Ottawa Valley Irish

How many Home Children?

M.C. Moran — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:41:37 +0000

How many Home Children have I come across in the 1891 and 1901 Canadian census returns, while searching for my ancestors and their collateral relations? 10? 15? 20? I’ve lost count. Many more than I had expected to find when…

James Fitzpatrick: Home Child

M.C. Moran — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:15:06 +0000

Found in the household of John Rowan and his wife Emma Hogan (Emily Julia Hogan, daughter of John Hogan and Marcella Moran) in the 1891 census of Huntley township (Lanark North, Ontario): Jas. [James] Fitzpatrick, male, age 17, Dom. [Domestic],…

Peter Behrens, The Law of Dreams

M.C. Moran — Sun, 12 May 2013 05:28:18 +0000

Currently reading Peter Behrens’ The Law of Dreams, having recently finished his The O’Briens. So I’m doing things backwards (The Law of Dreams I should have read first): what else is new? I have to say, while his novel is of…

The best damn fiddler…

M.C. Moran — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:28:49 +0000

Reading Peter Behrens’ The O’Briens, I was reminded (because of the novel’s character of Mick Heaney, a drunkard and a degenerate, and an Ottawa Valley fiddler) of a film I watched many years ago: The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie…

Parents of James Edward Sullivan?

M.C. Moran — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:48:35 +0000

James Edward Sullivan was born about 1866, apparently at or near Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York. He died in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 7 February 1931. His Ontario civil death record records his birthplace as Potsdam, NY, and lists…

Peter Behrens, The O’Briens

M.C. Moran — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:52:47 +0000

Currently reading (and greatly enjoying) Peter Behrens’ The O’Briens. Probably the only novel I’ve ever read that begins with the Famine Irish of Pontiac County, Québec. Up the Pontiac!

Things will look a little strange around here…

M.C. Moran — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:52:27 +0000

…as I remodel the blog.

John Vallely (1861-1935)

M.C. Moran — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:44:19 +0000

John Vallely was a son of Michael Vallely and Mary Ryan. He was born in Lanark Co., Ontario in 1861, and emigrated to Grand Forks, North Dakota about 1882. In 1889 he married another Canadian emigrant to North Dakota: Anna…

Surname Confusion: Lavallee, Lavelle, Vallely

M.C. Moran — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:04:17 +0000

Returning to the French-Irish theme (see Strange Surname Spellings: Hohanlan for O’Hanlon) with respect to surname spellings, here are three surnames which sound somewhat similar, and which are often misspelled in the 19th-century records in ways that make them look…

A Claim for Exemption from the Draft

M.C. Moran — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:21:30 +0000

“Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?” “Yes Claim Murder” Berkeley, California, 1965? Nope. East Grand Forks, Minnesota, 1917. WWI draft registration card for Ernest Michael Sullivan, son of Michael Joseph Sullivan and Helen Elizabeth Moran: Apparently Ernest Michael…