52 Ancestors #11: Quilts & Crochet

I have just read the recap for the 52 Ancestors Challenge and I am enjoying this challenge immensely! I search the surname index for familiar names and then I look at the blog post titles and click on ones that sound interesting. It is such a great way to connect with other genealogy bloggers.

Life has prevented me from devoting much of my energy to genealogy. However, that happens regularly to folks engaged in family research. Occasionally you have to hit the "pause button" and you do not worry because you know it will all be there waiting for you when you return.

My last entry was "#10: Nellie Moynahan: Teacher" so I have missed five full weeks. Time flies!

I have decided I have missed too many weeks to backtrack so I will start anew for Week #16.

For this post, I thought it would be fun to share some of my sketches of my two Grandmother's (Rhea (Coughlin) Moynahan and Dorothy (Moreland) Creighton) handwork: Rhea's quilt is on the left and Dorothy (known as also known as "Dot") did crochet work (on the right).

The fabric colours and patterns fascinate me and these beautiful pieces were the result of countless hours of work. These are treasures that I keep sealed in a cedar chest. I am hoping to use these patterns as a background for a future acrylic honouring my two wonderful grandmothers: Rhea and Dot.

Dorothy (Moreland) Creighton holding baby on the right.

Rhea Fern (Coughlin) Moynahan

52 Ancestors #14: Wallaceburg Schools

No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: 

"Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.” 

This week's blog post features the school pictures of my grandmother Rhea Fern Coughlin (1902-1992) who attended schools in Wallaceburg in the early 1900s.

Our Lady of Help School

(built in 1905)

From Settlement on the Sydenham

• Facebook: Vintage Wallaceburg
• History of Wallaceburg District Secondary School
• Gathering at the Forks
• Settlement on the Sydenham

52 Ancestors #10: "Nellie" Moynahan: Teacher

No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: "Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.”

And over at Olive Tree Geneaology, there is another enticing challenge: "In honour of Women's History Month (March 2014) I want to issue a challenge to all geneabloggers to write a  minimum of 10 blog posts this month about women who have made a difference."

So I am dedicating today's blog post to Ellen "Nellie" Moynahan. She was the first born child of Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (born March 31, 1865). 

Nellie pictured with parents Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan
and her younger brother John

Nellie Moynahan

Nellie had five sisters and two brothers. 

Moynahan Family Tree

Nellie's own education through the 1880s indicates a high achiever finishing at the top of her class. She was also awarded "premiums of politeness and of good conduct." ! A smart young woman indeed!

4 March 1880 Essex Free Press

14 April 1881 Essex Free Press

23 June 1881 Essex Free Press

 There were perils to teaching at a one-room schoolhouse, like being thrown from your carriage on your way there in 1892!

The Amherstburg Echo: 30 December, 1892

Nellie taught school in Essex county for forty-five years 1887-1932, teaching the longest according to Thomas McCloskey, of all the Essex county teachers in the late 1880s. She taught at schools in Maidstone, Rochester and Windsor:

• In Byrnedale (in Woodslee parish)
• a school on north rear road near McGuire's
• SS. No. 7
• SS. No. 5 & 8

On the first of April 1910, The Essex Free press wrote that "Miss Nellie Moynahan deserves much credit for the careful training of her pupils taking part in the program" a play that packed the town hall to capacity and many could not get in!

1 April 1910, Essex Free Press

Nellie was living at home ("Talbot St. a mile west of the Cross") in 1913 when Jeremiah and Mary celebrated their golden anniversary.

Jeremiah (who died in 1922) and Mary (who died in 1926) sold their Maidstone farm (298 South Talbot Rd) in 1921 and moved with daughter Nellie to 432 Hall Avenue, Windsor. 

Nellie died the 20th of November 1940. Here is her obituary:

One of my goals is to research Nellie's retirement trip to England, Ireland and Italy in 1908 if possible. My father once told me a story that she had lost her purse filled with her money on board the ship.

Source: The Essex Free Press: 28 July 1978 "Seventy Years Ago"

Links

• History of Seperate Schools in Canada
• A Virtual Schoolhouse
• Report of Schools Ontario: 1875-77
• Report of Schools Ontario 1891
• Teacher's Work: School Systems of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century
• An Historical Understanding of Key Issues Related to Catholic Education 
• Progressive Education March In Windsor - 25 Years: 1892-1910
• Early Struggles for Bilingual Schools and the French Language in the Windsor Border Region, 1851–1910

 

Source: Essex Free Press

52 Ancestors #9: Timothy Moynahan's kin?

 No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: "Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.”

This is the final entry based on the life and times of Timothy Moynahan as written in the 1900 Detroit Free Press article "When Windsor Was a Wilderness"

When Timothy was asked  about his kin:

Excerpt "When Windsor Was A Wilderness"

"There were five brothers and three sisters" "all gone" by 1900 when the article was written. 

Below is the most recent representation of Timothy's family tree that I have created at ancestry.ca 

Some of the siblings for Timothy (that are blank below) have been established on other ancestry trees but I do not have the documentation that proves their ancestry and will continue to do research on this.

