Caroline family descendants in Chicago

The family name Caroline confuses some, who think that it is a given name. It's also a surname though. The original Irish is Carolan. My forebears seem to have used the Caroline spelling even before they left Ireland in the early 19th century.

Three sisters, some of my 1st cousins 3x removed Granby-born Caroline cousin ancestors sought new lives in Chicago, which was, and remains to this day, a great Irish town. I first wrote about those Caroline cousins here.

The first of my cousins to settle in Chicago was Mary Jane Caroline (1843-1921), who seems to have arrived there about 1880, with her Irish-born husband, Michael Healy (1838-1905) and their five surviving children. Two more children would be born in Chicago. Michael reported his occupation as a carpenter.

Here is Mary with three of her grown sons in the 1920 census in Chicago.

There were no published notices when either Mary Ann died in 1921 or Michael died in 1905.

It seems likely that Mary Jane's younger sister Rose A. Caroline (abt 1855-1926) travelled with them as an unmarried young woman, as she also starts to appear in Chicago from about 1882.

They were joined in about 1885 by their eldest sister Elizabeth Caroline (1847-1906), her husband Thomas Robinson Hale (1851-1906) and their only son, Frank. Yes, both Elizabeth and Thomas died in 1906. Here they are in the 1900 Chicago census.

When Elizabeth died, there was just this small notice in the Chicago Daily Tribune:

Rose married Elmer E. Holden in 1886 in Chicago, she reported on a census. Here is Rose's 1926 death notice from the Chicago Daily Tribune. Here is one example where Carlin is used, although it is not a spelling that she used. And yes, she outlived both her sons.


Between the three sisters, they bore a total of 13 children, of whom 10 survived into adulthood. But of those 10, only three had children, and I've been unable to accurately trace those children.

Most of the Healy children, I found in my research, adopted the spelling Haley as they became adults in Chicago, making my research challenging. I imagine the name Haley sounded the way Healy was pronounced.

The bottom line is that the three sisters left few descendants beyond their own offspring. The trail ends. So far.

Like my Dougherty and McCorkell relatives who settled in Cincinnati, I'm left wondering what first drew my Caroline cousins away from Granby to Chicago.

The never ending story continues....


© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

The final years of Rose Caroline Dougherty (1839-1915)

It can't be said often enough. The wealth of information in digitized old newspapers is at times overwhelming and always absorbing. Thanks to the amazing effort of the BaNQ to digitize the thousands of newspapers in its collection, I and many other genealogists have been spending an inordinate amount of time sleuthing for information about our Quebec ancestors.

Yesterday's efforts produced several Sherbrooke Daily Record items about my great grandmother Rose Caroline Dougherty (1839-1915) and her final years. Until now, the only newspaper reference I had was a two-line item in the Waterloo Advertiser (near Sherbrooke) in March 1915 noting her passing.

Sherbrooke today is a drive of under 90 minutes from Montreal, in the heart of the Eastern Townships. Rosie and Joe made their home here following their marriage, and if not living in Sherbrooke proper, they were very near throughout their marriage. I imagine that trains ran between Sherbrooke and Montreal.

Rose's husband, my great grandfather, John James Dougherty, died in his 60th year, in 1893 in Sherbrooke, when my grandfather Joe was just 13 years old. I've not yet found a detailed obit of my great grandfather's passing (the Sherbrooke Daily Record only began publishing in 1897), but I hope to one day find some record of his life. In any case, he left Rose enough money so that my grandfather's education was financed. The story goes that Joe spent some of his high school years at a Massachusetts school. This is bolstered by the 1901 census, when Rose was listed as living alone in Sherbrooke. He later attended McGill University, studying electrical engineering in the Faculty of Science. Quebec university tuition today remains the lowest in all of Canada. I don't know what it was in the early 1900s, but expect that it was no small achievement that Rose was able to send her son to McGill.

Esplanade Ave, Montreal

Rose is living with my grandparents in Montreal at the time of the 1911 census in a flat on the top floor of a triplex on Esplanade. Yes, there's someone named William listed as my grandfather's brother, but my grandfather was an only child. The mystery of who this William is--likely a distant cousin--remains unresolved. By 1913, Rose's health is failing. If anything, walking up two long flights of stairs (one indoor, one outdoor) to get into the flat would certainly have been a challenge for anyone in their 70s, as she then was.

