Painting by Ruth McMillan in 1976
Shows the Head of the Rideau Canal Locks in Ottawa, Canada in 1893
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There was a large migration from the Ottawa area to the USA beginning in the 1850's as second-generation pioneers left the Ottawa Valley to acquire farmland in the new frontier of the American mid-west. This page represents just a few of the folks who went to North Dakota, USA. Prior to the Irish famine years, 1846-1854, most of the Irish emigrants who came to Canada (British North America), were persons with some capital who were able to purchase new farmland in the wilderness and most of them stayed in Canada. The second generation of these families, however, facing land shortages here, often moved to the United States. During and after the famine years, immigration to Canada, relative to the United States, decreased as can be seen in the following graph: ... AlFrom Rita Meistrell - copy of an e-mail sent to the UOVGEN List on August 6, 2000 Recently, I had the opportunity to do some research in the North Dakota / Minnesota area to which my Canadian ancestors moved. I got some hints as to why so many of them moved west. Many of the Irish-Canadians who settled in Canada were disappointed with their land in Ontario. The availability of land in western Canada and the conflicts with their Scot neighbors acted as the impetus for them to move. Most originally hoped to find more fertile land in western Canada. At that time it was easier for west bound travelers in Canada going from Ontario to Manitoba to take a train to St. Paul, Minnesota and then to proceed on toward either Fargo, ND or Fishers Landing, MN. From there they went northward by boat. On the way up the Red River to Manitoba in 1874, one of the first emigrants , James E. Sullivan, stopped in Nashville, which would later become East Grand Forks, Minnesota. While there, Jim decided to take a short trip up the Red Lake River. Near the original East Grand Forks city limits, he was captivated by a parcel of land overlooking the river in Huntsville Township. However, Jim continued on with his journey to Manitoba. Once there, he was unable to find any land that was more suitable to the family's needs than the parcel near Nashville. So on his return trip to Fargo, Jim again stopped in Nashville and made a verbal agreement with the owner for the purchase of land in Section One of Rhinehart Township, Polk County, Minnesota. Jim returned to Renfrew County and expounded upon the many assets of the area. He and his family, along with many others started making their move. Many families moved to the Grand Forks area in 1878 and 1879. In addition, James J. Hill, builder of the Great Northern Railroad, recruited farmers to emigrate from Ontario and settle the Red River Valley. Most of the Irish-Canadian settlers gathered near their neighbors in Manvel, ND and Grand Forks, ND/ East Grand Forks, MN. Most people at the time said they were going to Grand Forks, ND. It was the largest town in the area. However, most of the Irish Canadians moved across the river to East Grand Forks (EGF), MN, a very small town. Apparently, when ND became a state in 1889, it was a "dry" state--prohibited alcohol. Although most of the Irish-Canadians had already started their farms on the MN side, the prohibition created booming business on the EGF side. According to one article in April of 1891, there were applications for 4 more saloons ( 27 to date in a short few blocks) with more to be heard from. In addition, the local papers were trying to keep their residents from going up to Manitoba. Below is from an article in the Grand Forks Herald 5/21/1891 (remember these are their words, not mine): "It was a sorry lot of human beings that arrived here yesterday from Winnipeg. They constitute the advance guard of the main body of deluded Dakotans who went to Manitoba in search of land flowing with milk and honey. They find instead, a barren waste of desert