, Fallowfield), with the cause of death listed as "accidental burning" in the Ontario civil registration of the deaths. Another daughter, Sarah Jane Moran, known as "Jennie," died in early adulthood: she was a nurse who died in Ste. Agathe, Québec (presumably at the tuberculosis hospital).

James Moran and Sarah Jane Dooley farmed at Lot 15, Concession 6 in Nepean township, on land that had presumably been given or sold to the couple by Sarah Jane's father Thomas Dooley (1810-1891).

In the 1891 census (Ontario, Carleton, Nepean, family no. 23), James Moran (here spelled Morin) is head of a household that includes his wife [Sarah] Jane; their children Mary, Thomas, and Matilda; Sarah Jane Dooley's still unmarried sisters Mary and Matilda Dooley; along with a Home Child named Daniel Driscoll, and another domestic servant (probably not a Home Child) named Lizzie Casey. By this time, the 82-year old Thomas Dooley had apparently retired from farming and moved to Ottawa, where he lived with his son-in-law Michael Harrington and his daughter Maria (one of the daughters from his first marriage to Catherine Quinn, and a therefore a half-sister to Sarah Jane Dooley) (see 1891 census: Ontario, Ottawa City, St George's Ward, family no. 179).

]]> Oral tradition has it that James Moran "had his own thrashing crew and worked on many farms in the valley;" that he "also played the violin in a band, performing at all the local gigs;" and that "he was a capable though untrained vet of Fallowfield, Carleton County, near Ottawa, and was very good with animals."¹ He was also, apparently, quite close to his first cousin Thomas Hourigan, son of Thomas Hourigan and Julia Moran.

Thomas Hourigan had grown up with his Moran cousins in Huntley, spending at least some portion of his childhood in the household of his (and James Moran's) uncle Thomas Moran, their aunt Henrietta Moran, and their grandmother Margaret (Jamieson) Moran. This was after the death of his father (about 1860) left his mother Julia Moran a widow with four small children. Indeed, while the 1871 and 1881 census returns find the widowed Julia (Moran) Hourigan living with her four children at their farm in March township (Lot 19, Concession 2), in the 1861 census, the recently widowed Julia and her children can be found in the household of Julia's brother Thomas (along with several other siblings, including Henrietta, and their mother Margaret Jamieson). Moreover, in the 1891 census, Thomas Hourigan is found not on his farm in March township, but again in the household of his uncle Thomas Moran in Huntley.

When Thomas Hourigan died of pneumonia on 11 March 1899, at the age of 42, his address at the time of death was listed as Lot 15, Concession 6, Nepean township: the home of his cousin James Moran. And he left one hundred dollars to his cousin James Moran, as stipulated in his last will and testament:

To my cousin James Morin of Fallowfield I leave one hundred dollars to defray expenses for my present illness, as well as my funeral expenses. To father Lavin of Packenham, Ont. I leave fifty dollars to have low masses said for the repose of my soul. To father Sloan of Fallowfield, Ont., I leave fifty dollars to have low masses said for the repose of my mother's soul. I leave my foal to my brother in law, Hugh A. Lunny, and my bycicle to my nephew Bernard Lunny. To my sister, Mrs. Hugh A. Lunny, I leave my farm consisting of South quarter of Lot No. 19 in the 2nd concession of March.²

Little did Thomas Hourigan suspect, no doubt, when he drew up his will, that his cousin James Moran of Fallowfield would survive him by a mere eight days.

James Moran died on 19 March 1899, also at Lot 15, Concession 6, Nepean township. He was about 41 years old at the time of death, and he left his wife Sarah Jane Dooley a widow with eight children. How he died is a bit of a mystery, given that we have three conflicting accounts of his cause of death.

According to family lore, James Moran died after being kicked by a horse, and, due to lack of drugs, "it took four men to hold him down while he died" (Allison Moran, The Moran Family Tree). However, the Ontario civil registration of his death records the cause of his death as "Empyzema" (emphysema: a somewhat unlikely cause of death for a 41-year old man?). Moreover, and to further complicate the issue, a newspaper item from 15 December 1898 (Ottawa Citizen) indicates that James Moran/Morin suffered a horrible farming accident on 14 December 1898, from which it was feared he might not recover. This accident involved not a horse but a wheel from the tramper of a straw cutting machine. As per the Ottawa Citizen article, James Moran was hit on the side of the head, which fractured his jaw and "[inflicted] other severe injuries."

