Big Willy Ennis of Kircubbin

[Erato]

I sent you a PM.

About the Muir farm.  John Ennis settled at the west end of what is now known as Ennis Lake.  It is now part of the John Muir - Ennis Lake County Park.  There is quite a lot of information about the lake [actually a smallish pond] and some nice pictures on the web.  The actual spot where the Muir cabin had stood wound up with Howard McGuinn and I think it was the McGuinns and the descendants of Sam Ennis who sold the land to the county to establish the park.  I think this caused some friction with some of Hugh's descendants.

My grandfather's comment on the Muirs was, "a bunch of shiftless Scots who ruined the land and then moved on."

[Mael.Gwyn]

Do you know why they emigrated from Ireland? The famine didn't really become a point of concern until the late 1840's...so maybe they just needed a new start?

[Erato]

I don’t know specifically why they left, but there was a significant migration from the Ards Peninsula of County Down to Amherst Island, Ontario starting in the 1830s.  Many people went from Kircubbin and from other nearby communities.  Probably the Ennises had friends or even other family members who went.  These people went as farmers to work land in Ontario owned by a major County Down land owner whose name I don’t recall off hand.  There is a book about this migration but, unfortunately, it does not mention any Ennises or McGees.  Still, it has a lot of interesting background information.

Wilson, Catherine Anne, A New Lease on Life:  Landlords, Tenants, and Immigrants in Ireland and Canada, McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal.

[Erato]

By the way, if you want to know what an early Ennis looked like, there is a picture of my grandfather with his college football team taken in about 1900 posted at:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,391077.0.html

He is the short one with black hair in the middle of the back row.

[Jelfring]

Hello Kate,  My grandfather, too.   I just joined RootsChat today as I was alerted to Grampy's picture by the great granddaughter of Emma Childs who is also here.  We have been in discussion since she found my family tree on Ancestry.com  (http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20298609/family?cfpid=926966394)   I should have some other pictures to share.

I'll look around and we can chat.

Janet

[Erato]

Hi, Janet.  I'll get back to you in a few days.  I'm out in the field without good internet access.

[Erato]

Hi Janet -

I'm back in Quito now, with regular access to the internet.  If you post a couple more times, we'll be able to communicate by PM.  Thanks for the great photo; it's one I hadn't seen before.  When was it taken?  I'm guessing when he graduated from divinity school.

[Jelfring]

Hi Kate,

I'll attach one partial diary that has been transcribed.  You may have it.  I inherited various papers and diaries from both Granny and Grampy from my mother.  Some are hand written and while I transcribed Granny's long diary starting when she arrived in Africa I'm not sure what to do with her small daily hand written ones.

Anyway, here's one just to share and get established so we can chat. (And now I know a document has to be RTF)

Janet

[Jelfring]

And here is another photo, taken in 1960 of Merlin and Elisabeth.  I assume you probably have it, but just in case you don't.

I'm not familiar with this website yet, though it looks very interesting.  I have been adding to Ancestry.com.

Janet