‘Recording My Memories & Stories’ or ‘A Pictures tells a Thousand Words’, Inspired by ‘Pinterest’

Manson House, Ware Massachusetts

• After WW-II, in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s,my Grandfather, John Leo McQuaid B1902 and his sons owned and ran the Mansion House Hotel.
• The Casino Theater is the building to the left. Before talking films, they showed silent films and used a player piano. In the 1980’s the same player piano was given to my wife, by a lady that sang in the church choir with her. Both of my children learned to play on it. I remember going to see movies, when I was a child, paying 25 cents to get in and 10 cents for a bag of popcorn. I remember buying a Mr. Peanut Bar, I took it into the dark theater. I started eating it, something didn’t feel right. I went out into the light and found it crawling with maggots.The movie would end, and we would exit into the alley, between the buildings.
• In 1960, the time of the picture, below, of Main St., there was a Drug store on the left of the Manson House and a Western Auto Hardware Store on the right.
• There is a parking lot and Veterans Memorial, where the Mansion House was, today.

Post on Ancestry.com Message Board leads to contact with the family of Joseph Jacques Stanislas Courchesne B1886, my Grand Uncle.

My Maternal Grandfather was Joseph Hector Euclid Courchesne born 12 Sep 1892, in Saint-Guillaume-d'Upton, Drummond, Quebec, Canada. His father Cyprien Courchesne born 11 Jun 1859, his mother Marie Delia Melançon born 12 Dec 1860, as well as 9 siblings were also born in Saint-Guillaume-d'Upton. Hector and his wife, Alice Chagnon born 28 Apr 1890, and four of his children came to Ware, Massachusetts in June 1924. Three other children including my mother, were born in Ware Ma.
I remember visits by family from Canada, when I was small. The only information that any of my family ,in the US ,could supply me, was for family on my Grandmothers side. No one had information or pictures for my Grandfathers side. My research resulted in the identification of Hectors siblings. I could not find any lines that led to living cousins. I decided to explore the Ancestory.com message boards. I found one for the Courchesne family, with a post that was made in 2001 by someone looking for info on my Grandfather, Hector Courchesne, and a reply to the first post made in 2004, by the Grandson of Stanislas Courchesne, my Granduncle. I left a message in July of 2011. Jan 27th of 2012 I received an E-mail from the Great Granddaughter of Stanislas Courchesne. We exchanged multiple e-mails, with family information and pictures. I was very happy to receive a picture of Stanislas Courchesne B1886, his wife Marguerite Desserre B1889 and 9 of his 12 children. A wedding picture of his son Romeo Courchesne b1910 with wife, Blanche Ouellette, scans of the memory card, from the funerals of both Stanislas and his wife, pictures of family tomb stones from Belle Vallée , Ontario, Notre Dame de Bonsecour Cemetery. And, scans of several pages of hand written notes containing the names,  dates of birth and place of birth for all 12 of Stanislas’s children. Also, a list of the 12 children's,dates of marriage and the name of the person that they married.

Joseph Jacques Stanislas Courchesne B1886 & Family	Joseph Jacques Stanislas Courchesne B1886	Marguerite Marie Rose Alba Desserre B1889

Genealogical notes for Jeremiah Moriarty B1835 & Mary Griffin (Moriarty) B1835, My 3rd Great Grand Parents, Maternal Great Grand Parents of John Leo McQuaid B1902

Mary Griffin (Moriarty) B1835-1927, age 87, lived to see the following family events.
A. Birth of the following descendants;

• Children-9
•  Grandchildren- 25
• Great Grandchildren- 14

B. Marriages of her descendants into the following families;

• Children-Welch, Murphy, O' Day, Forrest, Coy
• Grandchildren- Slosson, Welsh, Murphy, McQuaid, O'Connell, Callahan, Citkowski

C. Deaths of the following family members;

•  Husband- 1
• Children- 4
• Grandchildren- 6
• Great Grandchildren- 1

The following are buried in;
Bethany Road Cemetery  Bethany Road, Monson, Mass., 01057

Recorded on July 15, 2000
Old section only, ie w/head stones, new section has only flat stones. The new section is not recorded. I know of 3 McQuaid's in the new section including John T. McQuaid B1871, Mary Ellen Moriarty McQuaid B1881, & their daughter Mary K McQuaid Yakovlev B1901.

