April 25-27, 2025 This weekend, the Irish Film Festival Ottawa celebrates its tenth year with a program of 7 films, from comedy to drama to thrillers. I plan to attend the Saturday afternoon showing of Fidil Ghorm (The Blue Fiddle)….
Continue reading →‘Shocking Murder’ It was on Good Friday, April 9, 1841, that John Kelly killed his own brother-in-law Michael Hourigan. According to an account published in the Bathurst Courier, the two men had spent the afternoon drinking at Henry Smith’s brewery, where they had been…
Continue reading →By Alec Lunney Peter Alexander (“Alec”) Lunney (1896-1953) was the son of Hugh Andrew Lunney and Margaret Amelia Hourigan, and a descendant of James Moran and Margaret Jamieson, and also of Mary Lahey. His “A Collection of Family and Ottawa…
Continue reading →On 26 June 1847, The Ottawa Daily Citizen published a list of “Names of persons who contributed to the relief of the suffering poor of Ireland.” This list had been supplied to the newspaper by “the Rev. Mr. O’Connell, Catholic…
Continue reading →A few points about Catholic baptismal sponsors: In French records, the godfather was le parrain, while the godmother was la marraine. In English language registers, they might be called godparents, or they might be called sponsors. In the very first…
Continue reading →Extracted from the parish registers for St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, Perth, Lanark Co., Ontario, Canada, July 1842 through December 1856.1 Below, I include only those marriages where one or both parties were identified with Co. Armagh. Many…
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