Thanks Amy Crow for 31 Days of Genealogy

Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (based on of photograph circa 1922)
Mixed media sketch on monoprint by Cindi Moynahan-Foreman

It's Day 31 of Amy Crow's "31 Days of Genealogy" and I am incredibly grateful that Amy's emails have appeared every day for last thirty-one days in my inbox! And for FREE!!

Amy Johnson Crow is a Certified Genealogist with more than 20 years of experience helping people discover their family's history. She is also the creator of the #52Ancestors challenge which has, for the past two years, taken me to new levels with my genealogical research, led me to new relatives and made me dig deeper into my own family history. Amy has inspired so may of us to do more research, better research and tell our family stories!

Before Amy sends her final email to my inbox tomorrow, I wanted to thank her and Amy has assigned her readers a final task:

"Pick one of your favorite ancestors. Get out all of your notes about that person. Sit down and write at least 3 paragraphs about that person. (I'm not even asking for a full page!) I bet you'll see that this exercise not only ties everything together, but sparks your imagination for more research."

I had just finished the mixed media sketch (above) of my great great grandparents Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan just hours before I received Amy's email. Recognizing the synchronicity of those two things I chose to write about my second great grandparents Jeremiah and Mary Moynahan.

I feel a connection to these two ancestors that I can't explain. I loved hearing the stories about them that have been passed through the years.

With thanks to Amy Crow, here are a few paragraphs on Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan.

At the beginning of my genealogy journey back in the early 1980s, the first time that I saw the image below of Jeremiah and Mary with my great grandfather John Moynahan, I cannot even describe how I felt. Their eyes. The way they were dressed. Imagining their lives. The photo inspired me to dig even deeper into the archives.

Jeremiah (1841-1922) and Mary (Brennan) (1841-1926)Moynahan with Ellen ("Nellie") (1865-1940)
and son John (seated) (1866-1933)

The picture above would have been taken in the late 1860's. Jeremiah and Mary would have been in their late twenties and just starting what would become a family that would include nine children (Mary would be pregnant into her forties, the last baby born Maud Agnes (Moynahan) Flannery in 1884.)

298 North Talbot Rd., Maidstone, Ontario

After their marriage in 1863, Jeremiah and Mary lived at 298 South Talbot Road in Maidstone (Township of Sandwich East in 1867) until 1922. Pictured above on google maps, it remains farmland to this very day.

Mary's mother and father, John and Catherine Brennan, lived in Sandwich East 1871. (Source: Year: 1871; Census Place: Sandwich East, Essex, Ontario; Roll: C-9889; Page: 24; Family No: 79 )

Mary was born in Ireland in 1841. In 1853, when Mary was twelve years old, she came with her parents John Brennan (1819-1881) and Catherine (Bowler) Brennan (1819 -1891) to Canada and the family settled in Sandwich South.

The Upper Canada Rebellion

Jeremiah was born on his parent's Denis and Catherine (Roach) Moynahan's farm at 6 South Middle Road, Maidstone on March 22, 1837, in Maidstone Ontario," in the year of the Rebellion of Upper Canada" (Source: The Border Cities Star - Jun 21, 1922 ) .

6 South Middle Rd., Maidstone, Ontario

Jeremiah's parents, Denis and Catherine, were born in County Kerry Ireland and migrated to Canada in the early 1830s (They were married at Ste Anne's Church Detroit in 1833).

A Chronology:

• In 1865, daughter Nellie Moynahan was born
• In 1866, son John Moynahan was born
• In 1871, daughter Margaret May (Moynahan) Lauzon was born (she moved to Detroit after marriage)
• In 1871 Jeremiah's mother Catherine (Roach) Moynahan died. I haven't located her death records or burial place. She was sent to an asylum (being of "unsound mind" on the 1871 census)
• In 1873, daughter Mary (Moynahan) Russette was born
• In 1875, daughter Kate (Moynahan) Lennon was born
• In 1877, daughter Ann (Moynahan)  Jobin was born
• In 1879, son James Joseph Moynahan was born  (after marriage, he moved to Detroit)
• On 1881, Mary's father John Brennan died and he is buried in St. Mary's cemetery in Maidstone
• In 1882, daughter Clara (Moynahan) Broderick
• In 1884, daughter Maud Agnes (Moynahan) Flannery was born
• In 1885, Jeremiah's father Denis died in Detroit and is buried in the Mt Elliott cemetery
• In 1891, Mary's mother Catherine (Bowler) Brennan died and she is buried in St. Mary's cemetery in Maidstone

When Jeremiah died in 1922, he had "lived 84 years within five miles of the place where he is born (on the Middle Road)" (Source: Essex Free Press June 23, 1922, Page 1 of 8)

In 1913, Jeremiah and Mary celebrated their golden wedding anniversary by holding a family reunion where the family attended mass then had a party on their Maidstone farm. "The old couple were the recipients of many appropriate presents and congratulations on this occasion" (Source: The Essex Free Press: November 21, 1913, Page 1 of 8)

In June 1922, Jeremiah and Mary "decided to spend a few weeks with their daughters in the country. Mrs. Moynahan going to Mrs. Flannery's in Colchester North and Mr Moynahan to Mrs. Alex Jobin's Con. 9, Sandwich South. It was at Mrs Jobin's that his passing away took place on Tuesday night. Deceased was about as usual during the day and did not complain of any ailment and retired at 8 o'clock that night. About 10, when Mr and Mrs Jobin retired, they looked into his room and were surprised that he slept away without making a struggle. Death was due to heart disease." (Source: Essex Free Press June 23, 1922, Page 1 of 8)

In June 1926, Mary passed away at 432 Hall Ave., Windsor Ontario the home of her daughter, retired school teacher Nellie Moynahan. (Source Essex Free Press June 25, 1926)

There is still so much more to learn about the lives of my ancestors. Thanks to Amy Crow, I have learned a great deal so far.

• 52 Ancestors #3 John Moynahan
• 52 Ancestors #10: "Nellie" Moynahan: Teacher
• 52 Ancestors #38: Mary Brennan: Maidstone Midwife
• Moynahan-Brennan

Sources:

• Marriage: Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.
• Residence 1867: Essex County Directory and Gazetteer, 1866-1867; Ancestry.com. Canada, City and Area Directories, 1819-1906 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
• BMD Jeremiah Moynahan: Birth; Marriage; Death: Archives of Ontario; Series: MS935; Reel: 288

http://geneofun.on.ca/names/photo/1339353