Donald Moynahan: Born Under A Lucky Star

This is a news story about a Moynahan cousin from Tilbury who appeared in the news in 1964 having been the sole survivor of a car accident that claimed the lives of four other persons.

In the final paragraph of one of the many news stories about the accident, Donald Moynahan said,

"I must have been born under a lucky star. When I was just a kid, I was in a car with my grandfather and my brother and the car was in an accident. Both my grandfather and my brother were critically injured and were in the hospital for months. I didn't get a scratch.

I guess I better touch wood."

The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
22 Jan 1964, Wed · Page 1

OTD: August 30: Raymond Stanislaus Krolicki Died (1986)

On October 26, 2017, I posted about Ambrose E. Moynahan who died "On That Day" in  1954.

Ambrose Moynahan was a mining engineer and is one of our Michigan/Colorado Moynahan ancestors. While researching Ambrose in 2017, I discovered two surprises:

1. I discovered (too late) that I had connected with Ambrose’s granddaughter June Woeber in 2002 on an ancestry message board. June passed in 2014 in California.(See: https://moynahangenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/otd-oct-26-ambrose-edwin-moynahan-died.html)
2. I also discovered a familial connection to a Capt. James Minihan and his son Ralph (originally from Michigan) who are buried in the Buckskin cemetery, Colorado. (See: https://moynahangenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/02/capt-james-minihan-1840-1899.html)

Things I Learned About My Nova Scotia Roots (in Ohio)

In 2016, I visited my maternal aunt in Ohio. I had not been there in forty years! My mother Dawn (Creighton) Moynahan had passed away thirty-five years ago and then I moved even farther away to Sudbury!

It had been a very long, long time and drove there with my other maternal aunt (my aunt Deb) and when we arrived, my aunt Barb shared her home, her hospitality, some wonderful photos and cherished stories with me. I am so grateful. It was a trip that I will never forget.

Below, I will try to summarize, in twenty-five words or less, a few of the things that I learned.

"Tufts Cove" Should Be Spelled "Toughs Cove"

Between 1929 and 1941, my mother and her Creighton siblings
were born in Tuft's Cove, Nova Scotia.
Tufts Cove, Nova Scotia as it appears today (Source: Google Maps)

The Visitors From Australia - NOT Our Moreland Kin

In 2015, while visiting my aunt Barbara in Ohio, I was shown the picture below that was taken in Tuft's Cove, Nova Scotia presumably in the summer of 1941 and is known as "Visitors from Australia" . This blog post describes my attempts to confirm the identity of the three Australian visitors.

UPDATE: In less than twenty-four hours of posting the photo, an Australian descendant of  Susan (Marrinan/Willis) Moreland (her grand-daughter) wrote that:

"Thanks for the photo.   I don't think this is my family in the photo...  In 1941 the war was on and my mother was living with my Nanna Susan Moreland (her mother-in-law).  She ... definitely didn't go overseas then or to my knowledge ever. Ena Mary Moreland (that's what written on her death certificate) did die on 26th August 2010.  She was 17 in 1941.   She was the daughter of Charles Moreland and Susan Moreland.   Ena was deaf and had no children.  She never went overseas, that I know for sure..."

Rather than delete this blog post about our Australian Moreland ancestors, I have decided to leave it here to honour Charles, Susan and Ena Mary Moreland (who died August 26th )and hopefully one day, I will find photographs to add to our tree.

Picture known as "Visitors from Australia" taken at Tufts's Cove, Nova Scotia
In the private collection of Barbara (Creighton) Huston
Picture taken summer 1941 with Dorothy (Moreland) Creighton and her children: Kenny was 1 (born Aug 1940), Barbara 7, Claire 11 and three visitors from Australia

OTD: August 26, 1885 Denis Moynahan Died in Detroit

My daily genealogy practice since 2017 has been to create monthly calendars using my Family Tree Maker 2017 program that lists all of the births, marriages and deaths for the 3,072 ancestors in my family tree.

Each day, I look at the ancestors listed on that particular day and I:

1. honour them by saying their name and then looking them up on my Ancestry Family Tree
2. review all of the information that I have for that ancestor on ancestry.ca
3. search for any new information on that ancestor that may have become available since the last time I checked

Denis Moynahan

 My 3rd great-grandfather Denis Moynahan died on August 26th, 1885 in Detroit Michigan.

The Ireland Chronicles: Ireland's Oldest Pub?

For decades we have been collecting our ancestor's stories by tracking their footsteps since they first arrived in Canada and America in the early 1800s.

In 2019, our brother Pat Moynahan sponsored our very first trip to Ireland so that we could  search for our ancestor's stories there.  We have many stories to share about our Kerry Moynahan ancestors and we are publishing them under the title "The Kerry Chronicles"

Visiting the Brazen Head Pub in Dublin, 2019

The Moynahan Postcards

Family historians regularly use the popular internet auction website eBay as a source for genealogical records and books and many years ago I set up an eBay alert for "Moynahan -Bridget". (I had to put "-Bridget because I wanted to avoid being notified every time a Bridget Moynahan poster or movie went on sale!)

I was delighted when I was alerted that this group of "Cecelia Moynahan" postcards (below) were for sale!

eBay Photo: Antique & Vintage Postcards Lot Panama Quebec Kenilworth Moynahan

Celebrating 3000 People !

Yesterday, I reached a new milestone in my family history research when my ancestry account recorded 3001 people in my family tree.

Peter H. Donnelly: Murdered? Or Suicide?

I was doing a blog post  on Mary (Moynahan) Parks (1833-1905) and I was distracted when I learned that her son-in-law Peter H. Donnelly died in the Railroad Exchange Hotel (demolished in the 1920s) in Salt Lake City in 1891.

Source: The Utah directory, for 1883-84 :
by J. C. Graham & Co; J.C. Graham & Company. (1883)

Here’s the thing: on ancestry.ca, Peter's death was recorded as “Murdered, in, hotel, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA” by someone who has done extensive research and with whom I have written to over the years. I trust her work!

August 8, 1833: Mary J. Moynahan Born in Detroit

On this day, Mary J. Moynahan Parks was born in Detroit (1833) daughter of James (1810-1858) and Catherine (Hart) (1810-1871) Moynahan. Mary J. (Moynahan) Parks

Book Excerpt: Portrait of Denver and Vicinity, Colorado

OTD August 3: In Loving Memory of Hannah Moynahan

My daily genealogy practice since 2017 has been to create monthly calendars using my Family Tree Maker 2017 program that lists all of the births, marriages and deaths for the 2,946 ancestors in my family tree.

Each day, I look at the ancestors listed on that particular day and I:

1. honour them by saying their name and then looking them up on my Ancestry Family Tree
2. review all of the information that I have for that ancestor on ancestry.ca
3. search for any new information on that ancestor (shaking "green leaves") that may have become available since the last time I checked

I had been wanting to write about the Warnock family for some time and what better occasion than on the anniversary of Hannah (Moynahan) Warnock's death on August 3, 1948.

Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79808496/hannah-warnock