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. 

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.

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>

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.

Another McGinnis Timeline

Sounds of the Night-

It was either Trains, Trucks, Cars, Dogs, Bulls, Cows, or the Familiar Noise from the Bridge, and then off to Sleep-

These are the sounds I heard when very young while falling asleep in the northeast corner, upstairs bedroom of the McGinnis farm house that I loved to visit each summer.  The small farm in Florence was maybe a half mile away from the rail tracks across the river to the north of us that ran between Vancouver, Canada and Seattle, and to points far south and east.  The nostalgia produced today here in Georgia whenever I hear the distant sound of a modern train in the evenings takes me directly back to those years of the late 1940's and early 50's.  Lying in my own bed these days I hear sounds of the modern day diesel trains moving north and south thru my small town, going to and fro from the northeast to Florida. When hearing the distant fading call of the modern air horn of the diesel engines I am reminded of the wonderful sounds of the whistles of the old steam engines, again moving north and south, but between Canada and all points south along the Pacific coast.

I loved my time on the Island of Florence back then.  What follows is but one narrow facet of my recall of those days and a meager effort to tap some very nostalgic feelings, the memories of sounds of the night ,and oh, how they have remained so vivid in my mind.
 
During the hot summer months this small farm house, built in the 1890's before insulation of houses became feasible and economical, the upstairs rooms of the house could become extremely uncomfortable when night descended.  The upstairs windows would be thrown wide open during the summer heat in hopes of capturing a bit of breeze to bring some sort of relief to a long uncomfortable day.

But when in the dark one settled finally into their bed for a night of sleep, the silence could become almost extreme, nearly sullen deadness of the air, until the sounds of the night would begin, sounds nearly ignored during the daylight hours.  But when a young mind is drifting off to sleep, the sounds would gradually grow in strength until you might hear a fish jump in the river or even a muskrat scoot itself down the river bank and enter the water with a near silent splash.  A young curiosity then would take over and all sounds became louder by the minute as one attempted to relate to just what was occurring outside in the darkness.  Safety demanded facts.  Not knowing what a sound really was might send one off on a journey of unnecessary anxiety and mental anguish.  Knowing exactly what was heard did bring comfort and a feeling of safety.  Realizing we were not under attack by strange animals or mean looking criminals carrying daggers was always a good thing to know.  Sleep would then come on very peacefully once all the sounds were sorted out, explained and any new strange sounds cataloged for future reference and identification. 

One thing that always had me frightened was the winged bats of the evening.  One early but dark evening in particular, while outside with the adults, one small tiny bat swooped by me with a near silent flutter of it wings and quickly whisked off into the darkness.  “What might that be” and I was told it was a bat.  Knowing at the time that the most dreaded fear of a bat was to have it alight in one’s hair for it would become entangled and cause a great ruckus was something to be carefully avoided at all times.  Knowing this, it was added to my possible sounds of the night, and due to an over active imagination, what could be a worse possible scenario than a bat entering the house through an open window and causing havoc.  That possibility was always near the top of the list to be something to always watch for.  Alas no bats entered, lucky for them, more lucky for me though.

The trains of the time were still steam driven and at night their sounds, while on their journey north or south could disrupt the evening darkness but there was safety in knowing the tracks were somewhat distant.  Regardless of how the breezes might be carrying the sound of the wheels on the tracks, and the blasting of the steam whistle to announce the approach to those of interest in East Stanwood, one could easily catalog this sound as a common occurrence and certainly not a threat to worry about.  Always on schedule and at a certain place the steam whistles would begin their lonesome wail.   It really was  such a unique and combined sound, the lonely, groaning sound of a giant mechanical struggle that only a steam engine distant in the night could create along with the whistling it emitted as if to warn one to stay away, there is danger.  Alas, there was no danger, but today it seems to have been a real mechanical struggle I was hearing, steel against steel, as if struggling to resist any human influence every mile of the way.  In recalling it now, it is so distant but yet distinct.  I suppose a pleasant, haunting memory would be a valid description of what it is to me personally today .

Another sound of the railroad that I am not sure is in use today and that is the loud explosive sound coming from what was called a railroad torpedo. This is something that might occur both day and night but it was sure to bring one from approaching deep sleep.

A description of the device as found recently on the internet……………….

