Discovery
The stone on the Slattery
family graves at Notre Dame Cemetery, Ottawa, (Lots
27 and 28, Section G) gives many family names and death
statistics, but was particularly important to this investigation
in giving a name, origin and vital statistics on Patrick,
the ancestor of the By-Ward Slattery's. The inscriptions
on the gravestone begins:
"Erected
by William and Myles Slattery
In memory of their beloved father Patrick Slattery
Native County Limerick, Ireland
Died Aug. 17, 1875 aged 80 years & 5 months"
In his obituary, it is reported
that he was from Knockaney, County Limerick, Ireland.
The village of Knockaney is about 20 miles south of
Limerick, near the town of Bruff. In the Griffifth Valuation
of Ireland (printed in 1851), Knockaney village was
central in the parish of the same name. Patrick Slattery
was born in January 1795 within or in the vicinity of
Knockaney village.
I have been told that this
area of Ireland was the ancestral home of the Slattery
family. I had some indication of this in 1987 when researching
the Grimes family, and by chance found a very old graveyard
of only Slattery names, near Dromineer, a resort village
on Lough Derg, about 15 miles north of Limerick city.
In the Griffith Valuation there are many Slattery names,
including 10 households in Knockaney parish. The survey
was made in the 1840's so may well have included Patrick
and family. There were two Patrick Slattery's, one having
only a house and garden, and the other on a 29 acre
farm with a number of buildings.
It was thought by present
Slattery descendants that the inscription on the gravestone
was a memorial only, and that Patrick had died in Ireland.
The Cemetery office records showed that William had
purchased tow lots, 27 and 28, one of which was for
his brother Myles. The only interments recorded were
for William and his family in Lot 28. There was not
interment record for Myles or for their father, Patrick,
and Lot 27 was apparently unused. This seemed to agree
with the hypothesis that Patrick had died in Ireland.
However there was one clue that Patrick may have come
to Ottawa. In the 1861 census, and in no other, there
had been a Patrick Slattery, "a family member"
of the right age for the father, living with Myles.
(William was in a different house.)
Further investigation was
needed, which led, after many blind alleys, and with
the help of the city of Ottawa Archivist, to persuade
the office at Notre Dame cemetery to examine their records
again. To their embarrassment, this time they found
the interment of Patrick in 1875, years before the cemetery
was officially opened. His was the first interment in
William's plot. Furthermore they found that the interments
were in Plot 27 and not Plot 28 as previously recorded
in their records.
Further confirmation was
found in the Ottawa Citizen in a death notice of August
17, 1875. It reads:
"On the 17th instant,
Mr. Patrick Slattery, a native of the parish of Knockany,
county of Limerick, Ireland in the 81st year of his
age. The funeral will take place at 4PM on Thurs. 19th
inst. from his late residence, Clarence St., opposite
the Market, to the Cathedral, and from thence to the
Catholic Cemetery, Montreal Road. Friends and acquaintances
are respectfully requested to attend without further
notice."
Patrick's wife was most probably
Bridget Kavanaugh, although her name is also shown as
Cavanaugh, and even Callahan or Callaghan, according
to which name one believes in the serial records at
Notre Dame Cathedral, Ottawa. (Cf. also William in Sect.
2.1). The absence of her name on the gravestone suggests
that she probably died and was buried in Ireland where
she had married and began her family. The obituary of
a daughter reported that her mother died in 1845 but
no location was given.
As Bridget died in 1845,
almost certainly in Ireland, and their son William was
married in Ottawa in 1850, it dates the emigration from
Ireland between 1845 and 1850.
Ireland
At the time of Patrick, Ireland was primarily agricultural
except for minor "cottage" industry; consequently
most of the Irish emigrants were farmers, but Patrick
and his sons were different. They were tradesmen and
shop-keepers and after emigrating to Canada and the
United States they proved to be entrepreneurs also.
It seems probable that Patrick was a butcher in Ireland
and that his son William assisted him.
When Patrick was born, Ireland
was under the yoke of the terrible Penal Laws set by
England. The Catholic church was underground, no Irish
could buy property or could vote, and many other strictures.
A consequence of the property law was that a man's property
had to be divided up progressively to provide for this
children. Possibly this was not too serious for a tradesman
but it was a disaster for farmers. It was an important
reason for emigration before the great famine which
started about 1845. Patrick must have left Ireland soon
after the famine started. I speculate that the worsening
economic conditions which reduced most of the population
to a diet of potatoes only, with meat only three days
a year at most, would have made butchering almost redundant,
and was the principal reason for leaving Ireland.
Children
As this investigation has
proceeded, many children of Patrick and Bridget, in
addition to William and Miles, have been identified.
There were at least five brothers and three sisters
who emigrated from Ireland. Two sons and three daughters
came to Ottawa, one went to New York, another to Chicago
and another "west" (from Florence Dornan,
a granddaughter of Bernard Slattery, son of William).
Some are well documented but others are uncertain. The
brevity of some of the accounts reflects this. Table
2 lists the children of Patrick and Bridget
so far identified, in particular those who are documented,
and also those who are only mentioned or inferred in
the records searched to date. Only William, Myles, Alice
and John have been discussed under separate headings.
The others are included in Other
Children of Patrick.
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