MCGRATH: Our 1899 records concerning the McGraths inform us that the first of that name to come here was James McGrath. It mentions also that he settled at Nail Pond, like practically all the other Irish we have treated thus far. It seems that other nearby districts had not yet been named, such as Christophers Cross, Sea Cow Pond, Anglo and Norway. The McGraths settled more precisely at Norway, P.E.I., not far distant from North Cape. The Tignish newspaper special Centennial edition of 1899 states that he was from County Waterford, Ireland. He died at Tignish January 8, 1850 at 68 years of age, as is stated on his fine tombstone located in the pioneer cemetery at The Green, Tignishs first settlement. His monument shows that he emigrated here from Cowen Worth, Ireland. This would be the place from within County Waterford from where he originated. There exists a source which states that he was born in Cavan, Co. Worth, Ireland in 1782. According to Dr. Brendan OGrady, retired professor of English at the University of P.E.I. and eminent Irish genealogist, there is no county in Ireland named Worth. Meanwhile it is worth noting that there is a Cowen Worth in both Scotland and Wales. Since Tignishs special 1899 Centennial publication states that James McGrath originated from County Waterford, which is not stated on his tombstone, we may presume that the Irish Cowen Worth exists or did exist at one time in that county. As for his wife, he was married to Mary Kennedy who was born in 1793 in County Kerry, Ireland. She came here in about 1819 and died January 20, 1868 at Norway at 74 years of age. While her husband was interred in the old pioneer cemetery Mary was buried in the present graveyard at Tignish, which had just been opened in 1865, three years before her death. The Tignish paper goes on to state that when James and Mary came here they settled at Norway on lands which joined James Phees on the north and were still held by their daughter-in-law Mrs. John McGrath (in 1899). We also learn from this report that James and Mary had four children who were John, Bridget, Ellen, and Mary. Furthermore, we are informed that John was the father of Rev. John P. McGrath and his three sisters who became nuns in the Congregation de Notre-Dame of Montreal. By 1899 James had predeceased his wife by a good number of years. Both had died at their home at Norway. We do not know at this point anything regarding their three daughters Bridget, Ellen and Mary, who came here with them from Ireland. However, we know quite a bit about their son John, since he left a large family of descendants. One would have to seek far and wide to discover a family which has left such a diverse and quite frankly, distinguished array of educated offspring as we are about to see. John was born in Ireland in ???. His wife was Catherine Nelligan (1843 - 1929). They raised a family of 12 children among whom were a sea captain, two medical doctors, a priest, three nuns, a nurse and two college teachers. In other words, ten of them devoted their lives to some form of public service. Here are their names, together with a short biographical sketches about them. First there was James (Jim) McGrath (b. April 8, 1862 - d. 1937). He was a sea captain sailing out of the Miramichi area of New Brunswick. His wife was Mary Ellen McTague, a sister of Ernest (Ernie) McTague who was a C. N. Railway Station Master at Tignish. Ernie lived on Main Street, Tignish, in a home between Leo Maillet and Vangie Gallant (Paturel), telephone operator for many years. Jim and Mary Ellen also lived there. The home is presently owned by Emily Gallant. James and Mary Ellen had no children. Second, there was Maurice (b. Dec.8, 1864 - d. 1941) who went away at an early age and worked as a laborer in Butte, Montana. He is buried in Tignish. Thirdly, there was John (b. March 10, 1867) who became a priest. After attending school at Norway, which was located on the McGrath property, he studied at the Tignish Grammar School under Gilbert Buote, co-founder of LImpartial, the Tignish French newspaper. From there he entered Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown where he obtained a first class teachers license Summa cum Laude (with highest distinction). After teaching for a while he entered Laval University in Quebec City where he completed his classical studies. He was ordained priest on May 28, 