How to reconcile these conflicting accounts? In terms of the family history story (kicked by a horse) and the newspaper account (struck by a wheel), I see two possibilities: 1) he suffered two farming accidents several months apart (struck by a wheel in December 1898, and kicked by a horse in March 1899), and it was the second one that killed him; or 2) he suffered one farming accident (struck by a wheel in December 1898, the injuries from which eventually, three months later, killed him), and as the details got lost in the retelling over the decades, this fatal incident was recalled some seventy or eighty years later as an accident involving a horse (a not uncommon type of farm accident, after all). My guess is with 2), though it is just a guess, and of course 1) is a possibility.

But what of the Ontario civil death record, which lists cause of death as emphysema? Here I see three possibilities: 1) he really did die of emphysema, which death happened to occur after having suffered either one or two farming accidents; 2) the injuries sustained in a farm accident (whether by horse or by machinery) involved damage to his lungs and/or respiratory system, which his doctor (a Dr. Danby, according to his death record) interpreted as emphysema; or 3) there is an error in the death record (e.g., a transcription error). Here my guess goes with 2), which, again, is just a guess.

James Moran is buried at St. Patrick's, Fallowfield, with his wife Sarah Jane Dooley.

¹ Allison Moran, The Moran Family Tree (privately published family tree with stories).

² Cited in D.T. Lahey, The Laheys of South March

Missionaries of Pontiac, 1836-1858

2011-08-23T13:18:59Z

Who baptized/married/buried your ancestors? If your RC ancestors settled in the Ottawa Valley area, the early church records can be a bit confusing: because the acts were recorded by a number of different priests covering an often vast territory, the relevant baptismal/marriage/burial records may be found in the register for a parish (originally a mission) many miles away from your ancestors' residence.

Here's a partial list of the missionary priests who served the Pontiac Co. area in the mid-nineteenth century.

Missionaries of LaPasse, Coulonge, Calumet, Allumettes, 1836-1858:

Information extracted from "Notes pourvant servir à la recherche d'extraits aux Régistres," by Rev. G.A. Picotte, curé au Calumet, circa 1893; and from notes made by T. Nap. LeMoyne, Gower Point, 30 June 1900.¹

Dates	Priests
1836-1838	Rev Pascal Brunet, curé Montebello Wm Cannon, vicaire à Bytown
1836-1838	F.L. de Bellefeuille, S.S. Montréal J.B. Dupuis, Evêché Montréal
1838-1845	John Brady, curé Montebello
1839-1845	Hyp. Moreau, Evêché Montreal C.C. Vôire, curé St. Joseph [Leves?]²
1839-	A. Morin
1839-	J.B. Bourassa, curé Montebello
1840-1848	J.J. Desantels, curé Aylmer
1840-	A.F. Truteau, Evêché Montreal N.L. Amyot, St. Cyprien
1841-	S.E. Payment, missionaire St. Maurice
1844-	Flavien Durocher, OMI, Montreal
1844-1846	Jas. C. Lynch, curé Allumettes
1845-	A.A. Brunet, OMI Medard Bourassa, Montebello Eusèbe Durocher, Bytown
1845-	Jean N. Laverlochère, OMI
1846-	H. Ths. Clement, OMI
1846-1847	A.F. Grouse, curé Calumet
1847-1849	J.S. St Aubin, Calumet
1849-1851	Jos. Bouvier, Calumet Frs. Perret, vicaire Calumet
1847-	J.H. McDonagh, Almonte
1842-	McNulty, Mount St Patrick
1855-	Rev. Michael Lynch, vic. aux Allumettes
1851-1858	L.C. A. Ouellet, Miss. à LaPasse
1858 ____	A. P. de Saunhae, I^er curé à LaPasse

OMI = Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate/Oblates Missionaires de Marie Immaculée

A Few Ecclesiastical Terms (French-English):

curé = parish priest
évêché = bishopric
évêque = bishop
missionaire = missionary
paroisse = parish
presbytère = rectory, parsonage
prêtre = priest
prêtre soussigné = undersigned priest
vicaire = curate; assistant priest
Vicariat Apostolique = Vicariat Apostolic. A Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction established in an area that has not yet been organized into a diocese.