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The following explanation and illustrations for the device are copied from an Internet Wiki page, http://www.thefullwiki.org/Detonator_(railway)

This illustration from an 1882 Leslie's Monthly portrays an engineer (fireman) finding a torpedo on the track.

                                   

A railway detonator (called a torpedo in North America) is a device used to make a loud sound as a warning signal to train drivers. The detonator is the size of a large coin with two lead straps, one on each side. The detonator is placed on the top of the rail and the straps are used to secure it. When the wheel of the train passes over, it explodes emitting a loud bang. It was invented in 1841 by English inventor Edward Alfred Cowper.

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The sound was not an everyday or night occurrence but when it did occur it was very noticeable.  Obviously as with it’s common usage,  as a passing train was approaching East Stanwood from the south and there was reason to warn the approaching engine of a possible danger or at least to let an engineer know of something out of the ordinary was present just ahead an activated Torpedo would emit it’s explosive warning.  Day or night, due to our nearness to the tracks approaching East Stanwood, we would also be warned of something different present along the tracks.  Without ever knowing exactly what was happening the adults would explain it away as a way for track construction crews to caution the train engineers that there was probably some sort of work occurring along the tracks.  Since track work did not occur at night it was probably just a warning to slow down for repair equipment may be temporarily placed near the tracks and thus served as a notice for the train to proceed with caution.  But when the devices exploded there was no doubt what it was.  Again, another sound of the night I shall not forget.

I have to add that during the daylight hours sounds seemed far different than was noticeable of the same causes during the night.  As an example, the sound of the trains shuttling back and forth seemed different in daylight in that they did not interrupt ones activities or thought processes.  Difficult for me to explain exactly what the difference was back then but the trains could not be seen easily from our side of the river.  Occasionally and only if at the right place one might be able to get a glimpse of one passing by to the north but the tall trees and the brush on both banks of the river obscured the view but you knew they were there of course.  But to me, the sound of the trains coming and going were different at night.  The darkness seemed to always amplify the powerful sounds of a passing train. 


On occasion, one might hear the loud bray of a  bull confined to his small pen adjacent to the barn on the farm directly across the river from Uncle John's home, the home where Uncle John, his brothers Tom, Jim and Mother grew up.  Perhaps even a lowing call from a milk cow might come drifting across the still air, or a barking dog in the distance.  A barking dog with their warnings of the night was not all that usual, but the sound of the bull as I recall was far more usual.  The cows were usually quiet at night unless something was disturbing them, but for the most part all was peaceful at night for the several small herds in the vicinity.  Contented cows, and most of those I was familiar with were “Carnation Contented Cows”,  were good producers so their evenings were necessarily peaceful. 

The sound of milk cans being transferred from the milk stand at the road into the metal bed of the Carnation Dairy transport truck is another memory, but that is a sound of the daylight hours, and not to be dwelled on here.  Thousands and thousands of gallons of milk were placed at the road but a few feet from the front door of the house over the years.  I live far too much in the past, but that is my special weakness and I would not have it any other way.

Of course the house being situated next to the river road leading into Stanwood over the bridge just downstream would produce the noise of the traveling vehicles, trucks and cars going back and forth.  It is surprising how  the noise of tires traveling across the cement paved road from a distant approaching car would carry on the night air.  One could seemingly hear a car coming for miles depending on the direction of the night breeze.  But as evening slowly turned into night the road traffic became less and one could fall asleep quite easily.  But occasionally the tranquility would be gently disturbed but it was always just temporary.

As Mother explained though, it was somewhat different when she was growing up.  She would tell of the Indians in canoes, in a hurried pace, rowing downstream to Stanwood in the daylight hours, only to hear them come rowing back upstream much later in the night, in a very happy boisterous mood, singing quite loudly. Most likely a rather effective method to sober up I would suggest.   The sounds of Steamboats, of various sizes, in the river were common I am sure.  Inconceivable today at least to me.  These were the times and events that Mother experienced but I am sure so very difficult for anyone new to the area today to even conceive of and rightfully so.  But the river of the time was so different than it is today, even the main stream that was captured by Hatts Slough will never bear the importance the original river had to the early settlers.  It was a lifeline of commerce, up and downstream.  Goods coming up from Puget Sound, logs and crops coming back down.  That’s what it was and the sounds I heard in my youth were certainly far different than what the McGinnis families heard and even far more different during current times.

