Where in Sam Hill is Snow Hill ?

In the middle of it all............... ?

   

 

At The Center Of The Map Is Catoosa County, Georgia. Immediately To The Right Of The Highway 27 Indicator Is Where I Speculate Our Great-Grandfather, Samuel Jones, Was Farming At The Time The Civil War Came To North Georgia

 

It has always been my desire to be able to traipse across the land that our ancestors lived on as far back as possible but that is not a simple task.  The Irish side would really be a daunting undertaking even if one steps foot on Irish soil.  The basic question arises in that case,  just where did the families live?  We really have no idea today other than records that at least provide us with two counties in Ireland and nothing more.  I seem to have found where our grandfather raised his family in Arkansas, within a reasonable guess at least, but the search for our Great-Grandfather Samuel Jones's  property is proving to be a bit more difficult.   We certainly know where our own mother was born and raised and where the Canadian roots of the family are to be located, but the actual land records for the property holdings of Samuel Jones, in the antebellum south have not been uncovered in current times.  The records I am sure still exist, it is but a matter of searching out the sources of the records.

In attempting to locate Captain Samuel Jones in his late years by concentrating on finding any record of the man in the 1860 census contains one vital clue to aid finding his property just prior to the Civil War. The census district he is residing in is labeled "Snow Hill" and is about 50 miles to the west of his former home in Gilmer County where most of his children were born and raised. In viewing old maps found online Snow Hill lies but a few short miles to the south of the current Chickamauga National Battlefield Park.

 

Catoosa County, 1864

Snow Hill (Post Office) Is Just To Left Of Center Along The Road South To Lafayette. In This Map The Jones Property Would Lie Along The Road And Almost On The Dotted County Boundary Line Below The Snow Hill Label.

 

 This location in all probability is his final land holdings of any great value.  To find his actual county land records in old historical county records may be problematic but I do hope to accomplish that someday.  If not, then perhaps this article will provide enough hints to allow some other future Jones descendant with an interest in history to track down the records. Just what year Samuel left Gilmer County and landed in Catoosa County will help to narrow down the years of County records to search.  One might assume that the death of his wife Narcissa in 1852 may have influenced his decision to settle elsewhere, perhaps in 1853 when according to some family historians his final term of office as Justice of the Peace in Gilmer County expired.  

 

Another clue in helping to place some credibility on what speculations I make later in this writing also comes from some early family historians, namely Nancy Hicks in collaboration with Kristin Ingram. It concerns some difficulties Samuel and one of his offspring, his daughter Elizabeth, encountered during the Civil War.  It is anecdotal evidence uncovered by these two latter day family descendants regarding some of the experiences Samuel's daughter Elizabeth Jones Steele.  This of course is a sister of our Grandfather, Alfred Hines Jones. Elizabeth married Robert Jefferson Steele in Gilmer County in 1851 a year before the death of her mother.  Kristin Ingram, recently of Oregon, and Nancy Hicks of the Atlanta area are the first and only family historians I have come across on the internet. Just who or what was the actual source of the tale of Elizabeth I suspect is anecdotal information passed down through other family branches and Nancy compiled a summary of what had been shared with her.  Again I only suspect this is the source. Nancy Hicks in her own right is a very methodical and determined researcher and she very well may have discovered most of what we are now learning of the North Georgia Jones clans.  The narrative regarding Samuel and his daughter tends to lend credence to the possible location of the Jones property at the time of the war. The real source for the details of the story is unknown and can only be accredited to Nancy Hicks most likely. It states that she fled to Georgia to her father's home which certainly was located in the midst of much of the Chickamauga battle activity if the location defined here proves out to be the correct property. The veracity of the entire story may be questionable for it seems to incorporate some of the worst circumstances that did happen during the entire war but all this to one person? That to me is questionable but it very well may be very true .  

 

The narrative regarding Samuel and his daughter Elizabeth is copied as follows:  

 

From Nancy Hicks, Elizabeth Jones born October 20, 1835 in Gilmer County, Georgia. She married a Robert Steele who was born in Marengo County [Alabama ?] in 1835. He was a plantation owner in Alabama; the family owned many acres of cotton and more than a hundred slaves. In about 1852 he married Elizabeth Jones.

 

Robert and Elizabeth had two daughters and a son: Alice, born in 1853; Blanche, born in 1858, who married Dr. Thomas Moss in Arkansas; and Jefferson who married Minerva and reared Alice's orphaned children.  Robert was a Captain in the Confederate army. He was stricken with red measles in 1863 and died in Confederate camp. Elizabeth stayed on the plantation with her father-in-law, Samuel Steele, until Union Army troops came through Alabama, burned down the house and took the male slaves with them, driving off the African women. They also killed father in law Samuel Steele with a sword because he wouldn't reveal where he had buried the family jewelry and silver.

 

Elizabeth and her children moved to slave cabins and labored in the fields to try to bring in the cotton crop, but new troops came by and set fire to the cotton plants. Elizabeth then took her children and escaped to her father's home in Georgia as a refugee. But their new safe haven lay in the path of Sherman's March, and the Georgia home was burned to the ground.

 

Elizabeth's last refuge was property her family owned in Arkansas. She went there with her children and settled near Conway [sometime after 1870], where she created a small cotton empire. Elizabeth's and Robert's daughter Alice, born in Alabama in 1853, married Brownlow Fletcher Stephens in Harrison, Arkansas in July 1875. Alice and Brownlow had six children. Elizabeth Blanche who married Robert Leonard Metcalfe and had children Daisy, Elizabeth and Thomas. They moved to Alabama eventually; Alexander; Sidney; Samuel; Eugene and Daisy Alice. Brownlow owned a large cotton plantation in Arkansas. He and Alice died in a yellow fever epidemic in Conway Arkansas about 1889, leaving their young children in the care of Alice’s brother, Dr. Jefferson Steele and his wife Minerva.  

 

Some of the details in the story may be embellished. I wonder of the veracity of the death of her father-in-law by a soldiers sword. Of course it very well may have happened that way but it all needs further proof.  The sentence regarding fleeing to her father’s home does make sense and is the clue that I focus on here for it reveals events that fit the location found.

 

In 1870, Elizabeth and her children were still living with her father and her brother, Alfred Hines, in the Calhoun area of Gordon County to the southeast of the Chickamauga location by some 30 miles.  This also seems to be the area that one of Samuel’s brothers, Rev. John Calvin Jones, settled in after the close of the war.  The Reverend was a staunch Unionist and stayed out of the South during the war.   

 

Samuel’s census entry for 1870 regarding his wealth, reveals a very meager amount, and is in sharp contrast to what the 1860 pre-war census reflected.  I seriously doubt that he owned any property at all in 1870 although his census data states he has real estate valued at $100 and his daughter Elizabeth is noted as owning $225 in real estate property.  

 

This story led me to delve into the history of the battle of Chickamauga.  In reading the official military correspondence of September 1863 leading up to and during the battle, between various units, Federal and Confederate, it certainly drives home the dangers of what our Great-Grandfather may have faced during the time of the conflicts around and to the South of Chattanooga. Most of the operations of that famous battle primarily occurred in the adjacent counties of Catoosa and Walker in North Georgia, in the very location our Great-Grandfather had relocated to sometime between 1853 and 1860. The area of Snow Hill named on maps of the time for it was a location of an area Post Office and probably not an organized community of much size.  

