McConnell Ancestry – The Story of James Allen McConnell (1824-1892) and Mary Quinn (1825-1905) – Part 2

Mary Quinn was born on February 24, 1825, in Glenavy, Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was the fifth child and second daughter of William Harold Quinn (1789-1850) who was 36 and Elizabeth "Betsy" Saunders (1798-1863) who was 27. As their family tree shows, Betsy and William Quinn had 10 children (6 sons and 4 daughters) in 23 years. Two of their children died in infancy.

William Harold Quinn and Elizabeth Saunders - Family Tree

Mary grew up in Ireland and was educated in a one-room schoolhouse (see photo below). At the age of 17, with her parents, four brothers and three sisters, she left Belfast harbour for Canada. They were six weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a sailing vessel. Mary’s father was a Navy Captain, who retired to Canada in 1841. He bargained for a 100-acre farm in Percy Township, Northumberland County, Ontario, about five miles from the village of Hastings, then known as Crook's Rapids.

Schoolhouse in Glenavy, Ireland attended by Mary Quinn

When she was 19 years old, Mary Quinn married James Allen McConnell on August 6, 1844, in Peterborough, Ontario. Mary and James settled on a farm across the creek from the home of Mary’s parents. In 1847, they bought this farm and their two older sons, Robert and William, were born in this home. Soon after, Mary and James moved to Belmont Township, where they established the McConnell Homestead.

By the time of the 1871 Canada Census, they had ten children: Robert Henry (1845), William (1846), Marjorie (1849), Mary Elizabeth (1852), Samuel John (1854), Annie Isabel (1858), Thomas James (1859), Edith Margaret (1861), George Alexander (1864) and Charles Joseph (1868). In 1879, they suffered a fatality when their youngest son, Charles Joseph (Joey), died of diphtheria.

Mary had a very busy life. She was a midwife and had helped start many a child on life’s pathway. She was a very sympathetic, kind person. Whenever there was any need, she lent a hand. She helped her brother, Thomas Quinn, when he was left with two motherless young children, although her own younger children were still a care.

Mary Quinn

The 1901 Canada Census states that Mary Quinn lived with her daughter, Annie Isabel, who was married to Samuel Thompson. On September 18, 1905, she passed away in Norwood, Ontario, having lived a long life of 80 years, and was buried at the Norwood Cemetery.

The preceding ancestry data presents Part 2 of the Story of James Allen McConnell (1824-1892) and Mary Quinn (1825-1905). The beginning of their story ispresented in Part 1 of the McConnell ancestry.

McConnell Ancestry – The Story of James Allen McConnell (1824-1892) and Mary Quinn (1825-1905) – Part 1

Currin, Monaghan, Ireland

Much of the ancestry data about James Allen McConnell and Mary Quinn are drawn from two unpublished family history books by their descendant, Beavin Moncrief (McConnell) Taylor, a school teacher. The first source is a 16-page document titled Life in Percy Township on the Quin(n) Farm dated January 1969. The second source is a document titled McConnell Clan Memoirs dated July 1974 with numerous inserts and more than 100 pages in total.

James Allen McConnell was born on May 11, 1824, in Briscarnagh, Currin, Monaghan, Ireland (see the accompanying map and click to enlarge). At that time, his father, James McConnell (1782-1827), was 42 years old and his mother, Marjorie Moncrief (1800-1872), was 24 years old. When James was three, his father died. Within a year, his mother and her family, the Moncriefs, came to Canada and settled in Cavan Township, west of Peterborough, Ontario.

James Allen McConnell and Mary Quinn c1844

According to the records, James Allen married Mary Quinn, a bonny Irish lass on August 6, 1844, in Dummer Township, Peterborough, Ontario, when he was 20 years old. James and Mary made first home in Percy Township, near Mary's parents, and they later purchased this farm. A few years later they moved to Belmont Township and lived in Norwood, Ontario (see Norwood farmhouse photo below).

As their family tree shows, James and Mary had 10 children (6 sons and 4 daughters) in 23 years.

James Allen McConnell and Mary Quinn - Family Tree

The 1851 Canada Census lists James and Mary, as well as their first two children, Robert and William. According to the Ontario marriage registration records, their first son, Robert Henry McConnell (1845-1922) married Christiana Nicoll (1851-1892) in 1873. However, it was their second son, William McConnell (1846-1930) who carried on our McConnell family lineage when he married Mary Ann Bloomer (1856-1932), on April 8, 1874. They settled on a farm in Dummer Township (north of the village of Norwood).

James was a good farmer, a thrifty person and when one farm was paid for, he bought another to make homes for his sons, all of whom settled on farms. James died at the family home in Norwood, Peterborough, Ontario on November 14, 1892, at the age of 68 years, and was buried at the Norwood Cemetery. The Story of James Allen McConnell and Mary Quinn continues in Part 2 of the McConnell ancestry.