Taking on the 2026 14-Day Research Like a Pro Challenge

Image courtesy of Family Locket, used with permission.

 

It's January and time for the 14-Day Research Like a Pro Challenge brought to us by the mother-daughter team of Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer at Family Locket. I love the dedicated time to focus on a particular research question. The challenge takes researchers through the 7-step Research Like a Pro process to solve genealogical questions. 

Here's what I've done in the first seven days of the challenge: 

 

Day 1 - Objective: Research Question

My question for this year's challenge flows from some research I did last year on Maria Jane Darragh, a second great-grandmother. While I have learned a good deal about her already, some questions remain. First, why was Maria Jane's mother, Dorah Elliot Darragh, buried in the same plot as Joanna Elliot? Dorah Darragh died on 12 October 1856, while Joanna Elliot died three months prior, on 15 August 1856. Both are buried at St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery in Chatsworth, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada. Second, what was Dorah and Joanna's relationship? And how were they related to the Dillane family, whose name is prominently featured on their shared headstone?

My overall question for the project is: Was Joanna Elliot the mother of Dorah Elliot Bristol Darragh?

 

Day 2 - Write the Objective

Our instructions for the day: "Today's task is to take your research question and turn it into a complete objective. A complete research objective contains 'key identifiers.' These help you determine if a record you found matches your ancestor." Here's my objective:

The project objective is to discover the relationship between Joanna Elliot and Dorah Darragh, who are buried in the same cemetery plot in St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery, Chatsworth, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada (then Canada West).

Dorah was born Dorah Elliot about 1820 in Ireland. She first married a man with a Bristol surname about 1842, possibly in the United States; her husband died about 1847. Dorah married John Darragh about 1848, probably in Grey Co., Ontario, Canada West. Dorah died on 12 October 1856 in Owen Sound, Grey County, Ontario, Canada West.

Joanna Elliot was born about 1786 in Ireland. She lived in Sullivan, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada West, in 1851 and was Edward Elliot's wife. She died on 15 August 1856 in Chatsworth, Grey Co., Ontario, three months before Dorah died.

This is a question of relationship.

 

Day 3 - Timeline 

Today's task: "Gather and review sources that are already known about your relative and make a simple timeline."

I have a head start on this step with a timeline already developed in the past months. It was helpful to take a look at it again though and review my prior work. I keep my research notes in an Airtable base. I love its ability to filter, view, and hide fields depending on your needs at any moment. 

Since I have information on both Dorah Darragh and Joanna Elliot, I combined their two timelines for this project. Here is a snip: 

A project timeline snip from my Airtable base.

  

Day 4 - Analyze Your Sources—Today's task is to analyze our sources in terms of the type of source it is and what information it holds. Sources can be original, derivative, or authored. Information can be primary, secondary, or undetermined.

My favorite source in my timeline is an 1874 letter written by Dorah's husband, John Darragh, to the Marquette County, Michigan, Probate Court. In it, John defines numerous family relationships in an effort to secure an inheritance from Edward Bristol’s estate for his children, Jane Darragh and Daniel Darragh. The letter is an original source, offering primary information, and direct evidence of his relationships with Dorah, Jane, and Daniel; that Edward Bristol was Dorah’s son from a first marriage; that John and Dorah had three other unnamed children; that Dorah was a widow before they married, etc. Though some dates may be slightly off when compared to other sources, the letter is still important evidence connecting the family members.

 

John Darragh's letter to a probate court spelled out many family relationships.¹

 

 

 

Day 5 - Locality Research - "Today you’re going to do locality research - learning some background information about the place your relative lived." For this project, I am focusing on Grey County, which during the target time frame, was located in Canada West. 

 

The Darragh and Elliot families were first recorded in this area in the 1851 census, so a map of this region during that time period helps me to get a sense of where they lived. Here are two maps from Grey County. The first shows where Grey was situated in relation to surrounding counties, and on the Georgian Bay.

