CCHA Report, 8 (1940-1941), 77-94
Catholic Pioneers of Tyendinaga
and Neighboring Townships
BY
CLARA MCFERRAN
To Tyendinaga, in
southern Hastings County, and to its neighboring townships came Irish
Catholics, many who were fugitives from their native land. They were not poor,
ignorant immigrants as some books on Pioneer Life would have us believe. They
were, for the most part, descendants of the landed gentry of Ireland, men and
women of culture and education who had been dispossessed of their lands for
adhering to their religious and political beliefs and for sticking to their
convictions in the face of dreadful odds. The Fighting Irish - willing to fight
for their convictions, but not yet
seeking to die for them.
After all, of what use was a dead Irishman ?
Into the Canadian
wilderness they came, carrying a few treasured possessions, but in their hearts
burned the fire of their Faith, and on their rude hearthstones they kept it
burning brightly. In spite of overwhelming hardships - they were already
schooled in the rigors of adversity - they never lost heart. In those early
years when Holy Mass and the reception of the Sacraments were at infrequent
intervals, they had a handhold on Heaven, their well-worn rosaries, and a
childlike love for Our Blessed Lady. Each evening the whole family gathered for
recitation of the beads, the Litany and daily prayers. When trials or sorrow
struck, instead of turning them from their faith, as it might have done, it
served only to send them to their knees, their beads in their fingers. All
through their lives ran the refrain of the Irish Te Deum
Thanks be to God for
the light and the darkness;
Thanks be to God for the hail and the snow;
Thanks be to God for the shower and the sunshine;
Thanks be to God for all things that grow: etc.
Even before their
coming, southern Hastings had been the refuge of peoples driven from their
homes by man's inhumanity to man. The United Empire Loyalists came as early as
1787, settling along the front townships and in Prince Edward County.
Hastings County lies in
east central Ontario, north of the Bay of Quinte, an off-shoot of Lake Ontario.
It was formed in 1792 by proclamation of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe and named
after a young Irish officer who had distinguished himself in the American
Revolutionary War. He was Sir Francis Rawdon, who changed his name to
Rawdon-Hastings in 1790, assuming his mother's name of Hastings. In 1793 he
succeeded his father as Earl of Moira and in 1817 was created Marquess of
Hastings.
Tyendinaga became the
haven of the Six Nations Indians. They comprised the tribes of the Mohawks,
Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Senecas and Tuscaroras. Of these, the Mohawks were
foremost in giving support to the British during the American Revolutionary
War. In what is now New York State, their lands were in the Mohawk Valley, at
the eastern end of those of the Six Nations Confederacy, and consequently were
most exposed to the attacks of the Americans. The entire people of the Mohawks
withdrew northward within the British lines. Already in the Mohawk Valley they
had been divided into several distinct settlements. One of these was presided
over by a chief named Deserontyou, known to the English as Captain John. During
the war these people lived at Lachine, near Montreal, while the remainder of
the Mohawks and other Six Nations established themselves at Fort Niagara. After
the close of the war it was tentatively agreed between the Mohawks and the
British authorities that they should be settled in the neighborhood of the Bay
of Quinte. However, Captain Joseph Brant and the majority of the Mohawks
changed their minds and asked for lands farther west. This was agreed to, and they
were granted lands on the Grand River where Brantford now is situated. But
Captain John Deserontyou and his followers refused to change, and the
Government promised them lands in the Bay of Quinte. On 22 May, 1784, they
landed where Deseronto now stands, and occupied the surrounding land. On 1
April, 1793, Sir John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada,
granted to them the present township of Tyendinaga. Heavily timbered and well
watered with streams and rivers teeming with fish, it was a natural hunting
ground for the red men. The name was derived from the Indian name of Joseph
Brant.
During the years 1818
and 1819, the Indians withdrew to the 20,000 acres comprising the broken front.
A strip running east and west through the middle of the township (first
concession, tier of lots south of the road, to middle of fourth concession) was
purchased back from the Indians 20 July, 1820. They still retained the southern
and northern sections of the township. On 23 December 1835, the northwestern corner
was purchased and on April 15, 1843, the northeastern corner.
When almost all the
front townships of Upper Canada were being settled there was very little
immigration from Ireland. Migration began in considerable quantities in the
1820's, and the fact that Tyendinaga was then the only front township in which
new lands were available in any quantity, made it especially attractive to the
new-arriving Irish. Both in the original strip and in the later additions to
the north, the Irish Catholics tended to keep in the eastern half of the
township, while the settlers in the western half were more largely Protestant.
The first Catholic
families to settle here were those of John and Michael Sweeney on the first
concession. They came from King's County, now Offaly, on the border of
Tipperary. John Sweeney, with a party of Irish Settlers, arrived at Kingston
after weeks of travelling across the Atlantic on a sailing vessel in the early
part of the nineteenth century. Leaving his wife and their three children at
Kingston, he and a fellow passenger by the name of Robert Portt came by
row-boat up the Bay of Quinte and landed in the woods near Deseronto. Going
inland almost two miles they chose the sites of their future homes. Robert
Portt picked the Hill Top, ever since known as Portt's Hill, where his
descendants still reside. John Sweeney preferred the level country a mile or so
east. They cleared the land and built log houses. John Sweeney's still stands.
Three generations have been born there. The priest used to come from Kingston
on horseback to say Mass in the large kitchen. People came from great distances
to hear Mass and brought their children to be baptized, as the priest could
come. only once a year at first. Later he came more frequently. John Sweeney
settled each of his sons on farms surrounding the old homestead, the deed of
which is still held by the family. It was issued in the reign of George IV in
1820, and signed by Sir Peregrine Maitland, then Lieutenant Governor of Upper
Canada. It is said that both John and Michael Sweeney obtained the title to
their lands by cutting the Right of Way through the forest opposite their lots.
