Great Sport: John Moynahan (1849-1904)

I collect "Moynahan" stories whenever I find them and I share them online in my "Moynahan Scrapbook"

When I first read about John Moynahan "a famous sport" I thought it would be easy to find information about him. After all, he had made a fortune for the famous boxer John L.Sullivan. But it wasn't easy to find information about him at all.

Fort Scott Weekly Monitor Fort Scott, Kansas 02 Mar 1904, Wed  •  Page 3

When I wrote to history author and writer Christopher Klein (who wrote "The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, America’s First Sports Hero.") he said that "I'm afraid I've never across a mention of John Moynahan in my research into Sullivan.". I just knew that I needed to create a blog post about  John Moynahan (1849-1904)   

Deck The Halls: Create A Family Tree Christmas Tree

Since 2015, I have been posting my Family Tree Christmas Tree annually on social media (on my twitter and Facebook). This year many folks were curious about how I created it so I thought I would create a quick tutorial on how to turn your family tree into a Christmas tree using word cloud generators.

The Essex Land Registry Office

In October 2020, the Ontario government ended counter services at all 54 Land Registry Offices (LROs). That means that access to valuable genealogical material (Crown patents, deeds, wills, etc.) can no longer be achieved in person and must be done online through the new OnLand / ONtario Land Registry Access portal.

SWODA (1905) Image: Essex County Registry Office, Sandwich, Ont.; The Township of Sandwich: Past and Present (1909) by Frederick Neal. Page 89

This nostalgic blog post looks back at the old days when three Askins (Col. James Askin, John Alex Askin and J. Wallace Askin) served successively for a total of eighty-three years as Essex county registrars. It is possible, in searching for your ancestors Essex county records, you have come across their names.

The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada 12 Sep 1925, Sat  •  Page 24

In 1801, "on the third of June at 10 o,clock in the forenoon, a rider drew up before a tiny building in Sandwich, Ontario, dismounted and walking inside, laid a paper on the table."To be registered please", he said.

He had come over the trails from the British fort at Amherstburg and the paper he bore with him was one of the world's little known treaties - one of the numerous land exchanges between the British Crown and the Indian nations..."

Colorado Mining Town & A Famous Burro

My brother is reading the memoirs of James Moynahan  (1842-1919) (now available on Amazon in paperback or as an eBook) and he shared with me a collection of Historic South Park County photos in a slide show on YouTube (see below).  

James Moynahan, (grandson of Matthew Moynahan of Maidstone, Ontario) was mayor of Alma, Park County, Colorado and the video offers glimpses of the landscape, the buildings and the people in the area during James lifetime.

Source: South Park City: the amazing, authentic restoration of a Colorado mining Boomtown.

James Moynahan (and his many enterprises) are featured in the video as well as a photo of a very famous burro (small donkey) "Prunes" who worked (and later roamed freely) in the South Park area during James' lifetime from 1867-1930.

Family Photos & Negatives

Recently, I de-cluttered a storage closet and found a large number of old family photographs and negatives. Some of the photographs were in pretty rough shape and the negatives were quite old as well.

Many of the negatives in these yellow envelopes had photos from the 1930s

Scanning Negatives With Your Smart Phone

When I told my sister about the large quantity of negatives, she told me that she had downloaded an app to her smartphone called FilmBox by Photomyne! Once I downloaded the app and developed a method for holding on to the negatives (using tweezers), I was able to go quickly and capture images of the negatives on my iPhone.

Negative scanned and colorized by  FilmBox; Left to Right: Grandson Danny and brothers Ernie, Raymond and Gerald Moynahan

 

Dr. Albert Eugene Casey's Blackwater Irish in Ontario

When my brother, sister and I searched for our Moynahan roots in Ireland in 2019, the Kerry locals directed us to the Sliabh Luachra area on the Cork/Kerry border. "That's where the Moynahans are" said the owner of O'Carrolls Cove Restaurant (Kenmare Bay) and sure enough, we found three cemeteries and many, many Moynihan's/Moynahans there.

See blog post "Try Where the Old Chapel Was at Freemount” .

I researched the Sliabh Luachra area and learned that this area was also the ancestral grounds for a Dr. Albert E. Casey (1903-1982), an Alabama pathologist, who collected Irish records from this area obsessively through the 1900s and published them in a 16 volume collection called, "O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater"

Fast forward to October 2020, the Essex Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society invited the Olde Sandwich South and Area Historical Society (OSSAHS) to give a presentation for their October 2020 meeting and I learned that some other Irish settlers in Sandwich South (Ontario) were from the same Blackwater area in Ireland as well!. 

Source:"Casey Aid" by Michael Patin http://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlker/pdf/caseyaid.pdf

The Memoirs of James Moynahan Published On Amazon

It gives me great delight to announce that the Memoirs of James Moynahan are now available in eBook AND paperback form on Amazon. 

I am SO delighted to see this work published and available to others. 