 

Johnson's Canada West map shows Grey County and surrounding counties.²

 

 

This second map shows Grey County in greater detail, including Sydenham, where Dorah Darragh and her family lived in 1851, and Sullivan, where Joanna Elliot lived. Chatsworth, where St. Stanislaus Catholic Cemetery is located, is noted in blue.

 

This 1857 map of Canada West shows Sydenham, Sullivan, and Chatsworth, all important localities to this research.³

  

Day 6 - Record Collections - Today we are looking at records where we might find the answer to our question and creating a list of collections to research in. The records that would be most helpful to me are marriage, cemetery, or burial records for St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and Cemetery in Chatsworth, Grey, Ontario. These are held by a local church in Grey County. A cemetery record could include the names and relationships of those in the plot; marriage and burial records could note Dorah's parents' names. I contacted the holding institution last Sept. to ask for record lookups but it hasn't happened yet. I may need to secure a local researcher to do the work if the church staff will allow it.

Day 7 - Hypothesis - Today, we create a hypothesis for our project based on what we know thus far. It's an educated guess - one I will test out during the research phase.

The following supports the hypothesis that Joanna Elliot is Dorah Darragh’s mother.

Joanna Elliot and Dorah Darragh are possibly mother and daughter. If so, being buried together in a family plot makes sense. The headstone which covers their burial place prominently displays the surname Dillane, however, the women’s Dillane family connection is currently unexplained.

It is possible Joanna was a Dillane; perhaps the other Dillane individuals in the same plot are kin, either siblings, cousins, or nieces and nephews. Charles Dillane, father to some others buried in the plot, was married to Mary Elizabeth Elliot, possibly a sister to Dorah. Numerous Dillane surname individuals were buried at St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Cemetery in Chatsworth.

The Elliot, Dillane, and Darragh families were intertwined, often living in the same localities, sometimes with members of one family living with one of the other families:

• In 1851, Charles Dillane’s daughter, Esther Dillane, shared a home with Edward and “Georgina” Elliot in Sullivan, Grey Co., Canada West.
• In 1851, Charles Dillane and Edward Elliot farmed the same parcel of land in Sullivan, Grey Co., Ontario, Canada West: Concession 1, Lot 3. Charles farmed 100 acres, Edward farmed 50 acres, and a third man farmed another 100 acres of the parcel. 
• In 1861, Edward Bristol, Dorah’s son from her first marriage, lived with the widowed Edward Elliot in Sullivan, Grey Co., Canada West.
• In 1871, Edward Elliot lived with Charles and Mary Dillane in Sullivan, Grey North, Ontario, Canada.
• In 1902, “Mr. Wm. Delaine and Miss Delaine,” attended the funeral of Daniel Darragh, Dorah’s son from her second marriage, in Owen Sound, Grey Co., Ontario.

There are also naming patterns with the names Dorah, Joanna, and Edward being used:

• Charles and Mary E. Dillane named daughters Dorah and Joanna, possibly after family members.
• Dorah Elliot named her first son Edward, possibly after Edward Elliot, if he was her father.
• In 1859, Charles and Mary gave their son John the middle name Edward, possibly after Edward Elliot, if he was Mary’s father.

In the coming days, I'll take more RLP process steps to research my question. I'll report here next week on the results.

Until next time... 

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2026. All rights reserved. 

NOTES

¹ Marquette Co., Michigan, Probate Court, 1869-1873, No. 66, Estate of Edward Bristol, filed 10 April 1873, petition of John Darragh; imaged, "Michigan, Probate Records, 1797-1973," FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99S1-99DB?lang=en&i=866 : accessed 29 June 2025).

² Johnson's Canada West (New York: A.J. Johnson, 1867); imaged, Brock University (https://brocku.scholaris.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/6f71e596-51c1-4f43-b720-03df385fb829/content : accessed 18 Jan. 2026); citing Historical Maps of Niagara, Map, Data & GIS Library, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

³ J.H. Colton, Canada West or Upper Canada (New York: J.H. Colton, 1857); imaged, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1857_Colton_Map_of_Ontario,_Canada_-_Geographicus_-_CanadaWest-colton-1857.jpg : accessed 18 Jan. 2026); citing Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, Brooklyn, New York.