¹Ile du Grand Calumet (Paroisse Ste. Anne, Co. Pontiac, PQ), Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1881-1893, database at Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca/: accessed 8 August 2011), Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-967.

²Possibly St. Joseph de la Pointe de Lévy?

Summer Blogging Break

2011-08-12T20:20:57Z

It's time for my annual visit to Shaw's of Perth:

Advertisement for Shaw's, Perth Courier, 10 August 1928.

I'm sorry to have missed "the biggest, broadest, and most commanding sale ever held in Perth;" and I doubt they're still offering Duchess silk for 98 cents per yard. But the current Shaw's of Perth (no longer owned by the Shaws of Perth, by the way) has a really nice kitchen shop.

When I return to the blog, I'm going to post some stuff on the RC priests and parishes of the Ottawa Valley, along with more information on Irish naming practices.

Catholic Marriage Dispensations

2011-08-09T02:07:32Z

If you come across a marriage record which notes the granting of a dispensation of consanguinity, you should definitely sit up and take note: you are looking at evidence of a common ancestor (or a pair of common ancestors) shared by both bride and groom. However, as Dan MacDonald points out in his Marriage Dispensations in Roman Catholic Marriage Records, the presence of a dispensation does not necessarily imply that a couple were related. It depends on the type of dispensation.

In addition to dispensations of consanguinity and affinity (which indicate a blood or marital relation, respectively, and which are pretty much always of interest to the genealogical researcher), the Church also granted dispensations from certain established rules and procedures surrounding the marriage ceremony.

For example, when John Killeen married Margaret Fahey on 20 December 1852, the priest (Rev. M. Molloy) noted that he had obtained a dispensation from the Bishop of Bytown to perform the marriage ceremony at "a fordidden time." The "forbidden time" in this case was that of Advent (from the start of Advent to the Feast of the Epiphany); another "forbidden time" would be that of Lent (from Ash Wednesday to Low Sunday, or the first Sunday after Easter).

In 19th-century Ottawa Valley area RC parish registers (and no doubt in the RC registers of many other places too), the most common dispensation was that of a dispensation of one or two (and sometimes, although less frequently, of all three) of the required banns.

]]> Basically, before a couple could marry, the Church required the publication of their marriage banns on three consecutive Sundays. And for nineteenth-century rural parishes, needless to say, we're not talking about the printing of a notice in the parish bulletin! (they didn't yet have parish bulletins, of course; and many, if not the majority of parishioners wouldn't have been able to read a bulletin in any case). "Publish" meant to make public, as in, to read from the pulpit at the Sunday mass. But when people belonged to missions, and not yet to regular parishes, and were served by travelling missionary priests rather than by stationary and regularly salaried curés, many places did not yet offer masses on three consecutive Sundays, from which the banns might be read. Moreover, often one or both parties to the marriage lived too far from the church or mission to be reasonably expected to attend mass on a regular (three consecutive Sundays, say) basis. So dispensations of banns were fairly common in early Ottawa Valley RC marriages, and were often granted by the parish or missionary priest himself (rather than by a higher-up such as a bishop).

Here's a marriage record where the couple received not one but two different dispensations. When George Cahill married Ann Shirley (25 January 1886), the couple received a dispensation of two banns, along with a dispensation of consanguinity in the third degree:

Ile du Grand Calumet (Paroisse Ste. Anne, Co. Pontiac, PQ), Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1881-1893, M. 1 (1886), Georges Cahill and Ann Shirly; image 93 of 192, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca/: accessed 8 August 2011), Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-967.

The above record refers to one ban having been read during the homily at the parochial mass, with a dispensation for the two other bans having been granted by the undersigned priest; and also (and more interestingly, in genealogical terms) to a dispensation "du troisième au troisième degré de consanguinité" having been granted by the Vicar Apostolic of Pontiac.