Shortly after, about
1820, came the families of John Shaughnessey, Patrick Welch and the Murphys.
Several priests, sprung from Murphy families, are now in different fields of
Canada and the United States.
Patrick Martin came
from Wexford County, Ireland, in 1818 and settled at Picton. At that time the
people of Wexford County were referred to as « yellow bellies.» At the
beginning of the nineteenth century, hurling was the popular sport of the day,
a game something akin to «shinny ». As a distinguishing mark the Wexford team
wore a bright yellow sash, hence the nickname. They held the championship of
all Ireland for several years, and in time, the name was applied to all
residents of the county. The Martins moved into Tyendinaga about 1828. The
family is scattered today, but a grandaughter, Miss Kitty Martin, aged 86 at
time of writing, still resides at Deseronto.
Michael Nealon came
from Limerick County, Ireland, in 1818 and ran a saw-mill at Point Ann. Two of
his brothers settled in the United States, while a nephew, Dennis, served in
the Papal Army in Rome for three years. Michael was a staunch defender of the rights
of the Irish in Ireland. He wrote a book in Gaelic about the oppression of the
Irish by the English and bound it in goatskin. It would have been deemed
treason if this book had been found in his possession. When he left Ireland he
took it with him. At Point Ann he met Jane McKenney. She was not a Catholic,
but they were married in Belleville by a priest. She did not join the church
until about thirty years before she died. They had ten children, five boys and
five girls. The children were all baptized. One Sunday when they were taking
one of the babies to church for baptism, instead of getting off at her own
church as was the custom, she told her husband to drive on, that she would be
baptized with the baby. Dennis, one of the sons, was an outspending figure in
the timber days. He had charge of several lumber camps in the woods for the
Rathbun & Son Mill at Mill Point (later Deseronto). Michael Nealon took an
active part in the affairs of the new community. He moved to Marysville about
1828. He was one of the signers of both the petitions mentioned below for the
church. He was township clerk for a period of twenty-five years and served as
Justice of the Peace for over thirty-five years. During that entire time, no
appeal was ever made from his decision to the higher courts of Justice. The
Indians called him the « White Father » and abided by and respected his
judgment. By reason of his office, he had the authority to perform the marriage
ceremony, but his wife prevailed upon him not to exercise it as she considered
marriage a Sacrament solely within the priest's realm.
Another experience that
fell to Michael Nealon's lot, and not a very pleasant one, happened after the
Rebellion of 1837. He was arrested and taken to Fort Henry at Kingston, as the
people then believed, to be shot as a traitor. A neighbor, who was an
Orangeman, made the trip to Kingston to plead for him. He succeeded in proving
that it was a case of mistaken identity, so Michael was freed. Margaret Toner
was about seven years old then, but she never forgot that awful day when the
soldiers rode away with her father, leaving her mother alone in the wilderness
with her little ones crying and clinging to her skirts. He died Feb. 4, 1871,
aged 73. Jane died in 1877.
Soon after the War of 1812,
James Kenney and -------- O'Carroll, his wife, came from Queen's County, now
Leix, Ireland, to Napanee. They operated a mill near that pioneer village, and
there died. There was no Catholic cemetery nearer than Kingston, so they were
buried in unmarked and unknown graves. When Tyendinaga was opened for
settlement, their children, now grown to manhood and womanhood, took up a farm
in the eastern part of the second concession. From here the majority moved
elsewhere, and their history remains unknown. Edward Kenney was still here when
he signed the petition mentioned below, and when his wife was buried in the new
cemetery. He and his brother James lived for a time at Crook's Rapids, which
was the early name for Hastings village in Northumberland County. Edward
Kenney's daughter, Mary Jane, who was a baby when her mother died in
Tyendinaga, married Michael Ryan of Westwood, afterwards of Peterborough, and
their descendants are numerous throughout the Province of Ontario, among them
being several members of religious communities. John Kenney remained in
Tyendinaga, bought a farm north of Marysville, and married Anne, daughter of
Michael Sweeney. They had twelve sons and daughters, who, with their
descendants, spread widely in Canada and especially in the United States, where
they have wandered from Massachusetts to California.
Here two anecdotes may
be given to illustrate the terrors which these Irish immigrants faced when they
took ship for America. Anne Kenney, who came as a little child with her father
Michael Sweeney, told her children how the voyage lasted three months, through
stormy weather the greater part of the time. On one occasion mast and rigging
went overboard and the ship was saved from capsizing only by the skill and
presence of mind of one of the sailors (the captain was either drunk or
inefficient) who cut the debris clear with a broad axe. One Stapleton (?), from
whom John Kenney bought his farm, had a formula which he believed would ensure
safety when, as he intended, he returned to Ireland; he would sail only on a
ship with a cargo of timber. But when he sold his farm and took voyage from
Quebec, it is presumed on a ship so laden, the formula failed: the ship was
never heard of afterwards.
John McAuley was a
native of Ballycastle, County Antrim. The family is said to be related to that
of Catherine McAuley, who founded the Sisters of Mercy. Perhaps he was already
a seaman: in any case, when he came to Kingston, Upper Canada, he became a
pilot on Lake Ontario in the government service. His sister Catherine and other
members of his family also came to Kingston. When he retired from the public
service he settled on a farm in Tyendinaga, south-east of the little village of
Lonsdale. Meanwhile, James McCullough, a blacksmith from County Monaghan and a
staunch Presbyterian, landed at Quebec in 1832. His ship was the first on which
took place an outbreak of cholera in that terrible plague year, but he escaped
unscathed. He opened a blacksmith shop in what was commonly known as « the
Sixth Town », the township of Sophiasburgh in Prince Edward County, on the
south side of the Bay of Quinte. The little Catherine McAuley of Kingston
became his wife, and entered at once on a daily fight for her religion. Her
chief troubles did not come from her husband, who, although determined not to
promote the errors of Popery, was a just and fair man. But in Sophiasburg
township she was in the midst of a swarm of little « isms », most of them
sprung from that hot-bed of new religions, the State of New York in the first
half of the nineteenth century, and each local preacher or lay-reader or
what-not of each petty sect considered it his manifest destiny to convert the
stranger in their midst. She faced them all triumphantly, had her children
baptized and brought up Catholics, and won her husband to the faith before he
died. But long before this they had left «the Sixth Town » behind them. Word
came of a farm for sale on the fourth concession road in Tyendinaga; they
bought it and settled on it. Catherine McCullough found herself in the midst of
Catholic neighbors and only four miles from a Catholic church, a distance she
and her children readily walked on Sundays. It was something approaching
heaven. In her old age she would declare that she would gladly face the same ordeal
again, but that she would not wish any daughter of hers to undergo it. Many
priests and nuns are numbered among her descendants.