1911 Canada Census

I found the first reference to Rose in the Sherbrooke Daily Record on  9 Oct 1913.

Sherbrooke Daily Record 9 Oct 1913

Soon after Christmas that same year, Rosie's health took a turn for the worse.

Sherbrooke Daily Record 29 Dec 1913

But Rosie rallied, and ten days later, this:

Sherbrooke Daily Record 7 Jan 1914

After that, I find nothing about Rose and her life in Sherbrooke, until the first report of her death:

Sherbrooke Daily Record 8 Mar 1915

This was followed two days later by a wonderful obituary that contains details of Rosie's life, and of her funeral.

Sherbrooke Daily Record 10 Mar 1915, 1 of 3

Sherbrooke Daily Record 10 Mar 1915, 2 of 3

Sherbrooke Daily Record 10 Mar 1915, 3 of 3

The details in this report are truly gifts. Aside from the varying spelling of Dougherty (which my family uses) and Doherty (used by Judge Marcus and his family), we get a sense of the very kind woman that was Rosie. We get confirmation that my grandfather was a cousin of Judge Marcus. We learn that Rosie was a nurse in her later years (she was a teacher before her 1876 marriage). 

Rosie's burial is recorded in the register of St Patrick's Parish in Sherbrooke: 

St Patrick's Parish Register, Sherbrooke, Quebec, 1915

The funeral soloist mentioned in the newspaper report, Margaret Doherty, is the granddaughter of James J. Doherty and Margaret Anderson, who were the sponsors at my grandfather's 3 Dec 1879 baptism. I'm still trying to proof a family relationship between my Doughertys and this Doherty family. 

According to her obituary, Rosie had suffered a stroke and related paralysis. What we don't know is whether this stroke had been suffered before she returned to Sherbrooke in 1913, which it is already known she was in failing health, or did this happen afterwards in Sherbrooke? 

Nineteenth century and early 20th century obituaries were full of details. I love them. 

The never ending story continues....




© Margaret Dougherty 2016-2018 All rights reserved

Brick wall: Longford and Cavan roots

In addition to my Donegal origins, I also have undiscovered roots in County Longford and County Cavan.

At some point before 2 Jun 1834, my paternal second great grandparents Hugh Edward Caroline (abt 1798-1879) and Mary Donovan (abt 1807-1892) arrived in Montreal, for it was on this date that they were married there, in Notre Dame Basilica. I first wrote about Hugh and Mary here.

Did they meet on board the ship that brought them from Ireland or did they know each other before they left Ireland? The record of their marriage gives me the names of their parents:

• Edward Caroline
• Rose Sheridan
• Hugh Donovan
• Bridget Connor 

pg 69, parish register, Notre-Dame Basilica, Montreal, from Drouin Collection

The entry also gives us a few other pieces of information. Hugh was living in the small village of St-Césaire at the time of the marriage. St- Césaire today is about a half hour drive from Granby, where he and his brother Mick eventually farmed. Mary was living within the Notre Dame parish boundaries in Montreal. My 3rd great grandfather, Edward Caroline, was deceased by June 1834, but otherwise, the parents of Hugh and Mary were living in Ireland. The record tells us that Hugh was from County Cavan, while Mary was from County Longford, areas that border on each other in a small part. County Cavan is today in Ulster while County Longford is in Leinster.

Their marriage was witnessed by three men: John McCartan, John Cassidy and Patrick Murray. These names aren't at all familiar to me. Were the men friends of Hugh and Mary, or were they enlisted to act as witnesses?

The structure in which Hugh and Mary were married wasn't the first Notre Dame on the site. The majority of the construction of the new church it had only been completed four years before they were married.

I know that Hugh arrived in Quebec with at least his brother Mick, but who were Mary's travelling companions? Other Donovans or Connors? Did they come to Quebec directly, or had they arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick, as many ships from Ireland did in the first half of the 19th century? Or perhaps they had sailed to New York, and made their way up to Quebec. What drew them there? So many questions. Always.

AncestryDNA testing has recently connected two of my family members to people who have Sheridans in their own ancestry. I hope that this begins a new journey of discovery. This is a first. We've had no Caroline, Donovan or Connor DNA matches. So far.

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....

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....

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....

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....