Note that while it was the undersigned priest (J.G. [Arthur?] Ouellet) who granted the dispensation from the publication of two bans (with one ban having been read at the parochial mass), the dispensation for consanguinity had to come from higher up in the Church hierarchy: in this case, from Narcisse Zéphirin Lorrain, Vicar Apostolic of Pontiac (and later Bishop of Pembroke).

Since dispensations of banns were extremely common in the early register for the mission/parish of Ste. Anne, this dispensation, in and of itself, is unremarkable, and suggests no necessary blood or marital relation between bride and groom.

The dispensation from the impediment of consanguinity, on the other hand, is genealogically noteworthy: it suggests that George Cahill and Anne Shirley were second cousins. "Du troisième au troisième degré de consanguinité" (of the third to the third degree of consanguinity) means that both bride and groom were separated from a common ancestor by three generations: i.e., that they shared a common great-grandparent (or pair of great-grandparents). But note that it would also be possible to have something like "du deuxième au troisième," where one party was two generations and the other party three generations away from a common ancestor (or pair of ancestors) [= first cousins once removed].

And just to make matters a bit complicated (but that's half the fun of doing genealogy, after all): as best I make out, George Cahill and Anne Shirley were not second cousins, but rather first cousins once removed. Anne Shirley, daughter of Thomas Shirley and Honora McGuire, was the granddaughter of James Shirley and Catherine Butler (see Anne Shirley's ancestry here). George Cahill, son of George Cahill and Mary Moran, was the grandson of Anne Shirley (m. Michael Cahill), and the great-grandson of James Shirley and Catherine Butler (see George Cahill's ancestry here). They shared the same pair of ancestors (James Shirley and Catherine Butler), but Anne Shirley was two generations, and George Cahill three generations away from that common pair. In which case, the dispensation should have been of 2 to 3 rather than of 3 to 3 degrees of consanguinity.

But am I absolutely certain that I have correctly calculated the relationship between bride and groom in the above example? No, not at all. The early Canadian records are patchy at best; and the relevant Irish records worse than patchy (non-existent, really): so: I may be missing an important piece of information. However, the dispensation for consanguinity certainly confirms some sort of blood relationship (some degree of cousinship, that is, whether second cousin or first cousin once removed) between Anne Shirley and George Cahill.

More on Dispensations of Consanguinity:

In its discussion of "Consanguinity (in Canon Law)," The Catholic Encyclopedia has a handy little Genealogical table (scroll down to the Table of Consanguinity). Also see Dan MacDonald's Worksheet For Tracing Dispensations of Consanguinity; and Jacques Louvel's Demandes de dispense pour marriage.

Two Derouin Brothers

2011-08-08T16:25:36Z

Two Derouin brothers, sons of Joseph Derouin and Mathilde Dubeau, and siblings of my grandmother Delia Lucie (Derouin) McGlade:

Edgar Derouin, apparently born 26 February 1893 (but this birth date is from the census; I have not yet found a baptismal record). He was born at Otter Lake, Pontiac Co., Québec; and may have moved to Arnprior with his parents and other siblings in the early 1920s. In 1943, he was apparently living in Noranda (now Rouyn-Noranda) in northwestern Québec. There is some confusion as to his first name: in the 1901 census he is listed as Eddoré; in the 1911 census as Hector. An Ottawa Citizen newspaper item from 1943 identifies him as Edgar.

Pierre Albert Derouin, born at Otter Lake on 28 September 1897; baptized 18 October 1897 (Ste. Elisabeth, Vinton, Litchfield township, Pontiac Co.). Presumably moved to Arnprior with his family in the early 1920s. In 1943, as per the above-mentioned newspaper item, he was apparently living in Timmins, Ontario. Also known as Peter Derouin.

I'm looking for any information (marriage; family; death; burial; etc.) about the above two Derouin brothers.

Wilfrid Dontigny and Anna Matilda Derouin

2011-08-07T14:30:48Z

A couple of months ago, I published an entry on tuberculosis in Ontario, along with a photo that was taken "at the sanatorium." The photo shows a patient, whose name was unknown to me at the time, along with his wife, my great-aunt Anna Matilda Derouin, and my grandparents Delia Lucie Derouin and John ("Jack") Eugene McGlade. Click thumbnail preview to see larger image:

Left to right: Delia Lucie Derouin; John ("Jack") Eugene McGlade; Wilfrid Thomas Charles Dontigny; and Anna Matilda Derouin.