It is not generally
known that Tyendinaga had its colony of refugees from the Great Famine of
1846-7. They settled at Shannonville, and, as else. where, the plague followed
them. Martin Kenney, son of John Kenney, has related how, as a boy attending
the school alongside the Tyendinaga church, he saw for days at a time a
procession of funerals bringing the bodies of these poor people to the
cemetery. Cut off in life from their fellow country-men of the township by the
fact that, coming from the west of Ireland, they spoke little or no English
while only a few of the earlier settlers spoke Irish, buried in unmarked graves,
and leaving only a few survivors who soon departed from the township, the
memory even that they existed has now disappeared.
In the early years of
this century there still lived in the village of Lonsdale a local business-man
named Bruin, who had searched all his life, and still hoped to find his
relations. His only memory was that as a very small child he had been with his
brothers and sisters on the wharves of Quebec. They became separated and he
never saw them again. He was adopted by a non-Catholic family and brought up as
a Protestant, but there could he little doubt that the parents, who must have
died on shipboard or at the Quarantine Station on Grosse Isle, were Catholics.
Among the earliest we
find also the families of Deaseys, Kennedys, Callaghans, Sullivans, Doyles,
Meaghers, Killmurrays, Mackeys, Ryans, McGurus, D'Arcys, Powers, McNeils,
McGinnises, Garlands, Lynches, Curleys, Conways, Scanlans - and there were
others. Later arrivals included Toners, McFerrans, McAuleys, Currys, Drummeys,
Farrells (Patrick Farrell married a daughter of Michael Sweeney; he lived to be
almost a centenarian), Foxes, Hurleys, Wests, Nashes, etc. After the purchase
of the northern part of the township from the Indians, in 1835 and 1843, many
families settling there bore names already well-known in the township: some of
them were off-shoots from the homes to the south, some were newcomers from
Ireland. Among new names were those of Byrne, Boland, Buckley, Casey, Culhane,
Condon, Coffey, Carney, Daley, Dempsey, Donoghue, Eagan, Fitzgerald, Ford,
Griffin, Hanley (John and William Hanley, brothers, came from Ireland just
about a century ago and cleared the land around the present village of Read,
where the church for northern Tyendinaga was built), Hart, Halloran, Hefferan,
Lally, McCarthy, McCabe, McDermott, Mullany, Naphin, O'Brien, O'Leary O'Hara,
Roche, Shannon, Tighe.
James Toner came from
Cookstown, Tyrone Co., and settled at Murrysville; then moved to Sydney, the
second township west of Tyendinaga, where he married Elizabeth Doyle. They had
five children. At least two great-grandsons are priests and several descendants
are Sisters. One son, Francis, married Margaret Nealon, daughter of Michael
Nealon. They had fourteen children; two died in babyhood, and for over fifty
years there was not another death among them. Francis moved to Marysville where
they lived a number of years; then removed to Moore Township, Lambton County.
John McFerran came from
Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland, in 1835. Two years later his wife, Mary, his
son John, and his daughter Ellen, came out. When they left Ireland, William IV
was on the throne and when they landed at Quebec the first news that greeted
them was that the young Victoria was queen. They bought a farm on the fourth
concession. During the Rebellion of 1837 the younger John went to Toronto and
enlisted with the Army. In 1850 he married Bridget Murphy, who was born in
Marysville parish in 1829. Some years later, they, too, moved to Lambton
County. Of eighteen grandchildren, two entered the convent.
The Mission of
Belleville, of the Kingston Diocese, comprised also Trenton and Marysville,
including Read and Stirling. Baptismal Records begin in the year 1829. The Rev.
Father Michael Brennan was the first pastor. (1)
He was a native of Mooncoin, County Kilkenny, Ireland. He studied at the
College of Iona, Glengarry, which was a Seminary for the training of priests
that Bishop Macdonell had opened in 1821 in his own house at St. Raphael's and
named after the famous ancient Irish monastery off the west coast of Scotland.
He was ordained at St. Raphael's church, Glengarry, August 28th, 1829. He came
to Belleville in 1829, where he built a stone church. He built a stone church
at Sugar Island and a frame church at Picton. Prior to his coming to Belleville
Mass was said in a small church located on the present Collegiate grounds at
the end of Patterson Street. (2) When the stone
church was built this building was turned into a school. He introduced the
Loretto Nuns to Belleville in 1857. Father Brennan died October 31, 1869, aged
73, after having spent more than 40 years in the parish. The Catholic
population of the Mission in 1834 was listed at 1135 with four Catholic
churches. (3)
Father Brennan made the
trip through the wilderness to his missions on horseback, carrying his
vestments, altar stone and sacred vessels. He baptized the children, performed
the ceremony of matrimony, and on some occasions blessed the graves of those
who had died since his last visit. Mass was usually celebrated at the home of
one of the settlers, in some places at regular intervals, at others, whenever
the priest could make the trip. When it was known that he had arrived in the
neighborhood, the message was passed around from one family to another. Very
often the children would walk two or three miles through the bush to carry the
news to their neighbors. They, in turn, would notify the families living beyond
them. Another office the parish priest often filled was that of « matchmaker ».
