‘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 →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 →Or, Who Gave What to Whom? In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marriage notices in local newspapers would sometimes include a list of the wedding presents received by the happy couple, along with the names of the gift-givers….
Continue reading →Mattawa Hospital ‘A very large floating population of men’ In an 1883 report of his inspection of the Mattawa Hospital, which he had visited on July 23, 1882, W.T. O’Reilly noted that hundreds of men passed through Mattawa “in the…
Continue reading →Or, The Marriage of Michael J. Sullivan Michael Joseph Sullivan and Helen Elizabeth Moran Note: Basic genealogical information for this couple can be found here. In brief: the Canadian-born Michael “Mike” Joseph Sullivan (1859-1951), son of Timothy Sullivan and Hanora…
Continue reading →Two examples from the 1871 census I’ve been looking into childbirth-related deaths and the ways in which they were recorded (or not recorded, in some cases). I have many examples from 19th-century Carleton and Lanark Counties, but for this post…
Continue reading →I’ve been researching the career of the Rev. Canon John Andrew Sloan (1855-1915), the Catholic priest who baptized, married, and buried many of my paternal ancestors, first at St. Patrick’s, Fallowfield/St. Isidore’s, South March, and then at St. Mary’s, Ottawa….
Continue reading →
