The last post made it clear that my paternal great-grandmother, Agnee McGee, was the daughter of Francis McGee and Margaret Walsh. I remember my grandmother Joan telling me that her own grandmother, Maggie, with whom she shared a room as a child, died in the bed next to her when she was little. While it is never wise to trust family myths and legends of this type, it is nevertheless something that should be tested as a hypothesis. Joan is dead - so that's not ideal. The task in front of me, from this juncture onward, is to find Agnes in Canadian census documents with a father named Francis and a mother named Margaret.
The 1911 Census of Canada comes to the rescue. A return for the Papineau District of Montreal, Quebec shows an Agnes, aged 6, living with adults named Francis and Marguerite. Given that census-takers may have been francophone, and that Marguerite is a common French derivative of Margaret, it is reasonable to assume that this may very well my Agnes, and my Frank. The baptism certificate from the last post shows that the Agnes baptized by mother Margaret, with Frank being absent, was born on October 7, 1904. This is relatively congruent with the marriage documents we looked at last time.
This Census document shows Agnes' birthday as being born on August 7, 1904. Discrepancies in census returns are incredibly common but I cannot yet validate that this is the same individual. Nevertheless, it provides a sound working hypothesis. The census return shows Francis and Marguerite as the heads of household with children named Mary-Ann, Percy, Mary, James, William and Agnes. Bingo - my grandmother has always spoken of an uncle Percy. Percy is a pretty distinctive name. While this is not probative, it does provide me with greater confidence that I may have found the right Agnes, and thus the right Francis and Margaret, in the Census.
Other details? The entire family is listed as being of being of the Irish "race," and of Canadian "nationality." All the children and Margaret are listed as having been born in Canada. Francis, on the other hand, is listed as having been born in England in 1866, and as having migrated to Canada in 1885 - when he would have been 18 or 19 years old.
This is getting very interesting.
Other than whether or not this is the right family, some burning questions...
-Why was Francis not present at the baptism of Agnes?
-Why was Agnes originally baptized at home?
-Why was Agnes baptized several years after her birth knowing that I come from a family of devout Catholics?
These questions burn. Next time... Francis and Margaret's marriage documents....
