Death records often supply interesting (and occasionally rather gruesome) details about an ancestor's cause of death. And while the information found in early Ontario civil death records is a bit scanty, once we get into the twentieth century, the records become much more detailed, and therefore much more valuable to the family historian. Resist the … Continue reading “Did an operation precede death”? (Ontario civil death records)
James Michael McGlade was born at Perth (Lanark Co., Ontario) on 17 September 1905, the son of Patrick McGlade and Elizabeth Cahill. When he enlisted with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry on 20 July 1940, he gave his occupation as "Diamond Driller." My mother was too young to remember this, but a couple of her … Continue reading James Michael McGlade: Inventory of Personal Effects
The following petition is found amongst the Upper Canada Land Petitions, though it concerns a property in Lower Canada (on Calumet Island/L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, in Pontiac County, Quebec). Honourable Sir, I humbly beg leave to state that in the year 1835 I settled as Squatter on the Calumet Island, on a lot of land which I considered … Continue reading Squatter’s rights: the Widow Cahill petitions the Crown (Part I)
As with baptismal and marriage records, RC burial records adhered to the same formula, whether written in English or French. If you know the English-language formula, you can easily figure out the French. (And often the hardest part, as I've mentioned before, is to decipher the priest's handwriting). The formula, more or less: The [day … Continue reading Translating French Records: Catholic Burial Records
I am extremely grateful to Al Lunney for sending me a copy of Alec Lunney's "A Collection of Family and Ottawa Area Information," which includes his account of his maternal (and my paternal) ancestors James Moran and Margaret Jamieson. Peter Alexander ("Alec") Lunney (1896-1953) was the son of Hugh Andrew Lunney and Margaret Amelia Hourigan, … Continue reading “My Maternal Ancestors,” by Alec Lunney
If you come across a marriage record which notes the granting of a dispensation of consanguinity, you should definitely sit up and take note: you are looking at evidence of a common ancestor (or a pair of common ancestors) shared by both bride and groom. However, as Dan MacDonald points out in his Marriage Dispensations in … Continue reading Catholic Marriage Dispensations
On the same day. On 3 November 1866, at Ste. Anne, Calumet Island/L'Île-du-Grand-Calumet, Pontiac Co., Québec: James Cahill, who died at the age of 12. Anne Cahill, who died at the age of 14. Celestine Cahill, who died at the of 8. The witnesses to all three burials were the same two men: Thomas Campel … Continue reading Three Cahill Children Buried
When I first read the Perth Courier's obituary (January 1941) for my great-grandmother Catherine McCarthy (Mrs. Arthur McGlade), I was puzzled to read that she was survived by, amongst other people, a sister named Miss Mary Mahoney. Miss (as in, never married) Mahoney? But shouldn't that be Miss Mary McCarthy? Well, no, not necessarily. Not … Continue reading Blended Families