He would sort out a lonely bachelor and take him along to call on a family with
an unattached daughter. If all went well, and it usually did, on his next trip
he would marry the couple. On one occasion a mother with several small children
arrived whose husband had died aboard- ship. The good pastor knew of
a man whose wife had passed away leaving him with helpless little ones. While
this could not be spoken of as a « love match » it turned out very well. They
lived to a ripe old age and raised a family that was a credit to the community.
During these early
years of Tyendinaga, Mass was celebrated at John Sweeney's house. His daughter,
Mrs. Deasey, was born, baptized, married and died in the same house, which as
we said before, still stands. By the 1830's the settlement had become
sufficiently prosperous to think of building a church. Under the direction of
Bishop MacDonell, of the new Diocese of Kingston (Regiopolis), and at that time
a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada, and of Father Brennan, a
petition was presented, on 6 May, 1835, to Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant
Governor of Upper Canada, asking for a grant of lot 24, first concession, south
of the road, as a site for a church. The petition was signed by Bishop
Alexander MacDonell, Father Michael Brennan, John Sweeney, Edward Landers,
Michael Nealon, and in all, 128 laymen, doubtless the whole, or nearly the
whole, Catholic adult male population of the township. This petition is of
great historical value both because of its subject-matter and also, and
especially, because it is a unique record of the early settlers. It is
remarkable that every signature is obviously distinct, and that, although the
spelling of family names is sometimes curious, no person signed with his mark.
(The petition is printed in full as an appendix to this paper.)
This petition was
considered in the Executive Council at Toronto on 8 December, 1835 (by which
time Sir Francis Bond Head had succeeded Sir John Colborne as Lieutenant
Governor), and rejected on the ground that the lot was not vacant. The
Tyendinaga Catholics, knowing the lot never to have been occupied, applied to
Samuel S. Wilmot, Land Surveyor, the representative for this district of the
Commissioner of Crown Lands. He informed them that, although a certain Ebenezer
Sheppard had bid in the lot at a Government auction many years before, he had
never fulfilled the conditions of sale and it therefore relapsed to the Crown.
The petition had been put in the hands of James Henderson, who seems to have
been a professional agent in Toronto for carrying on business of this kind, and
on 25 May, 1836, he, as Agent for the Catholic Inhabitants of Tyendinaga,
presented a second petition. (4) This petition
bore the names (not signatures) of Bishop MacDonell of Kingston, Bishop Gaulin
of Toronto (who had been appointed coadjutor to Bishop MacDonell in 1833), Rev.
Michael Brennan of Murray, James D'Arcy, Michael Nealon, James Brennan (these
three evidently representing the Catholic laymen who had signed the first
petition). Being supported by the evidence of Wilmot, it was approved in
Council 18 August, 1836.
The local tradition in
Tyendinaga is that John Sweeney obtained the grant, and runs thus: In 1832 a
committee was appointed comprising John Sweeney, Michael Sweeney, John
Shaughnessey and Michael Nealon. At that time travel was a long and difficult
task. If one man had to make a trip to some distant place he took care of the
business for the entire community. It so happened that John Sweeney was making
the trip to York, now Toronto, a journey requiring several days travel. The
neighbors gathered at his house the previous evening and brought their money to
have him make payments or file on their lands for them. They delegated him to
interview the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Francis Bond Head, and ask for an acre
of land on which to build a church and which could be used as a burying ground.
So well did he succeed that he returned with a deed to one hundred acres for
church purposes, free of charges for all time. This deed was registered in the
name of Bishop Alexander MacDonell in 1839.
The church was built in
1837, a small stone building heated by a box stove. Later an addition was
built, and it served the parish for close to a century. Shortly after the
completion of the church Bishop MacDonell came from Kingston to dedicate the
church, bless the cemetery and administer Confirmation. He came by boat to a wharf
where Deseronto now stands. He was met by the parishioners and rode in a lumber
wagon over a trail through the forest. It must have been a very trying journey
for the Bishop, for his health was already failing, but his enthusiasm and zeal
never let him relax when there was a task to be done. Father Bourke was the
first regular pastor of the new parish, which was placed under the Patronage of
the Holy Name of Mary.
Father Charles Bourke (5) was born at Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland,
in 1818. He was ordained in St. Paul's church, Toronto, December 2, 1838, by
Bishop Gaulin. He was assistant at Kingston from December, 1838, to January,
1840. (The record from the Archbishop's House, Kingston, lists him as being
pastor of Marysville 1837-56.) He died at Marysville, December 16, 1856 and was
buried under the church there, where a monument has been erected to his memory.
Father Thomas Walsh was pastor from 1856 to 1858. Father Michael Mackay was
born in Templemore, Tipperary Co., February 13, 1813. He made his home with his
aunt, Mrs. John Sweeney. He was ordained in Kingston in 1848. He was pastor
from 1858 until 1893, when he was followed by Father Quinn.
Another station
attended by Father Brennan was at Picton, Prince Edward County.
(6) Father Brennan built a frame church there in 1830, making
fortnightly trips. The land was given by the Rev. Mr. Macaulay, an English
minister who also gave the land for the Anglican church. It was named St.
Gregory's. In 1839 a stone church was built by Rev. Father Lalor, first pastor.
It was dedicated the same year by Bishop MacDonell and Bishop Gaulin, assisted
by the Very Rev. M. Brennan, of Belleville, Rural Dean; the Rev. Angus
MacDonell, Vicar General of Kingston Diocese; the Rev. E. P. Roche of Prescott;
the Rev. P. Dollard; and the Very Rev. Vicar General Gordon of Hamilton. The
old church became the first Catholic School.
