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Gilbride or Gallagher: Which Michael is Buried in Sacramento?

I'm taking on a little challenge this week to hopefully correct a mistake 138-years in the making. It involves a cemetery record in which the wrong surname was recorded. Was it Michael Gilbride or Michael Gallagher who was interred at St. Joseph Cemetery in Sacramento? (You may remember my posts about Michael Gilbride published in fall 2022, and how I originally discovered him, his family's move to Lowell, Massachusetts, and more. To catch up, start here:  Dear Sir: How I Found My Civil War Veteran, Michael Gilbride .) I can make a compelling case that the man was Michael Gilbride, who is a third great-granduncle, and the son of my immigrant ancestor James Gilbride (1874-1872) and his wife Mary Catherine Hart Gilbride (1807-1855). Why is this important? Michael was a Civil War veteran, who served in the 52nd Pennsylvania, Co. H. By the time he lived in Sacramento, he was indigent. In 1884, he applied for a Civil War pension, and was still fighting for it in 1886, when he died.
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MARIA JANE DARAH


 

31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

January 28, 2022:   Paternal Great, Great Grandmother #4 - Maria Jane Darah (1850-1903)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

Of all the subjects of this challenge, Maria Jane Darah is perhaps one I know the least about. I have no photo and few records. I can only see her through the lens of others in her life. 

Maria Jane was the first wife of Charles Francis Cassidy, who together are another set of 2x great grandparents, the parents of Catherine Cassidy and grandparents to our Grandma Gilbride. Sadly, Grandma would never have met or known her grandmother Maria, as she died a full ten years prior to her birth.1

Maria's parents were John Darah and Dora Elliott, and she was born about 1850 near Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario—a long, narrow bay located on the southwestern end of Georgian Bay, a wing of Lake Huron. It is likely she was actually born in Sydenham or St. Vincent, the nearest settlements, which future research may confirm.2

Maria's birthplace of Owen Sound shown on this 1850 map of Canada. Note the "Indian Reserve" located on the peninsula to the west, occupied by the Chippewa.3

 

Following Maria's marriage to Charles Cassidy in 1883, the couple had four children: Catherine (our 2x great grandmother), Mary Jane (who later became Sister M. Magdalena), Phillip and James.

It appears that Maria became ill in her early 50s—she suffered from "acute mania," for five weeks prior to her death on 23 October 1903. We might recognize this condition as bipolar disease today, though the exact details of Maria's condition and death are unknown. At this time too, it is unknown where she is buried, though the family was living in St. Catharines at the time.4

1903 obituary of Mary Jane Darah Cassidy, wife of Charles Cassidy.5


BONUS: Lineage chart from Maria Jane Darah to me.


NOTES

1 St. Catharines, Lincoln County, Death Registrations, vol. "6", 1903, p. 433, Mary Jane Cassidy (53), 23 October 1903; database with images, "Canada, Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q93-C9YJ-GY81 : accessed 28 January 2022); Deaths > 1903 > no 13721-19304 > image 865 of 1730; citing Registrar General. Archives of Ontario, Toronto.

2 Ontario, Office of Registrar General, County of Lincoln, Division of St. Catharines, Marriage Registrations 1869-1911,  Unit "D," 1884, p. 537 (stamped), #25 (inked)/#6676 (stamped), marriage of Charles Cassady and Maria Jane Darah, 20 June 1883; database & images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-Y39T-XNJ : accessed 27 January 2022); citing Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. Also: William H. Smith, Smith's Canadian gazetteer : comprising statistical and general information respecting all parts of the upper province, or Canada West (Toronto: Henry Roswell, 1849), 156; image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/smithscanadianga00smitrich/page/140/mode/2up : accessed 28 January 2022).

3  Henry Tallis, West Canada (London: J. & F. Tallis, abt. 1850); image, Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/1850_Tallis_Map_of_West_Canada_or_Ontario_%28_includes_Great_Lakes_%29_-_Geographicus_-_WestCanada-tallis-1850.jpg : accessed 28 January 2022). File provided to Wikimedia Commons by Geographicus Rare Antique Maps; this media file is in the public domain in the United States.

4 St. Catharines Death Registrations, Mary Jane Cassidy, 1903.

5 "To Charles Cassidy...", The St. Catharines Standard, 23 October 1903, np, regarding death of wife Maria Jane Cassidy. Image supplied by Niagara Peninsula Branch, Ontario Ancestors, Concord, Ontario.




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