The mystery of Mary Ann Dougherty, born about 1854

A few years ago, when I found my great grandfather John James Dougherty (1833-1893) in the 1871 Canada Census, his household included a mystery. At the time, he was married to his first wife, Mary Ann Gannon (1838-1871)  and living in Granby, where he gave his occupation as a farmer and butcher. Yes, Mary Ann died soon after the census was conducted.

But also listed was a child, Mary Ann Dougherty, whose age given was 13 and who was reported to have been born in the United States. Who was she? I decided at that time to attribute her to an earlier marriage of Mary Ann Gannon's or of my great grandfather (although I could find no record of an earlier marriage), but was unable to find any further information about Mary Ann.

1871 Canada census, Granby, Shefford, Quebec 

1877 Cincinnati city directory 

Then, last year, I found Mary Ann in the 1877 Cincinnati city directory living at the same address as my 2nd great uncle Joseph M. Dougherty (1835-1886), along with a Marcus Dougherty, who I concluded was yet another 2nd great uncle (he couldn't have been my 2nd great grandfather, also a Marcus Dougherty, as he died in 1864). At that time, Mary Ann would have been about 23 years old.

But while that that Marcus Dougherty appears in the 1878 Cincinnati directory, Mary Ann did not, and I couldn't find her anywhere.

 Then a few weeks ago, I happened upon a 7 year old "Mary Ann Docherty" in the 1861 census of Elgin Township in Huntingdon, Lower Canada, living with an elderly couple in a log house, who was also recorded as having been born in the United States. This was just far too coincidental.

1861 census, Elgin Township, Huntingdon, Lower Canada

Aside from the consistency in birthplace and age, another of my 2nd great aunt, Mary Louisa (1838-1913)  had been baptized in Ormstown, also in Huntingdon, in 1839. It's not too much of a stretch to think that there was a friendship between the Doughertys and McMenamins that endured for several years.

I've got a theory that Mary Ann was a child of the 2nd great uncle Marcus as I'll call him, and a daughter of the elderly couple, whose family name, after some research and consultation, I've settled on as McMenamin. Note that the census taker helpfully lists Edward McMenamin, but identifies his wife as Mrs Edward McMenamin.

Did Mary Ann's mother die in childbirth? Given that Edward McMenamin was 77 and his wife was 60 in 1861, they likely died before 1871, when Mary Ann is living with my great grandfather. But she's not living with him in the 1881 census, when she would have been 27 years old.

What a sad, nomadic life Mary Ann must have had, being shunted from one set of relatives to another as a child.

What happened to Mary Ann Dougherty after 1877? I suspect that one day, I'll find another piece of the puzzle that is Mary Ann and learn more about her life.

But don't get me started about that other Marcus, who could well be Mary Ann's father. I can find no mention of him before 1877 or after 1878.

The never ending story continues....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2017 All rights reserved

Black Sheep Sundays: Margaret Grace Caroline (1846-?)

One of the stories I learned over the last few years was that of my great aunt, Margaret Grace Caroline. She didn't get along with her father, and they apparently argued often.

Margaret walked away, alone, from the Caroline farm in Granby, as a young woman -- no one can recall the year, and was never heard from again. The exact timing of her disappearance and the details have been lost to oral history, or not passed down. Was that because of shame? In last half of the 19th century, giving yourself a new name was easily done. No need for anything official. You just arrived in a new town and called yourself by a new name. When she left, was she doing so by pre-arrangement, meeting someone in town? Did she stay in Quebec or go into the United States? Who knows. No trace of Margaret has ever been found. Believe me, I've looked.

Okay, she probably wasn't a black sheep, but clearly, well brought up young women didn't just leave without a word at that time. Did she become a victim of foul play? I think it more likely that she changed her name, and hopefully had adventures in life as a woman ahead of her time. I hope that's not rose-coloured glasses on my part.

And yet, she was in her father's thoughts. When Hugh wrote his will in 1877, he left her $100, as this was the same amount he bequeathed to all six of his daughters. But there is a caveat to his will: if there were any delays in paying the daughters their inheritance, that payment be made by age, oldest to youngest. Margaret was the youngest daughter. In 1877, she would have been 31 years old. Hugh died 18 months after signing his will, which he did with a shaky hand.

Act III, Hugh Edward Caroline, Will signed 21 Nov 1877

How much would that $100 be worth in 2016 dollars? Statistics Canada's inflation calculator goes back only to 1914, and if $100 was paid out in 1914, that would be equivalent to this in 2016.

Did Margaret ever reach out to her brothers and sisters? I wonder what happened to the $100 her father left to Margaret. We'll never know.

The never ending story continues.....



© Margaret Dougherty 2016 All rights reserved

Cousins killed in 1867 Harlow Bridge collapse at Northfield, Vermont

My great grandmother Rose had an older brother, Edward Caroline (1835-1867). They also had a younger first cousin, Thomas Caroline (1849-1867), the son of Michael Caroline and Julia Anne Ryan.

Original Harper's Weekly illustration 4 Jan 1868

Edward and Thomas both found work in just over the border from Granby in Vermont, working on railway construction for the Vermont Central Railroad.

I don't know how long they were doing this work before disaster struck, and this wasn't a work-related incident in the sense that it happened while they were working. Thirty-eight workers were returning by train to the construction site at Harlow Bridge from their lunch break. The engineer was asked to speed up so he could return to bring the rest of the workers back from lunch. The increased speed caused the train car to derail and plunge 25 feet before breaking in two, with the second piece plunging a further 60 feet. They were two of 15 fatalities in what was known as the Harlow Bridge Disaster on 11 Dec 1867.

