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.
If there is any record of Michael and Catherine in Galway, I suspect it might be on the passenger list (manifest) of the Albion, which they took to Canada in 1847. Would such a document still exist?
Friday 4th Jan 2013, 10:31AM
Message Board Replies
-
Hello there i have a list of web sites that you can try your luck on with your seach good luck Sir.
Failte Romhat has lots of other useful links you could try looking at ).www.failteromhat.com British parliamentary papers on Ireland can be found at:http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/9824/eppi_pages/215093 The National Archives of Irelandhttp://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/ The National Library of Irelandhttp://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx The National Archives UK ? genealogy search:http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/ The Public Records Office of Northern Irelandhttp://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm The US National Archives:http://www.archives.gov/ The National Archives Scotland- family history:http://www.nas.gov.uk/familyHistory/ The Library & Archives of Canada -http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html Irish Newspaper Archives:http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ The next thing you could do is find the counties and places in Ireland your family names are mostprevalent. Look at the website http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ and perhapssomething will match some other clue you may have found elsewhere? If nothing turnsup ? it is advisable to try different variations of the spellings of the names. If you have a possiblefirst name you could try the Irish Census 1901, 1911 at www.census.nationalarchives.ie/ or the landvaluation record called Griffiths Valuationhttp://askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml SURNAME SEARCH You can check for information about the frequency of the name in the mid-19thcentury and any other variant spellings of the name here: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/ VALUATIONS OFFICE Valuations office in Dublin (http://www.valoff.ie) will have a record of the landregistry from 1855 to modern times. This will assist in seeing what happened to (name) and whathappened to his land (as it usually passed on to a relation).Irish Lives Remembered offers a free genealogy forum at: http://www.irishlivesremembered.ie/ British & Irish Genealogy: http://bi-gen.blogspot.ie/
Thursday 21st Feb 2013, 12:21PM -
Thank you for your suggestions..
Do you know if passenger manifests were created and filed in the port of departure in 1847?
I know that they were not filed in the port of arrival in Canada until much later in the 19th century.
Tuesday 9th Apr 2013, 10:00PM