St. Columban-Irish Forum - Genealogy - Census

Dwyer & Elliott Families

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 20:26:54 +0000

So glad this site is back up and running.

I am the great, great granddaughter of Michael Dwyer and Anne Elliott; great granddaughter of their oldest daughter Mary Agnes Dwyer (later Wallace). They went from St. Columban to Montreal and then to Chicago where they arrived around 1865. Michael & Anne later went to Hobart, IN. Also, some of the family ended up in the Denver, CO area.

I would love to find out why they picked Chicago, as none of their immediate family seemed to be there. I'm also trying to figure out how people would have traveled from St. Columban to Chicago in those days.

I have been researching these families for a while now. Happy to share/recieve information about this family and their offspring.

Scheffer & McDonald Familes - St. Columban

Sun, 08 May 2011 21:47:20 +0000

[size=10pt][size=10pt][size=10pt]E-Mail Received....from Ray Cowan

the_cowans@optusnet.com.au

Reference: 1851 Census

Hi guys.

I may have already sent this information, but thought that I would do so, just in case.

On page 3,:-

Numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 are the Scheffer family (two children born in St Colomban and in Church records and originally from the German Schaeffer with no ?e?, just an ?a umlaut?). Number 5 is Eusebe (or Seb for short) with his wife Christian Miller (daughter of John Miller and Elizabeth Miller (nee Cowan ? my g.g.g aunt - of Lachute) and two children. You will find the Scheffer family (and particularly son, Peter, who was also baptised in St Colomban) among the pioneers of Montana, to where they travelled from St Colomban ? Frenchtown, Missoula.

Numbers 38, 39 and 40 are the McDonald family. Husband Duncan, son John, and Duncan?s wife Christian McDonald (nee Cowan ? Elizabeth Miller?s sister).

The reason I contacted you earlier, was to track down the latter family, but I have not had much luck ? given the common surname. I think I may have the death details of Duncan (and maybe his son Duncan), but I am not positive. I have found nothing on Christian McDonald, another g.g.g. aunt).

I hope this is of help, and if you can help me in return, I would be grateful.

Ray Cowan
Sydney, Australia [/size] [/size] [/size]

Question about Ryan / McGuirk

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:08:39 +0000

Hi my great great grandmother Mary Ryan married a Micheal McGuirk around 1851. Mary was the daughter of Ellen Dorney and Thomas Ryan of Tipperary, Ireland.

I know she came with her mother to the Shefford area not sure abouts siblings but there is a rumor that Mary may have had a sister that had gone to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. My McGuirk family came this way. Anything you could add to this information would be helpful.

LAURA HOGAN

HOGANL@MIDDLESEX.MASS.EDU

Family tree of James Madden and Mary Keys

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:02:15 +0000

Just found this, another page from Cecilia McDonald's notes!

scan0009.jpg (Size: 224.86 KB / Downloads: 166)

Keyes-Madden Family moved to Dubuque, Iowa around 1848

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:25:57 +0000

My great grandfather Andrew Keyes had three sisters ? Mary; Elizabeth (sometimes called Betty); and Judith (some records note her as Julia).

All were born in Ireland and were the children of Patrick Keyes & Honora Phelan

Mary married James Madden, on June 1st 1835, in St. Scholastique. They left St. Columban around June of 1848, when James and Mary moved to Dubuque, Iowa.

It seems that perhaps both her sisters - Elizabeth who married Matthew Power; and Judith who married who married Patrick Ryan - may have also moved to Dubuque

There are a number of people researching this part of my family and one, Pat Geiser, (Patriciamarx1@aol.com ) just sent me some great photos of James Madden and Mary Key(e)s, which I am attaching.Pat is also looking for any information about her own great grandmother Honora Madden who was born in 1840.

I have other records of children born to Mary Keyes and James Madden ? but not one for Honora ? Not sure if anyone on the list has any information about Honora Madden?

