Brian DOYLE's Hill
Bank Street near South Gloucester
(Brian DOYLE immigrated from County Wicklow, Ireland)
February 14, 2008:
The following e-mail came in a few days ago. Michael Daley and Mary Quinn have done
a lot of research regarding the Doyle families at South Gloucester in response
to this enquiry from Susie. Thanks very much, Mary and Michael.
"I am researching John & Margaret Doyle who supposedly are in
this cemetery. They had a farm in the area in the 1850s but moved to Ottawa
around 1900. Do you have any records on them or can you direct me to another web
site for more information".
From Mary:
Hi Susie - not sure if this could be a connection but this baptism took place at
Our Lady of the Visitation Jan 18, 1854. The father is John Doyle and mother is
Margaret Donaghoe ~ do you know if they had a son named Bernard? The sponsors were
Pat Donaghoe and Ann Doyle.
560
1854/01/18
Baptism
1854/01/08
baptism of Doyle, Bernard
son of Doyle, John and
Donaghoe, Margaret
Witnesses: Donaghoe / Donahue, Patrick and Doyle, Ann
Book 1 1848-1856 Page 84
... Mary
_____________________________________
A happy Susie replies:
"YES YES YES!!!!
Bernard is my gr great Grandfather!!!! I now have another piece of the puzzle!!!"
____________________________________
And from Michael:
Hi all , I Have a publication in front of me, [ Pioneer families of Osgoode, ] one
page reads ," Some Doyle's of Osgoode" also a publication "The Doyle's of The
Ottawa Valley," by Denzil J. Doyle, of Ottawa, Stretches,from Osgoode , up the
valley to Fort Coulonge,
The 1863 and the 1879 maps of Gloucester show John Doyle just north of Our Lady
of The Visitation church. on east side of highway 31 , which became known as
"BRIAN DOYLE HILL" [it is still Brian Doyle Hill to me ] Just south , on the west
side of the highway you will find two more , Patrick Doyle , on one lot. and
Moses Doyle along side, this in my view is the connection to the Prescott road
Doyle's,???
Susie , Your John Doyle, was the son of BENJAMIN DOYLE.& Jane Cavanagh, John Doyle ,
born ,1825 married , to Margaret Donaghue, son Bernard , born 1854, daughter Catherine
born 1855 , son John born 1857, daughter Jane born 1859 ,????
NOTE, Brian Doyle , while taking a load of logs to Manotick to get sawn, came to
an untimely death, on Rideau road , just west of Albion road, when the sleigh load
of logs upset on top of him.
hope this helps
... Michael Daley
____________________________________
Michael, with more info:
Hi AL, Mary & Susie , Some where here, I have an article , out of an Ottawa paper
on the death of Brine Doyle , which if it gives his age , it would determine , if he
is Benjamin , who was born in 1791, he was 60 years of age his wife Jane Cavanagh ,
60 years in the 1851 census of Gloucester Township, The 1881 census for Gloucester
Township, the Doyle family reads:
John age 65 years born Ireland , his wife Margaret [ Donaghue] Doyle age 48 years
born Ireland, son Bernard age 27 years , born Ontario , Catharine age 25 years ,
born Ontario. John Doyle age 23 years born Ontario. Jane age 21 years born Ontario,
Bridget age 19, born Ontario. Mary age 18 born Ontario. Ann age 16 years , born
Ontario. Patrick age 11 years, born Ontario. Margaret age 8 years born Ontario ,
Susie , which one of the above are you descendant from?
Michael
_____________________________________
and from Mary:
Hi all - and the Doyle saga continues. I found in the Notre Dame records the following:
21 Apr 1833 Baptism of Anna, daughter of Bernard Doyle and Jane Cavanaugh
James Doyle and Anastasia Finlay (witnesses, they were married)
so the first generation Benjamin maybe first generation Bernard and potentially
Brian.
also note the following Doyle's which appear in the 1851/52 census for Gloucester ~
there are three families and the first family looks like it may be the right one as
Jane is the age of the mother and the Ann noted could be the one that matches this
Notre Dame record. The father is transcribed as Beyan
Family 1 ~
Doyle, Beyan (Brian) Farmer Ireland Roman Catholic 60 M
Doyle, John Farmer Ireland Roman Catholic 26 M
Doyle, Jane Farmer Ireland Roman Catholic 60 F
Doyle, Catherine Canada Roman Catholic 19 F
Doyle, Ann Canada Roman Catholic 17 F
Family 2
Doyle, Moses Farmer Ireland Roman Catholic 44 M
Doyle, Andrew Farmer Canada Roman Catholic 16 M
Doyle, Pat'k Canada Roman Catholic 5 M
Doyle, Bridget (nee Brady) Ireland Roman Catholic 46 F
Doyle, Mary Canada Roman Catholic 13 F
Doyle, Ann Canada Roman Catholic 10 F
Doyle, Margaret Canada Roman Catholic 8 F
Doyle, Bridget Canada Roman Catholic 2 F
Doyle, Anne Canada Roman Catholic 5 F
Family 3
Doyle, John Ireland Roman Catholic 25 M
___________________________________
more from Mary, who included the relevant copy of the 1851 census page showing
the Doyle and Donaghue families who were neighbours.
