McCann Archives - Zalewski Family Genealogy

Not William Corrigan, but his brother, Patrick. I have no photo of William, but I assume he looked similar.

The seventeenth ancestor in my 52 week challenge is my paternal 3rd-great-grandfather, William “Curly Bill” CORRIGAN.

I don’t know exactly how he got the nickname Curly Bill, though I can only assume it was hair-related, but here’s hoping it was some other crazy reason.

There is some uncertain information on the birthplace of William. All of the information says he was born in 1823, but it is tough to pinpoint him. Many different records mention many different places, though most are in the same general vicinity. William was born not long after his parents, Michael John & Rose (NUGENT) CORRIGAN immigrated from Northern Ireland in about 1821. He is listed as having been born in New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and just the general United States. There is also some info that says that William was born during their voyage to North America. If he was born after the trip, my money is on either New York or Pennsylvania as history points to the Corrigan family possibly working on the Erie Canal as it was being built during this time and they used a lot of Irish workers. According to Wikipedia, “many of the laborers working on the canal were Scots Irish, who had recently come to the United States as a group of about 5,000 from Northern Ireland.” Sometime after William was born his family settled in the small town of Mara in Ontario, Canada.

William married Mary McCANN in November 1848 in Ontario. It is documented that they had about 12 children, their 3rd child being my great-great-grandfather, Thomas J CORRIGAN. Canadian census records indicate that William was mainly a farmer and lived in a 1-story, log home in 1861. The family was also Roman Catholic.

William passed away on 13 July 1876 in the Mara township. I am assuming he is buried in same cemetery in Uptergrove in that area along with a lot of the other Corrigan family members, but I have yet to find his headstone.

This post is 17 of 52 in the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Challenge” begun by Amy Johnson Crow.

Sorry. Been busy doing other things and due to my short attention span, sometimes I get involved in other things and lose interest in the other stuff quickly. Though, that does mean I come back into genealogy more often and usually with a lot of interest. Here’s is my family history for the week of May 3 – 9.

May 3

1905 – Born – Clarice CORRIGAN – Clarice is my great-great aunt on my father’s side. She was born in Sanborn, Ashland Co., Wisconsin where most of the other Corrigan children were born, including my great-grandfather. She passed away in July 1995 in Iron Mountain, Dickinson Co., Michigan.

May 5

1849 – Born – Paulina Henrietta (THOMPSON) FIRMENICH – Paulina is my great-great-great grandmother. She was born in Granville, Milwaukee Co. Wisconsin which is part of the Brown Deer area now (not far from where I live.) Her parents were William Henry THOMPSON and Claude-FranÃ§oise QUINET. She married Mathis Balthazar FIRMENICH on 11 Feb 1867 (his birthday) in Holland, Brown Co., Wisconsin. She passed away 3 Jun 1910 in Morrison, Brown Co., Wisconsin. She is buried with her husband in Ashland, Ashland Co., Wisconsin where he lived the rest of his life.

May 6

1888 – Died – Peter MUHM – Peter is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 18 May 1848 in Hanover, Germany to Friedrich MUHM and Sophia Elizabeth STRASSMAN. He married Ida SCHAVANDIE on 18 Apr 1870 in Germantown, Washington Co., Wisconsin. He passed away at the young age of 40 in Langlade Co., Wisconsin.

May 9

1860 – Died – Mary (CRONIN) MCCANN – Mary is my 4thg-great-grandmother on my father’s side. She was born in 1797 in Ireland, parents unknown. She married Thomas MCCANN, with whom she had 4 children before emigrating to Ontario, Canada.

Tag: McCann

Curly Bill

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