1891 in Charlottetown by Bishop Charles MacDonald. He became parish priest at Mont-Carmel, P.E.I. (1893 - 1894). From there he entered the College of the Sulpician Fathers of Montreal where he became a teacher for six years, followed by a period of teaching in New York Citys Grand Seminary. He later became parish priest at Miscouche, P.E.I. in 1904, but due to failing health he was forced to retire in his native home at Norway, P.E.I. He said daily Mass there, where he later succumbed, it is said, of kidney failure in 1905, only 38 years of age. He is buried in the McGrath family plot, along with his parents, as is inscribed on an elegant high columnal rose-colored marble monument. Mary Waltrude was born next on Feb. 5, 1869. She entered the Congregation de Notre-Dame in Montreal, the same congregation of sisters who opened the convent at Tignish in 1868. Her name as a sister was Sister St. John of Gata, C. N. D. She was a classroom teacher. Her sister born next on October 18, 1870, was Margaret Ellen. She too became a nun and teacher in the same congregation. Her name as a religious sister was Sister St. Euphredie, C. N. D. Gustavus McGrath, of whom we shal refer at greater length later, was born next on January 28, 1873. He was followed by Francis (Frank) (b. Feb. 20, 1875) who became a medical doctor with a practice in Newcastle, N. B. He was married to Josephine (Josie) Gallant, the daughter of a doctor. They had a single offspring named Raymond. Ellen Victoria (Nellie) was born next on December 21, 1877. She also entered the sisterhood like her two previous sisters in the same congregation, taking the name in religious profession of Sister of the Resurrection, C. N. D. She was a teacher likewise in the schools established by her order. The next child born to John and Catherine was Catherine Antoinette (Nettie) (June 18, 1879 - August 22, 1960) who remained unmarried and worked as a nurse in Lake Placid, New York. Annie Laurie was born next on June 11, 1881. She too taught at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown and it was here where she met her husband, Dr. Samuel Robertson, a professor at the same institution, after whom the Samuel Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island is named. Peter Joseph, born May 25, 1883, was the next offspring. He became a medical doctor in Charlottetown. His wife was Laura OBrien. They had two daughters, Margaret and Gwenevere, both of whom went to the United States and are deceased. The last child in the family of John and Catherine was Rosella May (Ella May), born May 17, 1886. She died in November 1966. Rosella became a teacher in the School of Business at Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown before its amalgamation with St. Dunstans College to form the University of P.E.I. All of Johns and Catherines children are interred at Tignish apart from Dr. Frank who is buried in Newcastle, N. B.; the three nuns who are buried in the nuns cemetery in Montreal, and Annie Laurie, who is interred with her husband, Dr. Robertson, in Charlottetown. Maurice, born in 1864 died in 1941 in his native home at Norway. His sisters, Antoinette (1878 - 1960) and Ella May (1877 - 1966) are buried along with him in a plot separate from the family plot where their parents, their brother John, (the priest) and their grandmother Mary Kennedy, wife of James McGrath, are interred, as we stated earlier. All of this brings us to the realization that of 12 children, only one left McGrath descendants at Norway. He is of course Gustavus McGrath (b. Jan 28, 1873 - d. 1921). His wife was Mary Evelyn (Eva) Cahill of Kildare, P.E.I. (B. Aug 20, 1883 - d. Oct 6, 1968). They bore a family of four children, namely Mary Catherine E. McGrath (May 23, 1907 - Oct 5, 1968) who married Reginald Joseph Michael McHugh (Dec 31, 1901 - Aug 31, 1972) (see McHugh); John (Johnny)(b. 1911) whose wife is Teresa AHearn (b. 1920); Evelyn (b. April 7, 1915) who married Thomas Conway from England. They had a family of seven children who live in Dartmouth, N. S.; and lastly, there was Joseph Walter (July 23, 1919 - May 30, 1990) who married Mary Dearden of Lancashire, England. They had two children, Carol and Maureen, who are twins. Mary and her two daughters live in England, while Walter is buried in Tignish cemetery. Gustavus and Evelyn (Eva) raised their family in the home of his parents, very