My Trails into the Past

In the last post about the Tierney family, Margaret (Tierney) Gleeson had grown up in Carleton County with her parents, John Tierney and Ann Murray, and was one of eleven children born to them. The earliest census that John Tierney was enumerated in was 1842, the census of Canada West in the Upper Canada Province. By this time, John owned 100 acres of property and was a farmer. So, property records should show when he acquired this land. Land Records The earliest deed I located was dated 3 August 1830. William Hamilton of Nepean, sold about 100 acres of land located in the rear half of lot number 29 in the 6th concession, to Denis Tierney and John Tierney, both of Nepean. They paid £87.10 (87 pounds, 10 shillings) of lawful money of Upper Canada. It is very likely that Denis Tierney was John’s father. [1] Before going further, the layout of concessions needs to be discussed. Land was surveyed and divided into concessions and then into 35 lots. Each lot was about 200 acres unless so...

This month, I am working with my Tierney family, who are of Carleton County, Ontario, specifically Nepean, which is now part of the Municipality of Ottawa. John Tierney and Ann Murray had a large family of eleven known children. The youngest, Mary Martha (1857-1950) entered the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns of Ottawa) at the young age of 16 years, 5 months on 24 December 1874. Three years later, she made her profession on 13 December 1877. [1] She was known as Sister St. Melanie. I have written about her before: Spirit – Mary Martha Tierney & her Spiritual Connection to God as Sister St. Melanie . After reading Sunny Jane Morton’s book, Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States (Genealogical Publishing, 2026), I have not been able to put her out of my mind. My cousin was named after her, and I took Melanie as my confirmation name. So, I feel a connection to her. I have a photograph of her as well as a couple of obituaries, which can he...

The last three 12 for '26 posts have been about John Gleeson, the husband of Margaret Tierney (1835-1920). These next posts will focus on Margaret and her parents John Tierney and Ann Murray. Introduction Margaret was born on 20 April 1835, likely in Goulbourn Township, the daughter of John Tierney and Ann Murray. [1] She was baptized on 18 May 1835 at Notre Dame of Ottawa, with William Hanrahan and Eleonore Murray as sponsors. [2] John Tierney and Ann Murray married on 27 November 1832 also at Notre Dame of Ottawa. They were both of Goulbourn. [3] She was the second child. Her older sister, Elizabeth was baptized on 15 December at Nepean. [4] John and Ann lived in Nepean until their deaths. John died on 14 December 1891. [5] Ann died on 8 October 1899. [6] Census Records John and Ann were enumerated in each of the census records from 1891 down to 1841. I will list them below beginning with the most recent one first. At the end will be a table showing all the census records...