Hanora (sometimes Anna or Hanna/Hannah) Killeen was one of the eldest (perhaps the second eldest) daughters of Denis Killeen and Mary Ahearn. She was born in March township in the early 1820s, possibly (as per the 1901 Canadian census return) on 10 May 1821.
Hanora’s older sister Ellen Killeen (born Ireland about 1818) married a “Matthew Daly of Huntley” (born Ireland about 1807) in 1836 (Notre Dame, Bytown/Ottawa). Matthew Daley and Ellen Killeen had a very large family, with their first four children (Peter, Mary, Denis, and John) born in Huntley township (Carleton Co., Ontario/Upper Canada), and their sixth and later children born at Clarendon, Pontiac Co., Québec/Lower Canada. It’s not clear where their fifth child, Bridget, was born (whether at Huntley or at Clarendon), but certainly they were living in Clarendon by 1847. (Some of their sons, including Anthony Daley, later emigrated to the States.)
Hanora Killeen had presumably moved from March township to Clarendon to be with her older sister, for by 1850 she was described as being “domiciled at Clarendon.”
On 21 January 1850, Hanora Killeen married Michael Donahue, son of Denis Donahue and Sarah Ryan, and originally of an Irish county that is given in the marriage record but that I cannot make out. Is it Galway? or perhaps Kerry? Here is the marriage record, from the register for the Mission of Ste. Anne, Calumet Island, Pontiac Co. (click preview to see larger image):
The above record is full of interesting spelling variations, with Michael’s surname given as Donahow, and the parents of Hanora (here Anna) given as “Denys Kelin et Marie Hern du township de March” (Denis Killeen and Mary Ahearn/Ahern of the township of March”). Such spelling variations were entirely typical of a period which predates the standardization of surname spellings; and in this case, it was a French-Canadian priest recording unfamiliar Irish names given to him by people who were probably not literate, and who therefore couldn’t provide the “correct” spelling.
Michael Donahue and Hanora Killeen had a family of twelve known children, with one son, Michael, dying in infancy in November 1855; another son, William, dying in July 1860 at about three years of age; and a daughter Bridget, born 1851, probably also dying in childhood (before 1861). Of the nine children who made it to adulthood, there were three daughters: Sarah, Mary, and Margaret; and six sons: Patrick, Daniel, John, Denis, Roderick, and James Michael.
So far, I have discovered only one marriage amongst these nine Donahue-Killeen offspring: on 16 June 1871, Margaret Donahue married Michael Kelly, son of William Kelly and Rose Keo (possibly Kehoe?).
It is very likely (as in, all but certain) that neither Sarah nor Mary ever married.
Both are found with their widowed mother Hannah Donahue and brothers Daniel, Denis, Roderick and Michael (= James Michael) in the 1891 census (Quebec, Pontiac, Clarendon North), where their ages are inaccurately given as 35 and 28 (since Sarah was born July 1851, and Mary was born January 1853, they would have been 40 and 38 at the time of the 1891 enumeration). In the 1901 census (Quebec, Pontiac, Clarendon), the widowed Hannah Donohoe can be found with daughter Mary (age 49) and sons Daniel and Rhody (Roddy); presumably Sarah had died between 1891 and 1901, though I have not found a burial record. In the 1871 census, both daughters are listed as being “of Unsound Mind.” In the 1891 census, they are also both listed as being “Unsound of Mind,” with Sarah also listed as “Deaf and Dumb.” These 19th-century census designations are of course rather shocking to our contemporary sensibilities, with the worst label perhaps that of “Lunatics or Idiots” (1861 Canadian census). (In the 1861 census, however, [Canada East, Pontiac, Clarendon, District 2, p. 109, lines 30-38, household of Michael Donagho], none of the infirmities columns are checked off for either Sarah or Mary). It is not possible to know just what was behind these “unsound mind” designations (in general, I think that a good deal of scepticism is in order, and likewise for those who were labelled “lunaticks” or “insane”), but I think it’s safe to assume that both daughters would have been considered unmarriageable.
Did any of the sons ever marry? So far, the answer is, Apparently not, but I can’t help wondering if I’m missing something.
In the 1911 census (Quebec, Pontiac, Clarendon, p. 8, family no. 76), Rodric Dunhoe, age 49, is head of a household that includes his brothers Daniel, age 56, and Michael (=James Michael), age 47. Roderick (Roddy) Donahue died in 1928, apparently single, and was buried at St. Charles Boromeo (St. Charles Borromé) Cemetery in Otter Lake. Daniel Donahue died in 1932, and was also buried at St. Charles Boromeo, apparently also single. John Donahue died in North Bay, Nipissing District, Ontario, where he had been resident, according to his Ontario civil death registration, only one month. His occupation was given as Labourer in the Lumbering trade, and his place of burial as Shawville, P.Q. There is a burial record for John Donahue in the parish register for St. Charles Boromeo (22 November 1920), with burial witnesses given as Roddy Donahue (his brother) and Denis Dailey (possibly his first cousin Denis Daley). John Donahue almost certainly died single.
So far, of the eight sons of Michael Donahue and Hanora Killeen, I have Michael and William dying in childhood (so: obviously single), and Daniel, John, and Roderick also (almost certainly) dying single. This leaves Patrick, Denis and James Michael still contenders in the marital sweepstakes.
Patrick, last seen (last seen by me, that is, and I’m probably missing something) in the 1881 census, still unmarried at the age of 31, is still in the game, so far as I’m concerned, though the RC records for Pontiac County are giving me no relevant information. Denis, last seen by me in the 1891 census, where he is single and aged 26 (he would have been 30, actually, at the time of the 1891 enumeration, since he was born in May 1860), is also still a contestant. James Michael, aged 47 and one of the three bachelor brothers (Roddy, Daniel, and Michael) in the 1911 census, is a bit of an outlier, and I wouldn’t bet too much money on him when it comes to marital prospects.
So I’m really looking at/for mostly Patrick and Denis, I guess, when it comes to possible marriages by the sons of Michael Donahue and Hanora Killeen, and so far I’ve got nothing.