I now know the name of the patient in the above photograph: Wilfrid Thomas Charles Dontigny. He was born at Arnprior on 4 June 1911, the son of Joseph Philip Dontigny and Agnes Simpson; and he died (presumably of tuberculosis) on 4 September 1938, at the age of 27, and was buried at Arnprior on 7 September 1938.

On 20 November 1930, Wilfrid Dontigny married Anna Matilda Derouin at Notre Dame Basilica, Ottawa. He married as a fils mineur (minor son: so, not yet 21 [not yet 18 for a fille mineure, or minor daughter, btw]); and both bride and groom were identified in the register as members of the parish of St. John Chrysostom in Arnprior. The witnesses were Earl Steen and my grandmother Delia Derouin (who was not yet married to Jack McGlade).

]]> A French Surname, Anglicized

I found his name (or a somewhat bizarre anglicisation of his surname) more or less by accident, and courtesy of Google News Archive (about which I have written before).

While searching for "Derouin" in the Ottawa Citizen, I came across the following notice of an eightieth birthday party for my great-grandmother Mathilde Dubeau (here named as Mrs. Derouin, widow of Joseph Derouin):

Ottawa Citizen, 3 February 1943.

Worth noting: while the naming convention of "Mrs. [Her Husband's Name]" obviously omits the wife's birth name altogether, and subsumes her identity into that of her husband, in a case where one or both of a spouse's parents are named and/or already known, the "Mrs. [Her Husband's Name]" nomenclature will actually be more information-rich, in genealogical terms, than her brother's straight-up, no-reference-to-a-spouse, "Mr. [His Own Name]." In the above article, for example, we are given at least a surname for five of the [male] spouses of the [female] children of Joseph Derouin and Mathilde Dubeau: L. St. Jean; Dontgerey; E. Carriveau; Jack McGlade; and Bill Heldston. There is, on the other hand, no corresponding information about the female spouses of Peter, Edgar and Prosper Derouin.

In any case, the name "Dontgerey" immediately struck me as some kind of corruption of a French surname. An anglicisation, most probably, but with perhaps a typo or a mistranscription or something thrown in for good measure.

Since I already knew that the above Derouin family, originally of Otter Lake, Pontiac Co., Québec, could be found in Arnprior, Renfrew Co., Ontario from the early 1920s, and since I also already knew that this family was Roman Catholic in religious affiliation, I figured the parish register for St. John Chrysostom (Arnprior) was a reasonable enough place to start looking for a French name beginning with Dont and ending in y. It didn't take long to discover the name Dontigny, which seemed like a strong possibility. And when I searched the "Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967" records at ancestry.ca, using only "Dontigny" as last name (I did not yet have a first name, after all) and "Derouin" as Spouse's last name, the very first search result gave me the marriage record of Wilfrid Dontigny and Matilda Derouin (at Notre Dame Basilica, Ottawa). Once I had the name of Anna Matilda Derouin's first husband, it was easy enough to find both his baptismal and his burial records (both in the parish register for St. John Chrysostom, in Arnprior).

Oh, and then after all of the above searching, and feeling, I'll admit, a little bit pleased with myself for having arrived at Wilfrid Thomas Charles Dontigny from the clue of "Mrs. Ann Dontgerey," I happened to mention to my father a couple of weeks ago that I had uncovered the name of my maternal grandmother's sister's first husband who was in that photograph from the sanatorium. "Oh yeah, Dontigny," he said, as if the man's surname had been known and acknowledged all along! (though, two months ago, nobody could remember it...), "What was his first name? He was a hockey player." My dad was a mere toddler when Wilfrid Dontigny died, and my mother not yet born; and anyway, this is from my mother's, not my father's side of the family; and yet my father could recall the surname (two weeks ago, at any rate, but not two months ago when I first asked). Obviously the name of Dontigny, and his association with hockey, had once circulated amongst the broader family, or how else would my father had known the surname of a man who was the first husband of his wife's mother's sister, and who was born and died died before his (my father's, that is), wife (or future wife, that is) was even born?