 

What follows is conjecture but I do find it somewhat credible but not entirely factual for the moment but I do think that what I present here may help others in the future really pinpoint the location of Samuel Jones at the time the Union Forces began their moves into Georgia in order to put down the rebellion that had erupted in the Southern States.  The Battle of Chickamauga resulted in a Confederate victory bringing about a replacement of the Union Commander by General U.S. Grant and he in turn chose General Sherman to lead the attack on Atlanta and eventually begin the famous March to the Sea.  

 

Samuel may have evacuated to other places, probably to Gordon County, to the southeast of his property by some 30 miles, shortly before all the action began to occur around his property.  Or maybe he was stubborn and remained in place and did endure some physical hardship as units of both armies marched across his property or along the Lafayette road in front of his home for several days as they were maneuvering and reconnoitering north and south but two or three miles south of the final battle location.  That road and the Snow Hill site are mentioned several times in the Official Report of the Civil War produced in the late 1800's by the U.S. Government as a compilation of all the dispatches, orders and maps of both sides during the entire war.  This extremely lengthy record now available currently in CD format has provided a surprise finding, not proven, but certainly a very possible connection to the Jones family history. 

 

Chickamauga, Snow Hill, Lafayette and numerous other places in the neighborhood of what might be considered an educated guess as to the location of the farm of Samuel Jones are mentioned time and again in the messages of various military commanders during the time leading up to the battle and during the battle itself.  Even later in 1864 when Sherman began his final and crushing advance out of Chattanooga to the south, the area of Snow Hill and the Lafayette road are again along the route of march of portions of the Union Forces on the move towards Atlanta. 

 

More than likely Samuel in 1864 was long before situated to the south in Gordon County, in the area of Calhoun where he lived out his final years until his death in 1870.  But even the area around Calhoun witnessed Sherman's invasion.  Sam Jones truly was in the path of the war from the very beginning of action in North Georgia in 1863.  Snow Hill no longer exists on today's maps and I have been unable to find any historical references to it in any other available internet sources. But it does appear on at least one Military map found within the Official Record of The Civil War concerning the Battle of Chickamauga. The map reveals what I feel might very well be the location of Samuel Jones's property, the property he settled on sometime in the 1850's.

 

The following map, but a portion of a larger map, is clipped from the Official Record and contains an obscure notation on the location of a lone farmhouse just to the south of what would be the location of Snow Hill at the beginning of the Civil War. The map gives references to the known owners of various enterprises and homes. What apparently is a farmhouse that caught my attention on the map is noted as belonging to "W. Jones". The initial "W" could stand for William or Wendell or any other number of given names, but I contend it could also stand for "Widow" or "Widower". The term "Widow" can be found on several other similar maps within the Official Record but usually it is spelled out in full and not just an initial. Towards the left-bottom of the map another Jones name is noted which in all likelihood provided the need for the map maker to draw some distinction between the two locations. Thus the addition of the initial "W" to one location.

 

The question comes down to what was the initial meant to signify. Since census data states Samuel Jones living in Catoosa County, and the other Jones location to the south being in Walker County it is easy to focus on the location labeled "W Jones". So I need to point out here that what I speculate on is nothing more that just that, speculation and at best an educated guess. Thus the need to seek out the Real Estate Records of the period.

 

   

 

 

W. Jones Or Is It Samuel Jones. This Map Made Almost A Year After The Battle Of Chickamauga Showing Some of the Route That Sherman And His Troops Followed On The Way To Attack Atlanta

 

A brief phone call to the Catoosa County Courthouse made a few years back leads me to believe that the records most certainly do exist but of course they are probably not easily accessed nor indexed since they are deposited in remote storage areas used by the county for old records. It might require a diligent effort to locate the actual property description for the land of Samuel Jones, the land he owned when the war came to Georgia, and that he lost ownership to as the war ended.  How he lost it all his property is again speculation as presented here but most certainly he suffered the loss in the same manner so many Southern land owners did, most likely through an inability to pay taxes or possible penalties placed on land owners after the War. The period of Reconstruction in the South was not really meant to be a time of forgiveness for those that believed in the Confederate cause and in so many cases it was really a period of plunder. In the case of our Great-Grandfather we can only apply the lessons of the history of the period for now and from that viewpoint it isn't difficult to assume the very worst.

Bib Overalls- Just a Small Bit of Nostalgia

Indulge me as I cast about for long ago memories.  Every time I look at this picture I seem to go back in time to a definite and very nostalgic period of my life.

It seems that maybe 60 to 70 years ago you weren’t really a farmer of any kind unless you wore Bib-Overalls !  At least within the small farming communities of Western Washington State that were within my view of the world back then and that wasn’t a very large world with me I must admit.  I can’t be certain what subtle dress code the farm owners of large crop growing acreages ascribed to but within the memory of my young years what I recall as what was almost a required uniform among the small dairy farmers, i.e., Bib-Overalls, that seemed to define and identify one’s occupation quite well.

Uncle John McGinnis on the right, and Cousin Tommie McGinnes, along the road in Florence

Tommie was not one to conform to the common spelling of the surname

 

The McGinnis cousins and many of the neighbors certainly lived up to that standard.  Looking back, the stiff dark blue denim overalls seem to almost have been part of a uniform worn by the farmers of Florence.  If you were a dairy farmer, another uniform accoutrement was also a part of your daily work attire, and that was knee-high rubber boots with your overalls tucked in or out, it really didn’t matter.  That was more dependent on the task at hand.

Just what possible superior functionality the overalls possessed I really can only speculate.  Quick and easy on and off ? Perhaps, but coupled with the ability to go beltless must have been an enticement for the more portly farmers.  I suspect there were more advantages that certainly escape me at the moment. 

Since this but an exercise in nostalgia to go further might dilute the wonderful memories of spending a few summers on a small long established dairy farm some sixty or more years ago.  Those were good and innocent times compared to the world we live in today.  Much has been written about the events and culture of the 1950’s, a place that my memories so often wander off to in the daydreams of my senior years, and what seems to be common in the writings I have come across is how much simpler life was during that decade.  If only today I could live in a world that cherished only the positive values of the period.  If only we could have seen back then what cultural and political changes were about to descend on us beginning in the 1960’s.  Perhaps a slower approach to major changes might have prevailed but that was not to be.

Nostalgia never solves anything but it can be soothing to the mind at times.  It can actually have a calming effect on me.  Those that ignore this phenomena are really missing out on the benefits of one’s advancing years.  Maybe it’s time to invest in a new pair of overalls.  I have gone without far too long and so have many of our leaders I fear. 

Bond of Office, Sheriff Samuel Jones, Gilmer County, Georgia, 1844-1845

Nancy Hicks, a Jones family researcher, forwarded this to me in January of 2011.  It is a copy of the bond that Samuel Jones signed to ensure he faithfully carried out the duties of the office of Sheriff of Gilmer County, Georgia for his elected term in office of 1844-1845.
 

A transcription of the document follows as best as can be deciphered follows below.

