Catholic Records

Catholic Records, Directories, Employment/Occupation

Where did my great-grandparents meet?

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Here is my great-grandmother Anna (“Annie”) Maria Benton in the Ottawa city directory of 1895-6:1

Annie Benton

Miss Annie Benton, dressmaker, lodger at 103 Cambridge St.

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  1. The Ottawa city Directory, 1895-6: embracing an alphabetical list of all business firms and private citizens, a classified business directory and a miscellaneous directory, containing a large amount of valuable information : also a complete street guide, to which is added an alphabetical and street directory of Hull, Que., . (Might Directory Co. of Toronto: 1895), online at archive.org ↩

Catholic Records, Death and Burial

Funeral Prayer Cards

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I tend to think of funeral prayer cards as a Catholic thing, though this assumption may be a function of my own, somewhat limited experience: the vast majority of funerals I have attended have been Catholic (at the moment, I can think of only two that were not, though that can’t be accurate, surely?).

In any case, the two examples below are most certainly Catholic, and baroquely Catholic at that.

Funeral card for Francis Joseph McGlade (1908-1961)

Francis Joseph McGlade, son of Arthur Joseph McGlade and Catherine Honora McCarthy, was a younger brother of my maternal grandfather Jack McGlade.

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Catholic Records, Census Records, Crime and Punishment, Oral History, Translation

The Queen vs. Kelly: Part V

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Continued from The Queen vs Kelly: Part IV (see also Part III, Part II, and Part I).

What Happened to John Kelly and Mary Hourigan?

When I wrote Part I of “The Queen vs. Kelly,” I had no idea what had happened to John Kelly after his release from the Dominion Penitentiary in May 1842. Nor did I have any expectation of finding him, once I had determined that he did not return to March township.

According to family lore, he had “gone to the States,” which certainly didn’t sound too promising. The States covers a vast territory, of course, and with a common surname like Kelly, and the even commoner forenames of John, Mary (his wife) and Ann (his daughter), searching for this family seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack. I did do a search of the 19th-century US federal census returns, but (not surprisingly, as it turns out) came up with nothing.1

It was while searching for another record (unrelated to the Kellys and the Hourigans, as a matter of fact) in the parish register for the Mission at Mattawa that I happened upon the burial record for Mary Hourigan, who was buried as  “Mary Horrigan, Dame John Kelly:”

Burial record for Mary Hourigan, widow of John Kelly.

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  1. If the Kellys had gone to the United States, by the way, their daughter Ann’s Canadian birthplace would have been the best bet for identifying them in the US federal census. Since both John Kelly and his wife Mary Hourigan were born in Ireland, they would have been listed in the US census as John and Mary Kelly, born in Ireland and now living in America, but with no indication of a decade or two spent in Canada. Their daughter Ann’s birthplace, on the other hand, if accurately listed (and there are many such ifs when it comes to census data) would have been recorded as Canada. I have found other Ireland-to-Canada-to-America families in the US census by searching for children born in Canada. ↩

Catholic Records

Disparité de culte/disparity of worship/disparitus cultus

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When Rose Ann Muriel St. Jean married Max Glatt at a Catholic church in Ottawa,1  the couple had to obtain “une dispense de disparité de culte” (a dispensation for [the impediment of] disparity of worship):

Marriage record of Max Glatt and Rose Ann Muriel St. Jean, 11 February 1939

The reason for this dispensation is given in the marriage record above: Max Glatt, son of Myer Glatt and Esther Pack, was “de la religion juive” (of the Jewish religion).

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  1. Ottawa (Paroisse St. Jean Baptiste, Carleton Co., Ontario), Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1909-1968, M. 6 (1939), Max Glatt and Rose Ann Muriel St. Jean, image 2257 of 2995, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca/: accessed 16 November 2012), Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967. ↩

Catholic Records

A marriage blessing (John Delaney and Emma Dean)

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Hull (Paroisse Notre Dame de Grâce, Ottawa Co., Quebec), Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1886-1900, M. 54 (1887), John Delaney and Emma Dean; image 197 of 2423, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca/: accessed 20 April 2012), Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-967.

