^{Une version française de ce texte est disponible ici. Special thanks to my dear friend and cousin Lois Thornton Eldridge for her help in the translation of this text.}

© Marc St-Jacques

When I started doing genealogy back in the 1990s, I was fortunate enough to meet Gary Millar. He didn’t hesitate to share what bits and pieces he knew about our family history. He told me that my great-great-grandmother, Eliza McKinley, was not the only one of her family who came to Canada. She also had two other sisters who settled in the Upper Gatineau area : Sarah who married James Millar and Mary who married Jeremiah Quaile. Gary was a descendant of both Sarah and Eliza McKinley. I shortly found out who were the McKinley sisters’ parents because Mary married in Canada and the marriage record tells us their names : Henry McKinley and Mary O’Hara. Further research allowed to find out that the three sisters had a brother in Scotland, but his name wasn’t mentioned in Mary’s obituary. To sum up the extent of my knowledge when I started digging up in archives overseas, I knew that Henry McKinley and his wife Mary O’Hara had three daughters, Eliza, Sarah and Mary, and a son. This was the prelude to other discoveries about the McKinley in their motherland: Ireland.

On St. Patrick’s day of 2019, Lorena Arsenault, my mother’s first cousin posted, on Facebook, a lovely picture of Eliza McKinley. I had seen this photo before and seeing it online reminded me that, hidden somewhere in a drawer, research done on this branch of the family was just waiting to be published. This blog post sheds light on what is now known of the McKinley family.

Rose and Eliza McKinley

With a little luck and a lot of imagination (the name McKinley being spelled many variations), I was able to trace the birth of some of Henry McKinley’s children. Using RootsIreland.com, I was able to find Eliza and Rose McKinley’s baptism recorded on July 1, 1842, in Kirkinriola Parish (Ballymena’s Catholic Church). It is not clear if they were twins or if their baptism was simply celebrated at the same moment since their date of birth isn’t shown on the transcription of the records available online. One would think that we are in luck as the Roman Catholic Parish Registers have been digitized and are available online. Unfortunately, the digitized baptism registers for Kirkinriola parish only start in 1848.

What more can be found about this new sister, Rose McKinley? The Irish records tell us that she marries James Cromie on January 22, 1861, in Ballymena. She was a 24-year-old spinster, living in Aghaboy and her father, Henry McKinley, was a labourer at that time. According to her marriage record, Rose would have been born in 1837 instead of 1842. The witnesses of James and Rose’s marriage are Adam Davison and Sarah McKeen.

James and Rose had four children born in Antrim County : Joseph, Mary, William Henry and Eliza. They migrated to Canada between 1873 and 1875 where they had a third daughter : Esther, born in Ontario in 1875. Rose McKinley died in Canada before 1891, but the exact date isn’t known at this moment.

A previous blog post described Eliza McKinley and Archibald McAllister’s family. From that post, we remember that her father, Henry McKinley, is a scutcher from Aghaboy. A major discrepancy should, however, be highlighted. When she marries in 1875, Eliza McKinley declares to be 21 years of age. According to this age, she would be born around 1854, which doesn’t match the birth date of 1842 that has been found in RootsIreland.com. Other sources put emphasis on this discrepancy :

• The immigration record from 1886 indicates that she was 27, which would make her born in 1859;
• The 1891 census gives her age as 36 years old, which would make her born in 1855;
• The 1901 census indicates that she was born on November 18, 1859;
• The 1911 census screwed up on the years of birth of everyone, making them 10 years older. It indicates that Eliza would be born in December 1849, but based on the 10-year discrepancy, that date would be December 1859;
• The 1921 census gives her 70 years old, which would make her born in 1851;
• Her death certificate indicates that she was 79 years old in 1930, which would make her born around 1851.

One thing is for sure, all those dates are quite far from the record of 1842 found on RootsIreland.com. Three sources mention her being born in 1859, two in 1854-1855, and two other in 1851. At this point, her birth date is still a mystery.

Sarah McKinley

A third daughter was born from Henry McKinley’s marriage to Mary O’Hara : Sarah McKinley. Her baptism has been recorded in Drumaul’s parish on October 1, 1848. Her parents are said to live in Ballytresna, just outside of Randalstown. The godparents are James Johnston and Amelia Douglas.

Before digging in the Irish Archives, it was known that Sarah McKinley was married to James Millar, but the exact date and location of their marriage were a mystery. Their marriage took place on April 6, 1867, in Ballymena. Sarah is a 19-year-old spinster from Aghaboy. This is consistent with her birth record mentioned above. Her father, Henry McKinley, is a scutcher. He seems to have been one of the witnesses, the second part being Elizabeth Hammill.

