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Archiver > LANCSGEN > 2011-03 > 1300771762


From: "Nora Agnes Kevan" <>
Subject: Re: [LAN] John Henry Keefe
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:29:22 +1100
References: <SNT110-W2818980E76E2F156D23FDACBCA0@phx.gbl><51382.209.225.110.225.1300048627.squirrel@wm.wi.net><201103132320.p2DNKRV1011858@pobox.sfu.ca><483DA8BBAD724C0E8AA4106E7820227E@USER><!&!AAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAAAABL/C+vohJNHjO5Y4ZeLnZfCgAAAEAAAAPGEL4f15YtBua85sjwq5Z0BAAAAAA==@tiscali.co.uk><A97E8482C37544F2944678D4E3AEE95D@VERNPC><6F849AC2023346B4AEF794EEE784B479@VERNPC><B361D0BA7DDE475CB3FDE2E047946909@USER><0A3FD34BEE234B2AA6580520EC3DDD2D@VERNPC>


Hi Vern
Thank you for your two emails and the images of the passenger list. .
My sight is too poor to read much on the computer monitor (I use a
program called JAWS which reads everything aloud) However I have found
that if I print images out to full page size I can use my electronic
magnifier to see it quite well.

My information about John Henry Keefe was obtained from a Birchall
descendant. Vera Birchall whose father was George Arthur Birchal and
her grandfather was a John Henry Birchall. He was brother to my
grandfather also named George Arthur Birchall and their sister was Ada
Elizabeth Birchall who married Benjamin Keefe and whose son was John
Henry Keefe. I still finds this confusing and have to look it up each
time'

I will try to find Vera's letter later but in the meantime I will
tell you the gist of what she told me.

Ada Elizabeth born 25 Jun 1868 m. Benjamin Keefe,a mariner 23 Nov
1885 in Liverpool. They had three children Gertrude 1886, John Henry
1888 and Emily Jane 1890. Some time after the birth of this third
child Benjamin went off to sea and was never heard of again. On 5 Jul
1898 Ada E. went through a second marriage ceremony with James Fleming
as a spinster using Keefe as her father's name.
It is possible there were 5 children from this marriage as various
dates were found in the Family Bible. 31.10.02 11.7.04 24.4.0611.3.10
& 11.11.13 but Vera knew of only three - Florence, Ethel and James
Fleming. You will see that John Henry was 10 when James became his
stepfather. I do not know when the trouble between them came to a head
but James Fleming was sentence to 9 months gaol for beating John H.
with a belt and John H. was sent to a boy's home near Leamington.
Later he was sent to Canada on the ss. Dominion. He wrote home to his
family that he was working for a Mr. Maxwell Smith at Pakenham and
that he was going to marry a girl from Sandypoint about 2o miles away
A researcher in Canada told me she could not find Sandypoint on her
map. All this was in one letter from Vera and she promised to try to
find out more and write again. Although I replied I never heard from
her again. As you can see. it is short on detail especially dates.
It seems that the row between John H and James would have taken a year
or two to come to a head and then he would have been at the home for a
couple of years minimum so the date he arrived in Canada would have
not been earlier than 1903 or 4 .Your date of 1907 is more probable. I
do not know whether there was one letter to the family or two or more.
I think my letter to Vera asked many such questions. If I wrote on the
computer the copy is long gone because in the early days is was
troublesome and time-consuming to transfer everything to a new
computer. I probably still have it on floppy disk but my present model
does not have a floppy disk drive!

This story has intrigued me for years and I would dearly love to find
out if J.H.K has any descendants. By the way I looked at a database
of Canadians who served in WW1 there was one John Keefe but he was 45
years old and his mother (Bridget) was named as next of kin. Can't
find him on 1911 census in Lanark, can't find him on the marriage
index up to 1913 (the section was marked up to 1922 but there were so
few marriages that I wonder if it is incomplete. Maybe he moved to
another Province, or to the USA or did he die prematurely? The only
John Henry Keefe death ref. I found was a grave in in Woodlawn
Cemetery in Guelph for a wife Charlotte but the name was O'Keefe and
an obituary I was sent for this family revealed that this John Henry
was born in Canada and it gave parents and other relatives. (This was
some years ago and I am quoting from memory)

I would appreciate any suggestions for further research!

Regards, Nora



----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: [LAN] John Henry Keefe


Ontario marriages are online up to about 1926 on Ancestry.ca

I had looked for a marriage earlier without success, possibly due to
transcription errors or an odd spelling. Do you know the name of the
girl
he married? I might have more luck searching for her.

I had found Maxwell Smith on the 1911, but didn't see John Henry
there.
However, I will take another look.

Vern



-----Original Message-----
From: Nora Agnes Kevan
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:53 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [LAN] John Henry Keefe

Hi Vern
Thank you so much for this info. It makes sense as he was born in 1888
and would have been 19 in 1907. It explains why he was not on the
Lanark census for 1901. A researcher in Canada sent this to me
I did find the man John Henry Keefe went to work for
J. Maxwell Smith is listed in the 1901 census for Pakenham. He was
37 in 1901, his occupation was farmer and he is listed as being a son
to
the head of the household. His mother, Mary Smith, widower age 69 is
listed as being the head of the household. John Maxwell Smith's wife
is
listed as Maggie Smith, age 36. Their daughter Pearl (age 12) and son
Ira Jameson (age 11) are still living with them as well as a daughter
Edith S. (age 9) and a son, Horace M. (age 5).

When this was sent to me the 1911 census had not been made available.
A letter to the family announced he was marrying a girl from
Sandypoint which I understand is about 20 miles from Packenham. My
correspondent lived in Vancouver and I did not ask her to look for the
marriage as I understood that at that time one had to contact the
local record office. Can you tell me whether there is a marriage index
on line?

Regards, Nora

Original Message -----

From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 7:56 AM
Subject: Re: [LAN] John Henry Keefe


John H Keefe sailed to Canada on the Dominion from Liverpool on 12
September, 1907. Destination port was Montreal. Another Keefe family
also
sailed on the ship, but are listed separately. They are James and
Mary
Keefe, with children Ruby, May, Pearl, Gladys, Harold, and Esther.

Vern in Ontario











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