 

Copy of original bond as provided by Nancy Hicks

 

Samuel Jones Sheriff Bond For 1844-1845

Georgia, Know all men by these presents that we Samuel Jones, John P. Alexander, Joseph Garren and John P. Fouts, are held and firmly bound unto his Excellency George W. Crawford Governor and Commander in Chief of the army and navy of this State and of the Militia thereof, in the full sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars to be paid to said George W. Crawford or his successor in office, Governor of the said State for the time being, for which payment well and truly to be made and ?, We bind ourselves and our heirs Executors ADVISERS and each and everyone of THEIR saintly and SEVERELY FIRMLY by these presents,

Sealed with our seal and dated the third day of February 1844.  Where as the above bound Samuel Jones on the first day of January 1844 elected Sheriff of the County of Gilmer in the said State. Now the conditions of the above obligation is such that if the said Samuel Jones shall well and truly do and perform all and SINGULAR the duties required of him in virtue of his said office of Sheriff of the County of Gilmer as aforesaid according to law and the trust reposed in him then the above obligation to be void otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.

Sealed and delivered in presence of  

H.K. Osborn J.J.C. L-----? Stephens J.J.C. Samuel Jones John P. Alexander Joseph Garren John P. Fouts

Registered the 26^th February 1844, R.B. Perry clerk

Irish Famine Years- McGinnis and Donahue’s….. What Might They Have Endured

 

Between 1811, when John McGinnis was born, and 1836, the year of his immigration to Canada, Ireland suffered thru at least 8 years of famine, as well as epidemics of Typhus in 1817 and Cholera in 1832.  He was but 25 when he entered Canada in 1836.

One might easily assume that within these events lies the reason for the man to emigrate to Canada.  He was no different than many others before and most especially those that followed him as a result of the “Great Famine Years” some ten years later.

Although we commonly think of but one devastating Irish famine as occurring between 1845 and 1849 there were smaller harvest failures in 1816-18, as well as others when many died from malnutrition and disease. This was a European famine period that certainly reached the Island of Ireland as well.  Then comes the year 1821 and it begins once again

The following list might help to bring all the years of suffering in Ireland into better focus.  At least those years that our ancestors had surely experienced.  Famine was not new to Ireland in the 1800’s for records reflect occurrences long before.  Nature as well as political events both took their toll on the Irish people.  The famine periods only added to the stress and misery that an Irish Catholic especially had to endure.  Protestants suffered greatly as well but they did not have to deal with the same prejudice that the Catholic population also had to deal with.  In reality, people of all faiths suffered through what nature brought their way.  The divide rested not entirely between religious differences, but between gentry and the common people, between the rich and the poor.  The Catholics being the dominant religion, especially of the poor, simply due to numbers took the brunt of the suffering.

1811- John McGinnis Sr. born in Ireland, assumedly in County Monaghan

1816- Thomas Donahue born in Ireland, assumedly in County Galway

1817- Famine and typhus in Ireland

1821- Margaret McCarron McGinnis born in Ireland

1821-1822- Famine strikes Ireland again

1825- Mary McKeough Donahue born in Ireland

1830-1834- Famine stalks Ireland again

1832- Cholera epidemic in Irish towns

1836- John McGinnis emigrates to Canada; Famine strikes again

1841- The population of Ireland is 8,175,000

1843- Margaret McCarron, future wife of John McGinnis Sr. emigrates to New Brunswick, Canada

1845- Thomas Donahue emigrates to the U.S. and joins the U.S Army. This is the latest probable year for his immigration based on his enlistment record.  He may have arrived perhaps two or three years earlier.  No actual arrival record has been found.

1845-1849- The Potato Famine; the major famine period that drove so many out of their homeland.

1850- Mary McKeough latest probable year of immigration the the U.S based on the year of her marriage to Thomas Donahue.  Her actual arrival year has not been determined but there are immigration records suggesting her year of immigration was about this time.

1851- The Irish census immediately after the famine in 1851 counted a population of 6,552,385, a drop of almost 1.5 million in 10 years, or 20%, while the rest of Europe continued to increase in population.  Famine and immigration both contribute to the decline.

Early Irish Education Under British Rule- The Possible Donahue Story

The US census for 1860, 1870 and 1880 for Thomas Donahue lists him as being unable to read or write.  The 1870 entry for his wife Mary McKeough does not reflect her literacy but her entries for1860 and 1880 reveal that she too was illiterate. What might have been the conditions that faced so many of the population of Ireland that found so many of the immigrants landing on North American soil unable to read or write.

The Irish had it rather difficult to find a decent Catholic education in Ireland itself certainly during the childhood of these two ancestors. Catholic schools were forbidden under the law beginning in the early 1700’s up until 1782 when the law was repealed. 

The purpose of the law was to force the Catholic parents to send their children to free Government schools where they were proselytized and encouraged to abandon their faith.  The Catholics throughout the country defied the edict and would not allow their children to attend .  The statistics prove out that the defiance of the law had a near total impact among the Catholic congregations of the entire country.

Private, clandestine if not secret schools began to take over the education of the Catholic children and they became known as the Hedgeschools.  The name originated from the fact that the schools were hidden from the authorities and were conducted anyplace they were able to find secret hidden space, often literally in the shadows of field hedges or within the walls of ancient ruins, decaying, crumbling monasteries', churches or remote barns.  The result was that most of the classes were conducted in an open air classroom .

These hidden schools were even then not available to all for the secret schools did require a compensation to be collected from the parents for the pay of the teachers.  Not all peasants could afford what little payment was required.  Thus the birth range of Thomas and Mary Donahue found Ireland only beginning to bring the Catholic schools out of hiding and it is easy to assume just why the two parents came to North America unable to read or write.

The following is a link that adds more detail to the education difficulties that existed in Ireland for many decades:

The Hedge Schools - Irish Cultural Society of the Garden City Area

Due to lack of education and the difficulty for such individuals to eventually gain any significant property the poor of the country were caught in a seemingly never ending state of poverty that lasted over generations.  Once born into poverty one would find it extremely difficult to escape the influences that perpetuated in every day life that forced one to struggle their entire lives.  e

Emigration was a way out of such a life to those of the mental and physical and financial capacity to accept the challenge and leave their homeland.

In the case of Thomas Donahue and his wife Mary just what circumstances they experienced we cannot document but it is easy to surmise that they both most likely came from the class of people that were caught in the struggle that was most certainly passed on to them from their parents, also raised in poverty at some level.  That to me is the most likely cause of the lack of education for these two ancestors.

 

Mary McKeough Donahue

About 1825-1900

 

Mary Donahue hinted at the above scenarios in a sworn affidavit late in her life as she was attempting to claim her right to a veterans widow pension following the death of her husband.  Thomas was on a meager Mexican War veteran's pension at the time of his death which suddenly left Mary with no income and only her children to support her, one, Alice, 21 years of age, still at home tending to her mother’s daily needs.  The following is an extract from one affidavit in March of 1899 and it tends to paint a picture of her early life that leads me to believe that she indeed was of a poor class of Irish citizens:

“That this affiant claimant never made a claim for pension other than those described above- had no reason to do so, so long as her late husband was alive.

That she thinks it almost impossible to furnish the date of her birth because she was born in Ireland 74 years ago, and that at the time of her birth and a number of years thereafter there were no schools there [unreadable] and were unable to get any kind of an education, but so soon as about old enough had to work, and learn to work was the only education they were able to get.

That her parents died when she was not quite six years old, was taken to an uncle who raised her and her uncle and his folks spoke no other language than regular Irish.”

