radioman

Radioman


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My Maternal Ancestors

This page contains information on 6 of my 16 Maternal Great³ Grandparents

The parents of my Great² Grandfather Christophe Côté

Great³Grandfather	Great³Grandmother
Christophe Côté	Marie Belleau ou Larose
Birth: Around 1807	Birth: Around 1806
Death: ???	Death: ???

Marriage: 17 January 1832 - Rimouski, Quebec

The parents of my Great² Grandfather David O'Reilly

Great³Grandfather	Great³Grandmother
James O'Reilly	Margaret Kenny
Birth: ??? - Ireland	Birth: ??? - Ireland
Death: ??? (Potato famine) Ireland	Death: 3 July 1847 at sea onboard the ship Bridgetown

Mariage: ??? - Irelande

Following the death of my Great Great Great Grandfather James O'Reilly in Ireland during the potato famine, my Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny boarded a ship and emigrated to Canada with her 4 children; her daughter Maria O'Reilly and her three sons Andrew O'Reilly, Patrick O'Reilly and David O'Reilly who became my Great Great Grandfather. Ireland was being decimated by a typhus epidemic and by a famine caused by contaminated potatoes. There were already over 1 million dead throughout Ireland. One option to survive was to emigrate to another country. Emigrating to the United States was out of reach and too expensive for poor and sick Irish people because of strict immigration rules. There was however a cheaper and easier option available; going to Canada. Ships which were used to transport wood from Canada to Europe had a lot of empty space in their hold during the return trip to Canada. Thousands of Irish immigrants chose this mode of transport. They did not know about the hardships which they were about to endure.

Margaret and her 4 children boarded the ship Bridgetown which sailed from Liverpool, England on 3 July 1847. The promise to have food during their 45-day trip was quickly broken. Piled up like cattle at the bottom of the ship's unhealthy and dirty hold, sick and starving, the poor Irish immigrants experienced hell during the voyage. Many died before arriving in Canada and their bodies were thrown into the sea. My Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny and her daughter Maria were among those who did not make it. Because they died shortly before arriving in Canada, their bodies were not thrown into the sea and were buried at Grosse Ile in the St. Lawrence river upon arrival in Canada.

When the ship Bridgetown arrived near Grosse Ile, it had to wait in line while other ships were disembarking thousands of dead bodies and sick immigrants. The Bridgetown finally came alongside the wharf on 29 August 1847. Margaret's three sons, now orphans in a strange land, were first sent to Quebec City and were quickly adopted by Canadian and American families. Andrew left for New York, Patrick remained in Quebec City and my Great Great Grandfather David O'Reilly was adopted by the John Marmen family in St-Octave-de-Métis. David O'Reilly was 15 years old when he arrived in Canada.

My destiny was fixed by these events because a beautiful girl from Causapscal, only 6 years old at the time, would visit her brother Jonathan at St-Octave-de-Métis 15 years later, and this beautiful girl would raise David's interest. Her name was Elizabeth Noble, the daughter of Jonathan Noble, my Great Great Great Grandfather and first resident of Causapscal.

Grosse Ile where my Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny and her daughter Maria O'Reilly are buried. Please note the celtic cross on the rock which was built by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Grosse Ile was also known as the Island of Quarantine.

Grosse Ile is a National Historic Site of Canada

1847 - The year my Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny and her 4 children emigrated to Canada. Margaret and her daughter Maria died on the ship while entering the Gulf of St-Lawrence.

Grosse Ile

The Irish Memorial. My Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny was wearing the name of her husband so she was buried under the name Margaret O'Reilly. I did not find the name Maria O'Reilly on the Memorial and I assume that the name Mary O'Reilly was used instead of Maria. This was common practice at the time when names were being transcribed with a pen. The name Reilly appears on the memorial, instead of O'Reilly. This was also a common practice at the time to remove the "O" from the family name. If you look at the photos of David O'Reilly's bible on the page for the next generation, you can see that the name Reilly was used to register births and marriages, and that the family reverted back to O'Reilly to register deaths.

Another photo of the Irish Memorial. Please note the cemetery in the background where thousands of victims are buried, including my Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny and her daughter Maria O'Reilly.

The hardships suffered by my Great Great Great Grandmother Margaret Kenny and her family

The parents of my Great² Grandmother Elizabeth Noble

Great³Grandfather	Great³Grandmother
Jonathan Noble	Brigitte O'Reilly
Birth: 1796 - England	Birth: 1799 - Ireland`
Death: 20 February 1868 - Restigouche, New Brunswick	Death: 10 April 1879 - Restigouche, New Brunswick

Marriage: 1820 - Miramichi, New Brunswick

Jonathan Noble 1796 - 1868

My Great Great Great Grandfather Jonathan Noble was the first resident of Causapscal in the Matapedia Valley. He settled at Les Fourches (the former name of the town of Causapscal) in 1839. He was the guardian of the local post. He, his wife Brigitte and their children were the first residents of Causapscal and the only residents until 1865. This is when my Great Great Grandfather David O'Reilly moved from St-Octave de Métis to Causapscal after marrying Jonathan's daughter, my Great Great Grandmother Elizabeth Noble. David O'Reilly took over from his father-in-law as the guardian of the local post.

Jonathan Noble's house which was moved twice. It is the oldest house in Causapscal and it is now located next to the church. The original owners of the house were my Great Great Great Grandfather Jonathan Noble and my Great Gtreat Great Grandmother Brigitte O'Reilly. The second owners of the house were my Great Great Grandfather David O'Reilly and my Great Great Grandmother Elizabeth Noble. The house was eventually sold to Lord Mount Stephen, the builder of the railway across Canada and a great friend of John A. MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada.

Another photo of the ancestral home in Causapscal, taken in 2005.


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