Here is one relatively contemporary account written in 1878. And here is another:

"Harlow Bridge Train WreckThe accident near Northfield, Vermont on the Vermont Central Railroad on December 11, 1867, was the most destructive to life of any disaster which has ever occurred in the "Green Mountain State", since railroads were established. it occurred at which is known as the Harlow Bridge - a structure which spans a chasm some three hundred feet in width. Its abutments were sixty feet in heights, and its middle pier about seventy-five feet. This bridge was burned on December 8, and a heavy force of laborers had been employed in erecting trestle-work for temporary use. About a hundred of these men, having dined at Northfield, were returning to their labors on December 11 when the terrible calamity occurred. They were in a passenger car, and were being backed up to the works. By some unaccountable hallucination the engineer proceeded at an unusual rate of speed-sometimes running it as high as thirty miles an hour. He was reminded of his strange mistake by his fireman, but not till too late to avert the terrible consequences. The car, with its freight of some ninety men, was precipitated down a perpendicular distance of sixty feet. The tender broke from the engine and instantly followed. The scene was a fearful one. Fifteen dead men, with more than as many others suffering wounds more or less sever, lay in one heap, seven of whom were under the tender." -- Harper's Weekly Illustrated Journal, New York 4 Jan 1868

Local accounts identified the Vermont fatalities, but all uniformly didn't list the names of the Canadian fatalities, who numbered nine of the 15 killed.

The two Caroline families, large and close knit, were grief stricken. Thomas was only 18, with his whole life ahead of him. Edward was 32, the eldest child of Hugh Edward Caroline and Mary Donovan. He was unmarried.

Both were buried after a joint funeral on 16 Dec 1867 in the original cemetery of Notre Dame de Granby, which as I've mentioned in previous posts, was paved over for a parking lot decades later.

The never ending story continues....

Judge Marcus Doherty and his family 2

Judge Marcus and Elizabeth O'Halloran had a large family of 12 children, and of these, ten survived childhood, only three of whom married and had children. One became a nun, one became an accountant and three became lawyers. Clearly, Judge Marcus' children were well educated. I write generally of his family here. Now, I want to give what information I've found about his children who survived to adulthood.

The eldest child of Judge Marcus and Elizabeth O'Halloran was Ellen Elizabeth (1844-1919). My great-great aunt Catharine Dougherty was Ellen's godmother, according to her baptismal record. Ellen appeared in censuses with her family until 1891, when she appears in that census as a lodger in a Church-run facility, together with other women and men, in Beloiel, Quebec, (about 35 minutes drive from Montreal today).

She appears there also in the 1901 census. That census form includes a column to identify those with what we today call challenges or disabilities. In that column, Ellen is identified as "mental". How sad.

Ellen next appears in the 1911 census as a lodger in a similar facility in Montreal, not far from where family members lived at the time. But in this case, the entire last column has been ripped away from the rest of the page. Ellen died in Beloeil in 1919, and is buried there in the cemetery of Eglise St-Mathieu.

Thomas James Doherty
c 1867

Next was Thomas James (1845-1894), who bore the names of his paternal grandfather and great grandfather. My 2nd great grandfather Marcus Dougherty and his daughter (my great great aunt)Isabella Dougherty McHugh, were his godparents. Thomas followed his father's footsteps and became a lawyer. He died unmarried in his 49th year, as reported in the 7 Feb 1894 edition of The Gazette in Montreal:

DOHERTY - At Colorado Springs Col. (USA) on the 5th inst. Thomas James Doherty Q.C. justice, Superior court, and brother of Hon. Mr. Justice C.J. Doherty. Funeral from his brother's residence 282 Stanley, St. on Saturday, 20th of February, at quarter to nine a.m. to St. Patrick's Church.

14 Feb 1894 True Witness & Catholic Chronicle

A much more detailed story about his life and death, written in the florid 19th century style, was published in the 21 Feb 1894 edition of The True Witness and Catholic Chronicle (col 3, pg 2). The story notes that he died in Colorado Springs "where he had gone to recuperate if possible, from the shocks that his system received from the disease which unfortunately proved fatal".

Thomas' sister Mary Louisa Cecilia (1851-1919) was known as Louisa. She married a Montreal insurance executive. P. Walter Kavanagh (1853-1905) on 10 Jul 1879 in Sherbrooke, while her father was stationed there as a judge. Louisa and Walter had three children:

• Mary Elizabeth (1884-1973) 
• Mary Louisa Eleanor (Ellen) Margarita (1886-1890)
• Walter Patrick Henry Joseph (1891-1916)

Mary Elizabeth Kavanagh
obit, Montreal Gazette, Apr 1973

Louisa's daughter Mary Elizabeth lived in New York for the rest of her life after her marriage (she had two children), but upon her death in 1973, her funeral and burial were in the city of her birth, Montreal. I haven't been able to trace her descendants. Yet. 

Next was Daniel O'Connell (1853-1878), about whom I've learned little. Did he suffer from issues similar to those of his older sister Ellen? I'm just speculating. The death notice below is interesting in that the funeral procession went from the hospital to the church, rather than from the family home, as was the custom of the time, meaning there was no wake at the family home. He was only 24. 

Daniel O'Connell Doherty obit 1878

Daniel was named after Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), called the Emancipator or the Liberator, for his ongoing efforts seeking rights for the Irish people. 

Judge Marcus' third born son, Charles Joseph had a very illustrious career as a lawyer, judge and politician. Separate blog posts will address his life. 

Anna Maria (1857-1944), known as Annie, never married. Her sister Margaret Agnes Mary (1859-1894) took vows with the Order of Jesus and Mary in Fall River, Massachusetts, and became known as Rev Madam Mary of the Annunciation. When she died at the age of 35, her passing was also recorded in an obituary in The True Witness and Catholic Chronicle in its 31 Oct 1894 issue (col 2, pg 9, middle). Her death came six months after her brother Thomas' death, a fact the obituary notes in 19th century extreme. 

