IRWIN - MOFFAT - County Cavan, Ireland: 12th Edition, Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

From your right: James IRWIN, 1821-1910, born County Cavan, Ireland, his grandson Charles Ellery Irwin, his son William Irwin (my great grandpa) with baby great grandson Clarence Campbell Irwin. Photograph: W.B. St. John, Neepawa and Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada (William Berthour St. John. He operated photographic studios in Minnedosa and Neepawa from about 1887-1925.)

This photograph, showing four generations of IRWIN men, is the same image as the first old family photograph I ever owned, other than photos of my parents. My own copy is not this nice - the mat had been 'chewed' by some little creature - and so my Na was happy to give it to me one summer when she & I went through her photos and I labelled as she identified the people in them.

There is a similar photograph showing four generations of IRWIN women, also all related to me. It seems likely to me that it was take at about the same time but the women's photograph has no information identifying a date or photographer.

From your right: Mary Jane (MOFFAT) IRWIN ( 1824-1909) born County Cavan, Ireland, with her granddaughter Ella (Murchison) Mcguire, her daughter Mary Ellen (Irwin) Murchison, and baby great grand daughter, Grace Mcguire.

Mary Ellen (Irwin) Murchison and my great grandfather, William Irwin, were brother and sister.

Note:

William Irwin's wife was Janet Carmichael.

Charles Ellery Irwin's wife was Henrietta Scott Campbell.

Mary Ellen Irwin's husband was Malcolm 'Mac' Murchison.

Sarah Ellen 'Ella' Murchison's husband was Frederick 'Fred' Adam Mcguire.

Posted for Small-leaved Shamrock's St. Patrick's Day parade - the 12th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture. I'm not too sure what my Irish ancestors would really think of our modern St Patrick's day, but I hope they'd appreciate my thinking of them.

A previous post at the Cemetery Rabbit of British Columbia shows photographs of James and Mary Jane's grave at Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada.

If you are interested in the history of St Patrick's Day, I recommend The wearing of the green: a history of St. Patrick's Day by Mike Cronin and Daryl Adair (Abingdon, Oxford, England & New York, USA: Routledge, 2006)

IRWIN and MOFFAT, County Cavan, Ireland - 8th Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

Mary Jane MOFFAT and James IRWIN, from County Cavan, Ireland to Canada West, 1850.
Mary Janes's parents: Eleanor Harrison and William Moffat
James' parents: Margaret Livingston and John Irwin

Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture, 8th Edition

Since this is the first time I’ve participated in this carnival, I thought I’d like to ‘share’ my Canadian Irish ancestors in case there is a new connection out there.

This photograph is of Mary Jane Moffatt and her husband, James Irwin. Both were from County Cavan, Ireland. They were married at the Coroneary (Corraneary) Meeting House (Presbyterian) in Knockbride Parish, District of Cootehill, County Cavan in August of 1846. In 1850, they emigrated to Canada West (Ontario) with James’ brother, Robert, and his wife, Sarah King. They all settled eventually around Cambray in Victoria County, Ontario, but in the 1890s, after most of James and Mary Janes’s children had moved west to Manitoba, James' and Mary Ann also migrated, settling in Neepawa, Manitoba where they died in 1909 and 1910 respectively.

My project for the rest of this year is to scan and better organize the photographs I have of them, their children and their families.

For more about the family, see Robert Irwin’s Brothers and Sisters and their Families from County Cavan, Ireland to Fenelon Township, Ontario by Ross W. Irwin (Guelph, Ontario, Canada: 2003) - also John Irwin’s family..., 2003 and Robert Irwin..., 2001

2013 UPDATE

Sadly, my cousin Ross Weston Irwin passed away in 2013 in Guelph, Ontario. See the University of Guelph's remembrance of him and follow the link to his obituary. Besides his local history books, he wrote a number of articles published by the Ontario Genealogical Society. See Historically Guelph for more about his Guelph area history interests.

CAVAN LINKS

A description of Cootehill from Lewis’ “Topographical Dictionary of Ireland”, 1837, 'From Ireland' website, Dr. Jane Lyons: http://www.from-ireland.net/lewis/cav/coothill.htm

Description and list of residents, 1910, Cootehill, County Cavan, “Belfast and Ulster Towns Directory”, Library Ireland: http://www.libraryireland.com/UlsterDirectory1910/Cootehill.php

Cootehill Town, “Trades Directory”, 1931, 'From Ireland' website, Dr. Jane Lyons: http://www.from-ireland.net/cav/direct/cootehill1931.htm#4

A good place to start, I always think, is GENUKI. For County Cavan, Ireland: http://www.sierratel.com/colinf/genuki/CAV

See also Al Beagan's "Genealogy Notes", Parish of Drumgoon, Co Cavan: http://members.tripod.com/~Al_Beagan/drumgoon.htm

Cootehill Tourism, lots of fishing in County Cavan apparently, so I’m sure I can persuade my daughter to go there with me, after our trip to Sweden though: http://www.cootehilltourism.com/