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Much of the ancestry data about James Allen McConnell and Mary Quinn are drawn from two unpublished family history books by their descendant, Beavin Moncrief (McConnell) Taylor, a school teacher.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.