All this really does not confirm any definite circumstances of Thomas and Mary during their upbringing in Ireland but it certainly allows me to connect what is known of Irish history and the probable culture they endured as they were growing up.  They must have experienced prejudices and poverty that none of their descendants have had to endure.

Margaret McCarron McGinnis and the Year 1861

It had to have been a difficult year for our great-grandmother. Her husband John died in February of the year leaving her with a family of six to support and none of age enough to have working skills of their own.  The oldest, her stepson Patrick, was sixteen and probably capable of finding some sort of minor employment in order to bring in a meager amount of support to help with the sustenance of the family.

I suspect it was a time of charitable giving and receiving coming from close family and friends in the community and the major sources of help certainly might have centered around the local Parish Church, St. Michael’s.  But what might have been the family situation following the death of the family breadwinner can only be speculated on.  What follows are some possibilities of what might have developed for the family as discussed and speculated on by myself and Molly McGinnis.  It is only conjecture for the census of 1861 only provides questions and no real substantial answers regarding Margaret McGinnis and her children.

John McGinnis Sr. was a cobbler by trade and at the time his trade was defined as a Cordwainer according to the only census entry found for him in 1851 in Chatham. Perhaps he was working out of his home or employed elsewhere in the village of Chatham.  By 1861 it very well may have been considered more than a village, more likely a small town, a small and prosperous town I suspect. 

The era of wooden ships was alive and thriving and the small town had an ample shipbuilding industry long established in the community.  The Cunard family being the principle owner of the apparently largest shipyard along the Miramichi River where so many of the wage earners of the local Irish community earned their salaries.  Other members of the Cunard family went on to form a successful shipping company originating in St. John’s, New Brunswick that still exists today.  The Cunard company was the major shareholder in the White Star Line, the company that eventually financed and commissioned the building of the the fateful ship Titanic.

Ten years before his death, in 1851, John Sr. practiced a trade of a cobbler or cordwainer, of which there were 20 in the overall population of 1700.  Obviously he passed his skills on to none of his sons for the evidence is that most followed the obvious trade of ship carpentry, a much needed skill in the shipyards.  Wood from the abundant forests along the upper Miramichi and the availability of such downstream in Chatham was the driving force behind the establishment of the shipbuilding industry that the small town became famous for.  The era of wooden ships by 1871 was being replaced by modern steel ships being built first in Europe during the emergence of the era of steel ocean vessels.  This transition can be directly attributed to the McGinnis family’s eventual migration out of Canada and to the United States.  The industry eventually died in their small town and employment prospects were much greater in the land to the south, the U.S, 

Margaret and her brood continued to strive on, obviously, following the death of the family head but apparently it was not an easy time for her.  The Canadian Census was taken later that year and Margaret and her family do not appear, at least as a family unit.  The entire family may have been missed in the count that year.

Searching through the census of 1861 there are possible entries for some of the family members suggesting that maybe some of the children were living with family and friends but nothing to date can really be pieced together in order to create a valid picture of just what the family was experiencing.  The entries that are found cannot really be established to be of Margaret’s family.  This leads me to suspect that Margaret may have been experiencing difficult times finding ways to support her children, a rather likely experience for any new widow with a large family.

Margaret’s oldest charge, her stepson Patrick, just might have been the redeemer of the family.  His personal enterprise as reflected in his later success in life suggests that he very well could have been assertive enough to step in and slowly helped the family financially, even at such a young age.  If there were employment possibilities for one so young then younger brother James surely soon began to add help for the family sustenance as well.  With her family coming of age in that decade it is easy to assume they all pulled together to keep the family intact.  But the few years immediately following the death of John Sr. had to have included some trying hardships for all to experience.

So the story of what transpired for the remaining McGinnis family for the next ten years, until the next census of 1871, is only something to be wondered about.  The 1871 census reveals that the family is together along with Margaret’s father and a sister.  The appearance of these latter two individuals suggests that times may have improved over that decade as the two new McCarron's in the household are certainly new immigrants for they do not appear in any earlier Canadian census in any province, at least not within any of my data searches.  Somehow, collectively I surmise, enough funds were put together to enable the two to book passage to Canada to join Margaret.  This alone establishes that some level of prosperity had taken place.  The possibility that the father and sister provided their own funding to emigrate out of Ireland is rather unlikely based strictly on the economy of Ireland during the period.  Possible I suppose, but to me rather unlikely.

So 1871 arrives and the economy of Chatham, New Brunswick slowly began to decline as the era of wooden shipbuilding began to die out.  The rest of the story plays out in the U.S. and it amazes me how they all ended up in Washington State still a family unit of extended family for many years to come.

St. Michael’s Cemetery, Chatham, NB…..Another Grave Yet to be Found……Hopefully Never Forgotten

Where lies James McCarron………… ?

St. Michaels Basilica and Cemetery

There is no new uncovering of facts here but what this does accomplish is raise questions yet to be answered.  It tells a basic story without all , organizing and describing and posting these small facets of our ancestors past comings and goings is that almost every discovered fact very often leads to more questions.  Thus this serves as a place to bring up those questions and hopefully as time goes by some of the unknowns will be resolved.  At least this becomes a place for me to be reminded of what needs further looking into in order to uncover some long lost family information.

To explain, James McCarron is the father of Margaret McCarron, later married to John McGinnis Sr.  This would make James McCarron the Great-Great Grandfather to my generation, the direct descendants of Mary Agnes McGinnis.
The man holds the distinction of the oldest identified ancestor in the McGinnis/McCarron line and the oldest ancestor born in Ireland and buried on North American soil. The actual proof of his existence can be found in but two pieces of documentation found in Chatham, New Brunswick records.

The first piece of evidence regarding his identity is to be found is his inclusion in the 1871 Canadian Census living in the household of what most certainly is his daughter, Margaret McCarron McGinnis.  This was some ten years following the death of Margaret’s husband John McGinnis.      

 Margaret McGinnis Transcription 1871 Canadian Census
Chatham division 3, pages 1 & 2, Margaret McGinnis, 50, Patrick, 23, James, 22, John, 20, Arthur, 18, Sarah, 16, Hugh, 13.  Also in same household, McCarron, James, 80, Mary, 40.  Patrick and James are listed as carpenters, John as a school teacher, Arthur as a laborer.  Sarah also has an occupation listed that is unreadable.
     

Margaret McCarron McGinnis

Circa 1890, She left her Father in the Graveyard of St. Michaels

Note: The dark material outlining her head appears to be the back of a chair or something she is sitting on at the time

The second piece of evidence is his record of death and burial in the archives of St. Michael’s parish church in Chatham.  The death date is followed by burial two days later.  His burial in the church cemetery is undisputable however a search of an hour or two in the rain during my last visit to Chatham, in the summer of 2007, even with the help of two friends, we could not locate his grave.  Is it lost to time, I certainly hope not for it needs to discovered and honored in some respectful way.  

As in many old cemeteries the earliest graves tend to lack maintenance over the years as cemetery funding diminishes and family, relatives and descendants die off or leave the area.  This eventuality very well may be the case for the grave of James McCarron leaving the possibility that his grave marker may have been destroyed by the weather alone.  The museum historical records merely record the death and burial information and the actual grave location was not indicated.  The museum directed me to a caretakers office to see if they had the precise location but that facility was not open the day I was there.  The grave location might be found in those separate records maintained by the parish Sexton or others in the church office with access to the actual records.