Their sister Elizabeth Mary (1861-1926) married a Henry Walter Mulvena (1855-1926), a lawyer who was later appointed to the bench in Montreal, in 1895. They lived in Sherbrooke, where Judge Mulvena was based, and had three sons, 

My great great aunt, Isabella Doherty McHugh was also godmother to Marcus Emanuel (1866-aft 1931) at his baptism. Marcus E. became a lawyer, and for a few years practised law with his brothers Thomas and Charles, and after he stepped down from the bench in 1891, his father Judge Marcus. The firm was called Doherty & Doherty. Marcus E appears in Canadian censuses through to 1891. The following year, according to the 1900 U.S. census, he moved to San Francisco, California. He worked as a stenographer, as reported in the 1897 city directory, perhaps going through a period of study to get his California Bar licence. In 1898, he enlisted in the U.S. Army -- but was dishonourably discharged six months later. What happened? The 1901 census records his occupation as attorney. He is living in a San Francisco hotel. After that, he disappears. 

Newspaper accounts of his brother Charles' 1931 funeral report that at that time, Marcus was living in the Philippines. What brought him there? Did he return to Montreal for any of his siblings' funerals? What kind of life did he live? Did he disappear from his family for his own reasons? 

Judge Marcus and Elizabeth's final child was Michael Joseph (1867-1907), who died at 40 in Montreal. He was an accountant. 

Elizabeth O'Halloran funeral mass 1884

Elizabeth O'Halloran Doherty died in November 1884 aged about 58. Among the clergy concelebrating her funeral mass at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal were Judge Marcus' first cousin, Rev James Dougherty (1843-1906) who was born in Kingston, New York, son of his older brother Michael (abt 1810-1953).

Judge Marcus Doherty funeral mass 1903

Judge Marcus died on 4 Jul 1903, surviving Elizabeth by 19 years and aged as much as 87. Rev James Dougherty also concelebrated at his funeral mass. I write more about his remarkable life here.

Some of these Quebec church records don't survive as well as other records do. But in both these records, the signature of Rev James Dougherty can be seen.

What is clear to me is that the ties between the branches of the Dougherty/Doherty families were strong in the 19th century, despite the lack of modern technology to help stay in touch. In the 20th century, those ties became lost in the mists of time. I'm loving finding them anew in the 21st century.

The never ending story continues....

Vermont lives lived: the daughters of Rev James Dougherty

As I wrote here, my 2nd great great uncle Rev James, the Congregational minister, married twice and had three daughters, none of whom married, and so after they died, he left no descendants. But his daughters have their own stories. Don't we all?

James and his first wife, Celia, had two daughters, Sarah Curran (1834-1861) and Isabella Celia (1836-1894). Sarah died aged only 26, "after a long and painful illness which was patiently born." She was, according to this lengthy obituary that appeared in the Lamoille Newsdealer on 25 Oct 1861, well loved by her students and a wide circle of friends. Her obituary starts in the first column and ends in the second column, and includes such praise as "Her attention to her textbooks did not hamper or mind or prevent general reading or liberal culture." Obituaries in the 19th century, particularly for women, were full of much flowery prose.


I think that the birth of Isabella, called Isabel, contributed to Celia's death, five days after Isabella was born.

Isabel Dougherty obit 

Isabel's passing on 1 Jun 1894 is briefly noted in a column of community and social notes. She died from pneumonia. She was the last of the three sisters to die, two weeks after the passing of her younger sister, Mary Louisa (1838-1894), called Louise, whose cause of death is listed as Bright's disease, something that today would be called chronic nephritis.

Isabel and Louise shared the same home all of their lives. They must have been very close. Their estates were wound up at the same time. Probate records are online and offer a snapshot into the household of two genteel ladies of the late 19th century, listing the household contents. Isabel had already started the paperwork related to winding up Louise's estate. Her signature appears in a court document. Both died intestate, and so on 22 Jun 1894, their cousin Judge Marcus of Montreal, signed a letter requesting the appointment of an administrator of both estates (who turns out to have been Emily Drake's husband). Always a small world. It took five years to wind up both estates. I tracked this from published legal notices.

I wonder if these three sisters, my 1st cousins 3x removed, knew their Kingston, Granby or Cincinnati cousins and their families, wrote to them or exchange visits with them. And did they know about their Irish cousins in Dungiven?

In the deposition signed on 27 Jul 1899 attached to Isabel's probate records, Judge Marcus mentions the surviving Cincinnati and Kingston cousins, and his own brother Paul in Dungiven.

"that the late Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty) ...was my cousin on her father's side and that she was also the cousin of Paul Dougherty, my brother, of the County Derry, in Ireland and of Catharine and Louisa, spinsters, of Cincinnati in the state of Ohio, and of  Isabella and Bridget Dougherty, both of the City of New York in the state of New York, all on her father's side also, and that all of these cousins survived the said Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty)..."

He definitely knew where everyone in his far flung family was -- almost. Judge Marcus notes in his deposition that Isabel's other surviving cousins on her father's side included:

"another cousin, Thomas Sullivan, who lived with Rev James in Johnson...Vermont who was much her junior, as also younger than all the above named cousins and might and would under certain circumstances presumed to have survived her ....but of whom this deponent can give no account as to his life or residence and that she had other cousins of whom this deponent can now affirm nothing on oath."

1877 Cincinnati directory

Judge Marcus doesn't include in his deposition the name of my great grandfather, John James Dougherty, who was also a first cousin of Isabel, as he predeceased her in 1893. I've never been able to find anything about Thomas Sullivan or his parentage -- and who were those other cousins about whom Judge Marcus was unable to provide any information? Were they the Marcus and Mary Ann Dougherty listed in the 1877 Cincinnati directory?

Mary Hoxie Dougherty obit

Louise's mother was Rev James' second wife, a widow herself, Mary Hoxie Drake (1795-1881), who brought one daughter, Emily Drake (1826-1892), into her marriage in 1837 to Rev James. He appears as Emily's guardian in several documents before she reached adulthood.

I've been unable to find newspaper stories or obituaries about Celia Hall Dougherty, Rev. James' first wife, who died in 1836 in Milton. So far.

Rev James, his wives and daughters are all buried at the Whitting Hill Cemetery, in Johnson, Lamoille County, Vermont.

The never ending story continues...