Father Murtagh Lalor (7) was born in Queen's County, Ireland. He
studied at the College of Iona, Glengarry. He was ordained in 1829 by Bishop
MacDonell, and was assistant at Kingston, 1829-31. He was in charge of Bytown,
1831 to Nov., 1832. During the cholera epidemic he was indefatigable in working
among the sick and dying. He was in charge of Niagara parish from Nov. 1832,
until May, 1833. He was pastor at Adjala, Gore of Toronto, etc., from May,
1833, to May, 1837. He completed the church at Tecumseh and built churches at
Carledon and Albion. He became pastor of Picton in 1837, where he built the
stone church. Father Lalor ruled his mission for 34 years. He was deeply loved
and respected by his people. When he resigned in 1871 he retired to Ireland,
near Marlboro. There he died in 1886 at a very advanced age.
Father Lalor was
succeeded by the Rev. J. Brennan, a nephew of the Rev. Michael Brennan. (8) He was born January 20, 1839, at Mooncoin, in
Kilkenny, and educated at St. Patrick's College, Carlow. He came to Canada in
1862 and was ordained in December by the Right Rev. Dr. Horan, Bishop of
Kingston.
At Trenton, (9) Mass was offered in 1832 in the home of J. V.
Murphy. In 1833 the church was completed and was the first church of any
denomination in Trenton. It was called St. Peter's in Chains. Trenton remained
a part of Belleville parish until 1874. It comprised, besides Trenton,
Brighton, Frankford and Codrington. The Rev. E. P. McEvoy was first pastor. A
new church was built in 1874.
Read Parish, (10) originally called Blessington, was
established August 25, 1854, by the Right Rev. Patrick Phelan, Apostolic
Administrator of the Diocese. Mass was said first at the home of John Lally. In
the month of August, Rev. Thomas A. McMahon was appointed pastor of the newly
formed parish. The following year he built a frame church which served the
needs of the congregation until 1893, when the present church, a larger and
more pretentious brick building, was erected.
The Rev. George Brophy
became Pastor of Read parish in 1862, and he in turn was followed by the Rev.
John Meade in September, 1882. Due to the infirmities of old age, Father Meade
gave up the parish in September, 1885. The Rev. Thomas McCarthy was appointed
to succeed him as Parish Priest of Read - a position he held until the time of
his death in January, 1935. The present incumbent, the Rev. R. A. Carey,
followed Father McCarthy.
The strong Irish Faith
of the congregation may be seen in the fact that, up to the year 1901,
thirty-three boys and girls from Read had become priests or nuns. Since then,
girls of the parish in steady procession have entered Religious Communities,
while at present six of the boys born and brought up in Read are on active
service as priests in Kingston diocese.
This wealth of
vocations in a small country parish is, no doubt, largely due to the fact that
Catholics invariably marry Catholics. It is a fact, perhaps unique in the
history of Ontario, that during his fifty years as Pastor of Read, the Rev.
Father McCarthy was not once called upon to assist at a mixed marriage.
North of Tyendinaga
lies the township of Hungerford. This was the hunting ground of the Mississauga
Indians. The earliest settlement was at Sugar Island, so named for the
maple-sugar bush that grew there. Every spring the Indians came to it to make
their year's supply of sugar. Owen Dirkin and Martin Donohue located here in
1826, followed by Philip Huffman and Mike Conlin. One story goes that a Richard
Woodcock, a United Empire Loyalist, traded the hundred acres of land given him
in Murray township for 1600 acres of land near the present town of Tweed in
1812 and was the first white settler. His son Oliver married Ellen Hawkins in 1844
and became a Catholic.
The story of the
Pioneers of Tyendinaga is similar to that of most early settlers - a struggle
for existence. The first settlers came by barge, disembarking at some favorable
place along the shore. They trekked overland, carrying their belongings. When
they arrived at their tract of land their troubles were not over. They were at
the mercy of the elements until they cut down trees and built a shelter. Black
flies, mosquitos, ague and wild animals added to their discomfort. Their
furniture was very crude, their cooking done over the fireplace which served as
a heating unit as well. Often they moved in before the floor was laid or the
door hung. The logs for the houses were usually hewed on two sides. Into space
between the logs, they pegged wedge shaped rails and plastered them smooth with
clay. A puncheon floor - slabs split from logs - was laid down. A trough roof
was used by many. The logs were barked, split, and a deep V cut the length of
the log. These were laid closely together with the V-side up. Other V-shaped
logs were fitted over the joints, the rounded side up. This kind of roof
required no rafters nor sheeting, was watertight, cool in summer and warm in
winter. The doors were fitted with wooden hinges and a wooden latch. Sometimes,
before glass windows could be obtained, cloth or thin oiled skin was stretched
across the window opening. Shutters were hung outside to close the house
against wild animals and storms.
Bridget Murphy used to
tell her grandchildren stories of wild animals. During the winter the wolves
would come around the house and howl. The family would throw burning logs from
the fireplace into the yard to keep them away from the door. Once when she was
a girl raking hay some distance from the house, she glanced into the woods
alongside her and saw a mother bear and her two cubs playing on a fallen tree.
Terrified, but with the presence of mind the early settlers required, she made
no notice of having seen them but went on raking her way across the field until
she was far enough away to throw down her rake and run for the house. The men
of the neighborhood organized a posse to hunt the bears but they had
disappeared into the bush.
To the women fell the
task of clothing the family and not only of feeding it, but of procuring the
food, while the men cleared the land and planted grain. As soon as enough trees
were felled to admit the sunlight, potatoes were grubbed in around the stumps.
Peas, beans, carrots, turnips, onions, squash, pumpkin and corn were planted.