sand, either destitute of all vegetation or grown up with sage brush, and an inhospitable climate where vegetable growth is impossible. These misguided unfortunates were warmly welcomed here and provided with necessary relief for their wants and will be given employment. They tell sad tales of destitution and suffering." Below are some familiar names that I came across while doing my research. Families from Canada that I saw in the following cemeteries: Calvary Cemetery in Grand Forks, ND- HARVEY, SULLIVAN, RACINE, POWERS, O'LEARY, McCOY, ENRIGHT, DRISCOLL, McGUIRE, MURPHY, FOLEY, RYAN, LAVELLE, NEVILLE, HANRAHAN, MCILRAITH, CONNELLY, MORIN / Moran, O'NEIL, CARROLL, BUSHAW, BUSHEE, BOUCHER St. Timothy Cemetery, Ferry Twp, Grand Forks Co.- BUSHAW, O'NEIL,CONNELLY, QUINN, HARVEY, MURPHY, McGUIRE, NAGLE, FERRY, DOYLE Nisbet Cemetery, Huntsville, MN - HANNAH, LEE, McDONALD, McKINNON, NISBET, RUTHERFORD, BRYSON, COULTER, CHALMERS, FEASE, GILMOUR, FLEMING, LOVE, McVEETY, MORRISON, NEVILLE, DRISCOLL, CUMMING I found bio's on the following names that said they were from Ontario in "The Meeting of the Reds, East Grand Forks, MN 1887-1987 Centennial Book", 1989: Christopher COULTER James CUMMING , Carleton County Michael and Bridget GORMAN, Smith Falls, Ont James LEE John LOVE's wife Ann Marie ARMSTRONG James McDONALD, from Frontenac County, (Kingston area), Ontario NAGLE, O'NEIL - Almonte, Ontario (mentions DOYLE family went to Livermore Iowa before moving to Manvel, ND) James NISBIT / Nesbitt, North Sherbrooke, s/o William and Christena Robert NISBIT John O'NEIL & Mary O'DRISCOLL, from Ramsay Township, d/o Denis & Johanna (White), County Cork. John O'LEARY, Almonte, Ontario (includes MURPHY from Pakenham) From "Half century of Recollections", a series of 111 articles originally published in the Grand Forks Herald 1935-1936 and found at the University of North Dakota, the following names were from Canada: Archie O'CONNOR - b. Renfrew 4/8/1875 WV O'CONNOR - b. Lanark, Ont. John N. BATHGATE - b. Guelph,Ontario 12/26/1876 James A DINNIE - Hoosie, Ontario 2/7/1863 Frank GILBY - Oakville, Ont. 3/10/1858 Tom C. GRIFFITH - Welland, Ont 4/3/1870 Wallace A HUFF, Belleville, Ont. 11/6/1853 George HYSLOP / Hislop, Ont. 12/13/1849 JW LOWE, Ontario 9/8/1857 JH McNICOL, s/o Duncan - Renfrew, Ont. 1877 O"KEEFE - Lindsay, Ont Joseph R POUPORE - Pontiac County, Quebec 2/8/1860 (The Poupore family were important in the lumbering industry in the Ottawa area JJ QUIGLEY - s/o Hugh, Perth, Ont 2/21/1876 George STEAD - Lanark Co. (Middleville) CC Stewart, s/o George - 2/2/1870 Easton, Ont Alec THOMSON - Ontario From the North Dakota 1930 WPA Pioneer Biographies Project: Descendants of Dennis Sullivan 1 Dennis Sullivan b: in County Cork, Ireland d: 1916 in Grand Forks, ND . +Bridget ? b: in Belenack, Ireland d: 1915 in Grand Forks, ND .. 2 Patrick Sullivan b: 1855 .. 2 Jerry Sullivan b: October 08, 1867 in Huntley Twp, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada, Ontario ...... +Florence Hubert .. 2 John Sullivan .. 2 Martin Sullivan .. 2 Dan Sullivan .. 2 George Sullivan .. 2 William Sullivan .. 2 Katherine Sullivan ...... + ? Ryan .. 2 Elizabeth Sullivan ...... + ? Chaplin .. 2 Ann Sullivan ...... + ? Murphy .. 2 Jessie Sullivan b: 1885 I have much more on some of these families- Enrights, Sullivans, Driscolls, McGuires, etc. I hope this helps some researchers in Ontario find where some of their families disappeared to. Rita Meistrell Visit Rita's excellent website which contains a database of over 4000 names: http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/e/i/Rita-Meistrell/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's an e-mail from Jan Gorman, same subject: Rita: Thank you for the terrific article on the migration west from Ontario !! You can add to your listing a bunch of O'GORMANs and GORMANs who are buried in Calvary Cemetary in Grand Forks. Just recently learned of a Robert Paul PURDY who left Carleton County and