likely built by the latter, which still stands today on about 140 acres of land passed on from James, the first settler, and which the old Norway school stands in muted silence near the entrance to the property. Like numerous other homes of the period, it was built of hand-hewn lumber, mainly pine, with tongue and grove boards covered with birch bark, there being no tar paper in those days. The pioneer homestead is presently owned by John (Johnny) McGrath and his wife Teresa AHearn. He is the only remaining male heir, apart from his son and descendant of James, the first settler, living on the same location. John (b. 1911) and Teresa (b. 1920) raised a family of five children in the old original homestead. They are Noreen (b. 1941) m. Jim Millman of Summerside; Elaine (b. 1943) m. James Mokler. She is a nurse at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Halifax. They have a daughter, Mary Jo; Anne (b. 1947) m. Jack Perry (deceased) of DeBlois. They had one son, Chad; Mary (b. 1951) m. Frank Martin; and lastly, Earl (b. 1953) m. Mary Dorgan. They have one child, Leah, and live next to his parents on the McGrath lands at Norway, P.E.I. Once again we are faced with another male line in the process of virtual extinction, like a few other Irish families we have studied. We shall presently take leave of the Norway, P.E.I. McGraths and make our way to the Waterford-Palmer Road area to meet up with another James McGrath. He likewise bears no affinity with the McGraths we have thus treated, as we have been told. However, before doing so, we shall stop for a while in Tignish where we shall meet up with Edward (Ned) McGrath who was a Tignish blacksmith by trade. He was born in Tignish in July 1861, the eldest offspring of Thomas McGrath, born in P.E.I. in 1836 and Helen (Ellen) McGrath, born in 1832, whom he married November 22, 1859. Helen (Ellen) died at Alberton, P.E.I. January 23, 1903 at 70 years of age. Thomas was a farmer by occupation, and it appears quite likely that he was a brother of James McGrath, of whom we shall write shortly. On the Cummins 1928 Atlas it is shown that Thomas McGrath holds 79 acres of land. This same acreage was held by James McGrath Sr. on the 1880 Meachams Atlas. Edward (Ned) McGraths blacksmith shop was located in the village of Tignish at some distance from his home. In fact, if one were to journey south along Railway Street today one would see it at the very end of this street, halfway between Olives Grocery and the Old Fire Hall which is attached to the Municipal Office, all of which are on Phillip Street, including the long-since gone blacksmith shop. It has been stated by several people who knew that whenever he worked in the forge he would allow no one to remain in the shop while he was at his trade, whether he was shoeing a horse or forging an anchor for some local fisherman. Neds wife was Joanna MacKay, born in 1866, daughter of James MacKay and Mary Keough. They had no children and their home was located on the north side of Main Street in Tignish, next to Clare OSheas home. Ned McGraths home was eventually purchased by the late Terence Gavin Sr., where he raised a large family. Irene (nee Burke) and her husband Jack Cameron, bookkeeper for Morris and Bernards General Store in Tignish, had lived in it for a time before him. It is presently owned by David Harper, who is renting it. Both Edward (Ned) and his wife are interred in the Tignish Roman Catholic Cemetery. Well, our horse and buggy are ready as we are about to embark across a few soft undulating hills, not unlike many found in Ireland, a few miles from Tignish. The time is a bit anterior to Ned McGraths settlement in Tignish. The year is 1891 and we are about to enter on James McGrath Sr. and his family. Locally he is known as Master McGrath precisely because he has the title of schoolmaster, such being the term designating a teacher in those days. He settled on a 79-acre farm which borders the Northumberland Strait between Patrick Dalton Jr.s 25 acres and Henry Caseys 51 acres east of him, and John Keefes 100 acres to the west of him. James McGrath Sr. was born in County Waterford, Ireland in 1818, the son of William McGrath and Helen Coleman. He married Margaret Murphy in P.E.I. on February 19, 1855. She was born on P.E.I. on August 5, 1838, the daughter of James Murphy and Theresa Gelbert. The 1861 census lists James