McEvey Surname

Hi - One of my 2x Great Grandfathers was James McAvay (before settling on McAvay also spelled, here in Toronto, Ontario as McAvea, McAvoy, McEvay, etc), b. in Co. Mayo about 1830. He was RC.

Not known what year he came to Toronto but he married about 1850 Johanna Whelan, b. 1827 in Co. Tipperary; they had six children.

James and a couple of his sons worked as gilders.

I've seen the flax growers list with a Moses McAvey and a John McAvey so am thinking the spelling of the name was changed inadvertently once he was in Canada.

Toronto had an Archbishop who spelled his surname McEvay - He was Fergus McEvay, b. 1852 in Lindsay, Ontario, d. 1911 of a blood disease.  His father was named Michael, b. in Ireland.  My Grandmother always insisted that the Archbishop was her cousin; since starting family history, I've found another branch of the Toronto McAvays who say their relatives said the same thing.  The Archbishop was possibly named for an Uncle or cousin Father Fergus Patrick McEvoy who served as parish priest in Lindsay in 1844.  Father McEvoy was from Mayo.,,,so it's possible that Michael and James came to Canada together and went separate ways - James to the city and Michael to farming country.  Michael died youngish and his wife remarried.

Any comments welcome.

Good Morning CarolynL,

I was wondering if your 2x Great Grandfater James McAvay lists his parents names on his wedding certificate?  Do you know the names of his brothers or sisters?

I also have a James McEvey, who states on his wedding certificate that he was  born  in Co Mayo and his parents were Walter McEvey & Honoria Hurst.  Unfortunately he doesn't say which parish and there are so many to check.  He lists his age as 22 years in 1857, so would have been born around 1834-1835

James was RC.  

It appears James had a sister Bridget who also came to Australia. Have been unable to confirm her parents as we have been unable to locate a wedding certificate.  

There are no records of McEvey's  on any immigrations lists.  However, you have given me some further spellings to try.

Cheers

I've not yet found James and Johanna's marriage information so don't know his parents names.  We only found out which counties they were from recently - their daughter, Mary, died in 1946 in Chicago - that info was posted to Ancestry and that death cert gave the counties of their births. 

My next step is to make an appointment to search the RC Archives records - their first child was born in 1854 here in Toronto so I'm hoping they were married here - there were only so many RC churches at the time so I can narrow down the records to check.

There's always the possibility they met on a ship or both lived in Quebec before coming to Ontario - the ships landed there so many Irish stayed in Quebec for a time.

I've found the name John McAveigh in Griffiths Valuations for 1856 in Co. Mayo....wondering if the family who came to Canada perhaps couldn't read or write so someone else decided on the spelling McAvay.  Any thoughts?

I've found the name John McAveigh in Griffiths Valuations for 1856 in Co. Mayo....wondering if the family who came to Canada perhaps couldn't read or write so someone else decided on the spelling McAvay.  Any thoughts?

Hello Again Carolyn,

Well it seems we may well be distantly related.  My cousins & I met today and discussed your post. Still trying to place which Michael in our tree may be the father of Fergus Patrick McEvay.

There are articles in The Connaught Telegraph Sat Dec 7th 1912 page 5 which may interest you.  They discuss Father McEvay & the name McEvay and Vahey.  My cousin has copies of these articles and I may be able to send them to you.  But, if you know he died of a blood disease you may have seen them.

We have been chasing the name Vahey in Ireland for many years.

This is a puzzle to be solved!

I will keep an eye on future posts.

Cheers

Elizabeth McEvey

Hi Elizabeth - I posted another note here last week but not on this thread - I find it difficult to navigate this site.  In any event, the other post noted that I had gone to the RC Archives (I'm typing from memory because I'm in a rush to go out) and found a marriage for James McEvay to Johanna Phelan (rather than Whelan) on October 23, 1853 at St. Paul's Church - that's the oldest RC church in Toronto.  Did the priest mishear or miswrite re Phelan/Whelan? There were several Whelan listings in the city directory of that era but no Johannas - women, if they lived with their fathers or another male, were not named. You had to be a widow to get your name in those directories.

