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.