The bouncing of the loose planks at the center of the bridge when passed over by a moving vehicle was a most telling sound, both day and night, but most remakably so on a quiet night.  A period of absolute stillness followed by the warning from the bridge might awake one from a light sleep.  The tell-tale sound coming from the bridge was always a signal of an approaching vehicle.  Any vehicle crossing the bridge would reliably produce the distinct sound, a rather lonely sound in the middle of the night.  Every vehicle of any size crossing the river always produced a warning of it's approach created from the purposely placed loose timbers at the center of the bridge being jostled about.

Florence Bridge Under Construction

1908

It was a most distinctive tell-tale "Ker- Boom” followed immediately by a “Ka-Thunk” each time a vehicle passed over it. The deck timbers may have had to be loose in order to allow the bridge to rotate on it's center pier when required to be opened, removing the obstacle to river traffic and allow a boat to pass thru.  This procedure is something that ceased before my time as the river slowly lost it’s importance for navigation. It was not a drawbridge as the topographical maps state, it was on a swivel with a large steel encased concrete pier in the center of the river, allowing it to rotate and allow boat traffic to pass on either side of the center pier. it was such a narrow channel and to this day it’s difficult to imagine it ever provided enough room for any boat of any size to traverse. Of course the river began to silt up after the main current of the river was diverted to Hatt’s Slough and by the time I was aware of my surroundings the river had seen many seasons with each year depositing a little more silt with very little flow to carry it out to Puget Sound.

You could tell a vehicle was approaching from Stanwood by the sound. If the vehicle did not roll by the front of the house within a very few minutes it was assumed to be headed to farms down river. And the opposite was of course true if after a car or truck passed the house going down river on the route to Stanwood the sound of the loose bridge planks rumbling did not come thru the night soon.
I would go to sleep sometimes counting the minutes and seconds between the rumbling of the bridge planks and the passing of a vehicle in one direction or another. My young way of counting sheep perhaps, but more out of curiosity I believe, for I was the sort that tended to delve into minutia. One could almost determine someone traveling at a high speed just by noticing the period of time produced at the bridge and the corresponding sound of the vehicle passing the house.

The area of Florence remains an agricultural community today and since it all lies within the Stillaguamish River delta, it will probably always remain primarily dedicated to farming.  It really is not an area conducive to subdivisions and large housing developments.  For that reason in many respects what one might witness during a following of the seasons in Florence today, more than likely it probably remains much like it has always  been.  A farming community dedicated to the growing of crops that thrive in the rich soil deposited by the flooding river over many centuries.

Outside of the bridge noise, the sounds of the night may be very similar today only with the near musical tone of the trains steam whistles being replaced with the throaty blast of a modern air-horn.

The Crane Incident- The Flying Types, Not Mechanical……….. !

In Florence, about summer of 1950-

Probably the strangest event I have ever witnessed- 


Life along the river on a quiet summer night could be very peaceful.  The occasional sound of a passing steam powered train a half mile north across the river was one of the sounds that might arise to really disturb an evening after all the truck and automobile truck traffic along the road in front of the house had lessened.  After dark, traffic really was light and it could be several minutes between vehicles.  It could be very pleasant and near sublime at times, at least to me in my memories some sixty years or so later.

During the pea harvest season, the constant sound of the trucks carrying the freshly vined peas, stacked in neat wood box crates on the back of the trucks, going up and down the river road in front of the house, going back and forth between the vining machines on the many farms of the area and the cannery in Stanwood. So much of the areas harvest passed in front of our home every day and into the night during the corn and pea harvests.   Not every night, but quite often, in order to keep the local harvests on schedule the pea vining crews would work under lights at the vining machine well into the night.  How late I never realized for I always drifted off to sleep even with all the quiet noise one encountered in that wonderful period of my life.

Of course, on occasion, one might hear the loud bray of a  bull confined to his small pen adjacent to the barn milking parlor on the farm directly across the river from Uncle John's home, the home where Mother grew up.  What might disturb the animal, I never understood, for his brood, his private harem, had completed their evening milking before sunset and  were all lying down and at rest in the fields for the night, chewing their cud in the rapidly declining light, and once again awaiting the morning milking routine.  All was at peace until the "Bull" gave his call of unrest.  Or was it his sign of approaching danger?   But he could certainly assert himself and give notice to all around him, that this was his right, his duty to express his instincts of the moment.  Poor guy, what a life to live.  I need not say more, for his duties certainly had it's ups and downs.  Sometimes he was needed, sometimes he was not.  Perhaps his call was nothing other than an expression of extreme frustration.  Most likely he was still hungry, I shall never know.