James McCarron Death and Burial Record

(lower left entry)

Found and photographed at the St. Michael’s Museum and

Historical Center

The 1871 census really adds more questions than facts. Ten years after her husbands death Margaret has then living in her household, other than her children, what appears to be her father and most likely a sister. What are the circumstances that allowed two family members, most likely rather newly arrived from Ireland, to join Margaret and her brood? Who or what provided the funding for this to occur? Another question for another time.

This all leads to another rather basic unanswered question regarding the family survival after the death of John Sr.. Was Margaret and her children left in near poverty or was it actually the opposite of conditions? However, this needs some additional thought for a posting on the subject at a later date. Of course the primary question in this posting is where in St. Michael’s cemetery does James McCarron lie? Someday I hope to find the grave. 

Chicago St. Valentine's Day……… !

From the department of trivia and a small coincidence to note. I found it rather interesting.

A well told story seems to predictably emerge in all sorts of media every year it seems.  The story is told time and again about the Chicago Valentine’s Day Massacre, the result of which began the long and bloody task of purging the local Mafia of the time from the local streets by honest law enforcement agencies.  At least by those honest lawmen that could be found to be loyal during the twenties and thirties.
It happened on St.Valentines day in Chicago, in 1929?

The struggle between the Italian controlled Mafia of the South Side of the city against the Irish controlled Mafia of Chicago’s North Side.

This is a repeat of an e-mail shared with some family last year.  It really sheds no light on our family history but when I recognized the address in Chicago where the incident occurred it just caught my curiosity.  The murders happened some three months before our grandmother Mary Ellen McGinnis died in Stanwood some 40 years after her and her husband left Chicago for Seattle.  I just wonder if she ever realized when hearing of the event in Chicago, did she ever recognize that it happened in her old Chicago neighborhood. 

From: allie
Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 3:59 PM
To: Nancy Robbins; Michael Jones; DON & JENNINE
Subject: TRIVIA

Hope all are having a memorable Valentines day............ !

Here is a bit of trivia discovered today......

As happens almost every Valentines day, some TV channel runs something about the Chicago Valentines Day Massacre of 1929 supposedly masterminded by Al Capone.
The program I watched just now on the History Channel gave the address of the infamous garage where the crimes took place..........2122 N. Clark St., Chicago, very near the lake front. That address really sounded familiar.

It seems, according to an 1885 Chicago City directory, James McGinnis Sr. and his new wife Mary Ellen Donahue were living on that very street, but a block south, at 2022 N. Clark St., some 44 years earlier of course. Our ancestors left town in 1889 and one can naturally assume the neighborhood really went downhill after they left. But it remained an Irish part of the city and eventually was under control of the Irish gangs.

An older brother of our Grandmother, Patrick Donahue, ran a grocery store in the neighborhood, in the same 2000 block of Clark St. He died in late 1930. He was still a grocer in Chicago in the 1920 census I believe. Maybe he was still in business in the neighborhood and if he was close to the mob action, he may very well have wished he had left town with his sister. I hope he didn't die of "lead poisoning" administered by some member of the Italian run South side gangs.

Like I said, it is but trivia, the kind that I really get a kick out of.
AJ

http://www.prairieghosts.com/valentine.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Street_(Chicago)

Irish/English Naming Conventions for Children

It seems that tradition was not faithfully followed by our Irish ancestors and relatives.

There was a tradition, supposedly established long ago, for families to follow in naming their offspring.  If followed faithfully, and that is the big question, if and when it was applied, then it would be possible to loosely construct a family tree going farther back than current documented knowledge would allow.

It was interesting to come across this bit of possible family practice with those of Irish and English descent some years back but until now I never really made a study of our ancestry to see if it was applied in our lines.  The answer to that question, is no, not really, at least not using information that we know to be reasonably correct.

Irish Naming Patterns for Children:

The 1st son was usually named after the father's father
  The 2nd son was usually named after the mother's father
   The 3rd son was usually named after the father
    The 4th son was usually named after the father's eldest brother
     The 5th son was usually named after the mother's eldest brother
 

The 1st daughter was usually named after the mother's mother
  The 2nd daughter was usually named after the father's mother
   The 3rd daughter was usually named after the mother
    The 4th daughter was usually named after the mother's eldest sister 
     The 5th daughter  was usually named after the father's eldest sister 

We only have any degree of confidence in those descendants of our Irish beginnings starting with John McGinnis (1811-1861) and Thomas Donahue (1816-1898).  Coming forth into present times a reasonably accurate accounting for all the offspring of these two and their wives, Margaret McCarron and Mary McKeough, has been established and documented by a few of their descendants.  It becomes rather obvious when looking at a current family tree that after two or three generations coming forward from these ancestors that any possibility of descendants following traditional naming practices for children really went by the wayside by the time of our mother’s generation.  Simply stated it appears there was little or no effort made to follow tradition beginning in the early 1900’s when the younger and modern generations began their families.


Beginning with the Donahue line we have a fairly accurate guess at the names of the parents of our Thomas Sr.  For now I have accepted them to be Patrick Donahue and Mary Connelly.  Nothing to date has been found regarding the names of the parents of his wife, Mary McKeough. So in counting all possible descendants for two succeeding generations a reasonably accurate count of 70 possible descendants can be established.  This includes surnames that previously were never known to be related in any way, many of which lived their lives out in Wisconsin, and were never known to our branch of the family.  The children of John Shimunok, Robert Puls and William Scherer are surnames included in my count of seventy for they too are direct descendants.  All three of these men married a Donahue daughter of the first generation on American soil.


To repeat, coming forward but two additional generations, out of those seventy possible names only 37 have reliable documentation of names of great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts in order to clearly see if a naming convention of a child was actually followed.  When looking at the spouses of the progeny of Thomas and Mary, as well as the son and daughter in laws established by marriage, not enough of their ancestors has been found to really determine any naming pattern for those that married into the family.  Thus the list dwindles by at least half to use to study the possibility of tradition being followed at all.


The result is that out of the 37 names where relatives names are known only 6 seem to have followed the supposed actual system of naming children.  That small amount is enough to state that the system of naming really was not followed at all and if it was it very well may have been by accident and not really meant to be following tradition in any way.


The list of possible descendants in the McGinnis line is far fewer.  A known list of 25 names can be established coming forward two generations from John McGinnis and his wife Margaret McCarron.  However the possibility of following tradition increases in this family line.  Using all known ancestors, uncles and aunts of this group, 14, possibly 18, of these descendants may have been named using the old traditional naming patterns.  That is clearly a larger proportion than the Donahue line.


This is only an exercise of no great importance currently, only something that needed looking at to see if more names might be logically assumed, i.e. the given names of the parents and other close relatives of Thomas Donahue and John McGinnis.  If one has a reasonably accurate guess of the given or Christian name of earlier Irish ancestors that never immigrated it could be a definite help if and when anyone is able to establish the home parishes of both these lines in Ireland.  Looking at old records knowing only a surname is a broad brush approach, however, if all the given names were known in these lines going back to perhaps the mid to late 1700’s, then the process of elimination of unlikely ancestors in old records would be much easier.