They gathered wild berries, cherries and gooseberries and dried them on boards
in the sun or on stump tops. Wild plums were made into a heavy preserve with
maple syrup and stored in earthen crocks. They gathered greens, dandelions,
sour dock, nettles and other leaves in season to round out scanty meals. Fish
was obtained and wild turkeys, pigeons and venison. Each family made its own
supply of maple sugar.
During the first
winters food was often very scarce. Even after the grain was grown and harvested
it had to be carried many miles to be ground into flour. Very often it was
boiled whole all one day for the next day's food. Corn was soaked in lye made
from wood ashes and the hulls rubbed off. Then it was boiled and eaten with
milk. A sauce made from dried apples was a standby of the winter months, and in
leaner years, « punkin sass,» a sort of sweet obtained by boiling and straining
pumpkin, then cooking the juice down until it was a thick molasses-like mass.
Buttermilk pop and pancakes were common fare. Many a family subsisted on boiled
potatoes and salt during a hard winter.
Live stock was scarce,
as housing and feeding it during the winter was a problem. Cows were usually
dry throughout the winter months because the barns were cold and their feed
consisted chiefly of oat straw and pumpkins. Oxen were used at first in place
of horses. When fodder was scarce the cattle browsed on the tender shoots of
newly felled trees. Sheep were kept to supply wool to clothe the family. The
pigs were turned loose in the woods to fatten on beechnuts and roots, often to
fall prey to wild animals.
The families who came
in a little later had fewer obstacles to overcome. The story comes down that
they would go to Johnny Doyle's on the fourth concession. He would house them
until their land was obtained, and the neighbors felled the trees and built
their home.
These Pioneers were
very faithful in the practise of their religion. There is a story of a Mrs.
McGuinness who carried her baby a distance of over twenty miles to Belleville
to have it baptized. Her husband walked with her over a blazed trail through
the forest to the highway and returned to meet her the following day. The first
person buried in the cemetery of Marysville was Mrs. Edward Kenney. The date is
given traditionally as 1834, but it was probably at least two years later. If
1834 is correct, then the Catholic people must have been already confident that
they would obtain the farm lot. Her coffin was made of rough pine boards
procured at a neighborhood mill. Four men at a time carried it on their
shoulders over a trail three miles through the forest, the neighbors taking
each his turn. This grave was dug east and west. Later it was decided to dig
the graves north and south, but this grave was never moved. Her sister-in-law
was buried beside her, the grave running north and south. The two graves can
still be traced (or could some years ago) close to the eastern wall of the old
church. The first funeral from the church was that of Mrs. Williams from the
fourth concession, who died in 1839.
Assisting at Mass was
not always an easy matter. Usually the people came on foot, sometimes a
distance of ten miles or more. The trails were often deep with mire. Then the
women walked barefoot carrying their shoes and stockings with them. They would
wash their feet in the ditch, dry them on their petticoats, don their shoes and
stockings and walk proudly into church. The men usually wore high leather
boots. Later, with more prosperous times, the father and mother rode horseback,
carrying the smaller children while the older ones trudged alongside.
One of the beautiful
traditions coming down to us is of Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve in the new
church. This was the highlight of their lives. It meant weeks of work and of
sacrifice on the part of the little community. The church was decorated with
evergreens and red berries. It was lighted by candles massed in the sanctuary
and in the windows. On each window sill a rack was set at an angle. Holes were
bored into this board to hold about thirty candles in tiers. These candles were
made by the parishioners, and were extra large. What mattered it if many homes
were lighted only by firelight for the rest of the winter months by thus using
their precious supply of candle wax? The choir was brought out from Belleville
and music was supplied by several violins and a dulcimer. The people came from
far and near by sleighloads and on foot to pack the little church. It was a
story retold many times before blazing hearths, a story that lost nothing in
the telling.
At a time when food was
none too plentiful and woefully lacking in variety, the black or hard fast
during Lent and Advent was particularly hard on the Pioneers. No meat was
allowed on week days and only at the main meal on Sunday, with none of the
dispensations we enjoy today. It was not until the early Sixties that this
ruling was modified.
The children learned
their prayers and catechism from their mother. The father usually led the
prayers at night. As soon as there were enough families in a community a school
section was formed and a school erected, though many children learned the
fundamentals of education at home.
But life was not all a
grind. There were many kinds of entertainment. There were parties and dances
galore. There were logging bees, house. building bees, barn raisings,
quiltings. There was card playing often by the light of a smoking « dip », and
many an evening of story telling - perhaps some tall stories - stories of
banshees and will-o-wisps, of the black curse, of the bewitched, of haunted
houses, until the children crept trembling into bed and covered their heads
with the bed covers. There were stories told in song and verse of the land far
over the sea. My mother, who is past seventy six, still repeats for her
grandchildren long poems that she learned from her grandfather when she was a
small child.
It is the usual opinion
of the Irish people that the banshee does not cross the ocean, but Mrs. John
Kenney, who lived on the adjoining farm, and others, declared that they heard
the banshee at the death of « old Mrs. Ryan », on a farm south of the second
concession road, directly north of Marysville.
And there was style
among the women folk. Nights of agony spent in curl papers, hours with the
curling iron. The grandmothers would smile at their granddaughters' and great
granddaughters' « beautification ». They had
buttermilk bleaches and bran in cheesecloth to take the shine off one's nose.
Mullen leaves gently applied brought out the roses in young cheeks, (never,
never in public, though). After a summer in the harvest field, tansy poultices
removed the tan and freckles and likewise the skin. The irritation was relieved
somewhat by applications of sweet cream from the cream crock. When a maiden
acquired a husband, henceforth she must put up her hair, and wear a cap -
cotton for every day, silk and lace on Sundays and festive occasions. No longer
could she wear a hat - a bonnet must forever now conceal her tresses in public.
With the coming of better years homespuns gave way to silks and laces. Large
houses were built and finely furnished.
