Concordia Irish Studies asked us to pass on this information......


WRITERS READ AT CONCORDIA

and

THE CENTRE FOR CANADIAN IRISH STUDIES

present a public reading by acclaimed Irish novelist

COLUM McCANN

October 12, 2007 at 7.30pmDe S?ve Cinema (main floor) McConnell Library Building, Concordia University, 1400, boul. de Maisonneuve Ouest
Free Admission

Colum McCann is the author of two collections of short stories and three novels, including "This Side of Brightness" and "Dancer", both of which were international best-sellers. His fiction has been published in 26 languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ and other places. ?He has written for numerous publications including The Irish Times, Die Zeit, La Republica, Paris Match, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Independent. He has also written a weekly column for RTE's "Round Midnight" show and Village magazine in Dublin. In 2003, Colum was named Esquire magazine's "Writer of the Year". Other awards and honours include a Pushcart Prize, the Rooney Prize, the Irish Independent Hughes and Hughes Novel of the Year 2003, and the 2002 Ireland Fund of Monaco Princess Grace Memorial Literary Award. He was recently inducted into the Hennessy Hall of Fame. His short film "Everything in this Country Must," directed by Gary McKendry, was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. Colum was born in Dublin in 1965 and began his career as a journalist in the Irish Press. In the early 1980s he took a bicycle across North America and then worked as a wilderness guide in a programme for juvenile delinquents in Texas. After a year and a half in Japan, he and his wife Allison moved to New York where they currently live with their three children. Colum teaches in Hunter College in New York, in the Creative Writing programme, with fellow novelists Peter Carey and Jenny Shute. His most recent novel, "Zoli", a story of a Gypsy poet and intellectual, was recently published in England, Ireland, Germany and the United States to great acclaim. It is already a international bestseller. It will be published in 20 languages. Colum is curently working on a new novel, tentatively titled "Utopia 74", as well as several screenplays.

Centre for Canadian Irish Studies :
Tel : (514) 848-8711, Email : http://cdnirish@alcor.concordia.ca, Web : [b]http://www.cdnirish.concordia.ca[/b]

      Mark your calendars.
      On Saturday, October 20th, the Point St. Charles Historical Society (SHPSC) will be offering a bilingual bus tour from Point St. Charles to both St. Columban and St. Eustache.
      The planning for this event is being finalized, but this tour will certainly include a visit to the Cemetery and the Church etc., in St. Columban - where both Claude Bourguignon & I will discuss the Irish of St. Columban and our efforts to build a monument to these early settlers. It will also include a lunch at the local St. Columban restaurant which was once one of the original St. Columban schools..
            The total costs including transportation; the meal; all taxes; tips etc. will be
$ 59.00 per person. The bus will be leaving from 2356 Centre St. (near the Charlevoix Metro) in the Point, at 9am and will likely return around 4 or 5 pm.
     There will also be a visit to the Church at St. Eustache - which was the site of the last big battle between the Patriotes of Lower Canada and the British forces.
     Jeff Legault is helping us set up the reservation forms etc., and we should be able to provide you with all the details within the next few days.

Claude Bourguignon has sent us two (2) documents that might be of interest to everyone. Both items are written in French, but we should be able to translate them in the near future. The newspaper article concerns an offer by the Town of St. Columban to purchase the St. Columban Church and the Community Hall (Not sure what would happen to the cemetery in this case). This article can be found at:-

http://http://ww...e]

[size=12]The second document is a note that concerns the history of both the McAndrews and the Keyes farms.http://www.stcolumban-irish.com/Memories-Histories/index.html

We?ll have to keep a close watch on this offer to purchase the Church and hopefully Claude will keep us up to date?.

Tim Funchion saw another example of a Cemetery Monument that incorporates broken Tombstones and he sent us some pictures of this structure. Jeff has included these photos on the site and you can see them by clicking on:-

[url]http://www.stcolumban-irish.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1672[/url]

As a follow up to our own project, I hope that we will be able to set up a meeting with the Fabrique (Church Wardens) soon to discuss the space and design possibilities.

My great grandfather Martin Grace was born in Ireland about 1821 to Thomas Grace and Mary Dwyer . ?He married Elizabeth McNally ?(could be McAlley or McAnally) ?who was born in Ireland about 1826 to Timothy McNally and Ann O?Brien . ?The marriage is recorded in the Drouin collection as: 1846 Marriage Martin Grace & Elisabeth McAnally Notre Dame de Montreal (Page 1-4). ?I am unable to find this record which was referred to me from the Canada archives. ?
I also am unable to locate any information on Thomas Grace other than on the 1851 St. Columban censuses. ?Any assistance is appreciated.

Ronald Hurley has just completed the writing of a family document called
?McEvoys of Osgoode Township?

Ronald would like to share his research with all of our St. Columban group and particularly other St. Columban McEvoy descendants

Jeff has posted this information at:
http://www.stcolumban-irish.com/Memories...index.html

If you have any comments or additional information to share with Ronald, you can either post a note on this page or contact him at: r-shurley@rogers.com

St. Columban Project Update

Although activities have been quiet on the web page over the last summer months, some efforts do continue?..

