Patrick LARKIN and Mary MORAN
Ireland to Osgoode Township, Ontario, Canada
May 3, 2008:
Dear Mr. Lewis:
I have asked you, Michael Daley and Mary Quinn so many questions about my Carleton
county ancestors that I must begin with my thanks for all your help.
I believe it’s time I put my two cents’ worth into the Bytown or Bust mix.
Patrick Daniel Larkin was born in Osgoode September 25, 1867, son of Patrick Larkin and
Mary Moran. Patrick Larkin is supposed to have come from Ireland and spent some time
in Osgoode in 1866. I have always suspected that he was a relation of the Larkins who
lived in the area, but have not yet confirmed that. At any rate, Patrick Larkin wrote
to Mary Moran in Osgoode on November 14, 1866, saying he had settled in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, USA, and asking her to marry him. (These dates are odd – I just state
them as we know them.) They were married on November 15, 1866 in Lawrence. Patrick
died of consumption on June 2, 1867 in Lawrence and Mary returned to Osgoode and had
her son on September 25, 1867 as noted above. Mary and child lived with a sister in
Osgoode until she remarried – family history says to as Protestant Englishman named
Harris, but we’ve never found a record to confirm this. She had a daughter named
Mary from this marriage, but sadly died by the time her son was eight years old. (1875-6?)
Because we don’t know her second married name, we can’t confirm the story. Her daughter
Mary married someone named Gilmer or Gilmour and lived her life in Spokane, Washington, USA.
I have a photo of her and her granddaughter.
Patrick Daniel Larkin, as an eight-year-old orphan, reportedly came under the
supervision of the parish priest and the doctor of the time until he was apprenticed
as a machinist in Ottawa at the age of 13. We have been unable to confirm where or
with whom he lived until 1891 when he turns up in the census as the head of his own
(and Kate’s) household, living in St. Patrick’s parish in Ottawa and starting their
own brood of 11 children.
His mother, Mary Moran of Osgoode, was the daughter of Laughlin Moran and
Ellen Comerford, Cornforth etc. The woman is shown as both Helen and Ellen and with
as many variations in her surname as you can imagine! Laughlin Moran is the namesake
of his father, who is listed in the 1817 list of farmers from Wexford and Carlow
planning to come to Canada in the coming year, bringing a family of 9 with him.
They apparently settled near Quebec City. I believe he (and his son) must have been
literate because their name, with its less-than-phonetic spelling, is spelled the same
in every record I have found of them.
Laughlin Moran 2 and Ellen Cornforth were probably married in or around Quebec. Their
son John, whom I believe to be the oldest of their children, states that he was born
in 1843 in Montreal. (This is the John Moran who married Margaret Fanning / Fenning
of the blacksmith’s family.) Mary, my great grandmother, states on her marriage
certificate that she was born in “Lower Canada” on August 19, 1844. She was baptized
in Ottawa, so I believe this probably as close as we’ll get to a date when the family
came to Carleton County.
Mary was followed by Edward (born December 8, 1845), Helena (born April 10, 1848,
baptized at Gloucester) and William (born August 7, 1851, baptized at Our Lady of
the Visitation).
Laughlin Moran was a carpenter, as was his father. Perhaps your expertise can explain
why the family would move to Osgoode in the mid-1840’s. The senior Laughlin Moran
died in Quebec in 1841 and his wife, Mary Walsh predeceased him, so this would have
been part of the reason. But can you think of any reason why they would choose this
area? I’d love to hear any suggestions you might have.
I can find no trace of the Morans in the Osgoode area from 1871 onward. My grandfather
had no aunts, uncles, or grandparents in the area after his mother died c.1875. If
anyone has any clue as to where they might have gone, or whether there was an epidemic
or something that wiped them out, I’d love to know. I haven’t found marriage records
for Mary’s siblings yet, but I keep hoping that I can track some of them that way.
I have, of course, a raft of other ancestors on my father’s mother’s side.
Their surnames are Blake and Albert. My grandmother was one of a family of 16 Blakes,
so I have some information on that name. If it would not bore you to tears, I will
write again with some of their stories.
I'm also interested in the Blakes of Aylmer, Quebec. According to Anson Gard, David Blake had
four sons, one of whom was Michael Blake, my great-grandfather.
He died in 1877 in Ottawa at the age of 58.
Thanks for your patience and for your website!
Yours truly
Catherine Tannock
______________________
Hi Catherine, for what its worth, A tombstone in Our Lady of The Visitation Cemetery
reads, In memory of Thomas Moran died 7 of April 1850 aged 58 years, a native of Ireland .
1901 census, for Osgoode, reads Moran, John, boarder with the Stanley family of Greely,
he is a widower, born July 27 ,1830 Quebec , age 70 , carpenter .
Jane Moran born 1838 .? married John Thompson of Osgoode,in the early 1860's moved
to St. Theresa, near Maniwaki . P.Q.
... Michael Daley
_____________________
Thanks to Mary Quinn for the following:
1850/08/12 Baptism
1850/08/07 Moran William, son of Morin, Laughlin and Comeforth, Ellen
Godparents: Skiffington / Skeffington, Michael and Oconnor, Mary
Also found the following records at Notre Dame downtown:
25 Aug 1844
Baptism of Maria, born 19 Aug of the marriage of Laughlin Moran and Helen Cummerford of Bytown
John Conroy and Elizabeth Boyle
28 Dec 1845
Baptism of Edward, born Dec 8 of the marriage of Loughlin Moran and Ellen Comport
Francis Daley and Margaret Nolan
24 Sept 1846
Baptism of Ann, born the 4th at Gloucester, daughter of Dennis McGee and Alice Hughes
Susan Hughes and Loughlin Moran
20 April 1848
Baptism of Helena, born the 10th of the marriage of Laughlin Moran and Helen Comerford
Nicholas Foran and Mary Ann Nolan
... Mary Quinn
E-mail Catherine Tannock, Michael Daley, Mary Quinn and Al Lewis
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