At first potash was the
only product that had any money market - about twenty dollars a barrel. Soon
logging was an important industry. Later farm produce was hauled to Kingston to
the Fort. A 200 lb. barrel of pork bringing $20.00, a barrel of flour from
$7.00 to $12.00.
There is little record
of crime in the early days. Marriage was considered a permanent arrangement
even among non-Catholics, and people were too busy to have time for wrongdoing.
The hospitality of these people is well known. No stranger was ever refused
shelter, food or any other necessity. If a person ill or injured should stumble
to the doorstep, he was tenderly nursed and cared for, then allowed to go on
his way without any feeling of having obligated himself.
There are many stories
lost with the passing of time and the death of the Pioneers. Some are almost
legends, scarcely known to the present generation. There is the « Ghost of
Meagher's Mill ». Meagher's sawmill was situated on the Salmon River, on the
road west of the present village of Lonsdale. A young man was drowned in the
mill pool. It being a sudden and violent death, the inhabitants believed that
his soul would not rest be. cause he had not been prepared to die. Nobody would
work at the mill. At last they brought the priest to the spot. All the
neighbors gathered and said the rosary, the litany and prayers for the dead.
Henceforth, the Ghost was laid. There were fireballs seen on dark nights before
storms. Not knowing any scientific explanations they believed it must be
something supernatural. Many weird tales were recounted. Perhaps a touch of
spirits within gave rise to the belief in spirits without. At least it had one
redeeming feature, that of sending those who witnessed it, or heard of it, to
their knees to beg God's protection from evil.
When families moved on
to greener pastures there was a finality in the parting that was heart-rending.
Michael Toner tells of an incident when he was a very small child. His uncle
moved to Peterborough. His mother, Margaret Nealon, and her sister-in-law were
very close friends. The day they left, Michael Nealon, his grandfather, drove
the family to the train and stopped in at the Toner house to say goodbye. As
the sleigh drove away, little Michael and his mother stood at the door and
waved until the sleigh was out of sight, then without a word she turned, went in
and closed the door. She never saw them again. But the sound of that door
closing always stayed with the boy. A year ago he met a son of that family, who
remarked that Michael was one of his cousins that he had never seen before.
Michael Toner replied : « I saw you. It is just eighty years ago. You were a
baby in your mother's arms when Grandfather drove you to the station when you
were leaving Tyendinaga and you were wearing a little red wool cap.»
Years later the name of
Tyendinaga station was changed to Marysville, named after Our Blessed Lady. A
faith so firmly planted against such terrific odds has born fruit. There have
been sixteen young men in the parish so far, called to the Priesthood and about
forty young women are in various religious orders. But it does not stop there.
Many of the Pioneers moved on to wider horizons and the exact number of
religious among their descendants has not been obtained. Tyendinaga has given
more than its share to the drift from the farm to the city and to the migration
from Canada to the United States. There are people of Tyendinaga origin
probably in every state of the Union, and the township has contributed
extensively to the growth of Toronto, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit
and Chicago.
The torches that were
so bravely lighted at those humble hearth-fires have been carried far and wide
and pray God that they may continue to burn until this earth resembles the
starlit skies at midnight.
One characteristic I
have noticed about the descendants of those Pioneers is the way they still
cling together. In a distant city if you happen to meet someone whose people
once hailed from there, and you mention that your family did also, you are
received with open arms. And then the QUESTIONS! Perhaps the following bit of
verse might explain what I mean. The names are purely fictitious.
THE
HOUSEWIFE AND THE SALESMAN
So it's magazines
you're selling?
I've heard all that
before.
I'll thank you to remove your foot
So I can close my
door.
Why
don't you get a decent job?
You just came into
town?
You came from where? Don't tell me now!
Well, well! Won't you
sit down?
And do you know the Flannigans,
The Finnegans, the
Coyles.
McGuires and big Tom Sullivans,
McClellans and
the Boyles,
And Tim and Jerry
Houlihan,
Bid Hayes? For
goodness sake!
And Ann and Maggie Johnson,
And Jimmy Burns, the
rake!
O'Haras, Tooles and Higginses,
The Martins? Gracious
me?
Oh, no ! I never lived there, but
My mother did, you
see.
There's the Wards and Micky Curran,
McDonnells and
McLowds;
The Shannons and the Callahans,
The Murrays and
McDowds.
And you are Kate McKinnon's boy!
I can't believe it's true.
Come in and have a cup of tea.
Your welcome as the
dew.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the
following who have been of great assistance in the preparation of this paper :
Dr. James F. Kenney, Public Archives, Ottawa; the Rev. Leo J. Byrne,
Archbishop's House, Kingston; the Rev. C. F. O'Gorman, Marysville; the Rev.
John B. O'Reilly, Archbishop's House, Toronto; the Very Rev. J. T. Hanley,
Smith's Falls; Mrs. Catherine O'Neill, Toronto; Mr. Frank McAuliffe, Lonsdale.
Their Excellencies the Most Rev. M. J. O'Brien, Archbishop of Kingston, and the
Most Rev. J. C. McGuigan, Archbishop of Toronto, very kindly made possible the
use of records under their control.
APPENDIX
Petition for a Grant of
Land for Catholic Church purposes in the
Township
of Tyendinaga
(Public Archives of Canada : Upper
Canada Land Petitions,
T
19, no. 20)
Unto His Excellency Major General Sir John Colborne
K.C.B. Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, &c, &c,
&c,
The Petition of the
Right Revd. Alexander MacDonell Catholic Bishop of Regiopolis, of the Revd.
Michael Brennan, and of the Roman Catholic
Inhabitants of the Township of Tyendanago
Humbly Sheweth
That
the Catholics of the Township of Tyendanago labour under great inconvenience,
and disadvantage for want of a convenient place of Worship having no Church, or
Chapel nearer to them than Belleville a distance of eighteen or twenty miles,
on which account their women, and weaker part of their Families are prevented
from attending Divine Service on the Sundays, and thus deprived of the benefit
of their Religion.