THE MONUMENT

     In the last month; Mr. Pieter Sijkes, a professor of architecture at McGill University and one of his students,  Yan Claprood, have been working on the project . (Pieter has volunteered his time; and we are paying Yan as a summer student for his hours). They have visited the cemetery; looked at different monument possibilities and have arrived back at the conclusion that a wall with the broken tombstones inserted into it, is still the best idea. The height; materials to use; and the location in the cemetery; the need for maintenance etc.;  are all points that they have considered.
     So, I would like to set up a meeting of for anyone interested in more details from these architects for either Saturday, August 4th or Sat. Aug. 11th.  If you would like to attend, please let me know if either, or both, of these dates are available for you. We could have this meeting at my home in Point St. Charles around 10am, and both Pieter & Yan could make a presentation about the monument from an architect?s point of view. So, if you can attend, please e-mail me at Fergus@panamsec.com  and let me know which date is best for you. I?ll then let everyone know the final details for this meeting.

STORING THE BROKEN TOMSBSTONES

     Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond his control, Michael Kennedy has had to withdraw his offer to store the broken stones on his property over the winter. So, if anyone has another suggestion on where to store these broken tombstones and protect them until next spring, please let me know. If we can find a location, I would guess that we would try to move them in September or early October. We would like to have everything in place to start the monument in Spring 2008, so they would only have to be stored for six months or so?If you have any ideas, please contact me.

THE DVD FROM OUR EVENT IN JANUARY
     
          We did have a little flurry of DVD sales early on ? but, unfortunately, the orders for this DVD are now flat  So to recover at least our costs of producing this DVD, please do promote it to your friends and relatives.

ADDITIONAL FUNDRAISING IDEAS.

     We will likely have to raise a little more funding over the Winter to complete the monument and  make the plaques for the individuals that don?t have tombstones etc. We really want it to be special and built to last for the next 100 years or more. So again, if anyone has any ideas on possible last fundraising efforts, please do let me know.


So that?s the update for now ? if you can attend the meeting with the Architects; have an idea of where to store the broken tombstones; would like to order some DVD?s or have some fundraising ideas, please let me know?.

Fergus Keyes
Fergus@panamsec.com
514-935-3769

Seeking information on Thomas Grace listed #1 on the 1851 St. Columban census.

Thanks to Anne McLaughlin who directed me to the St. Columban Parish Records 1847 and the 1851 census, I found my great-grandfather Martin Grace born c1821 in Ireland, and four children born in St. Columba, Quebec, Canada. ? Martin married Elizabeth McNally (McAlley?) born in Ireland c1824. On the 1851 census, a Thomas Grace ?whom I believe is Martin?s father is listed with wife Mary Dwyer, and a Thomas Grace, probably a son. ?
Thank you to Claude Bourguignon for the property information which seems to confirm this and to Anne for the translation into English.
Martin and family moved to Prairie Springs, Jackson County, Iowa about 1855 when my grandfather Joseph Patrick, (5th child) ?was born. ?Seven of their 11 children were born in Iowa. ?
The 1860 Jackson County census lists Martin and family and a "laborer" Thomas 18 years old, is also listed with this family.
A following page lists Thomas Grace 75, wife Mary 70 and Thomas 27 and wife Ellen 26. ?The ages are consistent with Thomas of St. Columban. ?I have not been able to find the older Thomas in any Iowa or Nebraska census after the 1860 census. ?Any information is welcome and especially any on how this family ?may be related and how they came from Ireland.

We received an e-mail from Kathleen Brown-Herman who was writing on behalf of her mother ? Dorothy Strickland Brown. Dorothy is now 96 years old and has fond memories of St. Columban. She has sent us a number of pictures ? which also includes the identification of many of the people in the photos! Absolutely terrific stuff, that I?m sure many of you will enjoy.

Jeff has included the photos in a new section on our photo page which can be found at the following links

http://http://www.stcolum...ml and directly at;

http://http://www.stcolum...04

Jeff has also included a hand written letter that Dorothy sent us in this section (we will transcribe it at some point, but generally it is easy to read)?

Here is just a little of the information mentioned by Kathleen on behalf of her mother ?.

?Contributions from Kathleen Brown Herman, Beaconsfield, Quebec

My mother Dorothy Strickland Brown, was delighted to read about St. Columban in the Gazette in January as she enjoyed wonderful times with so many of the people from St. Columban. She is now 96 years old but has a terrific memory and has gathered up some old photos and identified many people.

The pictures were in her sister Gert's photo album. My mother is the last of the Strickland's of her generation but when she and Gert got together they would often talk of the great fun they had with the crowd from St. Columban.

If I'm able to get the pictures to you I know my mother would be delighted if they could be shared with others. She was particularly pleased to see the photo with Mrs. Grimes as I think it was the only photo she had of her. Millie and Mabel Grimes were good friends of hers.

Thank you Kathleen & Dorothy for this great addition to our site

Unfortunately due to a small difficulty, the trip to St. Columban scheduled for this Saturday, June 9th has been cancelled - and will be postponed until a later date.

Michael Kennedy, who is allowing us to store the stones on his property needs a little more time to make the arrangements.

We?ll let you all know when we decide on another date.

I apologize for any inconvenience

If you need more info., please send me an e-mail

Thanks

Fergus