But I was a distant witness to his demise one evening just after dusk.  Something I shall never forget, and once again it was the loud call of this confined bull across the river.  A very strange thing to have witnessed and it happened so quickly.

It was a common sight to see large winged cranes fly along the river, usually in the morning and the evenings as I recall.  One evening while on the side porch with Uncle John feeding his faithful old dog "chummy" I did notice a crane flying in the weak light along the river at a customary height, about the height of power poles.  Not really very high, but that was not unusual for it seemed to be a convenient height for them when they were in flight.  But this one time was the last time for one surprised crane.

For some reason, the crane decided to alight and rest this one evening, and his choice of locations proved fatal for him and the old penned up bull.  I do have a slight memory of just watching the crane land on what was probably a common place to find  temporary roost for many cranes in the area.  That place was on a power line that ran along the road on the opposite bank.  A natural place to land for sure, it was at his level of flight but what happened then is difficult to describe in detail for it all happened at a seemingly lightning speed.  I turned away from watching the large bird and immediately I heard a squawk, saw a bright flash of light, and an extremely loud cry from the bull, a very drastic call for help I am sure, but alas it was his last call in the evening light.

What had happened was that the crane after settling on one wire of the dual-strand power service atop the poles, had for some reason reached across and in some fashion had made contact with the second strand of wire which immediately short-circuited the power as it went through it's body.  Of course it immediately killed the animal and it of course fell to the ground near the bull, which was penned outside at the corner of the barn directly below the bird.  But that was not the end of the event.

The power lines being damaged due to the direct short between the two wires caused by the bird, apparently weakened, broke and fell to the ground right within the bulls pen.  As commonly happens when a live power line comes into contact with the earth it begins to bounce around erratically powered by it's continuing contact with the ground.  The result was inevitable I suppose for the out of control live power wire instantly made contact with the bull, causing it to cry out in pain, and it too fell to the ground dead.  Again, a most horrible cry of helplessness I have never heard since in my life.

But that again was not the end of the story.  No more life of any sort was lost after the initial onslaught but the next thing to happen was that the live power wire then made contact with the barn somehow and immediately set the barn on fire.  It was rapidly building in strength as Uncle John and I stood there watching in disbelief what had just transpired in what seemed like just a split second.

We did eventually gather our wits and I was told to run next door to Mary and Charly's house and alert Mary to call the East Stanwood Fire Department.  Mary and Charley had the closest phone in the area. To this day I can't really remember what excited words may have come out of my mouth but Mary somehow understood and went immediately to her phone with Charley putting on his boots to race next door to view the scene with Uncle John.  It wasn't very long before we heard sirens coming from town and eventually wind their way down the river road on the far side to the barn.  The barn was actually saved, but with some serious damage.

What a sight it must have been for the farmer coming out of his house as well as for the arriving  firemen to come across the scene and to see such destruction.  Even today it seems an almost impossible scene to  me but I did witness it.   It doesn’t seem to have traumatized me for life however.  At least I hope not.  I do look for large flying birds whenever near a river though.  Never know what might happen.  Lightning can strike twice they say.

Timelines Can Help Sort Out The Past

Several Timelines have come into play for me to use as a tool while strolling through our families past.  Creating a timeline helps to keep facts and related dates in a pictorial format.  Just organizing and entering the data, combing over various pieces of information to make sure all is included really initiates a learning and memorizing process.  This was a pleasant surprise to me personally.  Gathering the facts and recording them helped immensely in attempting to commit much, but not all, of this to memory.  To coin a phrase, it really is a process of “memory osmosis”.

McGinnis Family Records, St. Michael's Parish, Chatham, New Brunswick

James McGinnis Sr.

About age 35

Copied from a photo taken in Chicago about the time

of the marriage of James and Mary Ellen Donahue in 1883

The following inserted pages are microfilm photo copies of the actual records of St. Michael's Parish in Chatham, New Brunswick or some adjacent parish. Some are extremely difficult to read due to the penmanship of various priests as they recorded the dates they gave the Sacraments of Baptism and Marriage to their many parishoners.

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.