James Millar and Sarah McKinley had at least four sons in Ireland prior to migrating to Canada : James, Henry, William and Thomas. I am not sure when James Millar came to Canada, but Sarah and her four boys appear on the passengers list of the Moravian which arrived in Quebec City on November 16, 1876. James and Sarah also had two other sons in Canada : David and Alex. Sarah died in 1932.

William McKinley

Almost three years after Sarah’s birth, Mary O’Hara gave birth to a baby boy : William McKinley. He was baptized in Drumaul’s parish on February 9, 1851. The godparents were James Johnston and Catherine McAllister.

When we found this birth record, it became clear that William is the unnamed brother from Scotland whose name is unknown. Thankfully, autosomal DNA has given us at least 8 of his descendants to help us find out where exactly he settled in Scotland.

William McKinley and Ellen Simmonds marriage was celebrated on April 12, 1883, at Saint Andrew’s church in Edinburg. The marriage record shows that William McKinley is indeed the son of Henry McKinley and Mary O’Hara. Both of them are deceased at the moment of William’s marriage. William and his wife had 11 children : William, Mary, Martha Magdalene, Henry, Albert, James, Ellen, Ellen (yes, a second girl by the same name), Charles, Frederick and Peter. William McKinley died in 1934.

Mary McKinley

The last child born of Henry McKinley and Mary O’Hara’s wedlock is Mary McKinley. Her birth still hasn’t been found in the registers of either Drumaul or Kirkinriola parishes. Here is her age given from various documents :

• The 1881 census indicates that she is 22 years old, she would be born in 1859.
• The 1891 census indicates that she is 29 years old, she would be born in 1862.
• The 1901 census indicates that she is 40 years old and born on July 17, 1860.
• The 1911 census indicates that she is 45 years old and born in November 1866.
• Her tombstone indicates that she died on July 19, 1913, at the age of 52, she would be born between July 20, 1860, and July 19, 1861.
• Her obituary doesn’t mention her age at death.

She arrived in Canada prior to 1881 since she appears on the census of that year. Her obituary mentions that she lived in River Desert for 35 years which would make her cross the ocean in 1878. She might be the Mary McKinlay boarding the Peruvian in Londonderry and arriving at Quebec City on August 9, 1879.

Mary McKinley and Jeremiah Quaile married at L’Assomption church in Maniwaki and their marriage was celebrated on September 23, 1891. The marriage entry indicates that both of Mary’s parents have passed and mentions the presence of William Millar as witness. Let’s also note the signature of Mary Crummie at the end of the wedding entry. They are respectively Mary McKinley’s nephew and niece. Jeremiah and Mary had three children : Margaret, Thomas and James. Mary died in 1913.

Henry McKinley, Mary O’Hara and their land in Aghaboy

From the records found, it is clear that Henry McKinley and his family settled in Aghaboy between 1848 and 1851. Henry lived there until his death on January 24, 1879. His death record mentions him as a 63-year-old married scutcher. From the age mentioned on the death certificate, Henry would have been born around 1816.

This document suggests that Mary O’Hara is still alive at that time, otherwise Henry would be a widower. We know from William McKinley’s marriage that Mary O’Hara died prior to April 12, 1883. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a death record for Mary O’Hara.

Henry McKinley appears on the Griffith Valuation Rolls of 1861 as the occupant of the lot 9d leased to him from Charles Davison. He is also listed in the Valuation Revision books of 1864-1880, 1881-1896 and 1897-1912. For some reason, the revision books don’t seem to have been updated for that townland.

Multiple times, the name James Johnston was mentioned in this post. Who is he? What is his connection with the McKinley family? I was unable to find any blood relationship so far, but the families are close one to another. Eliza McKinley and Archibald McAllister were even witness to James Johnston’s marriage to Susanna McLean in 1874. It is sure that James Johnston also lives in Aghaboy. He was there in 1861 when the Griffith Valution occurred. He is listed as the occupant of lot 10b of Aghaboy leased to him from Adam Davison.

Both these plots of lands, the one occupied by James Johnston and the one occupied by Henry McKinley, are located near the Davison Mill where both men might have worked.

Conclusion

Even if Henry McKinley and Mary O’Hara’s marriage record still hasn’t been found, let’s remember that they had five children born between 1842 and 1860. The family mostly lived in Aghaboy townland from the early 1850 until 1879, when Henry died. Being a scutcher, he most likely worked at Davison’s Mill in Aghaboy adjacent to the plot of land where he settled with his family. One after the other, his four girls migrated to Canada. First, Rose between 1873 and 1875; then, Sarah and her sons in 1878; Mary followed, most likely in 1879; and, finally, Eliza in 1886. Their brother William also left Ireland and went to Scotland where he married and had a large family.