Person:Michael Corrigan (2)

From, "they came to Mara...", p. 175:

"Members of the Michael CORRIGAN family were natives of County Tyrone. They were still residents of Ireland when Patrick was baptized at the age of two days in Killeeshil Parish in February, 1819. They emigrated to Canada circa 1823 where Michael initiated Upper Canada Land Petitions on behalf of himself and his young sons. Then they briefly removed to the United States, likely to New York, where their son, Hugh, was born. It was said that William was born during their voyage to North America.

In time, the CORRIGAN family settled in Brock Township, and apparently lived there throughout the 1830's. By the time of the 1852 census, Michael, Rosina and family resided in Mara on the West 1/2 of Lot 15, Conc 7. Living on the East 1/2 of Lot 15, Conc. 7 was the John McIntaggart family, also of County Tyrone. It was said among McIntaggart descendents, that Mrs. John McIntaggart (whose maiden name was Margaret Corrigan), was a daughter of an older brother to Michael, so that, even though Michael and Margaret were close in age, they were actually uncle and niece...That, coupled with their similar background and location of settlement, supported the notion that a familial connection existed." (From text and research submitted by Myrtle Moffatt, Edmund Corrigan, Hugh Corrigan IV and Brenda Merriman)

From a letter from Hugh Corrigan IV on 28 Feb 2002: "There was a rebellion in 1837[MacKenzie's Rebellion] in Ontario and Michael Corrigan was among many farmers guilty of treason. The majority of them were pardoned and allowed to return on parole for three years, after paying a security bond...On a list of prisoners held at Parliament House in Toronto December 13, 1837 was Michael Corrigan along with 312 others jailed there. Michael was arrested January 6, 1838, some weeks after the rebellion was quashed. He was released May 12, 1838 and pardoned on finding security to keep the peace and be of good behavior for three years."

Letter from Hugh IV on Sun, 1 May 2005 10:02:06 -0500 Subject:Michael's Probate

Karen Duffy - The probate of Michael Corrigan's Will is really interesting. I am setting out all the details:

Michael died on September 7 1859. He left a Will dated 15 August 1856. It was witnessed by Michael Corrigan and Margret Duffy. He left his wife, Rose, fifty pounds, all household furniture and chattels. To his daughters, Margaret and Sarah, one cow each. All real estate was left to Hugh, his son, conditioned that Hugh pay fifteen pounds per year to his mother and that he keep the two cows for his sisters. To William he left two pieces of land, being the North East part of Lot 19, sixth concession at Mara "at present occupied by Testator". And to Hugh's wife, Catherine Coyes, he left fifty pounds in the event Hugh predeceased her.

On 1 April 1863, four years after Michael died, his son Patrick (my ancestor) filed an application for administration of the estate. In legal terms, an application for administration is only for instances where the decedent died intestate (without a will). In the application Patrick alleges that his father could not be considered a valid Will because his father was intoxicated at the time he signed it. In support of that allegation he offered a statement by the person named as executor in the Will that Michael was "too intoxicated to be considered of sound mind". A similar statement was filed by Margret Duffy.

My ancestor Patrick was not named as a beneficiary of the estate. His son Hugh was to get the lions share of Michael's estate. Patrick threw a wrench in the works when he filed the Administration papers. There was no doubt Michael had a Will, but Patrick was able to get it tossed out of probate.

There is a statement in the application that Patrick was the "next of kin" of Michael. Often in instances where there is no will, it is oldest child that qualifies to be the appointee in estate administration. Patrick was not the oldest but I believe his brother Thomas either died before all of this came about or declined the claim to be appointed administrator.

Patrick was appointed administrator and assumed control over Michael's estate. The documents state that the value of the estate was 1,000 pounds - a very large estate considering that Michael was not a wealthy man. My guess is that in the period between the death of Michael and the appointment of Patrick someone sold all of the land Michael owned and the cash generated by the sale was what Patrick may have been after.

As you can imagine, Patrick was not spoken of very highly by the rest of the family after this.

Anyone - In Michael's will, Hugh's wife was referred to in two place as "Catherine Coyes". I can not find anything on where the "Coyes" name came from?