Our immigrant ancestors -- Judge Marcus Doherty QC

Judge Marcus Doherty

My 1st cousin 3x removed, Marcus Doherty (1815-1903) emigrated from Camnish, Dunvigen in what is now County Derry at the age of 18, arriving in Quebec City in 1833, and then travelling down to South Hero, Vermont, to join his uncles (my 2nd great grandfather) Marcus and (my 2nd great great uncle) James Dougherty.

Marcus was born in a house in Camnish, Dungiven, that was later occupied by the family of Irish nationalist John Mitchel.

The story is that Marcus was sent to Vermont by his mother after his father Thomas Dougherty died in Dungiven. He wasn't their eldest, but I think he was the brightest, and had attended grammar school in Dungiven, something one of my internet cousins tells me was quite rare for an Irish person to do in the early 19th century. One story has it that he was destined for the priesthood. Marcus attended college and also  taught at the Shefford Academy, where his uncle James was the principal. In 1838, he enrolled at  the University of Vermont where he received his BA and MA, and in 1848 was called to the Bar of Lower Canada in Montreal. He was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1873. I've found many references in which Judge Marcus is mentioned. He first practised law as a newly minted lawyer in Granby, then moved on to Montreal. He was then posted in Sherbrooke for several years, before returning to Montreal.

Judge Marcus' eldest children were born and baptized in Granby. In my very early web research days, and before the Drouin Collection had indexed the Notre Dame de Granby parish records, another researcher, in an act of random genealogical kindness, pointed out to me that having a Marcus Dougherty and Marcus Doherty in the same small community at the same time was, well, no coincidence. My great grandfather John James and Judge Marcus were cousins.

In my family papers, we have for reasons still unknown to me, a copy the certificate attesting Judge Marcus' entry into the Bar of Lower Canada. The seal has been cut out. How did this come to be in my grandfather's possession?

Marcus was the first of six siblings to leave their Camnish, Dungiven home for America. Those siblings who came all used the Dougherty spelling. More about those siblings and their families will come. No, I don't know why Judge Marcus used the Doherty spelling. His siblings who remained in Ireland used both Dougherty and Doherty. Yes, all these same names do get confusing in the telling of stories.

Full disclosure: In 1998 and 1999, a woman posted on several genealogy message boards seeking relatives of Judge Marcus, and saying he was the brother of her late husband's great great grandfather. She even contacted me, saying we were related. But this was in my dark age of the genealogy research, and I brushed her off. Of course, it turned out she was absolutely right, but by then several years had passed, and I was unable to locate her. It was an early lesson to never make assumptions.

Montreal - Biographical Sketches

An early biography of Judge Marcus appeared during his lifetime in something called Montreal - Biographical Sketches. Note the inconsistencies about his year of birth and John Mitchel.

Here's another profile (in two images), from the Canadian Biographical Dictionary:

Note the inconsistencies in both with respect to Judge Marcus' year of birth and John Mitchel. It wasn't always easy in the mid 19th century to fact check, I guess. No Google, for one thing.

Judge Marcus died in Montreal on 4 Jul 1903. The Montreal Gazette carried a lengthy obituary about him and his remarkable career, which offers yet more conflicting information on his year of birth and other facts.

I will be writing more about Judge Marcus, his marriage and family. Note: For identification purposes in this blog, this Marcus will be called Judge Marcus, while my 2nd great grandfather will be referred to as Farmer Marcus. My small contribution to ending the confusion over the use of the same names even within the same generations.

The never ending story continues...

Joe Dougherty & Rosie Caroline

Notre Dame de Granby Parish register, 1876

My great grandparents, John James Dougherty and Rose Caroline (Joe -- no, I don't know why he was called Joe, but he was -- and Rosie), were married in 1876 in Granby.

Despite all of the research I've done, I really did start with a virtual blank slate in terms of photographs of my more immediate ancestors. Were photographs taken? Probably. What happened to them? Who knows.

This spring, a 2nd cousin once removed on my Caroline side called to say she realized that she had a photograph of Joe and Rosie. Was I interested in seeing this? Hello!! No one in my family had ever seen any photos. I was so excited. It felt like I was going to meet them. The photo took my breath away.  

(top) John & Rose Dougherty (bottom) Margaret & James Caroline
Sherbrooke, Quebec Aug 1877

Joe was a really big guy! He's the man standing with the incredible dark beard.

Cousins see a bit of one of my uncles in Rosie's face. I'm sure there are many more resemblances in their descendants.

When this photo was taken, Joe and Rosie had been married less than a year. Joe was 43 and Rosie was 37. This was his second marriage, Rosie's first. They had known each other all their lives, since their fathers farmed adjacent plots of land.

The seated couple are my great uncle James Caroline (1850-1928) and his bride, Margaret Murphy (1856-1928). They had just been married in Adamsville in the Eastern Townships, and this was taken while they were on their honeymoon, visiting Rosie and Joe in Sherbrooke. 

And Joe's face? My father and brothers have the same face. It was a jaw dropping experience for me. Here's my father as a young man.

My father was a redhead -- they tend to go grey early. Could it be that Joe was also a redhead? 

The seated couple are my great uncle James Caroline (1850-1928) and his bride, Margaret Murphy (1856-1928). They had just been married in Adamsville in the Eastern Townships, and this was their honeymoon. 

1871 Granby census

Joe's 1861 marriage to Mary Ann Gannon (1838-1871) had produced no children. Yet, the 1871 census in Granby for their household shows a 13 year old Mary Ann Dougherty living with them.

1877 Cincinnati directory

Is this the same Mary Ann Dougherty noted here that appeared in the 1877 Cincinnati city directory boarding at the same address (62 Barr St) as Joe's brother Joseph M? If so, Mary Ann would then have been 19 years old. Was she a niece to Joe and his brother Joseph? The 1871 census doesn't state her relationship to John and his wife Mary Ann Gannon, but I think she's his niece from Cincinnati, and the daughter of  James, or even the Marcus Dougherty also seen in this directory. And what about him? Both the Mary Ann in the 1871 census and 1877 city directory and the Marcus Dougherty both remain unsolved mysteries. What happened to them?

