I am after any thoughts about my Grandmother's Grandmother.

She was Catherine O'Shea and born in Ireland in 1821 (various UK censuses)

She had a son John Hammond who was born in Quebec in about 1845 (UK censuses)

She had a daughter Isabel Hammond who was born in Chester, Cheshire, England in 1850 (UK censuses)

She was a widow in 1854 when she remarried John Swales in Grewelthorpe near Masham in Yorkshire. He was 75 and she was 33 when they married..

She lived near Masham until she died in 1915.

There is a story in the family about someone going to Canada, parents(?) dying and then returning to Engand. I presume this refers to her husband in Canada.

I have no reason to believe that they were wealthy, probably just farmers or agricultural labourer. Is that an area that English immigrants were settling in about 1845? Would a pregant widow with one child be likely to decide to try and get back to England.

I have been wondering whether her first husband could have been in the army.

She would only be 24 in 1845 so I can't see that she would have been in Canada for very long - unless she was already there when she married but then I would have expected to stay after being widowed.

Any suggestions what records I could look at with so facts? Any other thoughts are welcome.


Martin Briscoe
Fort William