But the obvious answer to all this is that in our lines it is rather doubtful that the traditional system can be relied on to aid in making educated guesses of the names of unknown ancestors.  The system should be kept in mind though because one should never say never.

An Excellent Video That Summarizes The Irish Potato Famine Experience

Maybe you might want to know a bit more of your Irish background.  If so, I can recommend this video link.

<sup>I have read several accounts of early Irish history regarding the Potato Famine and the treatment of the calamity by the English rule of the time and this video tends to give a very good example in 45 minutes of just what our ancestors may or may not have experienced. However, the general conditions that prevailed throughout the land had to have impact to some degree on the absolute majority of the citizens that were not major landowners, It had to have affected all in some way.  The farmers, the laborers and the shop keepers were all affected certainly.
   
The video  follows a specific family line and the ship disaster they encountered does not apply to us but it is a typical example of what many immigrants did experience. The video really is well done and thru some re-enactment gives a good overall picture in one presentation. I am impressed with it.

The English defeated the Irish some two or three hundred years earlier and that defeat was a disaster for the Irish beyond all current practices of war, at least to the extent that the English introduced. Their eventual total victory gave them the opportunity to actually seize ownership of land and they were merciless. Eventually the Irish became tenants to English landowners on their very own land and this only helped to bring about wide spread poverty with so many of the Irish natives in the years proceeding the 1845 famine only able to lease very small plots of land. These small plots barely provided enough food for a family. Of course this is a worst case scenario but as the film states it may have involved one in three Irish families.

The film presents one families story and just what our ancestors experienced can only be guessed at but due to the millions that immigrated to North America for various reasons, surely some of the same motivations applied to our lines as well. The failure of the potato crops beginning in 1845 seemingly did not affect the McGinnis's since large numbers of the Irish began to immigrate much earlier. The famine was the crowning blow so to speak. Before that due to wide spread poverty, disease, persecution of Catholics and constant contentious English rule there were many reasons to leave long before the major famine period.

If you watch the video keep in mind what is known today of our lines.  John McGinnis, from County Monaghan, and two of his sisters immigrated in the 1830's. One or more of the sisters may have came alone, or with friends and not family.  A list of passengers of one ship, the Britannia, that is available on the internet, lists one Catherine McGinnis as a passenger to St. John’s, New Brunswick in 1834.  On that same ship was a Buchannan family.  The first wife of John McGinnis was Mary Buchannan.  The name of one Margaret Buchannan on the ships manifest is different but close, and the year of immigration for Catherine later listed in the 1851 census as 1836, the same year for her brother, is also different.  I only mention the similarities here as a future reference to be explored in more depth if and when better records ever do surface.  But the similarities are such that makes me really wonder of the accuracy of the later census data for sister Catherine.  The families the sisters eventually married into also immigrated during this same period or just before. For what reasons we do not know but as stated here there were other reasons besides the famine for there were earlier but smaller famine periods.

John McGinnis married Margaret McCarron, his second wife, in about 1846.  Margaret had immigrated in 1843. Her immigration year was closer to the famine period which spread gradually beginning before 1845 and she may have left during the early period of the disaster. We don't know. She did leave a father and a sister behind, perhaps other family members as well, that eventually joined her in Canada sometime between 1860 and 1870. What the McCarron's that were left behind in Ireland eventually experienced may have been related to the major famine but that is but speculation. Since the father and sister did survive in Ireland during the major famine they may have been much better off than the really poor and destitute families. Maybe we will find out some day, at least that is my hope.

As for the Donahue’s, that story comes closer to the major outbreak of the famine years for Thomas Donahue immigrated in 1845, or just before.  This is based on the fact that he joined the U.S. Army in 1845.  The famine did come on gradually so being from Galway he may have been in search of better times.  Again we don’t know.  He did leave a daughter behind that he also brought to the U.S. in the early 1850’s not very long after his marriage to Mary McKeough and his discharge from the army in 1850,  That portion of Ireland where Galway is situated was not considered the most productive land and sometime during early English rule those Irish that wanted were permitted to migrate to this area of the north coast of the island.  This leads me to believe that the Donahue’s may have had hard times through the years and perhaps poverty was a factor that motivated Thomas to seek a better life in North America.  Just when and where Thomas landed on the continent is not known exactly but I have found a record of his possible landing in Boston.  The record needs more thought so I am unable to really state it as fact at this time.  Time will tell perhaps.

The Irish literally scattered to the four winds, to Australia, North America and even South America where small enclaves of Irish descendants can be found in Brazil and Argentina even today just as in Boston or Savannah.

Anyway I do recommend the video for it paints a picture of the Irish diaspora in a brief presentation and is very well done.</sup>

Jones Children, Rock Springs School, Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas, About 1894

Dating the ages of the Rock Springs School class photo.
If Dad’s (Charles) age is correct here, then the picture was most likely taken in 1894, maybe 1893.

Three Jones brothers are standing together in the back row. Beginning with Charles,(2nd from left), age 11 or 12, next to him is older brother Samuel, age 15 or 16, and then Albert, about age 10 or 11..

Sister Esther was three years older than Sam making her about 19 at the time of the picture.  If she is there I sense that she might be fourth from the right in the back row due only to the shape of her face which is mindful of her older sister Mary Lou reflected in a later family photo.  If I have the photo dated but one year earlier, 1893, then Esther would have been 18 and probably still in school.



The two girls cropped from near the center of the picture are most likely Martha Elizabeth, about age 8, on the left with sister Pearl, about age 6, next to her.  This is only an educated guess since the two have dresses of the same patterned material meaning they are most likely from the same family and the age difference of the two is about right in the photo.  I see a strong resemblance to Pearl and somewhat less in the face of Martha.

Grady, Eula and Ruth would have been younger than six and most likely not in school at all.  However the front row has some rather young children present so it is possible that some of the younger family members were present.  I can't recognize any strong facial features within the younger children however.  Ruth was born the year of this picture, 1894, Grady would have been about 4 years old and Eula about 2 years.  It is possible that Grady may be present but I am doubtful at this point.  If I were to hazard a guess, if any, Grady might be fifth from the left in the front row but I really have no confidence in that at all.

Judge Alfred Hines Jones of Charleston

Alfred Hines Jones, about 1920

It seems that our grandfather, Alfred Hines Jones was a judge of some sort in his new home in Washington State after relocating with all his children to Charleston, Kitsap County Washington in 1912.  These days of course Charleston is an incorporated part of Bremerton but in the early 1900’s Charleston on the west side of the present day Bremerton was a distinct and separate municipal entity.

His obituary in the Bremerton paper on the day of his death March 3, 1922 states he served three years as a police judge in Charleston sometime between his arrival in the Bremerton area up until his death.  Just what years he was in that position is yet to be determined.

Our grandfather had finally left Arkansas behind in 1912 after liquidating his Arkansas holdings and moved on to Washington State in order to be with his children in his later years. Those children still living with him in Harrison were his daughters Eula and Ruth, sons Albert and Bill and granddaughter May Rutledge and assumedly this group made the trip to Washington together.  Already in Washington State were his sons Samuel and Charles.  Samuel can be found in Charleston in the 1910 census but Charles is yet to be located.  My memory is that Dad often said he arrived in Bremerton in 1909 which leads me to believe he was still there one year later.  Since he was in bridge construction for many years he very well could have been anywhere in the Northwest on a construction site and was simply overlooked in that census year.  Two years later Charles married Pearl Baker in Almira, Washington where her family resided suggesting to me that he truly was in the state in 1910.