By 1881, Joe and Rosie had their only son, my grandfather, also John (1879-1953), and according to that year's census, they were running a boarding house in Sherbrooke and had two servants, and two roomers.

Baptism 3 Dec 1876, John James Dougherty

And here's another mystery. My grandfather's godparents are James Joseph Doherty and Margaret Anderson. This is a couple who also lived in Sherbrooke. But I believe that this James and Joe were cousins. I'm still trying to confirm this. Yet another unsolved mystery.

In 1891, the final census Joe appeared in, he, Rosie and their 11 year old son John are living in Compton, just outside Sherbrooke. His occupation is listed as gentleman. Joe died two years later at the young age of 59.

Rosie raised her son alone, as far as I've been able to discover. There must have been some money, because John was able to attend McGill University in Montreal. My father also told a story that his father had attended school for a time in Worcester, Massachusetts before going to McGill. Rosie is recorded as living alone in 1901 in Sherbrooke, and as noted here, in 1911 was living with my grandparents in Montreal. Rosie died in 1915. She, Joe and my grandparents are all buried in St Michael's Cemetery in Sherbooke.

The never ending story continues...

So where are my Doughertys and Carolines buried in Granby?

In 2009, I spent a few hours in Granby. This was the first time I'd visited there since I was a child going to the Granby Zoo, which, trust me, all Montreal children do.

It was less than an hour's drive from the south shore of Montreal where I was visiting family, and I wanted to visit the graves of my paternal second great grandparents, Marcus Dougherty, Mary Ann Diamond, Hugh Edward Caroline and Mary Donovan. I soon found a small cemetery on Cowie Street in a beautiful and peaceful setting overlooking the Yamaska River.

Hugh Caroline inscription

Hugh and Mary and their family are in a large plot just inside the cemetery entrance. Sadly, the plot is well filled with the markers of family members. The markers were restored a few years ago by their descendants. The main marker in the plot is inscribed on all four sides with the names of Hugh, Mary, and their children.

I carefully walked each row of the cemetery anticipating the moment of connectedness when I found my Doughertys. I even walked through the Anglican cemetery, separated from the Catholic cemetery by a narrow road. Who knew? There were many broken markers, and many plots with no markers at all in the Catholic cemetery. I found no trace of my Dougherty ancestors Marcus, Mary Ann and their son James, and who knows who else could be buried with them. Where were they?

I also didn't find any plot or markers for my 2nd great great uncle Mick Caroline and his wife and children who predeceased him.

The following week, I found the website for the Societe d'histoire de la Haute-Yamaska and emailed them. Naturally, it never occurred to me to find them on Granby's rue Principale while I was there. My best thoughts always come after I really need them.

It turns out that the cemetery I had visited opened only in 1875. Over the years, disrespectful teenage boys would smash or break off markers and toss them intact or in pieces into the Yamaska River far below the cemetery. As some teenagers seem compelled to do. Don't get me started.

I found out that the original Catholic cemetery was located beside Notre Dame de Granby and had been either full, or its plots spoken for, by 1875. I had driven by the church while in Granby, but it was closed. I still stopped to take photos. There was a parking lot next to the church. Wait. Can you guess? The historical society staffer told me that the parking lot was above the original church cemetery. Had I known, I would have included the parking lot in this photo of the church. Who knew?

Notre Dame de Granby Church

Like that old Joni  Mitchell song goes, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

I asked if any of the original cemetery markers had been moved into the church when it was decided to pave it over, but learned that not only was the church closed the day I had visited, it in fact had closed a couple of years previously. An adjacent former convent was already being converted to condos. The historical society staffer doubted that any markers had been moved inside.  If a record had been made of the markers in the cemetery before it was paved over, the historical society didn't know its whereabouts.

I remember gazing at the parking lot, never dreaming that below it were my family members' the final resting places.

The never ending story continues....

Talking about Granby ....

It occurred to me that some readers may want to know more about Granby. 

During my research, I came across this charming description of Granby in the 1876 Directory of St Johns, West Farnham, Granby, West Shefford, Waterloo, Roxton Falls, etc. The village had everything, including local government, a Temperance Society, Masonic Lodge, a fire brigade and four churches (Anglican, Baptist, Congregational), Methodist and Roman Catholic) and a newspaper. 

For more about Granby, the Canadian Encylopedia has this entry.

The never ending story continues...

The Carolines of Granby 2

My 2nd great grandfather Hugh and his brother Michael, or Mick, farmed together in their early Granby years. Mick lived with Hugh and Mary until he married Julia Ann Ryan (abt 1821-1869) in 1842. Mick and Julia Ann had ten children:

• Mary Jane (1843-1921)
• Edward (1845-1889)
• Elizabeth (1847-1906) 
• Thomas (1849-1867) never married, died in a Vermont railway construction accident with his cousin, Edward
• Margaret (1852-?) 
• Rose (abt 1856-1926)
• John (1857-?) 
• Isabella (1859-?) 
• Julia Anne (1862-?)
• William (1866-1888) 

New records are always being added to various databases, so I often go back to people of my tree a few years after first adding them, to see if I can learn more about their stories. Gathering up information about these 1st cousins 3x removed has been slow. Only a spurt of several new finds earlier this year opened the doors to more of their stories. This added lots of new information to my own genealogy software (Legacy for inquiring minds) and to my tree on Ancestry. In doing so on the latter, I'm hoping that more DNA links will be discovered. But so far....nothing. Hope springs.

Below is the 1871 census of Mick's household--two years after his wife Julia died. This is on the page before the listing for his brother Hugh's family.

1871 census, Granby

His son Edward married in Granby, but had no children. William died unmarried in Granby,

Three daughters, Mary Jane, Elizabeth and Rose (Rosie), settled in Chicago. Mary Jane and Elizabeth married in Granby, while Rose met her husband in Chicago. All had families.

