The 1871 Census for Canada is available on microfilm at the National Archives of Canada. Knowing that the Mathew Murphy family moved to South Hull in 1868 (from "Pioneers of The Upper Ottawa" by Anson Gard), we searched for their records in the 1871 Census.
The census records shown below were obtained from Reel C-10026, Census District 93, sub-district b1 (Hull). The agricultural return portion of the Census (Schedule 4) locates the John McConnell farm at Lot 13, Concession 1. The property is highlighted in green on the map below (adapted from the map published in "Aylmer: It's Heritage" by Diane Aldred). Note the French term for "Concession", which is "Rang".
The farm was located along the north shore of the Ottawa River, about halfway between Deschênes Rapids and the Remic Rapids. The Rivermead Golf Club purchased this property around 1905. John McConnell died in 1908 in Ottawa.
From Schedule 1, page 32, the family of John McConnell (house #87, family #88):
| Surname | First Name | Gender | Age | Place of Birth | Religion | Rank or Profession |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McConnell | Jonathan | M | 43 | Quebec | W. Methodist | Farmer |
| " | Sarah | F | 40 | " | " | |
| " | Fanny A. | F | 19 | " | " | |
| " | John | M | 17 | " | " | |
| " | Mary J. | F | 14 | " | " | |
| " | James | M | 12 | " | " | |
| " | Charlotte | F | 10 | " | " | |
| " | Sarah | F | 7 | " | " | |
| " | Alfred | M | 3 | " | " | |
| " | Robert | M | 1 | " | " |
From Schedule 1, page 33, here is the record of the family of Mathew Murphy (house #89, family #90):
| Surname | First Name | Gender | Age | Place of Birth | Religion | Rank or Profession |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murphy | Mathew | M | 57 | Ireland | Church of England | Labourer |
| " | Catherine | F | 45 | U.States | W. Methodist | |
| " | James | M | 23 | Ontario | " | |
| " | Esther L. | F | 20 | " | " | |
| " | Caroline A. | F | 17 | " | " | |
| " | Edward | M | 16 | " | " | |
| " | Albert J. | M | 10 | " | " | |
| McKeown | Ruben | M | 2 | " | " | |
| " | Sarah | F | - | " | " |
So there are two houses on the John McConnell farm. It was common for farmers to provide separate quarters to house farm worker families. And here we find the family of Mathew Murphy and Catherine Ebert as of April 1871 in a separate household. Mathew's age makes him an unlikely farm labourer although the record states this. We know that he was listed as a "lighthouse keeper" at the time of the 1881 census. At that time, the only lighthouse in the vicinity was the Aylmer Light, just upstream from the McConnell farm. It is not clear whether it had yet been built as of the 1871 census.
It is worth noting that the listing of the Mathew Murphy family does not show their eldest son William even though he was living in the same house! The reason is that he has married by this time and his family appears separately listed as "family #91".
Nor do we find Mathew and Elizabeth's eldest daughter Eliza. She was also married but -- as we will see -- there is reason to believe she may have already died by this time.
Let's look at the "McKeown" names listed with the Mathew Murphy & E. Catherine Ebert family. This indicates adoption or guardianship of these children. In "The Story of Matthew Murphy", we have explored the question of the identity of Reuben McEwen. The surprising thing we find here is that there are two McKeown children in the family at this time. It appears that Eliza (Murphy) McEwen and Reuben McEwen had a daughter as well as a son (Reuben McEwen Jr., shown here as "Ruben McKeown"). Besides the "-" (dash) in Sarah McKeown's age, there is also a code that indicates she was born within the 12 months previous to the census date. This corresponds very neatly (albeit tragically) with our hypothesis that Eliza (Murphy) McEwen died in childbirth. At this time, as shown elsewhere in the 1871 Census for Nepean, Reuben McEWEN senior can be found living on his parents' farm in Nepean. His marital status is shown as "Widower".