Thus many if not most of the records of our Irish Canadian ancestors came to be preserved forever and through the magic of the computer age these images are all indexed and available for easy access over the Internet. To me personally this source has been a treasure and what you view here is primarily data of our primary interests. Many other pages involving the families that various ancestors married into have also been downloaded and saved for future reference. Tracing Godparents has been a useful tool in establishing family connections and for that reason alone all these records have been a valuable source to help piece together all that is known today.

You will notice that some entries are purposely obscured or covered over for some reason. Most likely this was done for reasons of privacy but just how that was established is yet to be discovered. It occurs often through out the Drouin collection. Another common practice during the filming was to insert a loose page of information into the record which resulted in some entries being covered over. I later discovered that these pages were filmed twice so that all data was eventually filmed.

To enlarge the view simply double-click on the image.

Baptism Record of James McGinnis

September 15, 1847

Chatham, Northumberland County, New Brunswick

The record for James is on the right side of the image, third entry from the top

Reverend John Sweeney
1821-1901

Baptising Priest of James McGinnis

Father Sweeney was the second priest to serve the

parishinors of St. Michael's after it's establishment in 1839,

three years after our Great Grandfather John McGinnis

arrived from Ireland

Baptism Record for John McGinnis Jr.

August 26, 1849

Third child of John McGinnis,

Second child of Margaret McCarron
The record for John is on the left of the image,
fourth entry from the top

Baptism Record for Patrick McGinnis

August 3, 1845

First born child of John McGinnis Sr. Mother is Mary Buchanan. She apparently died shortly after the birth for no further record can be found for her. This is a stepson of Margaret McCarron that obviously raised Patrick as her own son.

The record for Patrick can be found scrawled at the bottom right of the image.

Marriage of Arthur McGinnis Sr.

October 30, 1878

Younger brother of James McGinnis Sr.

Arthur married Mary Margaret Buckley.

Both are buried side by side in Calvary Cemetery in Seattle.

The record entry is at the top left.

Marriage of Sarah McGinnis and

Patrick Fitzpatrick

September 17, 1884

Only sister of James McGinnis Sr. and both are also buried side by side in Calvary Cemetery in Seattle.

The record entry is at the bottom right.

The Cousins Next Door- Ferguson & Mills

Robert Ferguson, Mary Mills holding young Thomas Fountain McGinnis and Charlie Mills at the right,

circa early 1925

(The above photo, and the one of Charlie Mills that follows were provided by Molly McGinnis Wright, saved from her grandparents collection. This group photo serves to verify the identification of the elder gentleman on page 36 of the Album Mary Ellen McGinnis left behind that was never validated as being Robert Ferguson)

Mary Mills and her younger brother Charlie lived on the farm to the east of where Mother grew up in Florence. Neither of them ever married and I never, ever heard a word of anger come from either one of them. Politically or when discussing the ethics of other local citizens, Charlie could become very animated in his discussions, but Mary was always just the opposite. Soft spoken and with very gentle mannerisms. Some of my fondest memories are of these two. The one year we lived on the farm beginning in the summer of 1950 I believe through early fall of 1951 really is the time that my most warm and lasting memories of the two really are traced to.

They were friends, neighbors and relatives all in one. Mary was known to us as “Mamie”. Looking back I look on her almost as if she were my own Grandmother. Since she was 18 years older than Mother, looking back I can see how that came about. By the time I was born, all my grandparents had been long departed. Mamie seemed to fit the bill to me but I never ever expressed that openly. It was just an internal thing with me.

Actually Mother and Mamie were cousins and when tracing the family line, Mother, Mary and Charlie, can be traced back to a common great-grandfather. This patriarch of the McGinnis family has never been formally identified by name or place but it is assumed he was born and died in Ireland, probably in County Monaghan.

We grew up always knowing that Mother and Mary were cousins but just how they were related as second cousins was never explained and only in recent years due to interest in family history have I been able to define the relationship. Granted, perhaps there are other ways through marriage that created the relationship but all available evidence really traces the connection back to one unknown McGinnis great-grandfather of the two, a man whose given name we do not know, a man that most certainly lived his entire life in Ireland.

The following abbreviated family tree and table identifies the relationship of various family members to that one unknown man in Ireland. This connection is what establishes Mary Agnes McGinnis and Mary Mills as Second Cousins to one another. To my generation, the children of Mary Agnes and Charles Jones Sr., we are “Second Cousins Once Removed” to Mary and Charlie and to the unknown McGinnis ancestor from long ago Ireland, we are labeled as “Second Great-Grandchildren” to him.