went west to ND too. I suspect he is also buried somewhere there. Those O'Gormans (Thomas and family) in the cemetery can be found in Canadian records as simply Gorman, but they decided the name was "properly" spelled O'Gorman when they got to ND. The Gormans you mentioned in East Grand Forks are also related to me. In searching through the ND records, I've also found other families of Gormans in Pembina County, as well as a number of Purdys from "Canada". They are not my Purdys and I don't know about those Gormans (George, Thomas, Timothy). On the ND GenWeb site, there is a place where you can search for these folks' applications for citizenship. You can order copies from the Historical Society in Bismarck via e-mail and then pay $5 per person after the copies of one or both "papers" are mailed to you. About the only unique information I obtained on my Thomas was that he had entered the U.S. via Port Huron. Since I've gotten involved in this search for my ancestors, I have come to believe that someone should do a "book" on the Canadians, especially those from the Upper Ottawa valley and nearby who settled in ND. It would be helpful to researchers, AND remind folks in that area that there was a large Canadian-Irish influence. So often in that Red River Valley between Fargo and Grand Forks, folks believe that the Scandinavians were the only primary settlers of that area. (Watch the movie "FARGO") Jan Gorman Hi Jan, I found your web site on Canadians who came from Ontario to Grand Forks and Manvel North Dakota around 1890. My grandfather John McGuire and his son Charles McGuire homesteaded in the Manvel Grand Forks County 1890. My grandfather John McGuire emigrated to Mitchell Ontario and later moved on to Grand Rapids Michigan, USA, then on to Manvel, North Dakota, USA, in 1889-1890. His son in-law William M. Harvey also emigrated to Grand Forks North Dakota from Ontario Canada. (See also posting dated July 6, 2011, below) I believe all six of the Harvey Children were born in the Grand Forks area, I have three of my uncles buried in Grand Forks County Daniel McGuire Born : October 1868 Died September 11, 1902 buried some where in Grand Forks County as Well as his Brother James McGuire died July 14, 1903. A third uncle Francis John McGuire Died November 26, 1890 and is buried at St. Timothy's Cemetery Ferry Township, Grand Forks County. I have tried to obtain information on these families with very little success. If you have any information on the above people I would appreciate hearing from you. Regards, Charles McGuire
Here's another from Jan Gorman - a great source of info on North Dakota and Minnesota! Al: No problem with having my name and e-mail address on your site. And after I thought about the query, and responded, I thought "come to think of it, I think that Al had added some of that material that had been exchanged on the UOVGEN Mail list on emigration to ND." No problem with your including these sites to help folks find information. The more we exchange information, the more we find. All the info I had gathered on-line before my trip to the Ottawa area this past summer was sooo helpful. In working on my family long distance, I have found that ND GenWeb site most helpful, plus the ones for each individual county. Several of them have indexes for cemetery books published by the Red River Genealogy Society in Fargo -- the unfortunate part is they are only an index.. to get the entire entry, one has to contact that RRVGS and pay them $2 for each lookup. And they haven't done all the cemetaries, especially the big ones in Grand Forks city ! ((Fargo is about 90 miles south of Grand Forks)) Someone on the UOVGEN mail list did contribute phone numbers so one could call those cemetaries, but the Norman Funeral Home (address on Grand Forks County GenWeb site) does have the records for the Calvary (R.C.) Cemetary and they have been helpful to me. St. Michael's RC Church in Grand Forks has also been helpful and they have