McGrath Sr. as a teacher in Lot 27 with a family of seven children, five of which were born on P.E.I. and two in Ireland. The same census reveals that he held 20 of a 999 year lease on lands from Samuel Cunard (Cunard Steamship Lines). This fact would place him supposedly on P.E.I. in 1841. Meanwhile, the 1878 Palmer Road Roman Catholic Census, as listed in the parish register, lists the family as James 58, his wife 45, Mary Ellen 22, James 20, William 18, Julia Ann 16, Thomas 15, John 5, and Thomas 63. The latter was a brother of his. The 1881 P.E.I. Census shows a brother Thomas living with the family. James lived at Skinners Pond, P.E.I. in 1881, having moved from Lot 27, P.E.I. in 1864. He was a teacher in Lot 27 in 1861 and taught at Rosebury School from 1876 to 1878 and 1880-81. He taught at Palmer Road from 1878 to 1880. Here then are James McGrath Sr.s and Margaret Murphys children: Mary Helen born at Seven Mile Bay Sept. 24, 1856, m. Thomas AHearn on August 25,1885 at Palmer Road. He was the son of Nicholas AHearn. His previous wife was Catherine Yeo; James Jr. was next born, also at Seven Mile Bay, P.E.I., on April 18, 1858. He married twice. His first wife was Joanna Kerwin, born Jan. 17, 1841 in P.E.I. She died Feb. 4, 1907 at Seven Mile Bay at 66 years of age. Her mother, Mrs. Patrick Kerwin, age 92, born in Ireland, was living with them based on the 1891 census. James Jr.s second wife was Mary Ellen McGaugney, whom he married at Kellys Cross, P.E.I. on June 25, 1907. She was born Nov. 30, 1869 at Bonshaw, P.E.I. and died at Seven Mile Bay, P.E.I. in 1969 at 100 years of age. The 1901 census for Lot 27 also lists an Ann Mary, born March 23, 1837, as a sister to James McGrath Jr., who is listed as a farmer. James McGrath Jr. and Joanna Kerwin had an adopted child, Ella, born on P.E.I. Feb. 18, 1890. From his second marriage Arnold McGrath was born at Seven Mile Bay, P.E.I. in about 1910. He died in the same place in about 1997. James McGrath Sr.s and Margaret Murphys other children were: William, born at Seven Mile Bay August 18, 1860; Juliana, born May 28, 1863 m. Michael Gavin on August 9, 1896 at Palmer Road (see Gavin). He was born Jan 15, 1850, a farmer and son of John Gavin and Mary Aylward. Thomas was next born in Tignish on March 13, 1866. Then there was Margaret born in Tignish on July 26, 1869 and John born in Tignish on November 27, 1873. He died at Palmer Road March 10, 1894 at twenty years of age. In 1891 he had been living with his brother James in Lot 27, P.E.I. Before bidding adieu to the McGrath clan, we have another McGrath family to visit. It is the family of Thomas, brother of Master McGrath, the teacher. He was born on P.E.I. in 1836 and married Helen (Ellen) McGrath who was born in Tignish in 1832 and died on January 23, 1903 at Alberton, P.E.I. at 78 years of age. They had been married at Tignish on November 22, 1859. They were blessed with the following children, all born in Tignish parish: Edward (Ned), the Tignish blacksmith, born July 1861 and died 1934 who married Joanna MacKay (b. Jan 7, 1865 - d. 1940) daughter of James MacKay and Mary Keough; then there was James William, born April 28, 1863 who married Virginia Lamb in about 1890. She was born August 10, 1866 on P.E.I. They had three children: John born Jan 3, 1891 at St. Louis, P.E.I.; Ellie born August 13, 1893 at St. Louis, and Margaret born Sept 15, 1897, likewise at St. Louis, P.E.I. The third offspring, John Maurice, was born on Sept. 6, 1865. He was followed by Patrick Maurice born in October 1869 who married Adeline _, born Dec. 19, 1876 on P.E.I. In 1901 they were living with his parents. Two of their children are listed, namely Thomas H., born in Lot Two May 24, 1899 and Alfred born also in Lot Two, October 31, 1900. Thomas McGraths and Ellen McGraths three final children were Michael Thomas, born Sept 29, 1872; Margaret born in 1873, and Mary born in 1878. This brings us to the end of our saga with the McGraths on the western tip of Prince Edward Island. Alas, they have all but dwindled over the years into oblivion, but the contributions they made in the public sector of our Island since their settlement here have greatly served to lessen in great measure the impact of their loss in male descendancy.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 13:02:15 +0000
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