The McInnis surname in the table is a branch of the McGinnis clan in New Brunswick. This branch comes from another child of the unknown ancestor, a daughter Catherine that married an Andrew McInnis, of Scotch descent, in Nelson, New Brunswick, in the vicinity of Chatham. A McGinnis marrying a McInnis makes looking through old church records a virtual nightmare when first coming across the marriage. No data tracing the McInnis descendants to current times has been found as yet. Another daughter, Mary, married into the Ferguson clan in Chatham which provides the relationship link to Mary and Charlie. In summary, the unknown ancestor had three children that we know of, son John, our great-great grandfather, as well as the two daughters described above. All the known descendants of these three siblings are included in the table.

Mary and Charlie lived on the ten acres of land inherited from their Uncle Robert Ferguson after he died in 1927. They continued tending their small herd of milking cows also left to them and through hard work on both their parts they managed to support themselves up until their deaths in the 1960’s. An album left behind by our grandmother Mary Ellen contains two photos on a page, side by side, of an older gentleman and another photo of Mary. This is what might be considered strong evidence that the gentleman is Robert. Our grandfather James McGinnis and his next door neighbor Robert Ferguson were first cousins. The two purchased the land for their farms, side by side, the very same day and began their life of farming in Florence together in 1891-1892.

Robert Ferguson (1845-1927) and Niece Mary C. Mills (1878- 1968)
Page 36 of the Photo Album Assembled by Mary Ellen McGinnis

Mary and Charlie were born in Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada where all the McGinnis family originated. Mary was born in 1878, Charlie in 1890. Their father Luke Mills married Catherine Ferguson, sister of Robert Ferguson. Catherine and Robert’s mother was Mary McGinnis and all evidence points to the fact that Mary McGinnis was a sister of our great-grandfather, John McGinnis. Difficult to put into words and thus a family tree is inserted here. Begin with the unknown McGinnis and the connection can easily be seen.

Mary and Charlie were but two of seven children with the birth years ranging from 1877 when William Mills was born to Charlie’s birth in 1890. Using census data it can be established that Mary left home in the early 1900’s and traveled to Boston to work as a domestic in homes in and around Boston. Her Boston destination was established through later anecdotal facts passed on to friends in Florence, namely from Ivy Hansen as related to her by her mother-in-law, Stella (sometimes spelled Estella) Hansen. Mary is not in the 1901 Canadian census nor has she been found in the 1900 U.S. census and the 1910 census states she immigrated in 1902. This establishes that she left New Brunswick at about age 24 or 25 when Brother Charlie was around 12 years old. As a rough estimate Mary was probably working in the Boston area as a servant of some sort beginning around 1900 or 1902 through about 1907 or 1908 when she came west to Florence to the farm of Robert Ferguson, her uncle.

Uncle Robert Ferguson had been farming about ten years when Mary left home and was probably well established. A single man, he rather than his sister Catherine Ferguson, now Catherine Mills, far away in Chatham, took on the responsibility for caring for their aging father, John Ferguson. John Ferguson is found in the 1900 Florence census living with his son Robert and his data states he immigrated in 1891 but had been in the States for 8 years meaning he immigrated in 1892. The latter is the most likely year he arrived in Florence for his son was still establishing his farm in 1891 and he probably would not have traveled all that far until some sort of a living accommodation was available.

John Ferguson died in March of 1908 in Florence, at the age of 88. His death certificate indicates a sudden but non-suffering end. From the document: “Cause of Death-Senility” followed with a statement: “He was not sick. Walked outside and came back and sat in a chair and died in a moment. Duration: 0 days.” No pictures of the senior Ferguson exist. His son Robert is buried beside him in the Florence Cemetery.

The facts tend to establish that Mary may have been asked to come west to Florence, assumedly from Boston, to help care for her grandfather whose health may have been failing. If not that reason, certainly the aging Uncle Robert was also soon to be in need of help around the farm and Mary in her late twenties in 1908, still single, may have been encouraged to come west and eventually fall heir to the farm since Robert had no other direct heirs. The exact year Mary arrived in Florence is not known but since she is in the 1910 Florence census the timing of her arrival to care for her grandfather is highly probable making the year she may have arrived in Florence as 1908, perhaps 1907.