Oral history lesson the day: if at first you get a negative ("don't know;" "can't remember;" or etc.), it's probably worth asking again in a couple of months or so, just to be certain.

A few forenames in translation (Latin/French/English)

2011-08-01T18:33:58Z

When Bridget O'Hanlon married Thomas McTeague (15 November 1841, Notre Dame de Bons Secours, Montebello, Co. Papineau, Québec), the priest identified her as "Brigitte O'honlon, domiciliée en Grenville, fille majeure de Pierre O'honlon et de Marie Thoõner, domiciliés en Irlande," which, in English, would read: "Bridget O'Hanlon, domiciled at Grenville, daughter of age of Peter O'Hanlon and of Mary Toner, domiciled in Ireland."

If your Irish Catholic ancestor was baptized, married or buried by a French Canadian priest, you may find his/her forename (but not surname) given in French in the parish register. Moreover, some of the early records for several Ottawa Valley RC missions and parishes (e.g., Our Lady of Holy Angels, Brudenell, Renfrew Co., Ontario) were written in Latin, with forenames (but not surnames) given in Latin.

Here are a few forenames in translation. I'll add more names as they occur to me, or as I come across them in the parish registers.

*Latin*	*French*	*English*
Aloysius	Louis	Lewis
Anastasia	Anne	Ann, Anne, Nancy
Andreas	André	Andrew
Antonius	Antoine	Anthony
Augustinus	Augustin, Augustine	Austin
Bartholomeus	Barthélémy	Bartholomew, Bartley
Brigida, Brigitta	Bridgitte, Brigitte	Bridget
Carolus	Charles	Charles
Francisca	Françoise	Frances
Franciscus	François	Francis, Frank
Georgius	Georges	George
Helena	Hélène	Ellen, Helen, Eileen
Henricum, Henricus	Henri	Henry
Hermani	Armand	Herman
Ioannes, Johannes	Jean	John
Jacobus	Jacques	James
Johanna	Jeanne	Joan, Jane
Margareta	Marguerite	Margaret
Maria	Marie	Mary
Matthias, Mattheus	Mathieu	Matthew
Michaelem	Michel	Michael
Patricius, Patritius	Patrice	Patrick
Petrus	Pierre	Peter
Willelmus, Guillelmus	Guillaume	William
Stephanus	Stéphane, Étienne	Stephen

George Vallely and Anne O'Hanlon

2011-07-26T13:29:21Z

in Canada by 1832

This is not the first time that I've found an early record in the register for Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal for a family who emigrated from Ireland and settled in the Ottawa Valley.

Until I came across the following record of the burial of daughter Catherine Vallely in 1832, the baptismal record for son John Vallely (born 14 September 1835; baptized 10 December 1835) was the earliest document I had for the presence of George Vallely and Anne O'Hanlon in Canada. Click thumbnail preview to see larger image:

Montréal (Basilique Notre Dame), Régistre, 1832, p. 253 [image 260 of 329], S. 2474, Catherine Valely, database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca/: accessed 25 July 2011, Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967.

The record reads (with illegible words in brackets, and with my translation in italics):

Le vingt un Septembre mil huit cents trente deux je prêtre soussigné à inhumé Catherine décédée avant hier âgée de dix huits mois fille de George Valely [tisseur?] et de Ann Hanlan de cette paroisse. Temoins Joseph [Boudre?] et Jean Baptiste [Brean?] qui n'ont pu signer. The twenty first of September one thousand eight hundred and thirty two I the undersigned priest buried Catherine who died the day before yesterday aged eighteenth months daughter of George Valely [weaver?] and of Ann Hanlan of this parish. Witnesses were Joseph [Boudre?] and Jean Baptiste [Brean?] who could not sign.

Was Catherine born in Canada or in Ireland? I have not yet found a baptismal record for her (and if she was born in Ireland in 1831, it's likely I never will). Nor have I found a marriage record for George Vallely and Anne O'Hanlon (who may have been married in Ireland).