Your
Petitioners therefore, beg leave to lay a state of their situation before Your
Excellency, in hopes that your Excellency will be pleased to take their case
into consideration and grant them Lot N. twenty four south range of the first
Concession South of the Road of the said Township of Tyandanago, in order to
erect a Church on it as the most central and convenient place for Your
Petitioners, and also for the Catholic Inhabitants of the neighbouring
Townships of Richmond, Hungerford, Sheffield, and part of Sophiaburg.
And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray
Alexr. Macdonell Ep. R.
Michael Brennan M, Cp
John Sweeney
John Condon
Edward Landers
Terrance Fitspatrick
Michael Nealon
Daniel Dunavan
Daniel Callihan
Francis Murphy
John Mackey
Barney Mcginis
John McGuire
Micul Black
John Sweeney
John Kilmurry
Charles Sweeny
John Lavery
Thomes Calighan
Cornelius
Callighan
Daniel Desmond
Owen Doyel
Thimoty Ryan
Denis Sullivan
Denis Nealon
Denis Killty
John White
John Sullivan
Thomas Magurn
John Doyal
William Magurn
James Brenan
Patt Campbell
Patt Brenan
William Landers
Michael Doyal
Richerd Condon
Morty Callighan
Gerimia Hays
Cornelius Callighan
Thomas Dorcy
Daniel
Shay
Patt Dorcy
John Shaughnassy
Thomas Landers
Michl Shea
Christopher Killmurry
Patrick Fitz'errald
Robert Landers
John man
John Nealon
Thomas Treacy
Joseph Megurn
Robert Dowman
Peter Kilmurry
Patt Walsh
John Kenny
Micul Walsh
Daniel Power
James Walsh
John Howlet
Henery Linch
James McNeil
Patt
Donigan
James Dorcy senr.
John Eagan
James Dorcy Jun.
Patrick Conwan
Richard Connoly
John
Cliffort
Owen Cliffort
Walter Deacy
Hugh Curley
Robert Short
Brien Curley
Michael Moroney
Patrick Curly
Thomas Deacy
Peter Burns
John Donoley
James T Kiely
Patt McNicle
Patrick Dowlan
Michael Donavan
Patt Murphy
Patrick Wallice
John Dowlan
Lawrence Killmurry
Thomas Murphy
John Dugan
Richard Foran
James Mury
Michal Mcginnis
Thomas Murry
Jams Conway
John Connor
Micl. Conway
Paul Vellio
James Magher
James O Sullivan
William Magher
Micl. Sullivan
James Sweeney
William Saughnessy
William Borden
Thomas Hays
James Borden
John Harrison
Philip Crewford
Patt Sullivan
James Smith
William Megher
James Derreen
Thommas Magher
John Derreein
Patrick Sweeney
Antony Maher
Thimothy 0. Leary
John Maher
Edward
Kenny
Robort Maher
Barned Scanlin
Micul Maher
Barned Murphy
Michael Nowlan
Michl. Sweeney
James Garland
Thos. Sweeney
John Darcy
Michl. Sweeney
[In
some cases the Christian name read above as « Patt may be Batt.»]
Extract from Minutes of
Executive Council of Upper Canada, 8 December, 1835 (Public Archives of Canada,
Land Book R, p. 222):
The
Right. Rev. Alexander Macdonell on behalf of the Roman Catholic Inhabitants of
the Township of Tyendinaga Praying for a Grant of Lot. No. 24. South Range of
the first Concession South of the Road in Tyendinaga to erect a Church thereon.
Not recommended, as the Lot does not
appear to be vacant.
Extract
from Minutes of Executive Council of Upper Canada, 18 August, 1836 (Public
Archives of Canada, Land Book S, p. 107):
Catholic Inhabitants of
Tyendinaga--
Revised
their Petition which was read in Council on the 28th July last, respecting the
application they made on the 6th May 1835 for Grant of Lot No. 24 in the 1st.
Concession South of the road in the Township of Tyendinaga, for the purpose of
erecting a Roman Catholic Church thereon, which application was refused because
the lot not appearing to be vacant. Read the Report of Samuel S. Wilmot. Deputy
Surveyor Stating that the above lot is at the disposal of the crown.
Recommended.
1. Sources : Parish records of St. Raphael's and of
Belleville.
Bibl.: Canada and its Provinces Vol XI, pp. 11-114: H. A. SCOTT, « The Roman Catholic
Church east of the Great Lakes, 1760-1912 ». The Catholic, Nov. 10, 1841.
Life and Letters of Rev. Mother Theresa
Dease.
2. Records : Archbishop's House, Kingston, Ont.
3. A Brief Account together with Observations, made during a
visit in the West Indies, and a tour through the United States of America, in
parts of the years 1832-3; together with a Statistical Account of Upper Canada.
By DR. THOMAS ROLPH (Dundas, U. C.:
1836), pp. 268-9.
4. Public Archives of Canada : Upper Canada Land Petitions, T
20-14.
5. Sources: Archives of Kingston Archdiocese; Kingston
Baptismal Records; his Monument.
Bib. « Marysville » by J. M. KENNEY, a
manuscript study copies of which are in the parochial and diocesan archives,
and the Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa.
The Catholic Oct. 25, 1843.
6. Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Hastings
and Prince Edward by H. BELDON Co.
(Toronto : 1878).
7. Sources : Archives, Archdiocese of Toronto.
Bibl. Jubilee Volume of the Archdiocese of Toronto; The History
of St. Paul's Parish, Toronto, by the REV.
E. KELLY (Toronto : 1922).
8. Historical Atlas of Hastings and Prince Edward (1878)
9. Archives, Kingston Diocese.
10. Archives, Kingston Diocese.