Based on the 1930 Florence census data, brother Charlie Mills arrived from Chatham in 1925 to also help out on the farm. Their Uncle Robert died but two years after Charlie came on the scene and presumably the uncle’s health had begun to fail in the early 1920’s meaning more and more work was falling on Mary and she definitely needed help.

Charlie Mills, about 35 years old

Holding Young Thomas Fountain McGinnis (1923-1995)
Tommie probably about a year old (born November 20, 1923) making this photo date to be at least November 1924. Charlie’s 1930 census states he immigrated in 1925. If so then this might be very early 1925 making Tommie just about 14-16 months old. Regardless, this photo of Charlie had to have been taken just about the time he arrived from New Brunswick.

As stated both Charlie and Mary remained on the small farm of ten acres the rest of their lives managing a small dairy herd that I recall was always around ten cows. This was about three or four more than cousin John McGinnis next door always maintained alone.

Mary remained a devout Catholic all of her life and was active in maintenance of various church needs of St. Cecelia’s parish in East Stanwood that fell on the members of the Altar Society, a traditionally woman’s role in any Catholic parish. During our stays on the farm Mother did not always attend Mass on Sundays and many times Mary would take Don and me in tow and be off to Mass with us on foot to ensure that we completed our weekly obligation.

Mary and Charlie both would often relate stories to Don and me as we sat in the dining room of the Mills home as they told of the cold winters of their upbringing in New Brunswick. Of course these sessions were usually accompanied with milk from the mornings milking and fresh baked bread rolls or cake. Their stories always fascinated me as they acquainted us with a land so near yet so far away with a climate that seemed unimaginable. Obviously they were both pleased to have found sustenance for themselves in a much milder climate in North America. These early stories remained with me always and served to help arouse my curiosity in later years to pursue early family history in the Chatham area of New Brunswick where all these first generation Irish were raised.

Charlie preceded Mary in death by two years when he died on February 24, 1966 at the age of 76. Mary lived to the age of 90 when she passed away January 2, 1968. Just who the heirs were is unknown but perhaps their property passed to some distant Seattle cousins of the Gagner or Bagnall families. It is felt that these families maintained contact with Mary and Charlie over the years. The graves of Mary and Charlie are yet to be found and photographed but all indications are that they were both laid to rest in Anderson Cemetery in Stanwood, the same resting place for cousins John and Jim McGinnis.

The memory of Mary and Charlie Mills by Ivy Hansen, a long time friend and neighbor, as recently related to Molly McGinnis in a letter reveals Ivy’s memory and opinion.

"They did not inherit the McGinnis good looks, but were so jolly and smiling. Mary was a long time friend of my mother-in-law. She told me that before she came west she worked in wealthy homes in Boston, which was a train ride south of her home town. I can't remember whether she lived in the U.S. or Canada. She made strong tea. They had no car and on Memorial Day I would take her to the Florence cemetery where she tended the graves of her uncle Bob Ferguson and his father (her grandpa)."

Grave, Luke (1848-1919) and Catherine Ferguson Mills (1850-1915)
Parents of Mary and Charlie Mills

St. Michaels Cemetery, Chatham, New Brunswick




Mary Agnes McGinnis and Mary Mills
On the McGinnis Back PorchCirca 1911-1912, Mom about 15 years old, making Mary about 33 or 34. The earliest picture found of Mary.



Mary Mills and a Seattle Fitzpatrick Cousin
Feeding Chickens on the Mills Farm




Mary Mills and Marie McAteer
At The McGinnis Front Gate
Marie Was a Long Time Family Friend of all the Florence Families, From Seattle




Mary Ellen McGinnis, Mary Mills and one of the Seattle Fitzpartick Cousins
Oat Harvest in Progress





Mary Ellen McGinnis Standing on the Right, Next to Mary Mills, Sitting Second From Right
Even Mary liked her hats





Mary Agnes and Mary Mills
Circa late 1920’s to early 1930’s, Mary about 50 years old perhaps. No pictures of Mary later in life than this photo have been found.




At the Roadside in Front of the House

Mary Mills on the left next to James McGinnis Jr. Molly McGinnis has identified the two people on the left as Cecil and Clarence James brother of Aunt Marie and his wife. Joe Lyons is in the car and the little boy to the left is Clarence and Cecil's eldest son, Alva