McArdles & McCanns
I and a group in Canada are tracking our McArdle/McMardle and McCann families who appear to have at one time lifed in the townland of Carriff/Carrive in the Parish of Forkill, County Armagh. They are shown in the 1821 Census, (Kick Any Stone page 216, item 100) as John McAdle and his wife Catherine McCann and their children Anne, Michael, Catherine, James and Eleanor. As near as we can tell, some number of this family (Anne and Michael for sure) left Ireland and arrived in the Westport (North Crosby) area of Ontario about 1839. They may have traveled with a larger group (15 -20 familes) from the Forkill Parish/area. I have two questions we think may help us in our sorting out of this puzzle, they are:
- We have found a Westport, Canada Catholic baptism record that states that John and Catherine McCann were the sponsors to a daughter born to a person who we believe to be their daughter Anne. We think the John in this listing is in fact John McArdle, the Priest in this church was not all that organized, lets say. In any case, the question is: Could John McArdle and Catherine McCann living in Ireland at this time (1848) have been the girls sponsor by proxy?
- The harder question is: Is there any indication in Forkill that John McArdle and his wife Catherine McCann may have left Ireland at the same time as their 5 children? We have not found any records in either Canada or the United States that indicate this may have occurred.
We are very confident that we (myself and one lady in Canada) are related to John and Catherine as supported by DNA results and a long list of other documents, none of which is an actual document proofing the relationship, however, we think we have sufficient information to document a relationship.
We would very much appreciate your help with these two questions and thank you in advance for all your help in helping us solve our family connection to Ireland.
Philip Jones,
Maryland, USA