Bremerton Searchlight 1922

      

                                            

                       Bremerton Sun, 1947

  























The following is taken from an e-mail to Charles F. Jones Jr. some time back where I explained what was found in the Kitsap County City directories:

“I just finished looking at Microfilm copies of all Bremerton and Kitsap County city directories covering the years 1909-1934.  I was just curious to see which Jones family members were living where and when.

A.H. Jones first appears in 1913 and his last entry is 1921 which was just a year before his death.  It's interesting to note that over the years much of his family lived with him off and on, even Dad and his first wife Pearl appear to be living with him in 1916.  The house address isn't given, it's just described as Naval Ave, corner of 4th or near 4th.

The directories listed city officials for Charleston and I never did see A.H. Jones listed as a judge.  I assumed that maybe he was a Justice of the Peace which were also listed.  Maybe he was something other than a JP.  The directories of course aren't all that accurate I am sure……………….”

So at this point I would like to bring to the record another facet of this story and it goes back to Arkansas in the period just preceding the families final departure from Boone County.  It is the record of the appointment of Alfred Hines Jones as a Justice of the Peace in Boone County, Jackson Township, Arkansas, in 1898, the location of the Arkansas origins of the Jones family.  This is the very area that A.H. Jones settled in shortly after the death of his father Samuel Jones in Gordon County Georgia in 1870. 

The Arkansas document above was provided to me by one Nancy Hicks, of the Atlanta, Georgia area, a valid descendent in our overall Jones line, during an internet e-mail exchange of several weeks in early 2011.  She really is very knowledgeable of the early family origins and is the collaborator with one Kristin Ingram Johnson recently at one time residing in the State of Oregon.  Kristin posted her knowledge of the family origins to the internet in the early 2000’s and fortunately I was able to download her data and I have used it as my baseline for the Jones family.  Kristin no longer shares that data online and I am grateful to her for all efforts in the past and I attribute her in a large part of many of the earliest mentions of Jones ancestors in my expanded database.  Much of what Kristin published was furnished by Nancy Hicks some ten years ago when as Nancy Hicks confirmed they collaborated on the overall data. 

I was eventually able to come across Nancy Hicks in 2011 simply thru Google searches.  Kristin had mentioned the help of Nancy within some of her source details and as internet search capabilities improved over the years it was eventually quite easy to make contact with Nancy.

My question at this point is just how accurate is the statement regarding A.H. Jones stating that he had been an early police judge?   I do wonder however after searching though early Charleston City Directories, was the statement found in his obituary an exaggeration of his early Arkansas position or did he truly preside as a municipal judge of some sort in Charleston and perhaps he acquired that position based on his Arkansas experiences? 

Interesting to speculate but until a thorough search of Kitsap County records can be achieved we may never really know the accuracy of the fact.

The obituary itself has errors in it that makes me wonder just how knowledgeable was the person providing the facts of the man’s life.  The newspaper article states he was born in Calhoun County, Georgia but it is well assumed he was born in Gilmer County.  The two counties are some distance apart and Calhoun County has no mention in any other early family records.  The obituary also mentions he came to Arkansas with Mrs. Jones when in fact he never married previous to his migration to Arkansas.  His first marriage was to Elizabeth Johnson in 1872 in Boone County a year or two after his arrival there.

Perhaps someday someone will answer the question by completing a search of all the early Kitsap County records and determine the accuracy of the statement in his obituary.

I can only conclude that I have no doubt that our grandfather was a Charleston Police Judge but at this point I have found no real documentation to either prove or disprove the statement.  I do believe he very likely did serve in such a position.  However I just want to suggest the possibility that if he did serve as a judge that perhaps his Justice Of The Peace experience in Arkansas may have been a factor in his being appointed to the position in Charleston.  Another possibility is that someone writing the obituary took license to extrapolate the facts to the point that described his history in Charleston as an exaggeration of the facts.  Time will tell once the actual County Records are accessed.

Examining Possible Relationships From Church Records, Nelson and Chatham, Northumberland County, New Brunswick Canada / Marriages of Catherine and Mary McGinnis, Our Great-Grandaunts / Also the Ferguson Connection

It has proved impossible to date to find any data or method to really define where any of our Irish ancestors resided in the home country. Someday that may change but as of now the only records of any kind for either the Donahue’s or the McGinnis families can only be found in North American records beginning around the mid 19th century.  Finding even these records has proven out to be a significant find for me personally.  This is an attempt to present some sort of a lasting record regarding what we know so far.  Again this is an attempt to piece together a few facts and provide some sort of an explanation for others someday to expand on as other records are found about the family.  I do not consider this as proof of anything, only my assessment of the events.

With the McGinnis family, the earliest surviving documents to be found during my searches are to be found in the Catholic parish records of Eastern Canada.  These records are found on microfilm and published by the Drouin Genealogical Institute of Quebec.  This storehouse of information is priceless and it’s origin is as described from a posting here in June of 2009:

“The Drouin Genealogical Institute of Quebec took on the task of microfilming all the church records of the various Catholic parishes administered out of Quebec City which is a considerable amount of records. The area involved in the task essentially covered every parish in the provinces of Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all under the auspices of the presiding Archbishop or Cardinal residing in Quebec City or Montreal. The effort begun in the 1940's was primarily meant to record French genealogy records but as is evident the task encompassed all parishes, French or English speaking. Since the Maritime Provinces, unlike Quebec of course, are primarily English speaking with many sizeable pockets of French culture it was determined that all records would be filmed in order to capture the data of all the French families”.

Searching through these records the possible existence of other early McGinnis family members to Canada began to surface, namely the names of two likely sisters of our McGinnis Patriarch, John McGinnis Sr.  John immigrated to Canada in 1836 and died in Chatham, New Brunswick in 1860 leaving behind his second wife Margaret McCarron and six children, one of which was James McGinnis Sr., our grandfather.  The two possible sisters can only be proven through making associations recorded in the parish records which is not a foolproof method but it the only process available due to the lack of civil records.

The two possible sisters are Mary and Catherine McGinnis.  Those two names combined as Mary Catherine were passed on to two succeeding generations of the family of Hugh and Catherine McGinnis.  Hugh of course was a brother of our grandfather James, both of the surviving six children of John Sr.  This is not a definite proof of the existence of the two possible sisters of John Sr. since these are both such common names in the Irish tradition of naming children.  But it is something to be considered when attempting to piece all this together.

The most direct proof that might apply then are in the parish records of two churches, St. Patrick’s in the small community of Nelson and St. Michael’s in Chatham, the two small towns being but ten miles apart.  St. Patrick’s was established about 1811 and St. Michael’s in 1839.  Keep in mind an extremely confusing issue comes to play here in that a McInnis and a McGinnis came together in marriage making the records somewhat mind boggling to read through at times.  Keeping the names straight while attempting to absorb the events and dates has proved out to be very challenging at times.

The following events have been found in the microfilm records but they are not all the entries regarding the family available. I only include those events that I feel tend to validate the existence of the two sisters of John McGinnis Sr.  The events and the witnesses are the key to this puzzle.  The names of Mary and a sister Catherine intertwine in important family events over a period of many years.  It may only be circumstantial on the surface but personally I do believe it is highly probable that the two sisters did exist.

