Edward P. Doherty

[jabalong]

Hello, I'm new to this group (thanks for adding me Roger!), having stumbled across it while doing some family research (which I'll talk a little about later).

I'm reviving this dormant thread, as my interest is in Edward Doherty, who was my great-great-grandmother's brother.

My hope is to get a better idea of what biographical information has been unearthed on him by Lincoln researchers, but I'll start by sharing here some interesting tidbits I have already.

Regards,
Jeff

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(10-05-2012 09:36 AM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Doherty's tombstone shows him born in 1840, but all I have in my files just say Canada. I've looked through all the files I've got, including his obituary in the New York Times, and it doesn't say specifically where in Canada he was born.

The 1840 birth year seems to be a longstanding error. It's present at the time of Doherty's death, appearing on his tombstone and referenced in that New York Times obituary.

I have no idea as to when the error dates back to, but I'd love to find out the earliest instance it appears. Wherever it started, that it appears at the end of his life, perhaps he made no effort to correct it so as to appear a little younger.

Doherty was actually born in 1838, as evidenced by his baptismal record, which can be found in Quebec's Catholic parish records here:

Quote:"Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH...cc=1321742 : accessed 18 December 2015), Drummondville > Saint-Frédéric-de-Drummondville > Index 1816-1876 Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1816-1844 > image 444 of 613; nos paroisses de Église Catholique, Quebec (Catholic Church parishes, Quebec).

The reason the record is found in Drummondville, Quebec is that the village of Wickham did not keep its own parish registry until 1865, according to this website which references the following source:

Quote:Magnan, Hormisdas, Dictionnaire historique et géographique des paroisses, missions et municipalités de la Province de Québec, 1925, p.474

Settlement of Wickham apparently only began in 1825, with the first church built in 1831. It is this church, St-Peter's (St-Pierre in French), where Doherty was baptized on 30 September 1838, with his baptismal record attesting to his birth four days earlier on 26 September 1838.

This birth date of 26 September never seems to have been in doubt, it's just the year that somehow became 1840 at some point.