As some of you know, Shelia has been transcribing Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths of of the Irish in Montreal for St. Patrick's Church etc. She also sends us a note if there appears to be any connection to St. Columban.

Shelia recently sent some infomation about 3 Baptisms for children of James Bracken & Mary Purcell Their son James baptised in 1859; their daughter Anna Marie in 1860 and their other daughter Mary baptised in 1862 - All at St. Patrick's in Montreal.

Kelley was checking and did confirm that James Bracken & Mary Purcell were indeed from St. Columban but she also discovered that James died suddenly on July 3 1863, at 26 years old ,and was buried in St. Columban. and then Kelley found another burial notice, again in St. Columban, for the daughter Mary (2 year & 9 months old) mentioned above, on September 27 1863.

[highlight]So poor Mary (Purcell) Bracken buried her young husband and her infant daughter all within a few months in 1863 - such a tragedy...[/highlight]
For more information about this item, and/or other Montreal- St. Columban Connections, look under Marriages on the main page www.stcolumban-irish.com and then Montreal Connections.

As some of us have been working on various different parts of our effort to restore the Cemetery, Ken Neil has been investigating all kinds of interesting stuff. At our last little meeting, we asked Ken if he would check out different possibilities for our  Restoration project and below is a quick initial report from Ken on his progress...

I gathered a lot of information re the monument and repairs of existing headstones. I have visited engravers, foundries, precast concrete manufacturers and granite companies I have received various prices from these people and  will be preparing a report in the next two weeks which I will e-mail  before our next meeting. This will give everyone a chance to study the alternatives in advance. I will e-mail it to you to reroute to those who will be attending.

Thanks Ken,

Fergus

Hi Everyone (Sent by e-mail & added here in case you are not on our e-mail list!)

More web page updates on the St. Columban Site at www.stcolumban-irish.com

I thought that we would run out of things to add to our site. But au contraire, we just keep on getting more and more interesting information. Jeff Legault, has over the past week (working night and day)  been adding tidbits, here and there, on the site and if you haven?t visited this week you may have missed them. You might have missed some of them even if you have visited the site!

So here is a fast overview of some of the additions:-

Under Researchers

In this area, we have added a little note about the discussion page. As well we have added the names of the families being researched under the researcher?s name. If I missed adding your family interest, please send me another e-mail with the details:- fergus@stcolumban-irish.com (or if you wanted your name added to the list)

Under Maps

In this area, thanks to Bill Weiler we have listed the names of the original settlers, the lot number and the year of purchase. We included the title Names and Lot numbers 1799 ? 1830. (There are few names missing since the records are not available at this time.)

Under Memories & Family Histories

a)      We included some pictures from the St. Patrick?s Day Parade to add to the little video already posted

b)      At the bottom of the page, we changed the title from Famous People to ?Successful and Well-Known? which we think better reflects these people. We have also added Dr. Cornelius Phelan to this list. ? (Interesting Man).

Under Published Articles

a)      We have added the Ottawa Citizen article (we have permission to post this article for the next 6 months)
b)      We also made a note about J.P. Leger?s Cemetery Book
c)      We will add the information soon on ?Naming the Laurentians? by Joseph Graham -  www.ballyhoo.ca/books

And watch for an announcement about Claude Bourguignon?s new updated St. Columban book coming soon!!!  ? probably within the next few weeks

Under Photos:

In this area, Jeff has started to present the pictures in a new format. Click on the picture for additional details. Really neat !!!

In Gallery 8 ? we have added more Carroll-Kenna Pictures (thanks to Patrick Delaney) and it includes some interesting info. about John ?Jack? Carroll and his untimely death in Lachute.

In Gallery 9 ? We have added some new photos about the McLaughlin (Delaney & Casey) thanks to Anne McLaughlin

In Photo Identification, - We have added a new Mystery Photo that we hope to identify

Under Restoration

In the Donation area, we have raised the thermometer to $ 2500. (10% of our target) and acknowledge the new donors.

Under Grave Markers

We added some stuff with lots more interesting stuff to come thanks to Kelley !

Under Links

We added links to Morin Heights; Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery; and the Montreal Irish Radio Show

Under Discussion Forum

Here we have about 45 information posts and have now about 22 members. If you haven?t registered in this area, you should. Jeff has made it really easy to register with a section in red at the top of the page. It has a lot of bells and whistles ? you can check off to be informed by e-mail of a new post; you can send a message directly to another member in the Forum etc.. Just a quick note of inter-communications between two members ? if it has to do with family history please post it in the forum since the purpose is to share information and you never know when another member can offer helpful information.


So that?s it for now ? Unless Jeff?..I missed  something!


Fergus

Looking to identify a newly added photo to our mystery collection. This was in my family collection and taken in montreal likely around the late part of the 1800s. Possibly from my Whelan or Mooney ancestors from St. Columban.

