McConnell Ancestry – The Story of James McConnell (1783-1827) and Margery Moncrief (1800-1872)

Shamrock - Symbol of Ireland

It is estimated that James McConnell was born about 1783 in Currin, Monaghan,Ireland. At his time, his parents are unknown, but our family history research continues. For example, the Northern Ireland church records show that a James McConnell was baptized on May 30, 1784 and that his father was James McConnell and his mother was Mary. As well, the RootsIreland website offers a unique database of more than 20 million Irish family history records which have recently been made available in an online search facility.

James McConnell Military Discharge 1820

According to his military discharge papers (shown above - click to enlarge), James McConnell joined the British 65th Regiment of Foot in 1800 as a teenager and served as a Private until 1820. Apparently, the British 65th was nicknamed The Boy Regiment because a large number of parish boys were enlisted to replenish the regiment after its first West Indies posting. The Pensioner Records show that James served in the military for many years in India and briefly in Canada. He was discharged from Chelsea Royal Hospital in 1820 with failing health at the age of 38. The military records show that he had asthma and had been wounded in the hip. Since he was a Chelsea Pensioner, he may have taken his pension in land in Canada.

St. Andrews Church ,Currin Parish, Scotshouse, Monaghan, Ireland

The Roots Ireland - Church Marriage Record shows that James McConnell married Margery Moncrief on October 8, 1821, at St. Andrew’s Church of England (built in 1810), Parish of Currin, village of Scotshouse, County Monaghan, Ireland. The church records indicate that James and Margery had two children baptized in Briscarnagh, Currin, Monaghan, Ireland: a daughter named Ann McConnell (1822-1895) and a son named James A. McConnell (1824-1892) who is our direct line ancestor. Another son named Donald McConnell (1826-1827) is also mentioned in the family records but died as an infant.

James McConnell Family Tree (early in 1827)

The Roots Ireland - Church Burial Record shows that James McConnell died on April 16, 1827, in Briscarnagh,Currin, Monaghan, Ireland, at the age of 44 and is buried there. 

The McConnell family history notes that, during the summer of 1827 (following the death of James), his wife Margery Moncrief, their three children and other members of the Moncrief family emigrated to Canada. They sailed from Belfast, Ireland to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It took six weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sailing ship. James Allen McConnell was only about three years old. It is presumed that Donald McConnell died during the crossing and was buried at sea.

Some of the Moncrief family members settled in Cavan Township, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. A few years passed before Margery (Moncrief) McConnell (at this time, her parents are unknown) married John Robinson. Four Robinson children were born of this marriage: Eliza Robinson (1834-1911), Mary Ann Robinson (1836-1879), Thomas Robinson (1838-1916) and Margery Jane Robinson (1840-1866).  There is speculation that John Robinson drowned in Rice lake while fishing in 1849 and that his wife Margery passed away about 1872, but genealogy records have yet to confirm these events.

Roy Ancestry – France to Canada (Part 4)

Nicolas LeRoy Family Tree

 

Nicolas LeRoy (1639-1690) and Jeanne Lelièvre (1640-1728)

 

Nicolas LeRoy was baptised on May 25, 1639 in Dieppe, Rouen, Normandy, France. The records show that he was baptized at St. Remy as the son of Anne LeMaitre, age 21, and Louis LeRoy, age 28 (refer to the Roy Ancestry – France to Canada, Part 2). His godparents were Jacques Baudoin and Françoise Preaux.

Jeanne Lelièvre married Nicolas LeRoy in February 1658 when she was 18 years old. She was born in 1640 in Honfleur, Basse-Normandie, France. The records indicate that she was the illegitimate daughter of Guillaume Lelievre, age 24.

The first child of Nicolas and Jeanne was born about 9 months after they were married. Louis (named after his grandfather), was baptised on November 26, 1658 in St. Rémy de Dieppe. Their second child, Nicolas (named after his father), was baptized on March 3,1661 in the same church. As shown in the following table prepared by researchers at Quebec’s PRDH, they had 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls, in the 20 years from 1658 to 1678. Their first two children were born in France and the others were all born in Canada (New France). Their third son, Noel, was the first child born in Canada.