On a happier note, we see that my great grandfather James Cornelius Murphy, aged 23, is living in the Mathew Murphy household while Frances A. McConnell (who is to be James' bride by October 9th, 1871) was living in the John McConnell household on the same homestead. He married both the farmer's daughter and the girl next door...
From Schedule 1, page 33, the family of William H. Murphy (house #89, family #91):
| Surname | First Name | Gender | Age | Place of Birth | Religion | Rank or Profession |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murphy | William H. | M | 27 | Ontario | W. Methodist | Farmer |
| " | Mary J. | F | 27 | Ireland | Presbyterian | |
| " | Harriet | F | 1 | " | " | |
| McConnell | Charlotte | F | 11 | Quebec | " | |
| " | Marg. A. | F | 7 | " | " | |
| " | Caroline | F | 5 | " | " |
Well, well. A few more surprises here. Firstly, as mentioned above, we have the family of William Murphy and Mary Jane Ramsay living in the same household as William's parents Mathew Murphy and Catherine Ebert. But the second, more surprising thing is that the William Murphy family has also adopted children: three young girls named McConnell! Well, it's unclear whether they were simply boarding with the family or if this is another case of guardianship or adoption.
Whether adopted or simply boarding with William and Mary Jane, the question remains. We have a theory but please bear in mind that is only a theory -- we don't have any evidence yet! (At this point we can't even be certain they were sisters). Let's start by considering who they can't be. The census listing for the John McCONNELL & Sarah IRISH family above contains all of their known children (except David, not yet born). So, it is highly unlikely that these McConnell girls are previously unknown children of the family of John McCONNELL and Sarah IRISH.
So who else could they be? Next, we searched through the McConnells on our database, and soon found a good candidate for a match: the family of Alfred McCONNELL and Margaret IRISH. In fact, they are the only match with any of this McConnell family for which we have reliable data. Our database shows that their family had two daughters: Charlotte (born 1860) and Margaret (no dates known). Alfred McCONNELL was the son of William McCONNELL and Olive MOORE, and was born in 1831 and died in 1866. He lived long enough and late enough (1866) to have left children of this age (by her age at the census, the youngest must have been born in 1866).
The match between these two fragmentary family records seems pretty strong already. But note also this very interesting fact: Margaret IRISH is the sister of Sarah IRISH (the wife of John McCONNELL). If we are correct, these girls could be the first cousins of the McConnells living next door.
The death date of Alfred McCONNELL would explain why these children were missing a father. But surely they would have to be missing their mother as well to have been taken in by the William MURPHY family. We do know that later, in 1873, Margaret IRISH married Narcisse PERRAULT, another of the Ottawa riverboat captains with the Upper Ottawa Forwarding Company. This is recorded in the register of St Paul's Catholic Church in Aylmer. Later still, in the 1881 Census records, Narcisse and "Margret" PERRAULT can be found with their four daughters. Their children are shown as Charlot McCONNELL age 21, Maria McCONNELL age 19, Margret McCONNELL age 17 , Caroline McCONNELL age 14. So, there is yet another daughter of Alfred McCONNELL and Margaret IRISH -- Maria. She and her mother, the newly widowed Margaret (IRISH) McCONNELL, were presumably elsewhere during the 1871 census.
To summarize briefly what these records tell us: On the homestead of John McCONNELL and Sarah IRISH, there were two households. One was occupied by the McCONNELL family. The second was occupied by two families: the family of Mathew MURPHY & Elizabeth Catherine EBERT and the family of William Henry MURPHY and Mary Jane RAMSAY. Both of the MURPHY families included adopted children! The McEWEN children were the eldest grandchildren of Mathew MURPHY and Elizabeth EBERT, by their eldest daughter, Eliza MURPHY. The McCONNELL girls living with the William MURPHY family at the 1871 Census of Hull were nieces of both John McCONNELL (brother of Alfred McCONNELL) and Sarah IRISH (sister of Margaret IRISH). The girls were reunited with their mother (and another sister) when their widowed mother remarried, to Narcisse PERRAULT in 1873.
Back to Murphy Family of Ottawa, Canada Web site.