I have been aware of the existence of these memoirs since 2002 when I was corresponding with Lynn and Andrew Muras' aunt June Frances Woeber (1930-2014). I regrettably lost touch with June, and I often wondered what could have possibly happened to those papers? 

Pictures = 1000 Words: Ray Krolicki & Jacqwyn Moynahan

 "A picture is worth a thousand words" is an English language adage meaning that complex and sometimes multiple ideas can be conveyed by a single still photograph. 

When I received the wonderful photo below (taken in August 1941, Santa Monica) of  Ray Krolicki (1920-1986) and Jacqwyn Mary Moynahan (1918-1994) from the Muras-Woeber-Moynahan photo collection, my first reaction was "Ray has two legs!"

Photo: Courtesy of the Muras-Woeber-Moynahan Collection:
Ray and Jacqwyn (Moynahan) Krolicki

With thanks to Zelda (Moynahan) Woeber (1901-2002), the reverse side of the photograph contained over one hundred words explaining the circumstances of this photo. That led me to research some more details not previously known!

John Moynahan:" Son Of A Ford Worker"

In 2014, I created a blog post to honor my Uncle John Moynahan (1934-1987), 52 Ancestors #26: John Moynahan: Labour Leader.

Circa 1935: John Moynahan in the arms of his father Ernest Moynahan
with his mother Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan and sister Patricia Moynahan

Today's blog post, on the 33rd anniversary of my Uncle John's death September 15, 1987, repeats most of my 2014 blog post with additional photographs and news clippings. This post is VERY, very long. It was impossible to make it brief.

A testament to a life unfairly cut far too short that accomplished so very much in such a short time.

Our Museum: Bernard Moynahan's Wallet

During the period of COVID-19 in 2020 when all of the archives and museums around the world were forced to close, many museums and individuals started posting photos with the hashtag #MyMuseum on twitter .

"As we grow older 
many of us create 
our own museum of things..."

The idea of sharing photos of of treasures and trinkets from "our own museum of things" inspired me to create this series called  #OurMuseum. Here is my great uncle Thomas Moynahan's leather wallet.

Thos. Bernard Moynahan's Wallet 

The Story of Rose LaCroix (1909-2002)

"Family is more than blood" as the saying goes. Families can include those who you welcome in and who share the highs and lows of life with you, and those who you love with all your heart. 

I have always been curious about a woman named Rose LaCroix (1909-2002) who is buried in the Moynahan family plot. She is not related to the Moynahan family (genealogically) and family lore recalls her as a very special friend of my great uncle Gerald Moynahan (1908-1961). Gerald served as a medic in the Second World War after which the story about Rose and Gerald becomes less clear.

Gerald Moynahan (1908-1961) and Rose LaCroix (1909-2002)
(Photo credit: Jerome Boyle)

Assumption Cemetery - Windsor, Ontario

In the 1956 aerial view of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario below, the Assumption Cemetery can be seen in the bottom right. This blog post pays homage to the cemetery, its history and to the countless people who, even this year and THIS month (during COVID-19 restrictions and challenges), are working toward preserving this special place for future generations.

Aerial View Of The Ambassador Bridge Showing The Heavy Traffic,
(Assumption Cemetery is on the southeast
corner of Wyandotte Street West and Huron Church Road;
Assumption University is visible north of Wyandotte Street West;)
Source: Southwestern Ontario Digital Archive

Established in 1748, Assumption cemetery is the oldest European (Roman Catholic) cemetery in Ontario. It was relocated to its third and present site in 1859, from what was the Cemetery’s second home, the area now known as Assumption Park.

NB: In an ongoing effort to decolonize my settler ancestor story-telling, I have included information at the end of this post on "The Non-Protection Of Canadian Aboriginal Heritage (Burial Sites And Artifacts)" with additional details on The Sandwich Burial site (AbHs-24, formerly AbHs-2.) which "consists of two documented Native burials... many burials ... under Sandwich Street near the Ambassador Bridge." (Douglas 1964)

Our Museum: James Annal's Model Ship

During the period of COVID-19 in 2020 when all of the archives and museums around the world closed, many museums an individuals started posting on twitter with the hashtag #MyMuseum.

In particular, I was inspired by the tweets being posted by @farmersfriend who shared a photo and story of an item from his personal museum every day on twitter. He wrote, 

"As we grow older many of us create our own 
museum of things..."

I loved it! The idea of sharing photos from our personal museums inspired me to create this new genealogy series entitled  "Our Museum". 

This model ship is a treasure in #OurMuseum because it was made by the hands of our 2nd great-grandfather James Henry Allen Annal (1849-1930) who was a sailor and built model ships as a hobby.

My brother has been the caretaker of this most valuable family heirloom passed down to him through the generations.

Malachi D. Moynihan - Escaped The Noose Twice!

Through the years of researching Moynahans from Kerry, Ireland, I have come across so many different surname spellings: Moynihan, Moynahan, Moynehan, etc.

I feel compelled to collect them all even if there is no paper or DNA trail to connect them to my ancestors. I collect their stories and whatever facts I can gather about their lives and share them online in my "Moynahan Scrapbook". In the story that follows, misspelling of a surname saved Malachi's life!