been there since who knows when....I got my grandparents 1884 marriage record from them. The 1885 Territorial census is also on line -- but it doesn't include Grand Forks County much to my dismay. One can't forget to also check on the far western counties of Minnesota, even if they believe their people went to North Dakota. The two states are separated by a small river and there are adjoining "twin-towns" on either side of the river, such as Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN; Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN. So it is not unusual to have records between the two states. For example, in Rita's e-mail she noted a Michael Gorman in East Grand Forks...he lived and died there, but is buried in Grand Forks. In my immediate family, most were born in Fargo, ND but lived all their lives on Minnesota side, then died in Fargo hospitals--thus the birth/death records are with ND, they are buried in Minnesota, and if you want to know what they did in their lives, you have to go to Minnesota records. You will want to do a little editing of the above if you add any of this to your site. I anticipate being in the Fargo area over the Christmas holidays and if I come up with any new info, will let you know. I'm originally from that area and am at least somewhat familiar with the geography. Jan Gorman in Maryland USA Researching Gorman, Purdy, Brislin / Brislan / Breslin, and affiliated O'Brien, O'Neil, Driscoll lines, in Carleton County (Marlborough and Goulbourn), Lanark (Montague Township), and Grenville Counties. (added Grenville after this past summer's trip) Send Email to Jan Gorman, Charles McGuire and Al Lewis.
And from Linda in Michigan: From an obituary in the Renfrew Mercury for my ggrandfather, his son Michael Enright was living in Vanhook, North Dakota in 1941. Does anyone know which county Vanhook is located in or if the name still exists? (See (1) below ... Al) Michael was thought to have moved from Admaston/ Ferguslea area of Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada to North Dakota with his uncle James McMahon. It is also thought that Michael is buried in a catholic cemetery in North Dakota. Thanks! Linda in Michigan This message was originally posted to the UOVGEN List
February 23, 2002: (1) ... and Thanks, Maylene for this: This is for Linda, looking for VanHook, ND. It is located about 2 miles west of Shell Creek Bay of Lake Sakakawea. There is a cemetery named Van Hook. Van Hook was one of 3 small towns that were flooded by the creation of Lake Skakawa and the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River. New Town, ND has replaced the 3 communities. It was located Section 32, T152-R91 of Van Hook Township in Mountrail County. It had a post office from 1915 to 1953. The area above the water line has become a park. There was a Newspaper at Van Hook. sources: F.D. Holland, Jr. Geology Library UND State Archives & Historical Research Library, ND Maylene Chaska bchaska@post.harvard.edu PS I also found the town in an obituary. =================== Note: This week I was researching through some old (1850-1880) copies of the local Ottawa newspapers on microfilm at the National Archives. There were many advertisements for land which was available in North Dakota and Minnesota. ... Al
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September 21, 2003: Thanks to George Anton for sending along the following links to North Dakota and Minnesota: Walsh County Databases: Searchable databases, online Census Pages. http://www.rootsweb.com/ndwalsh/database.htm North Dakota State Archives: http://www.state.nd.us/hist/inform.htm Cass County, North Dakota: Searchable databases. http://www.rootsweb.com/ndcass/ Clay County, Minnesota: Searchable databases. http://www.rootsweb.com/mnclay/index.htm Minnesota Historical Society: Searchable Death Certificate database. http://www.rootsweb.com/mnclay/index.htm The 1880 North Dakota Census includes many folks who were born in Canada.