My 2xGreat Grandparents were James McAvay and Johanna Whelan...as noted in my other posts.  The priest hand wrote the registration - it says that James was from Brach Breaffy in Co. Mayo or something similar - it's hard to read, the ink is very faint - that word Breaffy does come up on google for Co. Mayo - however, for Johanna Phelan, it says she was from Queen's Co., Ireland which now is Co. Laois.  Was that a mistake or was it a mistake by their daughter, Mary McAvay Costello, that Johanna was from Co. Tipperary?

The witnesses were Patrick McEvay and Mrs. Fleury - usually that meant the person being married had no relations and they grabbed whoever they could to be a witness.  No parents are mentioned.

Vahey interests me greatly - while the name is not known to me in connection with the family here in Toronto - it is known to a relation in Chicago - she asked me about it when we connected; she thought that could have been their surname.  How did they get Vahey from McAvay? 

The blood disease Archbishop McEvay died from was pernicious anemia....he has relations living who are definitely related to him but the man who has him on Ancestry doesn't answer queries so I don't know if anyone on that side has had it or has it still.  Here is a bio of the Archbishop http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7582

Carolyn

Hi,

      There is a Mc Evoy family  living in Toomore, Co Mayo.(I live there too) They have been here for generations.

When you are searching Toomore there are a number of things to consider.

Foxford RC parish is officially known as Toomore ,even though in reality Toomore townland (try google earth) is about 8km from Foxford.

People refer to being originally from Toomore for generations. This always means that they are from the Townland of Toomore or the neighbouring townlands.

So for example you are looking for Mc Avey from Toomore but you will not find any. However, there are Mc Evoys ( Mc Avey in Irish) in the town land of Cabragh, 400meters outside the townland of Toomore.

If you are looking at records, look for Mc Avey in the townland of Cloonmong. Same family ,same area.

hope this helps.

John 

Good Morning John,

Yes thank you for your post, it helps a great deal.

The Foxford RC parish & Toomore information is interesting as it is the only parish I have had my ancesters from various lines intersecting.  Your explanation of the townlands is appreciated as it is difficult to understand when trying to make sense of a  map when in Australia.

I did not know that the spelling McEvoy was McAvey in Irish.  Is it at all possible for me, or someone there to contact a representative of McEvoy family living in Toomore so I can explore further connections?

Cheers

Elizabeth McEvey

Hi Elizabeth,

                   I will mention it to my neighbours to see if they would like to get in touch.

In the meantime you can check out the names and dates from this link to the irish national archive.

Its the 1901 census.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Toomore/Cloonmung/1593972/

Its Mc Evey....(not Avey ..apologies for the error in my last post)

You can also check out Griffith poor law valuation. Its a list of valuations of all properties in Ireland (UK at that time !) for the 1850s.

It will only give you "head of the house" and the property they held at that time. It will at least give you a clue...the name might mean something.

John

Hi John

I hope you can help me with this question, since you live in Toomore and are boots on the ground so to speak.  I have been told that the marriage registers for Toomore Parish have a gap from March 1840-Jan 1870.  I am not clear if the records for marriages no longer exist, or if the Mormon church just did not film that group, so the films don't exist.

My g-grandparents Charles Dogherty and Mary Kelly probably got married in that time frame and were from Foxford/Belgariff.  I have found a few of their children's baptism records, and a few of the civil registrations of their births, but would love to know once and for all if I might ever be able to find the marriage record circa 1860.  Do you know about whether the marriage records exist?

Thanks

Kate 

Maryland, USA

Hi John

I hope you can help me with this question, since you live in Toomore and are boots on the ground so to speak.  I have been told that the marriage registers for Toomore Parish have a gap from March 1840-Jan 1870.  I am not clear if the records for marriages no longer exist, or if the Mormon church just did not film that group, so the films don't exist.