1900 US Census, Chicago

Mary Jane married Michael Healy in 1861 in Granby, and by 1871 they had four living children to report in that year's census. According to the 1900 Chicago census, the family arrived there in 1880. Six children are reported, only one of whom was in the 1871 census. Three others had died. In subsequent years, the Healys adopted Haley as the spelling of the family name. Was this because the 'sort of Irish' way Healy was pronounced, it sounded like Haley?

Of their nine children in total, only one son seems to have married and had children. I'm still tracing them.

Elizabeth married Thomas Hale in 1871 in Granby. They and their son arrived in Chicago by 1885. Their son died as a young man, and left no children.

Rosie evidently followed her sisters to Chicago, or perhaps travelled with one of them. In 1886, she married Elmer Holden, and they had two sons, who both died as young men, and only one of them had one child, a daughter.

Margaret's and John's trails are both cold after they appear on the 1871 census. For now. Images for Notre Dame de Granby church records aren't always legible for years at a time because of water or other damage. Did they stay in Granby or did they join their siblings in the U.S.? I found Isabella in the 1880 census in Vermont, working as a servant in what looks to be the home of a cousin of her brother-in-law, Thomas Hale. I'm still looking for more about Isabella. And it looks like Julia may have lived in and around Boston, with a son, Francis P. born out of wedlock. But with a name like Francis Caroline in Massachusetts, so far it's been a challenge to sort out all of the records.

Did his children write often to Mick with their news after they left Granby? Mick died in 1898, appearing in the 1891 census living as a lodger with his son Edward's widow with a Francophone family in Granby, which tells me that neither Margaret or John stayed in the area.  He was still on his farm in the 1881 census, with only his children William and Julia still living at home. When did Mick give up his farm?

The never ending story continues...

The Carolines of Granby 1

I've mentioned my paternal great grandmother, Rose Caroline (1839-1915) a couple of times here. Now it's time to flesh out her family. Rose's father, Hugh Edward Caroline (abt 1798-1879), arrived in Quebec with his younger brother Michael -- Mick -- (abt 1810-1898) from County Longford before Jun 1834, when Hugh married my great great grandmother, Mary Donovan (1807-1892), of County Cavan, in Montreal.

Hugh and Mary were in Granby by the time their first child was born the following April. They went on to have nine living children:

• Edward (1835-1867) never married, died in a Vermont railway construction accident with his cousin, Thomas
• Jane (1836-1930)
• Louisa (1838-1890) never married
• Rose (my great grandmother)
• Mary Ann (1841-1923) 
• Hugh (1843-1913) never married
• Eliza A. (1844-1905) 
• Margaret Grace (1846-?) 
• James (1850-1928) 

1871 census, Granby Twp, Shefford, Canada

I've made several new discoveries about these ancestors/distant cousins as recently as this spring.

Jane, Eliza and Louisa each lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut as adults. Many Eastern Townshippers left for points in the United States in the late 19th century.

Margaret Grace apparently didn't get along with her father, and the story goes that she walked away from the farm and down the road, never to be seen or heard from again by any of her family. This would have been before 1871. Margaret Grace appears on the 1861 census, but on no subsequent censuses. What happened to her? She reinvented herself, I suspect. Did she change her name? Where did she go?

Jane's (called Jennie) first husband disappeared from Granby in grief or worse, leaving Jennie, the story goes, after 1868 when the youngest of their three young children died aged 7. The two elder children had died at less than two years of age. News must have eventually reached Jane that her husband, Edward Bray, had died, because she did re-marry in Massachusetts in 1881, but that husband died in 1885. She and George Cook had no children. At some point, she returned to Quebec, and was living in Montreal when she died in 1930.

Louisa was a housekeeper for a priest in Waterbury, Connecticut for many years. She died there, but was buried in Granby. Where was she between Granby and Waterbury? I haven't picked up her trail so far.

Mary Ann married John Charles O'Brien (1833-1906) in 1861. They farmed in Farnham/Dunham in the Eastern Townships and had 12 children, several of whom followed their brother Erastus Oakley O'Brien (1869-1930) to the United States, settling in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.

Erastus reinvented himself after he moved to Lowell MA, calling himself Oakley E. Brien. Why did he do this? Did he want to sound less Irish? More American? Here is his 1930 obituary:


At some point between 1871 and 1876, Eliza left Granby for Boston. In 1876, Eliza married George W. Moore, who had been born in New Brunswick, but lived and worked in Massachusetts. He may have been a journalist at one point. They had no children. Eliza died in Hudson, MA in 1905.

Several of Hugh's and Mick's children acted as sponsors at the baptisms of  their younger siblings or cousins, church records reveal.

Families, not just the Carolines, were very closely entwined in Granby. Here is a clip of the 1861 census, listing Hugh and his family, followed by Mick and his family:

1861 Census, Shefford, Canada East

With one exception, I had no information about my Caroline ancestors and cousins until within the last ten years. The names of some of these ancestors/distant cousins and some of their stories came from a second cousin once removed, who is a granddaughter of James Caroline. The exception were my father's cousins, Rose, Margaret and Elizabeth Caroline who lived in Montreal with whom my father stayed in touch. I found all of Mick's family, which I'll discuss in my next post, on my own.


James Caroline, Hugh and Mary's youngest, took over the Granby farm. His brother Hugh was unmarried, and lived with James and his wife, Margaret, whom he married in 1877. James and Margaret didn't have their first child until 1887, apparently because his mother was living with them too. (!) They had eight children between 1887 and 1899. I'll write about this family in a later post.

I haven't yet been able to trace Hugh's and Mary's parents -- my Irish ancestors in Cavan and Longford, but I'm confident that one day I'll start to crack the code on the Carolines, Donovans, Sheridans and Connors there.

The never ending story continues....

Unwrapping a puzzle 4: More about those Cincinnati Doughertys

Exciting finds last night in my often random genealogy research. I have trouble staying on topic, I admit it, but there are so many bright shiny objects that catch my eye. Just writing this post, I'm having to force myself to stay on topic. True!