Malachi D. Moynihan Escapes the Noose Twice!

Source: Screenshot: https://museum.canoncity.org/

Malachi's story takes place in Canon City, Fremont, Colorado and involves a mule, a murder and a mean-spirited railway section boss named Fitzpatrick.

Windsor's Whale of A Tale

I have been fascinated with the subject of whaling ever since I learned that my 2nd great-grandfather  James Henry Allan Annal (1849-1930) was a sailor and "as a boy was on a whaling expedition for three years in the Arctic" and "sailed every windjammer on the Great Lakes a hardy and fearless sailor," until his retirement at 73 years of age!

Naturally, when I heard the story about a 68-ton black finback whale named "Colossus" who visited Windsor, Essex co., Ontario in 1936, I had to investigate!

The Windsor Star: 12 Apr 1978

Who Was Henry Collins?

(Photo is undated and found on Page 53 of " St Mary's Anniversary Booklet 1874-1974" , Maidstone, Ontario)

My great-grandfather John Moynahan (1866-1933) is smiling in the photo above with Henry Collins and this is unusual because in  ALL of the other photos that I have of him, he always looks so serious!

Searching for the Descendants of Matthew and Catherine (Carr) Minahan

When I started researching my Moynahan family history, I spent all of my time looking through the historical records for Essex county, Ontario. Later, in the 1980s, I struggled finding records in Kent county, Ontario where two brothers, Matthew and Timothy Moynahan, moved to Tilbury and married two sisters, Catherine and Julia Ann Carr.

Today's blog post is about the family of Matthew and Catherine (Carr) Moynahan. The idea to write about them was triggered last February when I noted that February 1877 must have been a particularly rough month for this family.

Source: Windsor Star: The Vault: showing Main St. in 1887 with Essex county on the left and Kent county on the right.

Epidemics and Pandemics and the Ancestors

I’ve been researching ALL of the pandemics and epidemics that OUR ancestors survived through the ages (emphasis on “SURVIVED” otherwise WE would NOT be here right now).

Fifty thousand Canadians died from the Spanish flu — almost as many were killed in World War I.
In the U.S., the flu killed between 500,000 and 700,000.

Library and Archives Canada / PA-025025

Hashtag #NotAtRootsTech 2020

Roots Tech 2020 starts in a couple of days (Feb 26-29) and I won a FREE four-day pass to attend!

 Road to RootsTech

Telling My Ancestor's "Settler Stories"

I believe in the power of story and the importance of telling family stories for future generations. Family narratives can aid in building resilience in children especially the stories about the hard stuff endured by our ancestors (like "we came here with nothing"). Hearing about our ancestor's setbacks and losses (and how they got through them) can be a "secret super power" for our children when they have to overcome some inevitable obstacle in their life.

I have been struggling to find a way to write the story about our settler ancestors in the context of the first nations people. Our present day awareness and important ongoing dialogues flowing from the 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. make this an important and necessary part to include with our family history narratives. I want to show how the first nations existed and interacted with our ancestors ..... But how to do that with pure intentions, honor and respect?

To start, I have collected settler stories from various Essex and Kent county pioneers during the same time period of our ancestor's first arrival in Ontario.

Happy Anniversary: The First Sandwich South Council 1893

I want to thank Wendy Pulleyblank-Cunningham who is the administrator for the Facebook group "Growing up in Sandwich South Twp. (Oldcastle, Maidstone, Paquette Corners)"

She recently posted that "127 years ago in January 1893 the first Township of Sandwich South Council met at the home of Downey/McCarthy hotel & tavern in Oldcastle. This home still exists today on Hwy #3 & Oldcastle Side Road. Many descendants of the first council members still reside in Sandwich South....We truly have a rich heritage!"

The Irish in the Civil War: Daniel C. Moynihan (1841-1912)

I collect "Moynahan" stories whenever I find them and I share them online in my "Moynahan Scrapbook". 

Captain Daniel .C. Moynihan 

This blog post is about Captain Daniel .C. Moynihan who was born in Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland and came to America at a young age. During the Civil War, he enlisted in 1862 as a 1st Lieutenant in the 164th New York Infantry. After the Civil War, Daniel returned to Ireland (1866) and was incarcerated along with many others in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin where he was photographed below.

Mugshot: Mountjoy Prison, Dublin (November 1866)

After the Civil War, Daniel returned to Ireland and was arrested on the suspicion of being a Fenian. Many high profile Irish officer returned to Ireland in 1866 to assist the movement in its aim of rising against British rule and during their incarceration they were photographed.

Moynahan Scrapbook: Dr. Edward J Monahan

 A great genealogical tool for finding our ancestor's photographs and memorabilia, is using the eBay alert feature.

Over the years, I have located a number of photographs for sale on eBay like this one about Dr. Edward J Monahan who extracted a crucifix from a woman's throat in Boston Massachusetts in 1923!

Source: https://ebay.ca/itm/373142248715