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.

There were plenty of stories about my 2nd great-grandfather Jeremiah Moynahan (1837-1922) passed down through the generations but there weren't any stories about Denis and I could find no records of his death or burial in Maidstone (where most of my ancestors are buried at St. Mary's R.C. Cemetery) when I first started my research in the 1980s.

We also had many photographs of Jeremiah, like the one below taken in the late 1860s, but not one photograph of Denis or Catherine (who lived to 1885 and 1871 respectively) that I know of?

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

On the 134th anniversary of my 3rd great-grandfather's death, here is the story of how I found his final resting place and how there are still so many unanswered questions about Denis Moynahan and his life.

When and Where Did Denis Moynahan Die?

To learn more about my 3rd great-grandfather's final days, I relied upon the Archives of Ontario. I located Denis Moynahan's settlement papers in Maidstone, Ontario on the South Middle Road (6)

Land Petition - Denis Minehan, 1847 (Archives of Ontario)

That was in the 1980s when you were required to personally visit the Ontario archives in Toronto and look at indexes then scroll through microfiche and file a request for a print copy. Today, thankfully, a lot of the Ontario land records are now online. See my previous blog posts about accessing land records:

• Talbot Settlement and Survey Maps 1793-1849 Online! The Elgin County Archives (in agreement with the Archives of Ontario's Digitization Loan Program), has completed a digitization project and published the following important records:
  
• Archives of Ontario's Thomas Talbot fonds, F 501 (45 maps from 1802 to 1832, displaying early settlement grants and dates of occupation in the series of townships where Talbot controlled land allocation.)
• Ministry of Natural Resources fonds, RG 1-470 (33 maps from 1796 to 1844, displaying early surveying efforts in approximately the same area, alongside names of settlers)
• Part I: Historical Books: First Registration Book: where genealogists can find their ancestors Crown Patents etc.
• Part II: Historical Books: Abstract/Parcel Register Book: where genealogists can find all the entries of every transaction on their ancestors land from the date the Crown Patent was issued (all instruments recorded) up to January 30, 1981
• Part III: Historical Books: General Register Index: where genealogists can locate information about their ancestors wills, etc.
• Part IV: Historical Books: Canada Lands Index:where genealogists can find information about public lands under the Canada Lands Surveys Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act, Transfers of Jurisdiction and Control, Indian Reserves and National Parks
• Family Search: Digitization of Essex County Land Records 1779-1955 

In April 1987, I reviewed the "Index - Estate Files On Microfilm to 1900: Essex County"  and I found an entry for "Moynahan, Dennis, Maidstone #745, 1885" and I obtained Denis' last will and testament (which was originally written in September 1875) from self-serve cabinet 2 Reel 236 which stated that Dennis had "died on or about 28 August 1885 at the City of Detroit in the state of Michigan" naming his "beloved sons Matthew, Jeremiah, John and Timothy .... they having been provided for before now by me" ... "beloved son Patrick ... bequeath my residence....".

(Denis' youngest son Patrick Moynahan (1853-1909)  was the sole executor of Denis' estate and Patrick was killed by an MCR train in 1909 while employed by The Windsor Gas Company.)

Source: Estate File #745 on GS1-729

Knowing that Denis "died on or about 28 August 1885 at the City of Detroit in the state of Michigan", I made a request for Denis' death certificate from Michigan Vital Records and received the following information.

Denis Moynahan's Death certificate that I received in December 1988

Harper Hospital 1884: Image extracted from page 710 of The history of Detroit and Michigan or, the metropolis illustrated …, by FARMER, Silas.. Original held and digitised by the British Library. Copied from Flickr.

 Harper Hospital was founded in May, 1863 on land donated by Walter Harper,

Source: Detroit's Hospitals, Healers, and Helpers By Patricia Ibbotson

Harper Hospital in 1884: Image extracted from page 711 of The history of Detroit and Michigan or, the metropolis illustrated …, by FARMER, Silas.. Original held and digitised by the British Library. Copied from Flickr.

Postcard picture of "Harper Hospital" (more recently known as "Harper University Hospital") in Detroit, Michigan. Horse and buggy shown out front. Caption on back states: "1409—HARPER HOSPITAL. Is situated on John R Street, head of Martin Place, and is one of the oldest and best known hospitals in the city. It has accommodations for 200 patients, is conducted by a board of trustees and is self-supporting." [Quote is exact, including punctuation]

 I wrote to Mt. Elliott cemetery and received the following information in February 1988.

The "Moynahan Plot" at Mt. Elliott, Detroit, Michigan

Denis Moynahan is buried with Jeremiah Moynahan - Veteran Detroit Expressman (1849-1905) and many others who are known and unknown.

Dennis Moynahan also appeared in the 1886 Directory for Detroit in the Death section (along with a Timothy Moynahan who died on Dec 27, 1885: Date of Interment: 12/29/1885; Cemetery: Mt. Elliott Cemetery - no relationship established as of yet)

Publication Title;

Detroit, Michigan, City Directory, 1886

How Dennis Moynahan ended up in Detroit in 1885 when he was found on the 1881 census with my 3rd great uncles (brothers Matthew, Timothy and Patrick) in Tilbury East, Ontario remains a mystery as well as who "Hannah Moynahan - wife" is on the death certificate?

The Doty Family?

Buried in the Moynahan plot with Denis Moynahan is an Ellen Doty who died at 45 years of age on January 29, 1908. I have no Dotys in my family tree but recently came across this newspaper article that hints at the relationship:

Source: Newspapers.com; The Times Herald; 23 Sep 1890

 I do not know who Mrs. Daniel Moynahan is but I do know who Miss Kittie Moynahan is and I have written about her before. (See: Two New "Seeking Michigan" Resources)

Kitty Moynahan (1858-1938) died the 10th of November 1938 at 80 years of age. She was a single, retired school teacher/principal who lived at 2170 Jefferson Avenue, Detroit and was buried at Mount Elliott Cemetery (found in  Location: Section J, Lot 71, Space 10.

I learned (with thanks to Mt Elliott cemetery) that Kitty is buried in the same cemetery plot location as the Moynahan family's beautiful zinc marker that I had blogged about previously!

When Kitty's mother Hannah (O'Connor) Moynahan died in childbirth in 1871, her father Matthew J remarried Mary Moynahan (daughter of Maidstone Timothy Moynahan (1813-1902) and Margaret (Cronin) Moynahan (1811-1859)

I have written about this family in my post about the Mary (Moynahan) Moynahan of Corktown, Detroit  and the Pheney's of Detroit - some of whom we have connected to recently through shared DNA results and love of genealogy,

Knowing all of this has not helped me answer the questions that arose from locating my 3rd great-grandfather's final resting place in Detroit:

• The Doty Family?
• Who is Mrs. Geo. Doty of Port Huron, Michigan?
• Who is Ellen Doty buried with Denis Moynahan at Mount Elliott? 
• Who is Mrs. Daniel Moynahan?

Bur such is the nature of genealogy - one thing always leads to another ....


Research Links:

• How To Find A Will in Court Records - Archives of Ontario
• Land Records at the Leddy Library - University of Windsor 
• Detroit's Hospitals, Healers, and Helpers By Patricia Ibbotson
• Detroit & Wayne County, Michigan Death Records and Obituaries
• Online Michigan Death Records & Indexes 
• The Division of Vital Records and Health Statistics (DVRHS) provides Internet access to information from archived death records through the Genealogical Death Indexing System (GENDIS).
• Family Search - Michigan Vital Records