Like last night. The 1842 Census of Lower Canada indicates that nine people lived in my 2nd great grandfather, Marcus Dougherty's household in Granby. That number now makes perfect sense since I discovered Thomas and Isabella, the two new children. All seven children and parents accounted for in February 1842. Yes, that's when the census was done. Can you imagine doing a census in the middle of a Quebec winter? That summer, my 2nd great grandmother Mary Ann died. I concluded that at some point after that is when first Thomas and James made their way to Cincinnati. Still not sure why, but did you know that Cincinnati had a population of 115,435 in 1850, including a sizable Irish population? I didn't either.

I went back to the Cincinnati city directories with fresh eyes and joined the Hamilton County Genealogical Society for access to records they have on their website.

The earliest I find a Thomas in Cincinnati is in 1849/50, James in 1850/51. There are only one of each, by the way.

1855 Cincinnati directory 

In this post I wondered if the 1853 directory showing Dougherty & Brother wines & liquor at 7 Water were James and Thomas. Last night I found the 1855 directory listing -- and look! Joseph M., brother of James and Thomas is a clerk at Dougherty & Bro and living with James. Yes, these are all my great great uncles. And yes, these were the earliest North American entrepreneurs of my line of Doughertys. Entrepreneurship has been a constant in my family history.

I also found a 13 Feb 1854 marriage between James and Mary McGough in Cincinnati listed on a Hamilton County Genealogical Society database. Previously, I had Gough as her maiden name, based on James' burial record (below) as completed by a French Canadian priest. Joseph was living with James and his sister in law according to the 1855 Cincinnati directory.

By 1857, Catharine has joined her brothers, as confirmed in that year's city directory, but the business is no more, as the occupations of James and Thomas show here:

1857 Cincinnati directory

Their sister Isabella Dougherty McHugh is living across the river in Kentucky with her young family at that point.

And yet the 1861 census of Canada lists James (posthumously), Catharine, Joseph and Louisa as living in Granby, when the previous year and following years they appear in Cincinnati records. Did they all go back, or did their father list them as living there for whatever reason?

The Granby burial record of James on 21 Mar 1860 says he died on the 18th. Did he die in Cincinnati and was his casket transferred by train to Granby? Or did he die in Granby? And what happened to his wife, Mary? Did they have any children in their six years together?

Notre Dame Parish, Granby, Quebec register

The never ending story continues ....

Rose Caroline and her family

My paternal great grandmother, Rose Caroline, was born in Granby, in what is now Shefford, Quebec on 23 Dec 1839 to Hugh Caroline (abt 1798-1879) and Mary Donovan (abt 1807-1892). Hugh and Mary were from County Longford and County Cavan respectively, and were married at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal on 2 Jun 1834.

Hugh Donovan & Mary Donovan Marriage 1834

Hugh came to Canada with his brother Michael or Mick (abt 1810-1898). I've not found any siblings of Mary Donovan who came to Canada...yet. I haven't found any records of their arrival here or departure from Ireland. Did Hugh and Mary meet on board ship when they came to Canada? Or did they meet in Montreal or Shefford?

Rose was Hugh and Mary's fourth born, and one of nine surviving children. Of course I'll be writing more about them. Hugh and Mick started farming in Shefford. The Hugh's property remains in the Caroline family to this day. In Ireland, Caroline is Carlan or Carlin. (Are we related to the comedian George Carlin? Hmmm.)

Caroline farm, Granby, Shefford County, c 20th century

Marcus Dougherty farmed the adjacent property. In the 1842 census of Lower Canada, Marcus and Hugh are the two last entries appearing there, and an exciting recent find for me. Of interest is that the census reveals that in 1842, all of the settlers in that community were Irish, English or Scots.

1842 Canada East Census, Shefford Township

The people of Quebec today are the descendants of Irish, Scots, English and French. But it has been estimated that perhaps as many as one-third have Irish ancestry.

While my own Irish roots are all pre-famine Irish, many more came later, especially during and after the Irish Famine and many of them seeking a better life died from 'ship's fever' (typhus) during the crossing or soon after at Grosse Île. Orphaned Irish children were adopted by French Canadian families. This bit of Quebec's history was memorialized in one of the best known of many Heritage Minutes that aired in Canada.

The never ending story continues....

Unwrapping a Puzzle 3: Why Cincinnati?

Getting places in the mid 19th century was not an easy or straightforward task. Horse and buggy or coach, steamboat, or maybe--if you were lucky--trains were how people got from point A to point B.

What took so many of my great grandfather's siblings from Granby in Quebec's Eastern Townships to Cincinnati? How long would such a journey had lasted? If work was the reason, there were places much closer to Granby for them, aside from Montreal, which today is about an hour's drive from Granby. After years of research, I now know that my great grandfather and his large family had many close relatives: in Granby, nearby in Sherbrooke, in Vermont (less than an hour away from Granby today), and in Ulster (!) County about an hour north of New York City. They also likely had other Dougherty cousins in Quebec, but that's a mystery I'm still nowhere near to unravelling.

My great aunt Isabella Dougherty married James H. McHugh in Cincinnati on November 17, 1853. But what family was there with her? She may then have been as young as 18. It's hard to imagine a young woman being allowed to make her way alone on a journey that was then such a great distance. Her father Marcus remained in Granby and so too at that point, Isabella's siblings. As far as I know. But, here again is where those lovely city directories may shed some light. The 1853 Cincinnati city directory lists the following:

"Dougherty & Brother (Thomas and James)

Wines, liquors & c 7 Water

residence: 67 Richmond"

Were these my great uncles Thomas and James? I think so. My cousins will be bemused or possibly amused to see that the Dougherty entrepreneurial spirit may go way back. Did Isabella travel with them to Cincinnati? Their other siblings followed permanently after 1861, based on census and city directory records. But James did return to Granby by 1859, and died there in 1860 from consumption. How do I know this? This fact is recorded in the 1861 census. 

