Leech (Leitch) family in Wexford County

Dear Laura:

Thank you for your query to the Ireland Reaching Out message board.

Gorey may be a good place to start with in relation to your Wexford research.  Unfortunately, there are not many Presbyterian church registers or Methodist registers available as with the Church of Ireland being the established church, most of those in the two denominations were married in a Church of Ireland church.  See Claire Santry's post at this link:  https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/ancestral-records.html  The Representative Church Body of Ireland which is the research and archives of the Church of Ireland has done a very good job of assisting anyone with COI ancestors with a Table of Parish Registers.  This document (96 pages) is available to view through their website and you may find it helpful with your future research.  The link is here:  https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/genealogy

In addition, I have looked at the link for Gorey and I noted that the document states:  recent registers from 1801 remain in local custody and the RCBLibrary holds a copy transcript of baptisms 1878-2008; marriages 1818-1973 and burials 1878-2008.  The email address for the local parish office for Gorey is:  gorey@ferns.anglican.org

Please let me know if you have any further questions, and the very best of luck with your research.  

Kind regards,

Jane

Hi Laura,

I'm not sure how helpful this is, but my hometown happens to be Gorrie in Ontario, Canada (although I'm now living in Ireland). There is a local history book entitled "The Lines of Howick" that contains some information about the Leech brothers. In Volume 2, it states: "Postmaster James Hanna named the post office Gorrie, in honour of a town in his native Ireland." You may already have this book, but I'll include a couple of scans from it, just in case.

Good luck in your search!

Janice

Thanks Janice for that helpful information. 

Laura, if you need any further assistance, please let me know.  

All the best,

Jane

Hi Janice, What a coincidence that you are from Gorrie, Ontario, Canada! Thanks for sending those pages. We were in Gorrie in 1999 for a Leech Family reunion. The 10 Leech brothers were certainly influential in the early years of Gorrie. There seems ot be lots of information starting from their time in Canada, but not so much in Ireland. 

 Hi Jane, Thanks for the information. I am looking through the Representative Church Body inofrmation. The frustrating part is I only have a reference to "Gorey" and need to figure out more specific information to ascertain parish and townland. I have emailed the local parish office for Gorey for suggestions as well. We were in Ireland a couple of years ago but focused on the Webster ancestral line (Richard Leech married Barbara Webster in Canada in 1818) because we had a specific place and family member to connect with. Given that both Webster and Leech ancestors immigrated in 1810 - 1812 timeline, I am finding it difficult to connect with Leech line in Ireland. No other genealogists here in Canada seem to have gone back to Ireland with the Leech line. I will keep searching - oh, the joys of genealogy!

Any other suggestions welcome,

Laura

Gorrie, Howick Twp, Huron County, Ontario Canada

During the winter of 1856-1857 the town site was laid out in a traditional grid pattern. It was named Howick Village but was popularly known as Leechville (after James and Edward Leech of Lanark County who “hacked their way through the bush from Molesworth (the nearest road) to Gorrie, a distance of 15 miles.”)...

The Leech brothers (there were 10 in all) named all the streets running east and west after themselves and many of the north-south streets after members of the royal family and other members of the British aristocracy.

A post office was set up almost immediately. Postmaster James Hanna named the post office Gorrie, in honour of a town in his native Ireland.

Hi Laura,

I'm guessing you may already have this as well - a history of the Leech family called "The Ten Brothers". However, I'm attaching it, just in case.

My parents are about to visit (from Gorrie) and we are taking them to see Gorey, so just trying to establish the connection between the two towns for them.

All the best,

Janice

Hi Janice,
It will be lovely to have your parents visit and to get to Gorey. I regret that we did not get there both times we visited Ireland.
Yes, I do have a copy of The Ten Leech Brothers. It seems to be very widely circulated, at least in Canada.
All the best,
Laura