March 14, 2007: Hello Al and Rita, Re: your "Emigrants from Ontario, Canada to North Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba" page; just a note to let you know there is a transcription of Nisbet Cemetery, Huntsville Twp., Polk Co., Minnesota at: http://webdata.soc.hawaii.edu/nisbetcemetery/ Rita's posting prompted me to start putting the site together. It's a work in progress (sometimes kind of slow), but I hope it's helpful to researchers. I've put a link on my site to your site-- hope you don't mind. Best Regards, Jo Lynn Gunness ____________________________ Jo Lynn: I tried to reply to your e-mail last night but it was rejected by your server. Maybe it's rejecting all mail from sympatico.ca I can receive messages from you, however. Here's my reply to you from last night: Hello, Jo Lynn and Rita: Thanks very much for sending along the link to your transcription of the Nisbet Cemetery in Polk County, Minnesota. It's fascinating how our ancestors travelled in groups from one specific location to another. Robert Sample once sent me a link to a similar cemetery in North Dakota -- the cemetery "residents" were almost all from from the Ottawa Valley. The page on my site to which you refer was created early on, before I realized how many people went from here to the USA in the 1800's. The past few years I have just entered "USA" on individual web pages in order to get some idea of the scale of this migration. If you enter the word Minnesota in our search engine near the top of www.bytown.net, you should find quite a few families who went to Minnesota. Thanks again for the link. I'll add it to my site tomorrow. ... Al Lewis Ottawa, Canada www.bytown.net _______________________ Here is a list of some of the surnames which appear on Jo Lynn's site: I recognized from my researches in Lanark County where my ancestors first settled (in Bathurst and North Sherbrooke Townships after immigrating from Ireland and Scotland). Bain, Brownlee, Bryson, Buchanan, Cameron, Casmey, Chalmers, Clint, Coulter, Cumming, Davidson, Dickson / Dixon, Kelly, Lindsey / Lindsay, Ferguson, Fleming, Fletcher, Geddes, Gilmour, Gunness (Gunnis), Hannah, Hunt, Lee, Love, McDonald (McDonal), McDougall, McKinnon, McVeety, Morrison, Morrow, Nevill, Nisbet / Nesbitt, Playfair, Roberton / Robertson ?, Rutherford, Shanks, Skiffington / Skeffington, Stewart, Welsh, White, and probably others.
March 18, 2007: New e-mail address for Jo Lynn Gunness added to the list below ... Al
February 15, 2009: Some members of the Lawrence Hickey family, from Fitzroy Township went to North Dakota in time for the 1880 census there.
June 28, 2009: I enjoy reading the articles you have compiled that discuss families from Ontario who came to the Red River Valley. I live in Grand Forks, ND and work in Oslo, MN (about 1/2 hour north of Grand Forks). If you like, I can do look ups in my records and in the materials in the "Grand Forks Room" at the Grand Forks Library. This is a room loaded with genealogy and history information. I can also easily access the UND library's special collections that have extensive collections of community histories in our region. I have access to information on Grand Forks and Walsh counties in North Dakota, and Marshall and Polk Counties in Minnesota. I also have information on Freeborn County in southern Minnesota. As long as the research isn't too involved or lengthy, I do the lookups at no charge. This is my hobby. Please let me know how I can help. Deborah Hanson
July 2, 2009: Hello Deborah, I just finished reading your e-mail posted on Al Lewis's "Bytown or Bust" site offering to do look-ups. Bytown or Bust is a wonderful site which contains a wealth of fabulous information. The surname I'm interested in is McAuliffe. Randel Joseph McAuliffe married Julia Sabourin sometime in October in 1893, North Dakota. I haven't been able to find a marriage record. He went by the initials JR on the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census. Children born to them were Frank - 1894, John - 1896, James - 1900, Rose - 1906, Grace - 1908 and Helen - 1910, all in ND. No birth records, this information is from the census records. Randel Joseph McAuliffe was born in Huntley Township, Ontario, abt. 1866, son of John McAuliffe and Margaret Fitzgerald, and died July 30, 1949. Julia Sabourin was born Nov 11, 1874 in the Parry Sound district, daughter of Paul Sabourin and Bridget Madden and she died Sept 9th, 1949. I found a naturalization record for Randel Joseph McAuliffe, he intended to become a citizen of the USA, it's dated Oct 29th, 1880, Walsh County, North Dakota. In 1920 he is living in Minnesota, Polk County, Grand Forks township. The only other info I have are death and military records for Randel's two sons, Frank J. and James McAuliffe. Could I request look-up please, any information at all on this family would be greatly appreciated. Many kind thanks. Best regards, Dorothy McAuliffe Payne