If you use your zoom in tool you will see that the name is actually Bryan Doyle
(line 33). It has been transcribed incorrectly. Also you can see where someone
might have thought it read Benjamin as well. If we didn't know the "word of mouth"
story of Brian Doyle hill we may not have been able to verify this. Also notice
Susie that your John Doyle must have married the neighbour girl, which often
happened in those days, because she appears on the same census page on line # 6
with her family.
A couple of other interesting things found in Notre Dame records:
19 Feb 1846
After one publication of banns marriage of Patrick O'Brian, adult son of James
O'Brien and Margaret Pannan (Fannon / Fenning / Fanning ?) to Mary Doyle adult
daughter of Brian Doyle and Jeanne Cavanagh
witnesses - John Devly (Darcy or Davey or Devereaux) and John Doyle
(guess it is Brian married to the Cavanagh)
on Moses Doyle marriage May 5, 1834 it states his is a native of the parish of
Killmeshin, County Wexford (odds are your Brian and John hail from the same location
seeing as they lived across the road from Moses)
... Mary
__________________________________
and back to Susie:
Hi Mary……………………….sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I live in the USA in the state
of Idaho. I’ve been researching this Doyle family for years and I’ve never hit the
mother lode” like this before!!!!!!!
I received emails from Mike Daley and Allan which also contained more valuable info.
My gr grandfather, Bernard (Barney) moved to Michigan as a young man, met Maggie
Ferguson, (daughter of Scottish immigrants), married & moved west to Bovey, Minnesota.
They raised their family in Bovey where Barney worked for the railroad. As far as
I know, only 2 of their children are not buried in the area. For being from the
RC background, they weren’t very prolific either .. most of their kids only had 1-2
children or died without any. When Barney & Maggie married, they converted to
Presbyterian and that’s what we’ve been ever since.
Michael, I can’t believe I’m this close to solving a HUGE mystery of my Doyles!!!
All the info you listed below for John’s family is correct. My gr grandfather was
Bernard (Barney) who moved south to Michigan, USA as a young man. He was driving
freight wagons thru Ontanagon area & met Margaret (Maggie) Ferguson (daughter of
Scottish immigrants) at her parents’ boarding house. They married & moved west to
Bovey, Minnesota where they settled down on a small farm to raise their family.
Their son, Herbert George, was my grandfather. So with 2 references to the family name
of Bernard as the oldest son, we apparently wrongly assumed that was also the name of
John’s father. There are NO Brians or Benjamins in our family…………..
Family history says 3 of the daughters of John & Margaret became nuns & supposedly
the Doyle farm was left to the RC church when all the children were gone. But I’ve
contacted the diocese in Ottawa (10 yrs ago) and they had no record of my Doyles in
any way. Please feel free to add our family to any web page you want as I need all
the help I can get!!!
I know the church in South Gloucester has records of John & Margaret’s marriage and
I would love a copy. Can you advise me how to obtain one????
Thank you so much once again for your help with my search!!!!!
~Susie~
___________________________________
Hi Mary , Yes Mary the name Benjamin came from Denzil Doyle, [one time president of
Digital Equipment Corp.] publication , in my view ,Al article, the marriage record
from Notre Dame ,Brian Doyle's & Jane Cavanagh , makes Brian, and Benjamin are one
and the same. I do not have an 1851 census for Gloucester. Denzil's document reads
Gloucester census 1851 page 21 Benjamin Doyle- 60 [born 1791 Jane Cavanagh - 60
John-26 - born Ireland in 1825. Catherine --19- born in Canada 1832 Anne -17- born
in Canada in 1834.
Question if you check the 1881 census that I FORWARD TO YOU. IT NOW APPEARS TO ME ,
John Doyle above is not the same John Doyle that appears in the 1881 census , AGE
DIFFERENCE .?? I just checked 1863 map of Gloucester there are 4 J. Doyle's all
in that area , we'll have to dig a little deeper.
... Michael
February 15, 2008:
Hi All,
I read your page on Brian Doyle today with interest, esp. the connection to Moses
Doyle et al. Brian was from County WICKLOW! (death cert. attached)
The Fitzwilliam CD has just one Moses Doyle on it (attached), and you see this
family had both a Moses and an Andrew, as did the Gloucester family. I've been
trying to force these two into the one family for a long time - without success.
But...if Moses was b. in Killmeshin, Wexford, as Mary says, it would seem the FW
family isn't related to the Gloucester group. Cronelea is about 3 mi. from the border
(with Carlow? I'll have to get another map) and adjoins Ballynultagh, County Wicklow,
which gave quite a few of its families to Bytown and surrounds. (see www.bytown.net/wicklowemigrants.htm)
Anne
(Note: Death caused by a saw log rolling onto him, as Michael told us ... Al)
February 19, 2008:
The Ottawa Evening Citizen, Sept 1923 --
The O.T.C. had asked if anyone could throw some light on the history of Bryan Doyle,
after whom ,Bryan Doyle's Hill on the Metcalfe road was named. Mr. James Finn ,
formerly a farmer in Gloucester and knew the area well contributed this info .
