Frances Lavelle: Home Child – Ottawa Valley Irish

Frances Lavelle was born in England about 1900. Lavelle was her adopted surname, I do not know her original. She is one of many Home Children I have come across in census records and church records while researching my Ottawa Valley ancestors.

In the 1911 census for Hagarty township, Renfrew South, Ontario, she is found in the household of Austin Lavelle and his wife Bridget O’Hara, where she is listed as Francis [sic] Lavelle, female, adopted, single, month of birth July, year of birth 189[8?], age 10, birthplace England, year of immigration 1907, racial or tribal origin English, nationality Canadian, religion Roman Catholic.

By the time of her marriage in 1926, Frances Lavelle was described as the “Adopted daughter of Mrs Michael Galligan.” Mrs Michael Galligan, who died in 1922, was Bridget Lavelle, daughter of Austin Lavelle (Sr) and Mary Rowan, and sister of the above-named Austin Lavelle. On 15 September 1926, in Pembroke, Renfrew Co., Frances Lavelle, age 26, married Leonard Livingstone, age 21, the son of Isabella Livingstone of McClure township, Hastings Co. ¹

¹ Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1926, online database, Ancestry.ca.

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