My g-grandparents Charles Dogherty and Mary Kelly probably got married in that time frame and were from Foxford/Belgariff.  I have found a few of their children's baptism records, and a few of the civil registrations of their births, but would love to know once and for all if I might ever be able to find the marriage record circa 1860.  Do you know about whether the marriage records exist?

Thanks

Kate 

Maryland, USA

Hi Kate,

           Im not sure about the gap in the records. The spelling you use for Dogherty  is not of this locality...spellings often changed upon arrival in the USA/UK. I presume it is Doherty you are researching as the name is common around Foxford still....I presume you are aware of this? 

There may be a book recording burials ....I will check it out...otherwise it could be the end of the trail!

If you know of any of these childern who emmigrated to Canada /USA, they may have gone through Ille Grosse.....there might be parental details there or on ships manifests?

John

Hi John 

Thanks so much for getting back to me.  I was in Foxford last summer and met some of the Dohertys!  They had not heard of my branch but I have seen Dogherty on their baptism and birth records.  They spelled it Dougherty in Philadelphia.  

Griffiths valuation spelled it Doherty for the 3 men in Belgariff (Owen, Martin and John) but the 1901 census had Sibina Dogherty in Belgarrow.

Thanks for offering to check burials.  The man I think was my Charles Dogherty (g-grandfather) died in March 1883 in the Swinford workhouse, age 50, married, last residence Callow.  Now that I have walked the land, Callow is not far from Belgarrow/Belgariff but I am not sure it was the same/right person.  The family story was that he died in England and then the older girls emigrated to Philadelphia, sending money over for their mother and the younger children to emigrate.  Maybe the part about England was to gentle up the story for the children?

My g-grandmother, Mary Kelly Dogherty, was born about 1840 and died in Philadelphia in 1901.  Their was a Michael, a Thomas and a Patrick Kelly in Belgarrow in 1856.  Patrick was the name of Mary's only son, born in 1874.

I checked again as to what the National Library of Ireland says is available for Toomore parish marriage records.  There are LDS films for "Parochial registers of Toomore Parish, 1833-1911."  But when you dig into the notes about the films' contents, it is marriages 1833-1840 and 1870-1911.  Again, I am not clear if the actual parish records are missing or if the LDS folks never filmed them.  I was unable to make contact with the parish to check while I was there.

We did have a mass said for my grandmother in the Callow church which was lovely.  Not sure if she would have attended Foxford or Callow.

Thanks for your insight!

Kate

Glad you enjoyed your stay here Kate.

       That spelling Dogherty is new to me....thanks for the info!

I have noticed ,when checking out my own family, that many names both surnames and individuals have spellings changed. I notice this in particular in households where the head of the house cannot read or write.Most of these census records were completed by the local Constable who,it would appear wrote down his own version of the names he was given (maybe based on phonetics).........or maybe just terrible at spelling........like me!!

Have you checked out records in  Swinford (Swineford) Kilconduff parish and Killasser Parish.

These parishes both ajoin Foxford.Parish boundries have not always been fixed. I am aware of many townlands that have moved from one parish to another...

The other point about checking out these other parishes is that the marrige would be recorded in the brides parish...not the grooms. So you might strike it lucky if you search circa the dates you have in mind. Maybe go back one or two years from the DOB of the first child?

Happy hunting!

John

PS. I am searching the Baltimore records for my own family emmigrants circa 1880. I cant see any census records for that time on the LDS site....I would appreciate it if you could recommend where i might look.

J

Hi John

Thanks for the tips---I did check Killasser but not Kilconduff so I will add that to my list.

I am a subscriber to the US version of ancestry.com and would be happy to check the 1880 census records for you.  Ancestry offers the 1880 census free but I don't know if that's just within the US.  Here's the link to them:  http://search.ancestry.com/search/group/usfedcen

The LDS site (at least in the US) also has the 1880 census at: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1417683

If those links don't work, I would be happy to look for them.  Just email me the necessary info to k8ren "at" comcast.net

Kate