Hugh

[Except from "They Came to Mara, Pioneers of Mara Township 1829-1900"]

"Members of the Michael Corrigan family were natives of County Tyrone. They were still residents of Ireland when Patrick was baptized at the age of two days in Killeeshil Parish in February, 1819. They emigrated to Canada circa 1823 where Michael initiated Upper Canada Land Petitions on behalf of himself and his young sons. Then they briefly removed to the United States, likely to New York where their son, Hugh, was born. It was said that William was born during their voyage to North America. In time, the Corrigan family settled on Brock Township, and apparently lived their throughout the 1830s. By the time of the 1852 census, Michael, Rosina and family resided in Mara on the West 1/2 of LOT 15 CON 7."

[Information entered 7/5/01 from various online sources of Ireland information]

Killeeshil information

Townload: Killeeshil Acres: 521 County: Tyrone Barony: Dungannon Lower Civil Parish: Killeeshil PLU: Dungannon Province: Ulster Diocese: Armagh Roman Catholic

Killeeshil Chapel - about 5-7 miles east of Ballygawley. This has a Protestant Cemetery on the east side and an old Catholic Cemetery behind the Chapel on the west side. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirtyr3/Cemetery/cemetery.html

http://www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/county/tyrone.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirtyr/

Dungannon: (pop 10,000) is a manufacturing town approx. 10 miles north west of Armagh. It lies in the parish of Drumglass and in the barony of Dungannon Middle. In medieval times the O'Neills had a large fortress built in Dungannon. The site of which is marked by the ruins of an 18th century castle. These ruins are situated just north of the market square in the center of the town. The O'Neills also founded a Franciscan friary in 1489, and this is where that Con O Neill submitted to the English and accepted the title of Earle of Tyrone from Henry VIII, while his son was given the title of Baron of Dungannon. Following the Irish defeat at the battle of Kinsale, in 1602, the town was burnt to the ground to prevent the English seizing the town. During the plantation period the lands in and around Dungannon were granted to Sir Arthur Chichester, who laid out the plan of the modern town. In 1692, it was sold to Thomas Knox. He developed the town's markets and business. Here in 1782, in the old Meeting House is where the Irish Volunteers met to set up a pressure group seeking Irish independence.

[from Hugh Corrigan IV in a letter to Brian Zalewski - August 19, 1999] "According to the birth records, the first three children were born in County Tyrone, Ireland but the next two were born in New York State. This is probably due to the fact that the Erie Canal was being built, and Irish labor was recruited for the work on the canal. After the work was done it is my guess that Michael and Rose moved their family back to Ontario and settled in Mara Township"

"There was a rebellion in 1837 in Ontario and Michael Corrigan was among many families guilty of treason. The majority of them were pardoned and allowed to return on parole for three years after paying a security bond. Briefly, the rebellion was led by William Lyon Mackenzie against the authoritarian system, which culminated early in December 1837 with a abortive attempt to take over the government in Toronto. He had farmers joining him from all over the providence. Most of the rebels were captured or ran away as their take-over was foiled by government troops.

On a list of prisoners held at Parliament House in Toronto, December 13, 1837 was Michael Corrigan along with 312 others jailed there. Michael was arrested January 6, 1838 some weeks after the rebellion was quashed. He was released May 12, 1838 and pardoned on finding security to keep peace and be of good behavior for three years."

1. ↑ Hugh Corrigan IV letter-28Feb2002.

   The earliest Corrigan ancestor of ours that I can identify is Michael Corrigan, born 1791 in County Tyrone, Ireland.

2. ↑ Census Records
   1851-2 Canadian Census, Ontario Co., Mara & Rama Twps.; p. 2 # 11.

   QUAY 3 Stated age was 59 at census

3. ↑ "they came to mara..."
   p 175.

   QUAY 3 Michael Corrigan (c1791 - 1859)

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Hugh Corrigan IV, Corrigan Family Genealogy.
5. ↑ Iscrupe, William L., Naturalization Records 1802-1852 (Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services, 1978)
   53.
6.   Jackie (Corrigan) Hogan, Corrigan Family Memories.