And check out that 1861 census for the Township of Granby. Amazing. It shows that Isabella and her husband James McHugh went to Granby from Cincinnati. I've found the baptismal records for two of their children, who were born there and not in Ireland. And they lived right next to her father and siblings. More to come about the McHugh family, who did return to Cincinnati by the late 1860s. Also, note the several spellings of Dougherty in one nuclear family. Census takers in the 19th century weren't hired based on their spelling ability or their attention to detail. I think they surmised. Lots. Just saying.

And the never ending story continues ....

Unwrapping a Puzzle 2: Marcus, Mary Ann and all their children

Going from "a lost soul" to a brother to several siblings, here is what I've discovered about my paternal great grandfather's immediate family. This has been patched together over several years, finding clues in the oddest places.

Marcus and Mary Ann married in Donegal, as early now as 1817. That part of Donegal is now in Ulster. They likely married in a small town called Dungiven. Records at the local Catholic church, St Patrick's, go back only to 1825. All before that has been lost. And the central records in Dublin were of course mostly destroyed during the Four Courts conflagration in Dublin in 1922. 

By 1830 in Vermont, Marcus and Mary Ann had at least three children:

• Thomas b abt 1830, Vermont, d 15 Dec 1886, Ohio
• Catharine b about 1824, Dungiven, d May 1896, Cincinnati
• James b 12 Nov 1826 (I have his baptismal record) Dungiven, d 18 Mar 1860, Granby, Quebec

They subsequently had at least the following additional children:

• Isabella b about 1832, Vermont d 26 Feb 1890, Cincinnati
• John James b 17 Jun 1833, South Hero, Grand Isle, Vermont, d 26 Apr 1893, Sherbrooke, Quebec (my great grandfather)
• Joseph M. b 15 Nov 1835, Granby, Shefford, Canada East, d 6 Mar 1886, Longview, Ohio
• Mary Louisa b 25 Dec 1838, Granby, Shefford, Canada East, d 15 Mar 1913, Norwood, Ohio

Thomas and Isabella are the latest discoveries, pointed out to me last week by kind souls in the Hamilton County Ohio Genealogy Facebook group. Isabella married and had a family. Watch for another post about them. And guess what? At various times, Thomas and Isabella lived at the same addresses in Cincinnati as Catherine, Joseph and Mary Louisa (who went by Louise or Louisa). City directories are beautiful genealogy resources.

But wait there's more. Because isn't there always? 

I had found Joseph in Cincinnati awhile ago, and suspected he was one of my Doughertys for a few years. Then, about five years ago, I came across an affidavit attached to the wills of the daughters of Rev James Dougherty D.D. (1796-1878), who was the younger brother of my great grandfather. The affidavit was signed by Judge Marcus Doherty QC (1815-1903), the nephew of my great grandfather and Reverend James. This nephew Marcus had come from Ireland as a young man in about 1833, taught, then went to the University of Vermont and became a lawyer. More about him to come. The affidavit, sworn on July 27, 1899, reads in part:

"that the late Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty) ...was my cousin on her father's side and that she was also the cousin of Paul Dougherty, my brother, of the County Derry, in Ireland and of Catharine and Louisa, spinsters, of Cincinnati in the state of Ohio, and of  Isabella and Bridget Dougherty, both of the City of New York in the state of New York, all on her father's side also, and that all of these cousins survived the said Isabella C. Dougherty (and Mary Louisa Dougherty)..."

This was an amazing and fantastic wow moment. Read the complete will and affidavit here. The affidavit is on pages 8 and 9. A fascinating snapshot of life in the late 19th century. I'll be writing all about the ancestors mentioned here as time goes on.

Back to all of my great grandfather's Cincinnati siblings for a moment before I finish this post. Again, thanks to the kindness of social media folk, last week, I discovered that the brothers and sisters, Thomas, Isabella, Catharine and Joseph are all buried in the same cemetery section (scroll down) In all cases, their parents' names are given. Louise is buried in the same section as two nieces (daughters of Isabella).

And yet there's more. The 1877 Cincinnati city directory lists another Marcus Dougherty and a Mary Ann Dougherty living at the same address as Joseph M. Dougherty. (update: I write about Mary Ann further here)

Who are these newest Doughertys? More children of Marcus and Mary Ann? The never ending story continues....

Unwrapping a Puzzle 1

I grew up being told, and as it turns out, so too were all of my first cousins, that my great grandfather John James Dougherty (1833-1879) was a lost soul when he married my great grandmother Rose Caroline in 1876. When we pressed, we were told that he was all alone in Granby, and had no family. 

We knew from oral tradition that he was born in South Hero, Grand Isle, Vermont, to an Irish immigrant, my second great grandfather, Marcus Dougherty. But that's all we knew. 

Many years later, I found the name of his wife, my second great grandmother, Mary Ann Diamond in the always amazing Drouin Collection, which houses Quebec church and notarial records dating back to the 1600s. Those priests took good notes, although their handwriting was often almost illegible, and occasionally they took liberties with the spelling of names. Especially Irish names.

About 20 years ago, the first of many kind internet strangers (as I call those who have helped along the way) sent me the 1830 census covering South Hero, Grand Isle, Vermont. 

1830 Vermont Census

Granted, this was three years before my great grandfather was born, but still, it shows two adults, two males under 5, and one female aged between 5 and 9. And so the puzzles began. 

Who were these other children? 

It took many years, but about five years ago, some elusive pieces began to emerge. When I first saw the 1861 Census covering Granby, Shefford County, Quebec, it was eye-popping to see that my great grandfather had two sisters and two brothers: James, Catharine, Joseph M. and Mary Louisa. Those names sent me on yet another new quest, and their stories will be told here in due course. But I will say that these were not his only siblings. 

1842 Canada East Census

And as I went to insert that record here, I've now just made another discovery in it, which I will write about in another post. More family. 

Only very recently have I found the 1842 Lower Canada Census of Canada East (also known at that time as Lower Canada) for Marcus Dougherty and his family. This document reveals four more family members, for a total of nine -- two parents and seven children. 

The never ending story continues.