Mr. Finn, says Bryan Doyle came to these parts about the time the Rideau Canal
was being started, Mr. Doyle settled at the top of the hill on the East side of
the Metcalfe Road. Bryan was up in years when he came to these parts.
He was killed in the winter of 1869 while drawing a load of logs to the Dickinson
mill in Manotick (1)-- see below. [ Feb.17. 1870 ] When he drew near Moors corner,
three quarters of a mile from Spratt's crossing of the St. L.O. Railway Crossing, his sleigh
upset, and a large basswood log rolled off and fell on him , at that time he had
long white whiskers, and was a striking personality, Mr. Finn tells us that Mr.
Doyle had one son and one daughter, both of whom are dead now, the son went to the USA,
and as far as is known he died there. The daughter Anne Doyle , married
James Abraham / Abram from Concession 2, Osgoode
(Dozois Road / Doyle Road).
The Doyle home as Mr. Finn remembered it was a scooped roof , Shanty.
more to come,
... Michael
(1) Moss Kent Dickinson, who was mayor of Ottawa from 1864 to 1866 opened
a mill at Manotick in 1860. The building, called Watson's Mill, is still open today.
February 20, 2008:
Hi All - Mike wondering if you know where Moors corner is? 1869, the year Brian
Doyle died, was the year of the big snow ~ if I am not mistaken. Guess all that
snow made it difficult for horses and sleighs. The info I quoted was from The Osgoode
Village Story book but they do say they got a lot of their info from the Osgoode
Township Historical Society books etc. I noticed you wrote the forward for this
book Mike - it was good.
... Mary
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Hi Mary. Moor's Corner's is, where Mr. Finn Stated , just west of the railway
tracks on Rideau Road, if you recall, there is a slight bend in the road , between
Bowesville and Downey road, the 1879 map of Gloucester shows, going west , a
sharp left turn , and then a sharp turn to the right, and on your left is the corner
of the Moor farm. [ south side of the road,] a great place to upset a load of logs.
Yes Mary , You are right ,The winter of the big snow, 1869 ?. I did an article for
the newsletter on that winter, [ away back when ] Mary thanks for the comment on
the Osgoode Village Story .
... Michael
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and here's another wonderful story from Michael Daley:
Bryan Doyle Hill, was feared by those who traveled at night , as told by Mr. Goth.
who farmed across the road from Bryan Doyle . it was narrow, steep and dangerous,
many traveled together for mutual protection as they were apt to upset. in the
seventies, Doyle's hill, in which autos now run up thirty to fifty miles per hour,
was much dreaded by farmers, and others who ascended and descended it. In the 1870
before the road company took it over the hill was rough and steep, the bank of the
hill was stone, when the road was first put down in the pioneer days, The road had
only been roughly blasted, with the result that some ledges were rough and irregular,
in fact the road was actually dangerous.
A lot of traffic going towards Ottawa went down Bryan Doyle's Hill while it was
still dark.the farmers had to reach the market before daylight or shortly after, Mr.
Goth states when he first came to the vicinity, it was common to see twenty to thirty
farmers help each other in succession get there loads down the hill in the dark,
neighbors often traveled together , in order to help one another. In the stillness
of the morning Mr. Goth from his home could hear the rattle of the wagon wheels
as they went over the stone ledges of the hill.
When the road company took the road over they graded the hill , cut it down at the
top and filled it in at the bottom and took the danger out of it, Mr. Goth states
the stone went into the Macadamizing of the next five miles north on the Metcalfe
road from Bryan Doyle Hill.
Mr. Finn states the chief danger of the Doyle Hill was the crosslay or corduary
which had to be placed just at the bottom of the hill where there was so much soft
earth due swamp condition. The crosslay was apt at times to tilt up at either side
that causes trouble to vehicles passing over it. In regards to the amount of
stone taken from Hill during grading , Mr. Finn is inclined to go further than
Mr. Goth and says about 8 miles of road was Macadamized with the stone from
Doyle's hill and stretched from Seiverights Hill to the Township line of Osgoode .
In the years of my youth Bank Street was known as the stone road. I recall , in
evenings when thunder would be rolling across the sky in the distance, my grandfather
would tell us kids that , somebody was rolling the stone road.
... Michael
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That's where the name "the stone road" came from. Mike you are just full of interesting
tidbits. You told me it was called the stone road but I didn't know why. You can
imagine how rough it might have been considering the quarries in the area ~ it is just
solid rock. Our Lady Of the Visitation is built from some of that rock which probably
was deposited there by the ice age - the Canadian Shield. Interesting stuff.
... Mary
E-mail Mary Quinn, Michael Daley, Susie Geer, Anne Burgess and Al Lewis
Back to Bytown or Bust - History and Genealogy in the Ottawa, Canada area -- Gloucester Township