In the meantime, here are the photos

  James Madden & Mary Keyes3.jpg (Size: 166.48 KB / Downloads: 119)

  James Madden 4.jpg (Size: 242.85 KB / Downloads: 119)

  James Madden 5.jpg (Size: 317.06 KB / Downloads: 133)

1871 Census: William Cohoon, St. Colomban, Portneuf, Quebec (French/Cath)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:11:14 +0000

The above census includes the following family members:
William Cohoon 25 (abt. 1846)
Margaret Cohoon 25 (abt. 1846)
Andrew Cohoon 5
Bertha Cohoon 3
Timothy (who was an infant) no age

1871 Census: William Cohoon, Banlieue South, Quebec West, Quebec (Irish/Cath) includes the following
family members:

William Cohoon 25 (abt. 1846)
Margueret Cohoon 25 (abt. 1846)
Leandra Cohoon (male) 5
Rutha Cohoon (female) 3 (might be transcription error)
Thimothee Cohoon 1

I have US naturalization papers that state William Cohoon was born in "Parrish St. Colombe, Dominion of Canada" in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on or about December 26, 1850.

This was done in Lewiston, Maine in 1890.

The obituary for William Cohoon in Niantic, CT in 1929 states his age as 80 or 86, which means he could have been born as early as 1843 or 1849. (The age is illegible). Later US censuses state abt. 1846.

Finally, I remembered my french long enough to graduate from College and then moved to Japan. I don't remember my french and/or confuse it with my spanish.

Going out on a limb here and exercising my God given right to be stupid, is it possible that the above censuses are for the same family? Would one be an English translation of the French version? Is Leandra french for Andrew?

Was there a stigma to being called Irish in 1871? The "french" census say irish/cath. The "english" version says french/cath.

William's wife was a Mahoney and her family is in the 1861 census for "Parish St. Colomba" with birth place of Ireland, so their origin can't have been french in 1871.

Are the variants St. Colombe, St. Colomban and St. Colomba in fact different locales?

I am throwing it all out there with the hope that something might be recognized and worthy of comment.

Thanks for your time reading the post.

New Collection of Canadian City Directories on Ancestry.com

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 13:25:28 +0000

Newly released Canadian city directories from 1819 to 1906 are now available on ancestry.com. Great way to cross reference where your ancestors lived and when and what their profession was. It's also a record of local business that were operating in those years. Something that's not always easy to find unless you visit a city archives in person.

Read about the collection here:
http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2010/06/25/a-new-road-home-canadian-city-and-area-directories-1819%e2%80%931906/

If you have a membership the collection is available here:
http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1260

As an example here's my great grandfather Matthew Whelan living in montreal in 1864 as a blacksmith. He later moved to Ottawa to help build the first parliament buildings.

image.jpg (Size: 4.5 KB / Downloads: 115)

Michael Freney

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:42:58 +0000

I was looking at your marriage index for the Parish of St. Scholastique. Martin Freney is my ancestor. I see in your index that there is a John and a Michael Freney. I am looking to tie my ancestor, Martin, to John and/or Michael. If you have perhaps a witness listed as Martin at John or Michael's weddings it may help me with my research. Anything you find that will help will be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Sharon Murray
squinnmurray@optonline.net
516-746-5943

Millers; McDonalds; Scheffer; Cowan - Update Information

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:46:29 +0000

Here is an e-mail that we received recently. There is some additional information that we will try to post elsewhere on the site:-

Hi Fergus.

For what it?s worth, I just wanted to let you know of some corrections on page 3 of your 1851 Census records. I know they are not Irish, but they certainly are pioneers of the St Colomban area. MILLERS & McDONALDS are from Stirling, Scotland ? Eusebe?s father is from Gerrmany and not sure about his mother (but I think that family has been in Quebec for a long while ? originally from France).

Numbers 5 through 10 minus 9 are all surname SCHEFFER, with No. 6 being Francois (Eusebe) SCHEFFER ? he used his middle name, see Censuses. I note that the surname was Anglicised from the German SCHIEFFER to SCHEFFER (sometimes shown as SHEFFER). I think that Eusebe was born 24/5/1810, and his parents were Charles SCHIEFFER and Louise Lisette GELINEAU, who had a very large number of children (I see about 14) from their marriage on 10/5/1807. Eusebe?s family moved to Montana and became prominent pioneers of that district.

Numbers 38 through 40 ? first two are correct, but 40 is actually Christian COWAN (I think her maiden surname has been corrected on the official list, and Christian was a commonly used girls? name ? and family name). She was the sister of Elizabeth COWAN of Lachute, both of whom were from Stirling. Two of her brothers came to Australia, one of whom is my patriarch. Therefore, Christian MILLER was the niece of Christian McDONALD.