July 27, 2009: Dear All, My great grandfather William Matthew Kelly died in East Grand Folks in the 1950.s...He is buried in the Calvert Cemetery in Grand Forks next to my great grandmother Rose Williams Kelly. Her father was James Williams who settled into Huntsville and Sullivan, married a woman by the name of Marion / Marian (don't know last name) who may have come from Canada per the census records...my great grandmother Rose was born in Huntsville and Sullivan along with her sister Charlotte. I have birthdates and such but I am more interested in their mother Marion.. I have no last name how could I go about finding out about her?? What records would give me some insite into who she was and her lineage as her folks and such. My great grandfather William Kelly's family came to the US from the County of Cork in Ireland but I have NO information on his parents or siblings...how would one go about tracking his parents?? I am hoping to come to Minnesota in the next few months to do some look ups but any current ways to obtain information on my family would be great!! I have written to the County Clerk's office to obtain my grandmother Arlowa's birth certificate...and they didn't have birth records persae...only recorded births. William and Rose Kelly lived at 813 Allen Street in East Grand Forks until Williams' death in the 50's. Thank you for your time and concern in this matter...I am Sincerely Yours, Mary Ridenour ________________________________ Thanks to Deborah Hanson for the following reply to Mary. They have been pursuing this puzzle together. This refers mainly to North Dakota and Minnesota than to the Ottawa area, but Deborah is very knowledgeable and has volunteered to give us some historical context on why people migrated to Minnesota and North Dakota. From Deborah: Here is some preliminary information: I noticed a typo, the cemetery's name is "Calvery". This was originally a Catholic Cemetery, and although it is located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, other pioneers from East Grand Forks on the Minnesota side of the river are buried there. Go to www.pvillage.org (Pennington County Historical Society) and type in "Williams" in the general search box. As you scroll down the results, you will see "Landowner Records". On the list in Huntsville Township, Polk County are J. Williams and Mary Williams. I believe these are your g-g-grandparents. Next Step, go to the US Bureau of Land Management's Land Patents search page http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ Choose "Minnesota" as the state, and type in "Williams" for the last name. When I did this, I was able to find Mary's information, but not James'. This could be that James did not "prove up" the land listed on the pvillage site. Choose "Mary A" of Polk County from the list, and choose to see the original document. On the original Document, her name is listed as "Mary Ann" (that is, Marian). It is possible to download and/or print a copy of the original document. For me the PDF files are the best bet for printing correctly the first time. I will send you more information once I've checked some other genealogy resources. Deb Hanson
March 31, 2010:Some migrants to North Dakota from the Ottawa area Surnames O'Brien, Foley, Eccles Source: Peter Robinson's Settlers, 1823 1825, by Carol Bennett, page 41
April 14, 2010: Information please re emigrants to North Dakota Would you be kind enough to point me in the direction of research sources for Ontario residents who migrated to ND . I'm trying to research a relative from Ontario, Isabella McKenzie, who was married to Roger Allin in North Dakota in 1882. He later became Governor of North Dakota. She had a sister Agnes who also went at the same time and another sister, Margaret who went to Ireland to marry a landowner there. She was my great grandmother. Are there any sources in Ontario that I might try to access. With many thanks. Phyllis Joyce ____________________________________________ Good morning, Ms. Joyce: Thanks for your e-mail regarding the McKenzie sisters in Ontario, Canada and in North Dakota. I believe that the