BRIEF COADY FAMILY HISTORY by Judge James Coady circa 1972
This
brief sketch of the Coady immigrants from Tipperary, Ireland, who settled in
the Margaree area Inverness Co. in the early days is prepared at the request of
Joseph Coady, my nephew.
My
information is based largely on what I had from my father many years ago, at a
time when I was not perhaps much interested in the historical background, and
from Dr. M.M. Coady of St. Francis Xavier University who in his time collected
a good deal of information from some of the surviving descendants not only
relating to the Coadys but to other Irish immigrants who settled in the
Margaree area, including the Doyles, Tompkins, Murphys, Dunns, MacDaniels,
Fortunes etc; and I must acknowledge too the information compiled by Sister
Edna Marie Coady of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, whose father was a first
cousin of mine.
There
were in all four Coady brothers who came from Tipperary. They were probably
farm boys. The first to come was John. Just when he came is not clear but
probably about 1818 or 1819. That is what my father told me. It would appear
that at this time most of the available farm land in the Margaree river valley
had been taken up by earlier immigrants either by arrangements with the Indians
or by arrangements with the government authorities, if any, who exercised
jurisdiction in that regard at that time.
In
any case, John, instead of taking up land in the river valley area sought out
and occupied land back in that area later known as "Coady Mountain"
and later still as "Coady Settlement". This settlement was about
three miles back from the river valley. There in the virgin forest John built a
house of sorts, cleared the land and no doubt grew potatoes and grain and other
crops to sustain life. There would probably be some game to be had to add to
the family table. John was married in Ireland. It is thought by that marriage
had several children, all of whom including his wife were left behind when he
immigrated. Later having been advised that his wife had died John remarried.
Some
time later probably in the late 1820's John was joined by his two brothers
Martin and Peter. Martin brought his wife and children with him. Peter was
never married. He was youngest of the four brothers. These two brothers Martin
and Peter also took up land back on the mountain and no doubt faced the same
hardships that John had experienced.
Another
brother James, my grandfather and your great grandfather, came from Ireland
sometime in the early 1820's. He did not come directly to Cape Breton however.
On the passage out he met up with a family named Butlers who were from Wexford.
They had a daughter named Margaret and she and James became friends. My
information is that Jam s parted from the Butlers in St. John's, Newfoundland
but he apparently did not remain long there and soon found his way over to
Miramichi, New Brunswick, where the Butlers had settled. In the course of time
James and Miss Butler were married at Chatham, New Brunswick in 1824. Whatever
in the way of a home or household goods they had acquired, and I expect it was
very little, all was destroyed in the great fire that swept the Miramichi
Valley in 1825. However James and his wife continued to reside in that area for
some years thereafter. But some time in the 1830's they left there for Cape
Breton to join the three brothers who had settled there. James and his wife at
that time were accompanied by three children and since two other children had
previously died in infancy, it would appear that James did not arrive in
Margaree until some time in the middle 1830's. So James joined his brothers and
he too settled back on Coady Mountain where he took up land and established a
home.
Some
years later perhaps in the early 1860's John, Martin and Peter were accidently
drowned at Margaree Harbour. It was told by my father that they had rafted some
timber down the Margaree River and at the harbour probably encountered rough
water and were drowned. Both John and Martin left large families, the eldest of
whom would have been pretty well grown up by this time.
I
am not going into the history of these families as you are interested primarily
in the family of James and descendants. James and his wife had in all a family
of sixteen children. Six of these had died as infants, three others ranging in
ages from 18 to 22 all died in the year 1866. My information is that all three
died from diptheria. So out of this large family seven survived to maturity,
married and raised families. Here is a list of the seven: Michael, Ellen, John,
William (my father), James, Margaret and Patrick. Michael married Mary
McDaniel. He lived in the Big Brook area. His old farm was later occupied by
John Dunn, father of David. Ellen married Malcolm MacDonald. They lived in
Margaree. John lived back on the mountain. He married a Miss Hyland. William
married Jane Dunn. He too lived back on the mountain. James, Margaret and
Patrick, when in early youth I expect, all moved to Sheet Harbour where they
established their homes. Margaret was married to a man named Murphy. They had
no family. James and Patrick were married and each left surviving a number of
children. Sister Edna Marie whose name I mentioned in the early part of this
memorandum is a granddaughter of Patrick. I have a record of the number and
names of the children of these brothers and sisters of my father but you are
not interested in them particularly so I will not add to this memorandum by
reciting them.
In
our family there were twelve children, one of whom died in infancy. The eleven
survived and I need not detail them as you already know their names. Of the
eleven only two of us survive, Sadie (Mrs. Jenks) and myself. Mother died in
1900 and in 1902 when it was clear that none of us would ever continue to
reside on the old farm back on the mountain, we abandoned the old place and
purchased the farm at Millville and moved there.
This,
I think, in brief is the record you wanted. I hope you will find it of some
interest.
I
am enclosing a rough sketch to show the location of the Coady Mountain
settlement in relation to the Margaree Valley area and the Big Brook area. All
farm lands in the Coady Mountain area have now been abandoned and the same with
the Big Brook area. At one time more than twenty‑five families lived
there, now the land has again reverted to forest. The reason is not far to
seek. None of the descendants of these pioneer settlers were prepared to
remain. Opportunities elsewhere were better.