• Moriarty- 15 including Mary Griffin Moriarty B1835 in grave marked 'Mother Moriarty’ w daughters Margaret & Hannah
• Welch- 19
• Murphy- 37 including Mary Moriarty Murphy B1858
• O' DAY- 6
• Forrest- 0 
• Coy-2  including Bridget Moriarty Coy B1867
• Slosson-0
• Welsh-0
• McQuaid- 13,
• O'Connell- 10 including Ellen A. Moriarty O'Connell B1887,
• Callahan-13 including Margart V. Moriarty Callahan B1889, 
• Citkowski- 2

Blennerville, Tralee, Kerry, Ireland, Church and Civil Source Documentation, for the Marriage of Jeremiah Moriarty Born abt 1835 and Mary Griffin Born 1835, and the Birth of 8/9 of their Children.

In my last post I explained how I  found the Civil birth records for four of of my ‘2nd Great Grand Aunts’, in Tralee, Kerry, Ireland. At that point I thought what do I do now? Familysearch.org where I found the Civil birth records, and Ancestory.com, do not have Irish Church records. The Civil records started in 1864, the rest of the family was born before 1864. I hit a brick wall.
So, I did what any person in 2011 would do when they need Info., I GOOGLED it. I typed in,  "Jeremiah Moriarty" "Mary Griffin" Tralee Ireland 1854. According to the USA Census, their oldest child was born in 1855. The first 4 listings on the results where for http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/index.html. Irish Genealogy, This site is hosted by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Ireland.  At present there are 2,030,140 Church records of Baptism, Marriage and Death available to view free of charge on this website.  These records are comprised of Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland Records from Counties Carlow, Cork, Kerry and Dublin City.  These Church records were computerized with funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport and through the work of the Dublin Heritage Group and Kerry Genealogical Research Centre.
In 5 min I found the Marriage record and in another hour I found 8 out of 9 Birth records. Each record listed two witnesses or sponsors. Baptism sponsors were usually married, so I also found 18 potential family members, from the same generation as Jeremiah and Mary.

Jeremiah Moriarty Born abt 1835 and Mary Griffin Born 1835, were my 3rd Great Grandparents
John Moriarty B1860 was my 2nd Great Grandfather
The rest are my 2nd Great Grandaunts & Uncles

Blennerville, Tralee, Kerry, Ireland

The Blennerville Windmill was built in 1800, but had fallen into ruins by 1846. Blennerville Bridge was built in 1751, before the town was named Blennerville.	The Blennerville Windmill was purchased by the Tralee Urban District Council in 1981 and was restored

Nine Steps through the past, lead to how Mary Ellen Moriarty (McQuaid), B1881 in Monson Ma., came to be my Great Grandmother.

Do you remember that envelope I mentioned at the beginning of my last post? The one I used in the 1970’s to jot down notes, while talking to my Grandfather about his family. One line states that his mother’s maiden name was Moriarty. They lived and met in Monson Ma. and they came from Kerry. That’s it. Well I Parlayed those tidbits into pay dirt! This week I found the date, ship name, and port of departure and arrival, for my Moriarty’s immigration from Ireland. I also found the birth records of  four of of my ‘2nd Great Grand Aunts’, in Tralee, Kerry, Ireland. And, the maiden name of their mother.
This post will chronicle my journey into the past.

To Arms Jimmy Boy! "Remember the Maine and to Hell with Spain!"

One afternoon, some time in the late 1970’s, I was sitting on the couch in my Grandfather’s living room. We were talking about his family. The surnames as far back as he could remember and family stories. The conversation was not planned, it just came up during my visit. At the time I was not into genealogy or family history. There was an empty envelope, from the days mail, on the coffee table. I decided to jot down some notes and names. I still have that envelope. The information got me off in the right direction, when I started my family tree. One of the names written there was Jim McQuaid. He was my Grandfather’s Uncle. My notes say he was in the Spanish American War. And, when he was older, he was in a Solders Home in Maine.

This post is his, Great Grand Uncle Jim’s, story.

The Scourge of l'Éminence rouge ("the Red Eminence") reaches to the New World.

The latest post in the ‘Courchesne / Chagnon Chronicles’.
The year 1632 finds Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu attending to the Court of King Louis XIII of France, as Chief Minister. You will remember Richelieu as our antagonist, and the nemesis of my ancestors.  ( see my Aug 24 post  History, Genealogy and Historical Fiction: or How to find a Huguenot in a Papist’s Attic). He is basking in his victories at the  Siege of La Rochelle in 1628 and the Anglo-French War (1627-1629).

 If you did your suggested reading from my Aug 24th post, The Three Musketeers, you know the back ground for this tale. His future actions will continue to influence the lives and names of my family.