A New Beginning

The following observations are based on several sources, including Nicolas Leroi et Jeanne Lelièvre - une histoire à suivre by Jacqueline Sylvestre and Nicolas Le Roy et ses Descendants by Joseph-Edmond Roy.

On June 17, 1661, Nicolas signed a contract promising to repay the sum of 50 livres (which was the cost of his passage) to Jean Gloria eight days after his arrival in New France. The contract describes him as being a bourgeois of Dieppe. In those days, the term bourgeois meant a person who had some means but was not of the clergy or of the nobility. It was usually applied to a professional or tradesman. As the following graphic shows, Nicolas signed his name with an assured hand on this contract and others later on in his life which suggests that he had received some schooling.

The research indicates that Nicolas LeRoy emigrated to New France in May 1662 along with his recently widowed mother (Anne LeMaitre), his wife and their two children (Louis and Nicolas). Their sailing ship, The Garden of Holland, arrived in Quebec City. It was the custom for new arrivals to serve a contract of 36 months in the new land. This contract obliged the patron to provide an agreed upon wage, food and clothing. There are no records to indicate  what kind of work Nicolas LeRoy did during this period.

Jeanne’s father, Guillaume Lelièvre, had preceded them to New France. The records show that he signed a marriage contract before the Notary Adouart on August 28, 1660 to wed Marguerite Milliet, widow of Pierre Briscoté. Unfortunately, she drowned two days later while travelling from Beauport to Quebec City. There are no indications that he ever re-married but he lived on his land at Île d'Orléans and maintained close ties with his soon to arrive family.

On November 10, 1663, Jeanne Lelièvre was ordered to appear before the sovereign council due to a complaint sworn in by Anne Chevalier. Jeanne was represented by her father. The reason for the requested appearance was not given and no other paperwork ensued. In those days, even small matters, such as quarrels between neighbours, were addressed by the sovereign council.

On June 8th 1664, Nicolas received a land grant in the seigneury of Beaupré. The contract was signed before Notary Pierre Duquet with the seigneuress Guillemette Hébert Couillard. The LeRoy’s family obligations are as follows:

• they must pay the sum of “12 deniers & 20 sols” for each measure of land (arpent) and 3 live poultry, payable on the day of the winter feast of St. Martin (November 11).
• they must maintain each side of their property and a 6 foot wide and 15 foot road along the St. Lawrence River.
• they must mill their grain at the seigneuress' mill.
• the fields are commonly held but they must mow them on their property.
• they must raise fences, otherwise they are responsible for damage to their property.
• they must pay their tithe to the priest.

In the 1666 census, Nicolas LeRoy is described as a gamekeeper with 4 cattle and 7 “arpents” under cultivation. His children are listed as Louis 7, Nicolas 5, Noël 3, and Marie-Jeanne, 16 months. Another member of the household was listed as Jean Brière, aged 24. He was described as a hired domestic and baker. Because the 1666 census had many errors, it was redone in 1667. By then, the household had a new baby, Guillaume, aged 2 months. When the census takers arrived at Guillaume Lelièvre’s house on île D'Orléans several months later, they find him with his grandson, Noël, and Jean Brière who probably came for a visit. 

On July 6, 1670, tragedy struck when a fire in the LeRoy home claimed the lives of 2-year-old Anne and 1-year-old Jean. The family was devastated!

In 1677, the family moved to the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. An undated draft document was found in the notes of Notary Romain Becquet covering the period from July 27 to August 28, 1677. The document indicates that Nicolas LeRoy (having lived for 1 year on said property) and the seigneur Olivier Morel de la Durantaye agreed to have Nicolas exploit the seigneur’s property in exchange for rent. The lease was to begin in April and have a duration of 4 years. This lease was renewed by Morel’s daughter in a document signed before Notary Rageot on February 16, 1686.The area was first known as the La Durantaye seigneury. When a church was built, it took the name of St. Michel de La Durantaye. Eventually the territory was split in two; the western part keeping the name of St. Michel and the eastern part taking on that of St. Vallier de Bellechasse.