In any case, this places George Vallely and Anne O'Hanlon in Canada at least a couple of years earlier than I had previously assumed. By 1835, they can be found in Grenville, Deux Montagnes, Québec, and by 1851 in Bristol township, Pontiac Co., where they farmed at Concession 3, Lot 4.

Three Cahill Children Buried

2011-07-20T23:11:10Z

On the same day.

On 3 November 1866, at Ste. Anne, Calumet Island/L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Pontiac Co., Québec:

James Cahill, who died at the age of 12.

Anne Cahill, who died at the age of 14.

Celestine Cahill, who died at the of 8.

The witnesses to all three burials were the same two men: Thomas Campel [Campbell?] and Napoléon Nolin.

Ile du Grand Calumet (Paroisse Ste. Anne, Co. Pontiac, PQ), Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1860-1871, S. 17 (1866), James Cahill; S. 18 (1866), Anne Cahill; and S. 19 (1866), Celestine Cahill, image 104 of 216, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca/: accessed 20 July 2011), Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-967.

Based on baptismal and census records, I believe that James and Anne were the children of George Cahill and Mary Moran; and strongly suspect that Celestine was the daughter of James Cahill and Isabella Moorhead.

There is no mention in the above records of the cause(s) of death for these three Cahill children. As I've probably noted before, the Catholic burial records generally do not mention a cause of death unless it was something especially violent, dramatic, or unusual (e.g., death by drowning, or by fire). And in 1866, childhood death by illness was by no means an unusual occurrence. Which is not to say that people just took it in stride, without feeling the loss too deeply (which I've seen suggested in a few places, and which strikes me as quite wrong). These children were no doubt deeply mourned by their parents, siblings, and other relations; and 3 November 1866 must have been an awful, awful day for the Cahills of Calumet Island.

Denis Killeen's Will

2011-07-17T14:37:11Z

Denis Killeen made a will on 24 May 1850, a memorial of which was registered on 9 February 1854 (about three or four years after his death).

The memorial was "signed" (that is, marked with an X) by his eldest son Patrick Killeen; and was also signed (I mean, with actual signatures) by John Armstrong, Thomas Morgan, and Albert Hopper, all of March township. None of these three subscribing witnesses -- John Armstrong, Thomas Morgan, and Albert Hopper -- were related by blood or marriage, so far as I can tell. They were all Irish emigrants to March township, of Protestant (Church of England) background, presumably chosen as trustworthy and literate neighbours of the Irish Catholic Killeens.

The following is my transcription of the memorial, with hyperlinks to my database listings of the persons named in the will. A few words (indicated by brackets [ ] ) are illegible, or at least, not legible to me.

]]> Memorial of Denis Killeen's Last Will and Testament

A Memorial, to be Registered, of a will made the twenty fourth day of May Eighteen hundred and fifty, by Denis Killeen of the Township of March county of Carlton, province of Canada yeoman, whereby the said Denis Killeen declared it to be his last will and testament and directed that his beloved wife Mary Killeen should have a decent maintenance off his real estate being the South East Half of Lot Number eleven on the third concession of March and to be in full possession of the house on said lot during her natural life, and likewise bequeathed to his wife two cows, and by the said Will he further bequeathed to his son Patrick Killeen the South East quarter of said lot; and to his son John Killeen the North West quarter of said lot; and he further bequeathed to his sons Patrick and John all his moveable property, and required them to pay all his just and lawful debts, and the moveable property not to be [two words illegible: disposed till?] the debts were paid and he further required the said Patrick Killeen and John Killeen to pay, after all his just and lawful debts were paid, to their sisters Eliza, Bridget, and Margaret, ten pounds each, and to his sons, Denis, William, James, and Thomas, the sum of Ten pounds each, to be paid after the [rate?] of Ten pounds every year till each have received their Ten pounds. Which said Will is witnessed by "Thos Morgan" "John Armstrong" and Albert Hopper" and this memorial thereof is hereby required to be registered by one son of the [deceased] named in the said will, Witness my hand and seal this ninth day of February Eighteen hundred and fifty four

