Still struggling to turn this into scenes so I decided to go with a simple narrative and try to evoke a few images. This is Ned's "back story" - where he and his family came from and the early events that shaped his life. It is not completely different from the previous post but I have tried to make it a more interesting read.

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The family that grew with Ottawa and Canada

The families that had been neighbours in the townlands of Crutt and Moneenroe, near Castlecomer in County Kilkenny, Ireland, remained in contact in Canada. It seems that everyone in Castlecomer region was either a farmer or coal miner. The hardships suffered at the hands of landlords and the terrible shortage of food in the famine had forced families to leave all that they had known. Michael McGrath was a grown man when emigrated to Canada in 1847. With him was his mother Mary Maher, step-father Hugh Toole and half-siblings Elizabeth and James Toole. The Irish emigrants sharing the journey might have been their neighbours, John and Ellen Brennan and their children Margaret, Catherine, William and James. After the dreadful Atlantic crossing and the perils at Grosse Ile quarantine station, they all eventually arrived in Bytown. Michael McGrath found work as a labourer in Aylmer on the opposite side of the Ottawa River and Catherine Brennan became a servant in a Bytown home. 

Michael McGrath, age 34, and 17 year old Catherine Brennan, married in Notre Dame Basilica in Bytown in 1854. Their families would undoubtedly have been acquainted, but the difference in their ages meant that they did not fall in love until they were settled in Canada. What brought them together in Bytown? We can but speculate that they had been acquainted for years. Michael must have moved to Bytown before their marriage. Their past lives had been difficult but the future would show that they raised a family that prospered despite multiple sad losses along the way. Hard work and determination raised them from the grinding poverty that they had grown up with.

Lowertown, where they set up house, was home to most of the Irish population at that time. It was a tough area with few luxuries other than access to business and the farmer’s market. The town was named after Colonel John By who had overseen the building of the Rideau Canal from 1826 to 1832.  Its name changed when the city of Ottawa was incorporated in 1855. That same year, the McGraths welcomed their first child, John, namesake of his maternal grandfather. Canada was not yet a country. 

Imagine Catherine carrying water from a common well, for cooking, cleaning and bathing. Where would baby John have been while she did this? The trudge through the rough streets to the market was made much more difficult in Spring when the Rideau River would overflow its banks. What were streets became mud holes. 

In 1857, Queen Victoria named Ottawa as the capital of Canada, but it would still be 10 years before Canada became a country until July 1, 1867. 

The McGrath family grew along with the city and the new country. In the years following John’s birth, more and more sons arrived to fill up the household. Their sports teams were assembled, one player at a time. William who was born in June 1956 was the namesake of his paternal grandfather. With the arrival of third son Michael shortly before Christmas of 1858, and then James in early 1861, Catherine’s workload mounted. In 1863 baby Thomas arrived for a very short stay on earth. He lived but two weeks and his loss was the first recorded family tragedy. Edward Patrick, our Ned, was born a year later, as the middle child in what would grow into a large family. He was baptised about a week after his birth.

Meanwhile, the senior leaders of the nation-in-waiting were holding meetings in Charlottetown to plan the unification of the former British Colonies. 

Two years later, Joseph Eugene was born, three days before Ned’s second birthday. The celebration of Confederation on July 1, 1867, coincided roughly with Joe’s first birthday. 

The rough and tumble McGrath boys were a mighty force, on the baseball and lacrosse fields, and as part of a family that held nothing more sacred than their family connection. Where you found one, you found the others. Their Irish heritage was their proudest treasure and no succeeding generation was allowed to forget where they came from.

The birth of their first daughter, christened Mary Ellen but always called Mary, in December of 1868 was greeted with great jubilation. Finally a cheerleader for whatever sports team was playing at the moment. Three years later Dennis Patrick arrived. Mary Catherine “Kate,” made her appearance in 1874 and the final baby of the family, Francis Joseph, was born in 1877. They certainly had a houseful. As the children arrived over 22 years, Catherine’s oldest sons were gainfully employed by the time the last baby arrived. None moved out of the family home before they married. 

During the first 12 years of their marriage, Michael and Catherine had multiple addresses. From a city directory we know that in 1861 they were living on Baird St. When Ned was born in 1864 their home was on Nunnery St, now known as Bruyere St. It was mere blocks from Baird but a little closer to the centre of town and a little farther from the Rideau River. It was in the immediately following years that Michael uprooted the family from their well-known neighbourhood and community of friends and settled his brood in Mount Sherwood, nearer to Booth Street than Bronson. This was a difficult move but the McGraths became pioneers in a community that they would never leave.

There were a few moves as Michael built two homes on Lebreton Street. Some of their moves were temporary as Michael proceeded with building their home at 146 Lebreton Street. Michael always lived with Ned, no matter the address. The family lived for over 10 years at 132 Lebreton St. In 1877 the city sold building lots and Michael acquired one almost next door to #132 and built his family their ‘forever home’. 

The joy of having their own custom-built house was tempered with sadness. Catherine long mourned her terrible losses. Not all of their children would live to share this new home. Baby Thomas had lived only two weeks after his birth in 1863, and they hardly had time to know him. Joe lived only a few months past his seventh birthday, so he too never set foot in their final home. Dennis was only two years old when, as they said at the time “the death angel came for him”. It was 1873. This was their worst year. They had lost Dennis in July and Joe in October. Their loss was immeasurable.  Michael and Catherine warily welcomed baby Kate into the family the following year. She was the only sister that Mary would have. Their youngest child Francis entered the world in the early summer of 1877, also for a short stay.

The losses of their sons mounted, each one tearing out another piece of her heart. Sadly Catherine passed away in November of 1881. She was only 44 years old. Ned was 17.  The family was still deeply grieving the loss of their beloved mother when Francis became ill and died of diptheria in January of 1882. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That’s a trite phrase that’s easier to say than to live. By his 21st birthday, Ned knew more than any teenager should ever have had to learn about loss and carrying on. In the family with 13 members, only 9 set foot in the house.

The other siblings lived to adulthood, although William was only 30 when he died of kidney disease in 1886, and Michael just 35 when he died just after moving to California in 1893. He had just recovered from typhoid fever when he left Ottawa for California. But he was still very weak and he died a short time after arriving to work with his brother John, by then a husband and father and successful carpenter.