If you have anything in your data base about the McDONALDS which might help out a researcher from downunder, I would be very grateful. I can?t seem to get a bead on the family apart from what I have so far in the spreadsheet ? death of the patriarch seems to be 1874 and looks like his son in 1899. Would the author Duncan McDonald be related to the McDonalds from your area?

Because I have been researching the Miller family and Scheiffer/Scheffer/Sheffer marrued Christian Miller, I see you have a document headed

ST. COLUMBAN?S RC CHURCH, DEUX MONTAGNES, QUEBEC INDEX
May 16, 2003 This list is to be used as a guideline only. Due to bad handwriting, the poor condition of the original record, our unfamiliarity with French names and the loss of clarity in the photocopying process there is no guarantee that the stated records are accurate. However, we have tried to be as accurate as possible. Sometimes we could confirm the spelling by the signatures, but even they were sometimes inconsistent. Sometimes the name was so hard to read we put what we could see or guess at.

As you can see from above the attachment, there are several entries which can now be corrected for Eusebe and Christian (aka Christina) Scheffer (shown as Eustace and Christine in your document). Although I can?t find a birth for Elizabeth, the ones affected are:-

Mary 23 June 1845 (Burial) - Mary 10 October 1845 (Death ? hence 3.5 months?) - Mary 6 September 1846 (Baptism of new Mary). Pierre (Peter) 1/10/1848 (Baptism). Isabella 22 July 1851 (Death) . For this one, given the date of birth of Elizabeth (don?t remember where I got it) is January 1851, is it possible that Isabella is another stillborn baby mid-term?

Many thanks for the tips contained in your information, and I hope I may have helped in a small way in correcting some of the assumptions shown in the document, and your records. You will recall that this Scheffer family moved to Montana, although I note that Eusebe was one of a very large family (about 14) . Let me know if you can help on any of this.

Cheers,

Ray Cowan

PS. Can?t find the marriage which would be about 1840ish.

James Carroll and Ann Molloy Breen

Sun, 16 May 2010 22:08:16 +0000

I found an interesting St. Columban connection. Carroll researchers know that James Carroll, son of William Carroll and Catherine Cunningham, married a Kelley. The Wisconsin marriages database, found on Familysearch.org (the pilot site), identifies her as Sarah Kelley born in Ireland, the daughter of Patrick Kelley and Margaret Sheridan. They were married Oct. 1, 1863 in Hudson, St. Croix, Wisconsin. The 1870 census puts them across the river in Minnesota with a son, James, born in Iowa about 1866. Minnesota birth records, also on Familysearch.org, show them having another son, William, born Feb. 14, 1871 in Reads Landing, Wabasha, Minnesota. Unfortunately, I cannot find much else on any of them after this point, except for a little tidbit about James Carroll (the elder)

On November 29, 1881 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, James Carroll married Ann Molloy (Maloy, Malloy). The record lists the parents of the bride and groom, so there is no doubt about the identities. We know that Ann married Robert Breen and that they moved to Wisconsin (as did Patrick and Matthew (Mathias) Molloy her brothers) and that they divorced. The 1870 census has them divorced but living very near each other. We also know that Ann married Onesime Pinard in 1899 (who in that very same 1870 census is living next door to her). Therefore, James must have died in between or the marriage was annulled. I was very tickled to see two St. Columbans getting married to each other 1000 miles from home!

Gregory Carroll

Dwyer family from St. Columban

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:37:18 +0000

From: crypto888@aol.com
Sent: Sun, Mar 14, 2010 1:37 am
Subject: Dwyer family from St. Columban

Dear sir,

I recently became aware that my great-grandmother's family came to the US from St. Columban in the mid 1860s. She was Malvina Alice Dwyer, (born in the US), the 10th of 11 children born to Michael C. Dwyer and Anne Elliott, both of St. Columban. Michael Dwyer is the son of John Dwyer and Bridget Culleton, who came from Ireland.

Any further information on this family that you may have would be most appreciated!

Sincerely,
Stuart W. Ackley
Rancho Mirage, CA

James Grimes / Ann Clarke

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:18:14 +0000

Here is a copy of an e-mail that I recieved FYI

Fergus,

I was wondering if you know of any of the James Grimes/ Ann Clarke descendents from St. Columban that have researched the family history from Ireland (pre-St. Columban).

