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Henry Family to Canada in 1830s

Sligo

I live in Canada and would like to find my family’s oldest possible Irish connections for the Henry family.  Samuel Henry of Sligo City married Jane in Ireland.  She was born about 1778.  We know little about Samuel but his wife Jane died in Ontario, Canada in 1850.  What became of Samuel?  The children and their mother appear to have come to Canada over several years between 1833 and 1847.

Their 6 children were Michael (1799-1836), Jane, Samuel, Thomas R. (1808-), Frances (c1820-), and Catherine. 

In 1834, Michael was farming in Ontario, Canada and may have been the first family member to arrive here.

Jane was born in County Sligo and became Jane Leighton.  She arrived in Canada in 1847. 

Samuel became a doctor and practiced in Tullamore.  He moved to New York City to practice there.  By 1835, he was living in Ontario, Canada.

Thomas became a physician and surgeon and studied at Trinity College, Dublin and Edinburgh, Scotland.  He served with the Royal Navy.  He later practiced in New York City with Samuel.  In 1835, he arrived in Ontario.

Anne was born in County Sligo and came to Ontario and married John Johnson.

Frances (Fanny) married my ancestor Andrew Blair, of Scotland, in Ontario.

A Catherine died in Ontario in 1850, but this may have been Michael’s wife.

As Samuel and Thomas were both doctors, was there father as well?  I have more Henry family history in Ontario to share but little in Ireland.  If you Irish Blairs came to Ontario in the 1800s, I may be able to help you with them as well.

warof1812cdnst…

6 replies

Hi - I think you can do a bit of digging via Irish sites and probably some British sites. ie - contact the Royal Navy for records. Contact the colleges mentioned for any records. I'd also recommend taking a look at Irish genealogy books like the one below to help plot out your plan of action. You'll want to gather up as many of their birth, death and marriage certificates as possible. Check Grenham's book - perhaps your local library will have it - or find a copy via the net. 

Good hunting. 

Steve Lemken

Tracing Your Irish Ancestors

by John Grenham 

 

Drumrat SligoIrelandXO Volunteer

Fred

I live in Sligo and will see if I can help.

Unfortunately, as you know, our records are at best patchy for the period you are interested in.

To start with the medical aspect of your enquiry, I have found that a Dr. Alexander Henry was listed in the Sligo Directory as a Physician at Chapel Lane in Sligo n 1837.

There is a death record for Samuel Henry, Physician in Eccles Street, Dublin, in 1888 (wife Matilda). He was 83 years old so he could have been a young doctor in Sligo. However he could also be a son of an elder doctor, Samuel!

The Irish medical schools might be worth an approach and given that you believe there is a family association with Trinity College that might be a good place to start. Check the www.tcd.ie site and specifically Contact Details - Faculty of Health Sciences - Trinity College Dublin (tcd.ie)

I found the reference to Alexander practicing on Chapel lane in a book titled "Sligo: Medical Care in the Past: 1800 - 1965" written by Dr. Paddy Henry, a much respected Sligo GP. Paddy died in May this year and there is a good synopsis of his life in this article Well known Sligo GP passes away - Independent.ie.

While I can not be absolutely certain I do not believe that Paddy was connected to Alexander.

I am attaching a list of Henrys, born in Sligo between 1807 and 1828, father = Samuel. These may not be all one family as there look to be 2 distinct groups. The first one has a different mother than the next 2. The latter 4 mother is listed as Anna Marie White. This family lived in Calry to the east of Sligo town - however Calry comes right to the town boundary and today Calry Church (Protestant faith) is inside the town boundary.

Another angle for you might be to check military records as suggested by Steve above. Sligo was an important miltary barrack town up to the 1920s and I believe that there would have been a full medical support staff for the army personnel based here. I also recall from somewhere that (at least some of) the Henry family may have been posted to Sligo during early conflicts in the late 1600s/1700s.

If you continue to run into roadblocks there is an excellent Facebook site called Sligo Heritage and History Club and you could post your interest there. There are many excellent (and actie) participants in this group and you might strike it lucky!

Good luck with your research and if there is anything elese I can help with let me know

Tom

Tom Kelly, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Fred

I also came across this interesting gravestone inscription for a Hannah Leighton (nee Henry) - date of death 1846 - wife of Hugh Henry.

Roots Ireland have recently uploaded over 10,000 gravestone inscriptions, mainly for Sligo town. See http://sligo.rootsireland.ie/. You will need a subscription but you can take out a daily or a monthly one.

Regards

Tom

Tom Kelly, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you Steve and Tom, it will take me a while to explore these interesting sources.  Please let me know if you need any research help here in Ontario, Canada.  This was an early French fur trapping area that was not settled by the British until after the American Revolution.  Irish soldiers received land grants here as pensions when they were discharged after the revolution and after the Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812.  Most of the Irish settlers arrived here during the famon years.  From about 1804 to 1850, immigrants could apply for a 200 acre land grant and sometimes supplies for establishing a farm.  Recently we have been recruiting Irish computer experts.  Computer coding just became a mandatory elementary school subject last year!

Fred Blair

warof1812cdnst…

Thanks Fred

Good luck with your research and do let us know if we can help further.

For myself any of my emigrant ancestors seem to have transited through Canada and settled in the Ohio valley. I am still chasing Kelly ancestors there!

Kind regards

Tom

Tom Kelly, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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