From the parish register for Notre Dame de Grâce, Hull (Ottawa County, Quebec), here is an interesting (and highly unusual) marriage record. As I read it, it is not a record of the performance of a marriage act at Notre Dame de Grâce. Rather, it is a record of a Catholic blessing bestowed upon a marriage that had already taken place — in a Protestant ceremony in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, a year and a half earlier.

The record [my transcription, with my translation] reads as follows:

Le sept Aout mil huit cent quatre vingt sept par devant nous prêtre, dûment autorisé par Monseigneur Joseph Thomas Duhamel Archevêque d’Ottawa, soussigné se sont présentés John Delany fils mineur de Michel Dolany et de Mary Ashberry de cette paroisse d’un part, et Emma Dean fille mineure de Herbert Dean et de Mary Davis de Salford, Manchester Angleterre d’autre part, lesquels ont déjà contracté ensemble mariage le seize Janvier mil huit cent quatre ving six a Salford, Manchester Angleterre, devant un ministre protestant: n’ayant découvert aucun empechement, nous prêtre soussigné avons bene [bené] leur mariage en présence de Michael Delany et de Francis Delany soussignés. ME Harnois, ptre.

[The seventh of August one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven in the presence of we the undersigned priest, duly authorized by Monseigneur Joseph Thomas Duhamel Archbishop of Ottawa,  have come John Delany minor son of Michel Dolaney and of Mary Ashberry of this parish, on the one part, and Emma Dean minor daughter of Herbert Dean and of Mary Davis of Salford, Manchester, England on the other part, who have already contracted marriage together on the sixteenth of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six in Salford, Manchester, England in the presence of a Protestant minister: no impediment having been discovered, we the undersigned priest have blessed their marriage in the presence of the undersigned Michael Delany and Francis Delany. ME Harnois, priest]

A week before the above-recorded blessing, it should be noted, Emma Dean had converted to Roman Catholicism and had been baptized a Catholic at Notre Dame de Grâce (31 July 1887), with her father-in-law Michael Delaney and her mother-in-law Mary Ashbury serving as sponsors (as le parrain, the godfather, and la marraine, the godmother, respectively). Without this conversion to Catholicism on the part of Emma Dean, there’s no way that Father M.E. Harnois would have blessed the marriage.

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Catholic Records, Documents

Early Baptisms, St. Francis de Sales, Smiths Falls: Part I

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Early Baptisms (May 1848-Dec 1849), St. Francis de Sales, Smiths Falls, Montague township, Lanark Co., Ontario, Canada

This is my own transcription, some of the names were hard to make out. I have resisted the urge to “correct” the spellings. You should check the original for names, dates, and other details, and especially for the names of sponsors/godparents (which I have not included here due to space constraints).

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Catholic Records, Migration

Co. Armagh, Ireland to Leeds Co., Ontario, Canada: Some RC Marriage Records

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Looking at a run of marriages recorded from 1852 to 1858 in the parish register for St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church, Westport, Leeds Co., Ontario, the Armagh presence in North Crosby (Co. Leeds, Ontario) is very much in evidence. Of the six marriages recorded for the year 1852, for example, five of the six identify either the bride or the groom (or both the bride and groom) with a native parish in Armagh. The most frequently cited Armagh parish is that of Forkhill.1

Many of the names below can be found in Kevin Murphy and Una Walsh, A Famine Link: The ‘Hannah’ — South Armagh to Ontario (Mullaghbane Community Association, 2006). Some of the names can also be found in the township map of North Crosby (from  Leavitt, Thadeus W. H. History of Leeds and Grenville, Ontario [Brockville : Recorder Press, 1879]), available online via the Canadian County Atlas Digital Project (McGill University). Also see this Westport, Ontario, Canada page at Bytown or Bust.