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Cecilia Kozak
c9kozak@telus.net

William Casey and Mary McCormick

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:46:35 +0000

William Casey and Mary McCormick were my GGGGG grandparents.

I am descended through their daughter Elizabeth Casey, married to James Grace.
Their daughter Ann Grace married to Philip Dunphy.
Their daughter Bridget Dunphy married to Henry Patrick Korb.
Their daughter Lillian Korb married to Patrick P. Connelly
Their daughter Esther Ann Connelly married to Percy Leo Aldridge.
Their daughter Sandra Leonora Aldridge married to Allen Owen Forrest
I am Theresa Dease (nee Forrest).

Theresa Dease
theresa@babyboom2.com

McKeons in St. Columban

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:30:21 +0000

I've just signed up to this site to see if anyone can help out with my family history research.

My great-great-great grandfather was Richard John Johns(t)on who came to
Montreal about 1840 - originally from County Down in Ireland - and was a
private in "Her Majesty's 60th rifles". Richard married Margaret McKeown
(also spelled McKeone, McKeon in some records) whose parents were John
McKeon and Ann McAndrew of St. Columban - according to their marriage
registration in 1865 in Montreal.
I've found an 1851 Census that lists John McKeon in Deux Montagnes with
a Margret of potentially the right age along with siblings Patrick, Neal, John, Bridget
and a perhaps mother Ann McKenrick.
Richard and Margaret ended up moving to London, Ontario where they
raised their family which included a Neil, a Bridget, a John and an Ann etc.
Although probably common names amongst Irish of the time, it's the only
connection I can find that has them all together - and then repeated in
the next generation and from St. Columban to boot!
It may be a long shot, but I'm hoping to connect with other McKeons
so I can confirm whether or not this is the line to pursue. I'm sure it's
possible that by 1865 Ann McKenrick had passed on and John
married Ann McAndrew.

Any suggestions for going about this?
:-\

Info needed ref: Robert Mooney (Moonie) Born 1842, St-Columban, Quebec

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:58:47 +0000

From: Dubld07@aol.com
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 13:08:12 EST
To:
Subject: geneology

Hi,

I was just playing on the web and found your site and loved it. Doing this is a love, time consuming and very interesting. I have been doing my family for many years and have lots of information.

Many of my family are from Quebec on both sides, Paternal Grandparents married in St Columban in 1897 and Maternal Grandparents are all from the Arundel area.

The names that I found on your site are Viau,Joly, Mooney (Moonie), Boyd, Simon and was so pleasantly surprised to find so many old and new names to work on my family tree.

Robert Mooney (Moonie) Born 1842, St-Columban, Quebec is my Paternal Great Grandfather. His Father was Edmund Mooney, Born 1799, Ireland, Mother Bridget Power, born 1802, Ireland.

I know for sure that he married a Dobie (Dobbie) possibly from Arundel.

I am trying to confirm her first name...possibly Jessie. Her sister was Mary Dobie , Born February 17,1864 from Arundel, Died October 11, 1935 in Arundel, Quebec, and she married William Scott, Born May 4, 1861 in Quebec, Died September 23, 1911, in Arundel, Quebec.
Their son, Arthur Alexander Scott, Born December 9, 1893, Quebec, Died Montreal, March 29, 1978. Married my Maternal Grandmother Anna Irene Morrison's sister Elizabeth Mary Morrison.

I would really appreciate it if you could steer me in a direction or site to find the Dobbie Family. I know they were from Arundel Area, Argenteuil County, Quebec.

Robert Mooney (Moonie) and ??? Dobbie are the parents of my Paternal Grandfather
Robert D.Moonie, Born July ( January) 10, 1867, St-Canut, Deux Montagnes, Quebec. He was an only child. We were always told that his middle name was Dobbie and I have recently found his marrige certifucate and they have his middle name as David. He has signed it as Robert D. Moonie and on the side they have Robert David Mooney. Could this be them just filling in a name or could it really have been David? I found that in the Quebec Vital and Church Records ( Drouin Collection) , 1621-1967 records.the Spouse name is correct Sara Fabiola Viau.

Any assistance you could give me on the real name of my Paternal Great Grandmother would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You
Elizabeth (Bett?) Duff
e-mail Dubld07@aol.com

My Paternal Grandfather Robert D. Moonie is the family member who changed his name from Mooney to Moonie.