Montreal RC records for Clare-born

[smcarberry]

Due to my family's residing in Montreal when they first left Ireland, I had already located their parishes when I recently received news that the Mormons have placed online their films of RC records in the Province of Quebec. I had what I thought were the complete listings for my family, because I had used the Canadian National Archives index cards when I visited their Montreal facility in 1993. However, my research then was being quickly done because my young children were waiting in a hallway and, although they were well-behaved, I was asked to leave with them after about only a half-hour, although my home was several thousand miles away. Two years later, after moving back to the East Coast, I wrote the involved parishes for cemetery information, receiving the disappointing news that both churchyard cemeteries had been dismantled and decedents' remains had been relocated elsewhere without an attempt to make new grave markings for any interment.

Below is the link to the page which I used to view the parish records, some of which are in English and most in French.
The films at this link show the same pages that I viewed in person a dozen years ago but this time I had an opportunity to
see as much as I wished. I chose some years in a time block before and after the records already seen. I have listed those
which have either specifically noted Clare as a person's origin or were the records of people who seemed to have appeared in prior records of a Clare person, i.e., are in the Clare person's family or social circle. There is a limit on how big the attachments can be, so I will first post St. Joachim parish, in a small community of Pointe Claire, a short sleigh ride away from Montreal, where I believe my gggrandfather went to work on the Grand Trunk Railway section being constructed there in 1854. There seemed to be a lot of Irish listings including the Lepage family, who were obviously French in origin. Perhaps this family had English-speakers and were needed for translation for French-speaking priests. There is at least one connection shown between the Lepage family of Pointe Claire and the second parish involving my family, that of Saints Anges in Lachine, a district of Montreal where I noticed a number of Irish families, many who likely were there prior to 1846, for the canal's construction [see photo]. I included a photo of the front of Sts. Anges, where the churchyard cemetery (now the parking lot) used to be, until 1859 if I am interpreting the records correctly. I included front and back photos of St. Joachim, with the ground in back having the appearance of once holding individual graves.

Regarding Lachine, not all Irish counties were represented in the time block I viewed (most were from Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford), and I only selected Clare ones for this pdf. There are many other films for this parish which can be viewed online, for earlier and later years than I chose.

I now know why my ggrandfather's baptism in Lachine included Patrick Tracy as a godparent; he was related as a husband of a Catherine Carberry whose existence was not known until seeing this record. I do think I know the involved Thomas Carberry, because he shows up in Illinois in time for the 1870 census. I also think I have Patrick Tracy,wife Catherine, and daughter Mary Tracy in Illinois as of that year, but further research must be done. My Patrick's uncle Peter Carberry has been confirmed as being in Illinois as of 1870.

So, a few hours of viewing these films has resulted in greater understanding of the people in the parish listings and an expansion of my known family.

Here is the link:
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... =browsable

Sharon Carberry USA

[smcarberry]

Part two is the pdf for Sts. Anges records (Lachine) and photos of the church plus the Lachine canal, combined with the
Lachine RC cemetery office's letter.

Sharon Carberry