I have only included marriages where one or both parties are identified with Co. Armagh. Other Irish counties cited in the marriage register for St. Edward’s, Westport (for the same period: 1852-1858) include Cavan, Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Louth, Mayo, and Wexford.

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  1. Note that Forkill/Forkhill is a civil parish. The corresponding Roman Catholic parish is that of Mullaghbawn. ↩

Catholic Records, Queries

“the Catholic cemetery at Burgess” = St. Bridget’s, Stanleyville? (burial of Thomas Dunn)

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So much of the detail of genealogical information requires a knowledge of local history/local geography, which I, for one, do now always have.

Thomas Dunn (c.1824 – 1886) was the son of Owen Dunn and Ann Rock/Rocke, and a brother to my 2x-great-grandmother Bridget Dunn (married John McGlade). He was born in Co. Armagh, Ireland (Canadian records suggest anywhere from 1817 to 1828 as a possible birth year); and can be found in Canada by 1851.

He was twice married.

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Catholic Records, Census Records, Home Children, Queries

Who was Thomas Lanctot?

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Also: Margaret Devine and Thomas William Sullivan, Home Children

Thomas Lanctot [here spelled Langtoe] is found in the household of Thomas Burke and Mary Ann Lahey in the 1901 Canadian census (Ontario, Carleton, March, p. 2, family no. 15). He is listed as “Adopted,” with racial/tribal origin French, and birthplace “O u” (Ontario urban, as distinct from “O r,” Ontario rural). His age is given as 15, with year of birth 1885 and day and month of birth unknown.

Thomas Burke household, 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, Carleton (district 52), March Township (subdistrict C-1), p. 2, family 15.

Confirmation of Thomas Lanctot, 14 June 1900.

About a year earlier, on 14 June 1900, Thomas Lanctot had made his Confirmation at St. Isidore (South March), with his age given as 14 and his parents listed as “Thomas Burke, Adopter” and “Mary Ann Lahey, Adoptress” (Click thumbnail preview [right] to see larger image). Also confirmed at St. Isidore on 14 June 1900 was Margaret Devine, age 11, whose parents were also listed as “Thomas Burke, Adopter” and “Mary Ann Lahey, Adoptress.”1

Margaret Devine is also listed as an “Adopted” child in the 1901 houshold of Thomas Burke and Mary Ann Lahey (see census image above): Margaret Devine [here Devin], born Ireland 12 July 1886, year of immigration to Canada 1897.

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  1. Register of Confirmations, 1888-1909, St. Isidore, South March, Carleton, FamilySearch.org (http://familysearch.org), Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923. ↩

Catholic Records, Civil Registration, Naming Practices

What was her ‘real’ name? (Lillian Doyle)

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Nowadays we tend to think of someone as having a ‘real’ name, with nicknames and diminutives as informal variations on that one official and authentic version of the name. A person’s ‘real’ name is what appears on the birth certificate, of course (and also in the baptismal record, if relevant), and in all subsequent official documents (driver’s licenses, marriage certificates, deeds to property, and so on). Nicknames and diminuitives are for casual, informal use only.

It was different in the nineteenth century, however, when people were much more flexible about name variations (and also about surname spellings, which point is admittedly a bit of a hobbyhorse of mine).

Take, for example, Lillian Doyle. And I call her “Lillian Doyle” because that is the name that I remember her by. Not that I ever met her: she died before I was born. But I recall my father and his sister talking about her, and hers is one of those names that has always stuck in my mind. Dominic Stanton. Evelyn Sullivan.  Tommy Burke. Danny O’Neill. Lillian Doyle. A whole cast of colourful characters  whom I only “know” by hearsay, or only posthumously, so to speak, but who have always seemed to play an interesting part in the drama (or perhaps comedy?) of my father’s family history.

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