following is the Isabella McKenzie family as shown in the 1861 Census for Ontario, Canada: Mary Mckenzie Female 51 1810 Scotland Widowed Alex Mckenzie Male 27 1834 Scotland Single John Mckenzie Male 25 1836 Upper Canada Single James Mckenzie Male 24 1837 Upper Canada Single William Mckenzie Male 23 1838 Upper Canada Single Catherine Mckenzie Female 21 1840 Upper Canada Single Agnes Mckenzie Female 20 1841 Upper Canada Single Margaret Mckenzie Female 18 1843 Upper Canada Single Isabella Mckenzie Female 17 1844 Upper Canada Single George Mckenzie Male 16 1845 Upper Canada Single Thomas Mckenzie Male 14 1847 Upper Canada Source: 1861 Census of Ontario, Canada at www.automatedgenealogy.com The family is headed by 51-year old widow, Mary McKenzie, who was born in Scotland. Isabella is shown as being 17 years old in 1861, making her birth date as 1844. Also shown are her brothers and sisters, including Margaret and Agnes. This census was for the town (now city) of Whitby, Ontario which is just east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Al
October 31, 2010: Gordon is researching his Forrest ancestors who went to North Dakota in the 1870's. He has found an online book, written in 1900, concerning pioneers in North Dakota. If you do a search for the word "Ottawa" or Canada", many pioneers from Canada who went to North Dakota will show up.This terrific book is online at http://www.archive.org/stream/compendiumhistor00chic#page/n5/mode/2up Here's an example of using both Canadian and American records to track your ancestors: From the registers of St. Philip's R.C. Church in Richmond, Goulbourn Township: 27 June 1853, Marriage of Thomas Shanahan, son of Bryan Shanahan (deceased in County Tipperary, Ireland) and Ann Ryan, to Jane Mears, daughter of John Mears and Elizabeth Kerrison / Kerrigan. The witnesses were John Whelan and Bridget Whelan. (Thomas and Jane later went to North Dakota). and here they are in Grand Forks, North Dakota (from the online book, above): 
Also, here's an advertisement which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen of October 21, 1882. ... Al
July 6, 2011: I have been doing some research into my ancestors and came across your article and the follow up responses through googling. I am related to the Harvey's and Mcguire's. You also mention German migration to the Manvel area. I have a connection there too. My great grandfather, William Knaus with his wife, Alice Harvey met and started their family in Manvel before emigrating to the Irish Colony, Saskatchewan in 1905. Alice's mother was a Mcguire. Tom and Ed Mcguire also emigrated at around the same time. I would love to hear from anyone who may have any ancestors in common or who is interested in the second Canadian leg of this migration. Ed Eaton ______________________ Thank you for getting back to me. Yes add my e-mail to your web site. I am just getting ready to head out to the Winnipeg Folk Fest so this is just a quick reply, I will write at more length next week. The Irish Colony in Saskatchewan was renamed Sinnett after John Sinnett the priest responsible for starting the colony. It is about 150 km. east of Saskatoon. This area was homesteaded in 1905 largely by people from Sheenboro, Pontiac County, Quebec, a former parish of Sinnett's. There were some folks from across the Ottawa River in Renfrew County as well. There were four families that came from Manvel, ND, as well. The Doyle brothers and my Great grandmother Alice Knaus (Harvey) had connections to the Ottawa Valley. I believe that Alice Harvey's parents, William Harvey and his wife Kate(?) McGuire had migrated to Manvel with John McGuire from the Ottawa Valley. There were also Thomas and Ed McGuire who homesteaded in the Irish Colony having left the Ottawa Valley in 1905. Ed Eaton
February 16, 2019: (post retirement) There is a very good biography of Harry McLean who was a well-known international builder of railways and hydro-electric dams. He came from North Dakota to Canada in the 1920's. He was headquartered in Merrickville, Ontario for many years, a self-made man who became wealthy and made a lot of charitable donations directly to his workers and to his community. He paid off many mortgages for persons in unfortunate circumstances. Here is the book: It's called Building an Empire: "Big Pants" Harry F. McLean and his Sons of Martha
Source for the next two photographs is Building an Empire: "Big Pants" Harry F. McLean and his Sons of Martha Page 14 ... AlPage 35
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