John Jordon or Jordan and other variants

[janyjo]

Thank you for trying, Lisa. I didn’t realize that death certificates stated the mother’s maiden name. I will try that tactic in future.

I can’t help thinking that one of the John Jordans in Gortroche, Castletownroche, County Cork is my great-great grandfather. It doesn’t seem that I will be able to find a baptismal certificate. However, I have the land record showing a carding mill on his property and I have marriage records for potential children who list John Jordan as their father. And I have baptismal records for most of those children.

How much weight should I give to the finding of a carding mill on a John Jordan’s property in my search for my great-great grandfather?

Thank you for your help.

Thank you for your help.

[Lisa in California]

Hi.  Some Ontario death records have (places for) helpful information; others don’t.  In my case, it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the era as I’ve found records from 1900-1910 that are frustratingly very brief.

I might suggest trying to go through every lead/idea in North America before looking in Ireland.

Have you searched the internet for Jordons (settlers/pioneers) in Hallowell?
Looking at your generations, did they follow the Irish naming pattern?
Were there any Jordons in North America, around the same time, who were weavers?
Were any of the sons/grandsons weavers?  (Perhaps they carried on the family occupation)
I don’t know anything about weaving, but I wonder if he specialized in a type of weaving that might have been more popular in one part of Ireland than another?

You might keep in mind that his occupation could have changed upon his arrival in North America. I have one Irish ancestor who was a school teacher in 1850 and owned a fancy goods establishment (which remained in the family for decades) in 1861.

I wonder how they chose to live in Hallowell.  Did they just kind of wander to the area, or did they follow family, neighbours, friends?

Do you have access to Anc*try?

Have you tried interest searches for every spelling of Jordon and Hallowell, Ireland, settler, weaver, County Cork AND Hallowell, etc.   I had to resort to trying various combinations when searching for my 1800s Canadian ancestors.  In a few cases, after weeks/months of searching, I found amazing things!

I will try to think of other ideas.

[wivenhoe]

Ancestry Ontario Marriages    https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7921/
 1860 +/-  10 years

St Gregory's Mission Ontario

16 Jan 1854
O'LEARY John
Parents: Daniel O'LEARY   Joanna FITZPATRICK

REARDON Catherine
Parents: Jeremia REARDON / Julia CONNELL
Witnesses: John FITZPATRICK         X Mary REARDON

1 Oct 1854
O'LEARY Lewis (?)
Residence:  T P Reach
Parents: Arthur O'LEARY / Mary CROWLEY

O'BOYLE Mary
Residence:   -
Parents:      - / -
Witnesses Jery O'CONNOR   Mary O'LEARY


2 Dec 1854
O'LEARY Daniel
Residence:
Parents: Timothy O'LEARY / Honor SHEAHAN

REARDON Abigale
Residence:
Parents: Timothy REARDON / Eliza SWENEY
Witnesses: Daniel HEALEY   Margaret REARDON

8 Jul 1855
O'LEARY Mary
Residence:  TP Pickering
Parents: Timothy O'LEARY / Mary SULLIVAN 

LARKIN Patrick
Residence: Pickering
Parents:  Henry LARKIN / Mary BRANKENS
Witnesses: Robert GARLAU  Mary O'LEARY   



All are formatted to include - age of bride and groom, marital status, signature of bride and groom, religion of bride and groom, occupation of bride and groom, addresses of witnesses.

Clergyman for all these ......J B PROULX

my notes.......question mark at Lewis O'LEARY appears on the page
             ........ X  at Mary REARDON, witness appears on the page.

[janyjo]

Thank you Lisa and Wivenhoe. I have a lot of work to do. Will keep you posted!

[janyjo]

Unfortunately, none of the O’Learys, Reardons and others appear to be related to me. They are from different parts of Ontario. Prince Edward County is very rural and isolated. People did not move around and they married within the county. It is much the same today.

I believe the Irish came to Prince Edward County in search of good land. Many United Empire Loyalists came up from the U.S. after the American Revolution and we’re given land grants by King George III for their loyalty and service to the Crown.

I would certainly like to have the RC records from St. Gregory’s Church. I do think they would provide some clues. I have again pleaded my case to the church secretary, who will ask a special favour of the priest…

Meanwhile, I will search again for Jordons who may be weavers in Ontario and Cork. John’s sons were both farmers as was my grandfather William.

[Lisa in California]

I would certainly like to have the RC records from St. Gregory’s Church. I do think they would provide some clues. I have again pleaded my case to the church secretary, who will ask a special favour of the priest…

You don’t want to try a different approach at this time since the secretary may try to get special permission, but something to keep in mind if it doesn’t work?  I’m not Catholic, but in California if one has an issue, they can go to the local (RC) diocese.  A few ideas to think about:

- Write to the diocese and explain that you have an inquiry about your direct ancestor (if you are only searching for John and Catherine, not great uncles, second cousins, etc.).  If you do not live in the area, you might advise them that you cannot visit in person and you are only inquiring for genealogy purposes.  If the pertinent records are at their disposal, you could give them a brief summary of the information you have (name, dob, place last lived, etc.) and how you are related to the person.  I tried this approach, contacting cemetery offices - a few could not help me - some did - one in particular gave me more information than was asked (giving me details about my ancestor’s first wife - who was my direct ancestor, and buried in a different section of the cemetery).

- If you do live in the area, contact the local diocese office and try to schedule a meeting with the appropriate staff member.  Bring (limited) material that staff can momentarily glance to see why your information is important to you.

- Might someone at St. George conduct a search for a small fee?  I’ve been very successful with that approach.  But, I once paid a fairly high fee for obtaining (previously digitized) records from an English church (birth, marriage and death records for one surname) - I wasn’t too happy about the cost but it was the only way to further my research for that surname.

[janyjo]

Thank you for your reply, Lisa.
I have already contacted the diocese in Kingston, Ontario. They will not conduct research. I have already paid for the research done by the church secretary at St. Gregory’s and it was insufficient for my purposes. I am hoping that the priest will agree to release the full records.

In the meantime, I stumbled upon a record in the United States Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports 1820-1874. The image is almost illegible but I can at least see that the occupation was weaver. I cannot make out a date or the port of entry.  Could there be a better image anywhere? How can I use that record to further my research?

I had thought that John might have gone first to the U.S. because the 1851 Census of Canada lists Ontario as the arrival point. If he had gone directly to Canada, he would have first landed in the province of Quebec.

[Lisa in California]

I will see if I can find the image…

[Lisa in California]

Thank you for your reply, Lisa.
I have already contacted the diocese in Kingston, Ontario. They will not conduct research. I have already paid for the research done by the church secretary at St. Gregory’s and it was insufficient for my purposes. I am hoping that the priest will agree to release the full records.

In the meantime, I stumbled upon a record in the United States Index to Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports 1820-1874. The image is almost illegible but I can at least see that the occupation was weaver. I cannot make out a date or the port of entry.  Could there be a better image anywhere? How can I use that record to further my research?

I had thought that John might have gone first to the U.S. because the 1851 Census of Canada lists Ontario as the arrival point. If he had gone directly to Canada, he would have first landed in the province of Quebec.

Wow, not having full records after paying a fee is disheartening.  I suppose if they make one allowance then they should make other allowances, but still.   . Hopefully, they will give you additional details.

I have not yet found the passenger list (using Anc*try); I’m not sure why.

Update: I still cannot see the record on Anc*try.