Tag Archive for McCarthy

Civil Registration, Oral History

When did my maternal grandparents meet?

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My maternal grandparents John (“Jack”) Eugene McGlade1 and Delia Lucie Derouin were married on 10 February 1931, at St. John Chyrostom RC Church in Arnprior (Renfrew Co., Ontario). My grandfather lived in his birthplace of Perth (Lanark Co., Ontario) at the time, but was married at his bride’s parish, as per custom and tradition.

Until recently, I hadn’t given too much thought as to when my maternal grandparents might have met, though I had certainly wondered about where (he being from Perth, she being from Otter Lake…).

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  1.  My grandfather was probably named after both his paternal and his maternal grandfathers: John after John McGlade, and Eugene after Eugene McCarthy. ↩

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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Photographs

John Joseph McCarthy, James McCarthy, and two unidentified

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Courtesy of Ryan McCarthy (a descendant of Eugene McCarthy and his first wife Catherine Traynor), here’s a really nice studio portrait from about 1915 (taken at Perth, Lanark Co., Ontario):

Left to right: Unidentified (John Joseph McCarthy Sen.?); James Francis McCarthy; John Joseph McCarthy Jun.; Unidentified.

Only two of the four subjects (the two in the middle) can be positively identified. The two people in the middle are half-brothers: the young child is James Francis McCarthy (born 1912), son of John Joseph McCarthy (1869-1923) and his second wife Annie Powell; and the young man who is holding the child is John Joseph McCarthy (born 1893), son of John Joseph McCarthy and his first wife Catherine O’Dea. The man on the far left is probably John Joseph McCarthy Senior. The man on the far right is unidentified, though a notation on the back of the photograph suggests he might be an O’Dea.

Census Records

1 Household, 8 Inhabitants, 4 Surnames

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One household, eight inhabitants, four surnames…That’s one surname for every two inhabitants, or “inmates” as they were called in the 1861 Canadian census,1 and not surprisingly, not atypically, all eight were related…

Here is the household of James Traynor/Treanor in the 1861 census of Kitley township, Co. Leeds, Ontario, Canada:2

The “UC” in the above, btw, stands for “Upper Canada” (for Place of Birth); and the “RC” (for Religion) for “Roman Catholic.” And the inhabitants/inmates listed above are as follows:

  • James Traynor, son of Peter Traynor and Catherine McGinnis/Maginnis
  • Mary [Murphy] [Donovan] Traynor, daughter of James Murphy and Catherine Hardin, widow of Lawrence Donovan, and wife of James Traynor
  • Catherine [Traynor] McCarthy, daughter of James Traynor and Mary Murphy, and wife of Eugene McCarthy
  • Bridget Traynor, daughter of James Traynor and Mary Murphy (later married John Carroll)
  • Ellen [Traynor] Carey, daughter of James Traynor and Mary Murphy, and wife of John Carey
  • Mary Traynor, daughter of James Traynor and Mary Murphy
  • James Traynor, son of James Traynor and Mary Murphy (later married Catherine Jordan)
  • Mary Donovan, aka “Little Mary,” daughter of Patrick Donovan and Margaret McGinnis, and granddaughter of Mary [Murphy] [Donovan] Traynor and of Lawrence Donovan (later married Daniel Fowler, whose brother John Fowler married Ellen McCarthy, daughter of the above-named Eugene McCarthy and his second wife Honora McDonald/McDonnell)

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  1. Nowadays, “inmate” carries connotations of institutionalized confinement, most notably with reference to prisons, but in the nineteenth century, it just meant one of several dwellers in the same house or building. ↩
  2. James Treanor household, 1861 census of Canada, Canada West (Ontario), County of Leeds, Kitley Township, p. 3, lines 7-14. ↩

Catholic Records

‘in quarto & quarto consanguinitas': more on consanguinity

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I hadn’t visited Irish Genealogy.ie in quite a while, and hadn’t realized until today that they had recently (recently? or perhaps over a year ago?) added more records from the RC parishes of the Diocese of Cork and Ross. I little expected to find any records from Muintervara (the Sheep’s Head Peninsula), a place so remote (and so beautiful) that to travel its narrow paths and roadways feels like driving through a set piece commissioned by the Irish Tourist Board (though the people who live there are very much real). Well, when it comes to the Irish records, my expectations are low. But Irish Genealogy.ie has exceeded my expectations.

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Photographs

Jack McGlade (1900-1964)

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My maternal grandfather John Eugene McGlade, son of Arthur Joseph McGlade and Catherine Honora McCarthy. I wish I had known him, but he died before I was born. He has always been something of a presence in my life, however, because he has always been very fondly remembered by his children (my mother and her five siblings), who have passed down many stories.

He had a gas station (or service station, as it was then called) at the corner of Gore and Craig Streets (in Perth, Lanark Co., Ontario), where there is now a Tim Horton’s. According to several of my aunts, he was a better person than he was a businessman: if someone had fought in the war (World War II, that is), he could never bring himself to collect on the account (‘Ah, well, now, he’s a veteran…’), and he also had a soft spot for a widow with a family (‘Ah, God love her, and with so many mouths to feed…well, maybe next month…’). He used to refer to my grandmother, Nana Dee, whom I knew very well, as “the Queen Bee,” a nice tribute to her brisk maternal competence (she had six children in just under nine years; and she used to drive the nuns around town in her big boat of a car;  and she also belonged to a curling club; and was just a force of nature overall).

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Photographs

Catherine McCarthy, with granddaughter and daughter

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I really like the ornamental border on this photograph. The detail looks 1920s to me, but in fact, this picture was taken in 1933. Left to right: my great-grandmother Catherine McCarthy; my mother’s eldest sister (daughter of John Eugene McGlade and Delia Lucie Derouin); and my great-aunt Neen (Noreen McGlade, daughter of Catherine McCarthy and Arthur Joseph McGlade). Drummond Street, Perth (Lanark Co., Ontario).

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