Patrick X (his mark) Killeen

Signed and Sealed

in Presence of

being first read over

and explained --

John Armstrong

Albert Hopper

County of Carlton To Wit

John Armstrong -- of the Township of March in the said County Yeoman in the within Memorial named maketh oath and saith that he was present, and did see the Will to which the said Memorial relates duly executed, signed, sealed, and delivered by the therein named Denis Killeen, and that he is a subscribing witness to the execution of the said Will, that he this deponent also saw the said Memorial duly signed and selaed by the therein named Patrick Killeen -- for the Registry thereof, Which said memorial was attested by him this deponent, and another subscribing witness, and that both said Instruments were executed at March aforesaid

John Armstrong [his signature]

Sworn before me at March

in the said County this 9th

day of Februrary 1854

Carleton County Land Registry, March, no. 7142, memorial of will of Denis Killeen, 1854.

Denis Killeen at Québec, 1819 (RG 8, C Series, LAC)

2011-07-15T15:04:40Z

One of my favourite genealogy blogs is John Reid's Anglo-Celtic Connections. I don't know how he does it, but he always has the latest scoop on the LAC (everything from hirings and firings to new collections to updates of existing collections, and so on). Yesterday at Anglo-Celtic Connections, I read the following notice from the LAC:

Ottawa, July 14, 2011 - Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the addition of 484 digitized microfilm reels representing 1,125,141 new images regarding British military and naval records (RG 8, "C" Series) to its website. These records include a wide range of documents related to the British army in Canada, Loyalist regiments, the War of 1812, the Canadian militia, and more. Both microfilm reels for the nominal card index and the archival documents have been digitized and are now accessible online. Through the research tool "microform digitization," you can browse the microfilm reels page by page.

Since I'm currently looking for military records pertaining to my 3x great-grandfather Denis Killeen, this sounded promising. So I followed the hyperlink provided by John Reid.

Here's how I found a record of Denis Killeen's recent arrival at Québec:

]]>

Browsing through British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - INDEX ONLY, I found the "Ks" in C-11827, with the following at image/page 861 (btw, I did not go through 860 images before arriving at this one: I started going by the hundred -- 100, 200, 300, etc. -- to narrow things down):

I then searched for the actual document, to which the above index card refers.

Having no idea where to begin, I first clicked on "Help" to arrive at this page. Here I discovered that I could have saved myself some time by consulting How to Search the Index Cards before clicking around in the index to find the Ks in C-11827 (which covers Kerr, Robert to Lacroix, Joseph F; but Ks are also found in C-11826, which covers Jones, John to Kerr, Robert). On the same "Help" page, under Consulting the Records, I also found a link to RG 8, C Series: Microfilm Reel Numbers for Records.

In the bottom left corner of the above index card is the number C-190. The above-linked RG 8, C Series: Microfilm Reel Numbers for Records indicates that volume 190 is found in microfilm number C-2780, which covers volumes 187 - 192, p. 50.

Next I went to British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series) - Documents to find C-2780. As per the above index card, I was looking for page 162 of volume 190 (note: this page number does not refer to the image/page number of the digitized version of the records, but to a previous numbering of the pages within each volume). C-2780 begins with volume 187, with volume 190 starting at image 660. I found page 162 of volume 190 at image/page 941 (again, I did not go through 940 images to find this, I began with clicking by the hundred [100, 200, 300, and so on] to narrow things down). Click thumbnail preview to see larger image:

The letter is from Thomas Stott, Paymaster Detachments, Quebec, to Thomas Bowles, Military Secretary, and is dated 12 October 1819. It reads:

Sir,

I have the honor to report the arrival in this Garrison of several Pensioners named in the Margin who have been paid to 24th September on their producing Affidavits, Letters of Instruction, and Certificates of Admission, shewing they were entitled to this benefit, but as these Men have not appeared in the Lists recently received by the Commissary General from the Treasury, the Deputy Commissary of Accounts is desirous of an Authority to cover the disbursement which I have included in my Abstract now under examination, and it is therefore under these circumstances I beg you will be pleased to grant the document required.

I have the honor to be
Sir
Your most obedient
humble Servant
Thomas Stott
Paymaster Detachments

In the margin are the names of ten recently arrived military pensioners, with regiment numbers. The tenth in this list is Denis Killeen -- 97th Foot.

Amazing to have this online (and in both .JPG and .PDF formats!).