Early land records have been helpful in painting the picture of the Moynahans in Essex county in the 1820s -1850s as well as the will of Matthew Moynahan (Timothy's father). 

According to the census records, John Cronin lived with Timothy for many years even after the death of Margaret Cronin and following Timothy's second marriage to Archange Parent. I have not determined John Cronin's death nor established his relationship to Margaret (though I assume based on age that he was her brother). This information could be a valuable link.

Margaret Cronin and Timothy's young girls (Mary, Margaret and Catherine) are all gone before 1860. I continue to search newspapers and the pre-1860 church records but have not learned of their whereabouts. 

Other Moynahan siblings such as Timothy's brother James Moynahan of Colorado - have been well researched by others.

I will write in detail about one of Timothy's son's who was alive at the time of Timothy's death in 1902 (along with a daughter Mary). Enos Moynahan was a notorious character in Detroit and Windsor and much of his life has been well chronicled in the newspapers of the day.

That colourful story will have to wait for a future posting in #52Ancestors!

Previous posts on Timothy

·        #52Ancestors #5: Timothy Moynahan the Kerryman

·        #52Ancestors #6: From The Old Sod

·        #52Ancestors #7: 1829 - The Day Of The HorseBoats

·        #52Ancestors #8: The "Shillelagh Guards" in action

·        #52Ancestors #9: Timothy's kin?

52 Ancestors #8: The "Shillelagh Guards" in action

No Story Too Small has issued a New Year's Challenge: "Have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.”

The "Shillelagh Guards" is based on an article from the Detroit Free Press (1900) "When Windsor Was A Wilderness" about the life and times of Timothy Moynahan

The story in Timothy's words:

Col. Prince Diary from flickr

Mural on Sandwich St

Detail of J.C.H. Forster's painting of the Battle of Pelee Island, which occurred on March 3, 1838. Credit: Fort Malden N.H.S.C.

1977 painting by C. H. Forster recreating the December 1838 Battle of Windsor

From the Windsor Star

Historic Sites Board of Ontario sign

For the purpose of the #52Ancestors challenge, this newspaper article will be divided into five smaller segments:

·        #52Ancestors #5: Timothy Moynahan the Kerryman

·        #52Ancestors #6: From The Old Sod

·        #52Ancestors #7: 1829 - The Day Of The HorseBoats

·        #52Ancestors #8: The "Shillelagh Guards" in action

·        #52Ancestors #9: Timothy's kin?

52 Ancestors #7: 1829 - The Day Of The Horse Boats

In 1900 Timothy Moynahan told his life story to the Detroit Free Press. The article is a gift loaded with genealogical information. I am dividing the newspaper article into several smaller pieces for #52Ancestors (in 52 weeks).

In #7 we revisit the article "When Windsor Was A Wilderness" wherein Timothy describes arriving in Windsor, Ontario: "1829 - The Day Of The Horse Boats"

"Well I landed in Windsor in 1829, when it was nothing but a big cornfield. I crossed the river in a horse ferry, which was the means of transportation between Detroit and Windsor in those days. The horses propelled the boat in treadmill fashion being enclosed at the sides. Bessie was the name of one of the horses, and I can remembers as if it was yesterday how promptly she would stop when the boy shouted "Whoa, Bessie!". For some time the company that operated the boats had a monopoly of the business and they had a high schedule of passenger and freight rates. During seven months of the year it cost twelve and a half cents each way. Col. Prince introduced a bill in parliament for the reduction of the rates but it was not until the people started a horse ferry of their own that the company was brought to terms and eventually driven out of business. The  horse boats, being unincumbered with machinery, were really graceful in build and they went at a fair rate of speed."

Book Cover view on the detroit River Sandwich, Ontario c. 1821

"Most of the boats on the river in those days were the old style sailing craft, and the few that used steam power would be great curiosities in those days of progress and invention. They were high pressure side wheelers, and you could hear their laborious breathing form Amherstburg"

View of Detroit from Windsor, Ontario around 1850

"As I said before, Windsor was nothing but a cornfield when I came over. The only buildings in existence were the Windsor Castle, the Dougall and one or two others that have long since fallen into ruin. 

I settled in Sandwich township, eleven miles from Windsor, engaging in the occupation of farmer. The hunting was fine, there being plenty of deer, bear, rabbits, squirrel and racoons. I counted twenty-nine black squirrels in a tree one day. There were fine shots in our neighbourhood, and the decapitation of a squirrel in the tallest tree was not reckoned an extraordinary feat of marksmanship. The Chippewa Indians roamed the country at the time, but they never gave us any trouble."

( More on the Chippewa )

Next week: The "Shillelagh Guards" in action

·        #52Ancestors #5: Timothy Moynahan the Kerryman

·        #52Ancestors #6: From The Old Sod

·        #52Ancestors #7: 1829 - The Day Of The HorseBoats

·        #52Ancestors #8: The "Shillelagh Guards" in action

·        #52Ancestors #9: Timothy's kin?