1. According to the 1850 census of Chatham an entry states that John McGinnis Sr. entered Canada in 1836.  This is my beginning point for our McGinnis family.
2. An entry in the parish record of November 18, 1839 in St. Patrick's parish in nearby Nelson records the marriage of one Andrew McInnis and Catherine McGinnis.  At this point we might only assume this is a sister of John Sr. for one John McGinnis is a witness.  It is still not established that this is the same John McGinnis that entered Canada in 1836 nor that John and Catherine in the record are brother and sister.  This also begins the task of attempting to keep the two surnames, McInnis (sometimes spelled McInnes) and McGinnis straight in the mind to keep the spellings from confusing the issue.  McInnis and it’s variants are of Scotch descent and of course McGinnis is of Irish origin.
3. The next date of interest in December 27, 1840 when at St. Michael’s parish in Chatham, Andrew McInnis and Catherine McGinnis baptized their first child John McInnis.  Witnesses were John McGinnis and Mary McGinnis.  We still cannot say for sure that this is the same John McGinnis that entered Canada in 1836.  It is reasonable to assume though that the parents of the child are the same that married about a year earlier in Nelson.  What is worth considering here is that one John McGinnis was a witness at both events suggesting that it is the same person in both instances.  The record spells the parents name as McGinnis and I suggest that the priest was in a hurry and did not record the surname of McInnis correctly.  These records were sometimes put together days if not weeks after the actual events providing room for error as the priest might sometimes attempt to bring his records up to date from memory only.  Spelling of surnames was really rather haphazard at times regardless of when the record was entered which is easy to see when looking through many microfilm pages.
4. On January 30, 1845 a marriage record is entered in St. Michael’s parish in Chatham between John Ferguson and Mary McGinnis.  This marriage is what establishes the relationship of Mary Agnes McGinnis and Mary Mills as second cousins.  It was well known in our family that the two, our mother Mary Agnes and Mary Mills, were cousins and in order for this to be a fact this marriage establishes that John Ferguson married a McGinnis of our line, a sister of John McGinnis Sr. in all likelihood. It is well known that John Ferguson was the grandfather of Mary Mills and he was married to Mary McGinnis and for the cousin relationship to be established Mary McGinnis, the grandmother of Mary Mills, had to be of our McGinnis line.  This works out to establish that an unknown McGinnis in Ireland, the father of John McGinnis Sr.  and his sister Mary McGinnis Ferguson, was a great-grandfather to both of these cousins.  Note: this marriage was entered in the records as both January 30 and September 30, 1845.  I have accepted the earlier date for now due to date of birth of the first child of the marriage, Robert, in late December 1845.
5. Time goes by and the next date of interest in the church records is December 21, 1845 when Robert Ferguson the first child of John Ferguson and wife Mary McGinnis was baptized.  This child later becomes the uncle of Mary Mills and the man that established his farm in Florence next to James McGinnis.  The two were first cousins based on the unknown McGinnis patriarch in Ireland.  Both men settling next to one another to live out their lives adds to the credibility of the relationship of the two families.  Robert never did marry but his sister Catherine married Luke Mills and were the parents of Mary and Charlie Mills.
6. On September 15, 1847, our grandfather James McGinnis, first child of John McGinnis Sr.and Margaret McCarron, was baptized. The godparents were one John McCarron and Mary Ferguson. If the tradition of naming relatives as godparents holds true then assumedly Mary (McGinnis) Ferguson is a relative. John McCarron is a mystery but if tradition is followed here then he might be a brother or cousin of the mother, Margaret McCarron. John McCarron disappears from all records after this event.
7. John McGinnis Jr., the second child of John McGinnis Sr. and Margaret McCarron, was baptized on August 26, 1849.  The godparents were Andrew and Catherine McInnes.  Again, if tradition is followed then the godparents were relatives.  This adds substance to the relationship of Catherine as a probable sister of John McGinnis Sr.
8. On March 25, 1850 the fifth and last child of Andrew McInnis and wife Catherine McGinnis was baptized.  The godparents were John Ferguson and Margaret McCarron.  This brings family in as godparents as John Ferguson is married to Mary McGinnis and Margaret McCarron was the wife of John McGinnis Sr.

Personally I feel the intertwining of all these people within just these family events is more than telling, it is really rather substantial proof but based on circumstances only.  There are no definite records uncovered to date that really state factually that John McGinnis Sr., Catherine McGinnis McInnis and Mary McGinnis Ferguson were siblings.  The events and the names above tend to provide strong credence however and until more records are found someday this is what I consider my reasonable assessment of the relationships.

One issue remains to be examined and it may be very important and that is to examine the entry dates to Canada of the two sisters, Mary and Catherine, as well as their year of birth.  It very well may work out that the sisters immigrated before their brother John McGinnis and these facts might cast a different light on what I have presented here.

To summarize…………….

Credibility of Catherine McGinnis are found in items 2, 3, 7 & 8

Credibility of Mary McGinnis are found in items 3, 4, 5 & 6

I apologize if this really belabors the issue and only tends to present a confusing explanation of my take on all this.  To me it is all rather clear and that I suppose is because I have pored over these records so many times and as a result much of it is committed to memory.  Not everyone will see it as I do but do give it time.  It very well may eventually make sense, at least that is my hope.

Our Lady Of Good Hope, Seattle’s First Catholic Church and the Parish of the Newly Arrived McGinnis Family

1867 Rev. Francis X. Prefontaine founded Our Lady of Good Help, the first Catholic Church in Seattle

Our Lady of Good Help was used by Bishop O'Dea as a pro-cathedral in 1903. As Seattle's downtown became more crowded, in 1905 the church was demolished and rebuilt on a new site. In 1912 it was closed as a parish church because of its close proximity to the new St. James Cathedral, and was instead included as part of the Cathedral parish. Although the original building is gone, Our Lady of Good Help is still remembered as the first Catholic Church in Seattle.

The funeral service for our great-grandmother Margaret McGinnis on Tuesday December 29, 1903, some five days following her death, was at Seattle’s first Catholic Church, Our Lady of Good Help, at 4^th and Washington Street, on the eastern fringes of the current Pioneer Square district. At the time of her death the church served the faithful towards the Southern end of downtown Seattle. Prefontaine Place, a street in downtown Seattle was obviously named after the priest that built the church. The street cuts a diagonal swath through a block at the south end of Third Ave that probably lies directly across the very property of the original church.

The first known address for any of the McGinnis clan in Seattle was in the 1894-1895 Seattle Directory and the home of Patrick Fitzpatrick and his wife Sarah McGinnis at  918 Weller Street. The address is located on the west fringe of what is now known as Seattle’s International District more commonly known as China Town.   This was about a half mile thru the winding streets of Seattle from the families Parish Church.  Living with them was Sarah’s mother Margaret McGinnis, our great grandmother.  This essentially was at the southwest base of what is now known as First Hill.  Seattle’s Harborview or King county Hospital lies at the top of the hill by perhaps a quarter of a mile directly to the north of the McGinnis family original location.

Margaret’s death certificate some nine years after her first known address records her address as 718 Weller Street.  The similarities of these two locations, but two blocks apart, may simply be an error, most likely on the death certificate.