Michael Cornelius Griffin, born 27 March 1822, and Catherine Mary Kenny, born 15 May 1828, left Ireland in 1847 and went to Canada. The 1851 Census for County Wellington, Township of Garafraxa, available from the National Archives of Canada (Microfilm reel C-11756) documents the presence of Michael and Catherine and two children in the location where, in the spring of 1864, Michael purchased 100 acres of crown land for $325. The parcel consisted of the south west half of lot 20 in the second concession of (West) Garafraxa Township in Wellington County, about 4 miles north east of Fergus, Ontario.
Family lore has provided us with the following information, which we hope may be of at least some help in linking Michael and Catherine to their Irish roots:
Michael’s place of birth has alternately been suggested as Belfast, Dublin, County Cork or County Kerry. Catherine’s place of birth has been suggested as County Kerry. We have a picture of Michael and Catherine which has his and her birthplace hand written on the back as Belfast and Killarney respectively.
Information obtained from the record books of Our Lady Immaculate Parish in Guelph, Ontario regarding the marriage of Michael and Catherine’s daughter Mary to John Heffernan states that Michael and Catherine were from Co Kerry, Ireland.
The index for the Griffith Valuation of Co Kerry (1852) shows only one family named Kenny in southern Killarney, a Captain John Kenny who lived in the townland of Scrahane.
It has been suggested that Michael’s father’s name was Cornelius Griffin and his mother was a McGillicuddy.
There is a suggestion that Michael and Catherine were given a fair bit of money before they departed for Canada, to help get them started in their new life together. This may have been true since we understand that, upon landing in Canada, they bought wagon and three horses and drove their belongings from Quebec City to Toronto, Ontario, a distance of over 700 Km.
According to one account, the boat trip to Quebec took 26 days. A book by Andr? Charbonneau entitled A Register of Deceased persons at Sea and on Grosse Ile in 1847 (ISBN 0-660-16877-4), the year of their emigration according to the 1901 census, only 6 of 445 vessels arriving at Grosse Ile from Europe that year made the crossing in under 30 days. They were:
Ship From Departed Arrived # Passengers Length of trip
Fame Limerick 4 May 26 May 208 22 days
Albion Galway 3 May 29 May 211 26 days
Souvenir Limerick 1 May 28 May 124 27 days
Sir Colin Campbell Belfast 28 Apr 27 May 383 29 days
Annie Belfast 29 Apr 28 May 429 29 days
Peruvian Glasgow 28 May 26 Jun 43 29 days
This would suggest that they may have boarded the Albion in Galway for their trip to Canada.
One account of Michael’s emigration from Ireland indicated that he was accompanied by a brother. However, he was separated from his brother who is believed to have traveled to Michigan and eventually settled near Madison, Wisconsin. They never met again. While it is generally agreed that the name of the brother is unknown, the name Felix surfaces from time to time.
A list found in one of Michael’s grandson’s belongings after his death read as follows:
Older ones who came from Ireland
Isaac and Leiza
Robert and Rebecca
Bell
Rokech
John
Isaac’s Family 20 Bell’s Family 5 Robert’s Family 8
Violet Donald David
Joy Edith John
Dale Ruth Jim
Glen Elaine Winston
Marion Jessie Harvey
Keith Dennis
Derrick Helen
Marilyn Evelyn
Reg
Doreen
Francis
Lawrence
Norman
Jean
Betty
Ray
Delbert
Melvin
George
Dennis
There was no indication as to whether these were Griffins or about their relationship to the Griffin family. There was also no indication as to when they came or where they settled.
Saturday 5th Jan 2013, 03:55PM
Message Board Replies
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Hi,
Wow, there is a lot of data here to search from.
The Irish genealogy toolkit will assist you in locating where the records are and what records are in existence. http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html They have a pretty good article and help pointers for both Irish Record locations and Emmigrant searches. Once you identify what religious preference were practiced, this guide will also help identify where to look within that category.
There are a couple of unusual names or name spellings in your descendant list. In searching for my family I had to use several variants on the spellings as my 3 x great grandfather spelt the last name 5 different ways depending on his "mood".
You probably have plenty of variations that you already are aware of, but given the difference between English, French, Irish... There might be a few that are different. The following site can help you to check this variable.
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/
The Immigrant / emmigrant passengeer lists at both of the following sites might be of use to you on tracking which of the ships on your short list your Griffiths were on.
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/passengerlists/index.htm
http://mmigrantships.net/newcompass/pcindex.html
My people from Sweden actually had to take 4 different ships to get to the states, but their passenger immigration data read ship origination Queensland, Ireland when origination was Liverpool. Some of the ships leaving Ireland bound for Canada, would put port in the states first for a bit (sometimes a few weeks) then slip on to the real destination.
Hope this all helps, Jeanette
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Hi Jeanette
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Thanks for your response.
I tried to follow the last link you provided and was left hanging at a blank page. Is it possible that there is some sort of expiry time associated to the link?
Regards
Jim Griffin