John Hanrahan : Short Biography

John Hanrahan (the Elder) was born in Ireland ca. 1797 and married Mary O'Brien ca. 1834 in Ireland.   They had 3 children (all born in Ireland):  Patrick (b. 1835), John the Younger (b. 1838), and Margaret (b. 1839).  Margaret's baptism was in Ballyneale Catholic Parish on May 29, 1939.   Her parents are listed as John Hanrahan and Mary Brien with Michael Murphy & Catherine Hanrahan as sponsors.  The surviving parish records are not old enough to show baptisms of her older 2 brothers.

This family emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine with a 5/29/1903 Villard (MN) Grit obituary (for John the Younger) saying 1847.   However, the first record that I have found in Canada was a 4/25 1853 application for a Crown Grant in Normanby Twp., Ontario (Lot 42, Concession 2).   I could not find him listed in the 1851 Canadian census which also suffers from faded handwriting.   He remained in Normanby Twp. for the rest of his life.   He appears in the 1861 Census of Normanby Twp. with his wife Mary and children (John and Margaret).     His son Patrick was living nearby with his new wife Elizabeth McCanna.    

He is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery in Orchardville, Normanby Twp.  It reads as follows:  "Sacred to the Memory of: John Handrahans, Died 4 November 1869 aged 72 years; and Mary, Wife of John Handrahans Died 5 February 1865, aged 60 Y'rs. 

His daughter, Margaret married Patrick Heaney on January 26, 1862 and remained in Normanby Twp, Gray Co., Ontario most of her life.   His Son Patrick Hanrahan married Elizabeth McCanna on February 1, 1860 in Orchardville, Normanby Twp. and died nearby in Owen Sound on Aug 17, 1916.  John (the Younger) married Mary McCanna (also living in Normanby Twp.) in Faribault, MN on Oct. 25, 1867 and soon made a homestead claim in Glenwood, Twp., Pope Co., MN.

Someone named Michael O'Brien lived very close to the Elder John Hanrahan in 1855.   It is unknown if he is related to John Hanrahan's (Elder) wife (Mary O'Brien)