Take a look at the last photo on this page titled Mystery Photo 2:

http://www.stcolumban-irish.com/Photos/Identification-1.html

Jeff Legault
jeff.legault@rogers.com

From:Sandra Stock, Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network, Laurentian region

After reading an article in the March Montreal Catholic Times,(St.Columban Irish not forgotten) and then visiting your excellent website re.St.Columban, I am sure that you would be interested in the upcoming (April) series of Laurentian Heritage Heritage Conservation Workshops that will be offered by the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network. The details are in the two (English and French) attached notices. I have also sent this information to Kathleen Coughlin Dunn at the Catholic Times.

I have very recently become the director for the Laurentian region for QAHN, but have been active with the Morin Heights Historical Association since its beginnings eight years ago. Our website is www.morinheightshistory.org and also we have published, as our main fund raiser, now seven more or less annual, and now bilingual, editions of our local historical magazine The Porcupine-Le Porc-epic. We are very interested in the history of our entire area, and I am particularily concerned with the identification, preservation and so on of  heritage buildings and sites such as your St.Columban cemetery. I hope that someone from your group can attend one of our free Workshops as the main purpose of these is to inform people as to how to obtain  (mainly federal government) assistance for heritage projects. Also, perhaps you could add the Morin Heights Historical Assn. website to your "links" page.

Thank you. Sandra Stock, Morin Heights


--

From: Anne Renaud
Subject: Research for my next book


Hello,

I am a writer for children.  I am currently working on my next children's book which will be on Grosse Ile and would like to know if you could direct me in my research.

I am trying to identify people whose ancestors would have come through Grosse Ile during the years it was a quarantine island, and who would be willing to share their ancestors' stories with me, along with any photos, artefacts, etc. they may have, which could be used for illustration purposes.

Below is a link, which will provide you with background information on my wrting activities.

http://www.accessola.com/forest2006/silverbirch/renaudbio.html

I am also conducting research on a book on Pier 21.  Do you know anyone who would have arrived in Can! ada as children, through Pier 21, during the period of 1928-1971.  

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Anne Renaud

lowell497@hotmail.com
>
> Hi.  I found this site after reading the article in the citizen on Sunday.
> I'm so excited about this.  My husbands family arrived in St. Columban
> around 1860.  His great-great grandfather was Patrick Emmett Lowell
> (listed in church records as Lavelle.  His great grandmother and
> grandfather were married at St. Columban in 1867.  The register shows the
> names as Peter Lavelle and Marian McGarr.  I don't know whether the name
> was Lavelle and then changed to Lowell or if the Lavelle was just a case
> of misunderstanding on the part of the priest.  The children are all
> recorded as Lavelle also.  We have at least two people buried in St.
> Columban Patrick Lowell (Lavelle), A son of Patrick Emmett and Elenora
> Monaghan, he was about 23 died July 25, 1867.  Also Elenora Monaghan died
> August 22, 1862 will still in St. Columban so she must be buried there
> too. Sometime before 1881 they all moved to Low Quebec and from then on
> the name is recorded as Lowell.  I'd like to find out about the name and
> try and find out where they came from in Ireland.  I will be contributing
> to the restoration fund I think this is a wonderful project. It will
> probably take me some time to learn how to navigate and use this site.
> Hope I don't make too many mistakes. Please let me know if I can
> contribute any information to the site.
>
> Eileen Lowell
> Braeside, Ont.

I would like to be kept aware as to information regarding developments as I have ancestors buried in the local cemetery. Their names are McAndrew and McCarthy.
My name is Donald Connor . my e-mail address is
   pierdon.connor@sympatico.ca

From: Don Williams
To: info@stcolumban-irish.com
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 4:17 PM
Subject: Williams family Ancestry (St. Columban)


If this is of interest to you?
The Williams family were early settlers to St. Columban. As part of a family reunion held
in the summer of 2005 in St. Columban I researched our genealogy. I have traced over 400 descendents of the first George Williams and Mary Margaret Kelly (wife). There are
still several direct descendents living in St. Columban year round in addition to summer cottages
owned by family members.

George Williams came to Canada from the town of Glanmire, county Cork in 1823 and settled
in St.Columban where he died in 1841, at the age of 45. Mary Margaret Kelly his wife died in 1866, at the age of 74.

Regards,
Don Williams
Ottawa Ontario
1 (613) 836-5449

I know Kathy Lund's family left St. Col and settled in St. Marthe du Vaudreuil.

Does anyone know exactly where this is?  St. Marthe is in Laval and Vaudreuil is on the Western tip of Montreal island?  Perhaps Kathy you can clarify this or perhaps from someone living here?  I've been wondering about this for awhile.  Since Kathy's family name is Welsh/Walsh like mine it's of interest to me.

Thanks Joyce (Walsh) Green