St. Vallier Church, Quebec

St. Vallier de Bellechasse, Quebec

According to the records, Nicolas LeRoy died on April 27, 1690 at the age of 50 years, at La Durantaye, Bellechasse, Quebec. He was buried at the St. Vallier Cemetery. About five years after Nicolas died, his wife Jeanne Lelièvre married François Molinet on February 8, 1695 in St-Étienne de Beaumont. She died on January 11, 1728 at St. Vallier, Quebec, having lived a long life of 88 years, and was buried there. 

It is noteworthy that descendants of the Roy families continue to this day at the homestead established by Nicolas and Jeanne at La Durantaye, Bellechasse, Quebec.

Roy Family Ancestry

Roy Ancestry – France to Canada (Part 3)

 

Emigration from France to New France

Historical records indicate that France did not supply a great number of emigrants to its colonies across the Atlantic. In fact, just 15,000 Frenchmen and Frenchwomen sailed for New France in the 17th century. About two-thirds of them stayed in the colony for a short period and either returned to France or died without getting married. By comparison, the British Isles, with a population just over one-third of France’s, sent almost 380,000 immigrants to the New World over the same period.

Early Pioneer Travel

Although relatively few French people migrated to New France (considered a distant, wild and dangerous country), the result of this small founding population was that the French-Canadian stock grew from a relatively small number of people, about 10,000 immigrants. If we consider the male immigrants, from whom family names were transmitted through the generations, the number is reduced to about 4,500 – the total of immigrants who had at least one son who married.

New France circa 1650

 

Commemorating our first Roy ancestors to come to Canada

Roy Association Arms

The Roy Family Association of America (Association des Familles Roy d'Amérique) proudly states that the “ROY surname or LeRoy appears at the beginning of New France.” With 24 different Roy ancestors, that surname is at the top of the list before 1800, according to research by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec (Institut de la statistique du Québec).

In our Roy family lineage, Nicolas LeRoy and Jeanne Lelièvre were the first ancestors to come to Canada. To commemorate the 325th anniversary of their arrival in New France, a plaque in their memory was created by the Roy Family Association on August 26, 2000. The adventures of Nicolas LeRoy and Jeanne Lelièvre are told in the Roy Ancestry - France to Canada (Part 4).

Smith Ancestry – England to United States to Canada (first stage)

The Smith Family ancestors have their roots in England dating back to at least 1539 with Robert Smith (1539-1590), James Smith (1558-1593) and John Smith (1585-1640). The son of John Smith was Ralph Smith (1610-1685). He left England as a bachelor in 1633 on the sailing ship Elizabeth Bonaventure and arrived at Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts which was part of the British colonies in North America at that time.

Ralph Smith has been acknowledged as a “Pioneer of Distinction” for helping to settle the new world. Three more generations remained in the Massachusetts area: Thomas Smith (1649-1720), David Smith (1691-1734) and Solomon Smith (1715-1790). The Smith family ancestry in Canada begins with the son of Solomon who was Elisha Smith (1749-1841). Elisha moved to Canada about 1775 and his son Abijah Smith (1783-1869) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It is noteworthy that in 1775, the 13 British colonies in North America began a rebellion to declare their independence from the British crown. Those who sided with the British were called Loyalists. Many Loyalists chose to serve with the British military, sometimes fighting against family and former neighbours. It is estimated that more than 70,000 Loyalists fled with about 50,000 finding their way to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and portions of Quebec, some of which later became a part of Ontario. Loyalists and their descendants were granted lands in Canada, depending on whether they were the head of the household and their rank in military service.

Abijah Smith had a son named Caleb Nickerson Smith (1814-1893) who was also born in Halifax and died there at the age of 79. In turn, Caleb had a son named John Caleb Smith (1852-1940). John Caleb married his second wife Emmeline Deborah Boutilier (1859-1940) in 1881. The Smith family journey to Canada continues in the next posting.