There is a famous painting in Rome called "The Creation of Adam". In it, the Hand of God is reaching down to touch the raised hand of the lifeless Adam. It's a painting that has a special significance to me - I believe that the artist could very well have called it "The Creation of James CURRAN"; this is as good as ANY of the theories, conjectures and flat-out WILD GUESSES I've come up with in my search for the parents of my Great-Grandfather, James CURRAN, farmer, of Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province.
James CURRAN was born in PEI on 4 March 1834 (according to the 1901 Census for Lot 15, Prince County). Both of his parents were born in Ireland. I know that he had a sister, Catherine, who married Michael McNALLY; James and his brother-in-law owned neighboring properties in that predominantly French-speaking area of Egmont Bay.
I found marriage records for BOTH James and his sister Catherine - but those records do not divulge parents' names! However, they do provide a VERY small clue in what ISN'T given - there is NO mention of James, or his bride Mary Ann FURLONG, OR his sister Catherine being from a parish OTHER than Cove Head (Lot 34). Emmett CURRAN, a grandson, wrote (in the late 1980's) to another CURRAN cousin, "I always thought they came from Cove Head, which is about 50 miles east of here. Grandfather and a man by the name of John McNALLY walked from Cove Head to Egmont Bay to build a saw mill and flour mill - that's about 160 years ago. Grandfather sent word to Grandmother (Mary Ann FURLONG) to come up - I don't know but she came up with a horse and a two-wheel cart, seven hens and a little pig."
I searched the earliest church records (St Dunstan's in Charlottetown) for ANY and ALL CURRAN entries; found LOTS of CURRANs, but, you guessed it! NO JAMES born in 1834.
Yet another clue appears in the 1881 Census - with Michael McNALLY, his wife Catherine (nee CURRAN), and their children, is a Catherine CURRAN, of "correct age" to be the mother of Catherine McNALLY, and thus the mother of "my James". She is described as "married", and NOT "a widow" - and, she was born in IRELAND!!!.
"No problem!", you say, "Check Cove Head records for CURRANs of the "right age", born in Ireland, with wives named "Catherine".
Well, Miss Marge Marple, determined old biddy that she is, did just that, and found THREE CURRANs of "the right age" who were born in Ireland. The wife of ONE of them was born "in England". The second CURRAN's wife was born in Ireland, but both of them were too young to have had a son born in 1834. The THIRD possibility - ah! THIS might be the ONE! Born in Ireland, "right age", wife named "Catherine" born in Ireland, a daughter named "Catherine", listed in the 1881 Census for Cove Head as "married" (not "widowed") but a wife not enumerated with him - that's MORGAN CURRAN!!!
One TINY little problem with this, however - I can find NO RECORD of Morgan and Catherine CURRAN's having a son named "James". None whatsoever. Morgan CURRAN's will (1887) gives no clues either, nor do the wills of the "Other CURRANs" from Lot 34.
James CURRAN named his sons "John Thomas", "Michael" and "Patrick Morgan", in that birth order. If he used some sort of "naming pattern", I can't figure it out!
Who are James CURRAN's parents? Morgan and Catherine CURRAN? John CURRAN (of Cove Head) and a wife previous to Mary CASS (born in England)? Some OTHER "unknown" CURRAN couple? Was "my James" really "JAMES"? Could he have been Baptized with a different given name? Is he REALLY "a CURRAN"?
Then there are the REALLY interesting conjectures - was "my James CURRAN" found out in the garden under a large cabbage? Was he the first "Cabbage Patch Kid"?
Nope, Miss Marple likes the "Creation of Adam" theory - and I must admit, I agree with her. That theory DOES lend an "artistic aura" to my Family Tree...
So, Gentle Reader, you now know as much about James CURRAN as Miss Marge Marple does; she'd be most grateful if YOU can suggest any research strategies/wild-goose chases/whatever that might shed some light on this most elusive of ancestors.
Marge Reid--[email protected]
This page was updated 4 January 1999.
copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 - Margaret V Reid