Ohio Families

Joseph Drummond and Judith Shea first appear on the parish records in Montreal with the death of their son William in 1845 at the age of three and one half. Since William's birth is not recorded in Montreal but their daughter Sarah's birth in 1844 is recorded, it's possible that the Drummonds arrived in Montreal between 1842 and 1844.

There are no Catholic Drummonds on the records in Montreal before Joseph's family's records, but there are a few Shea families. One was from County Cork, another from Kilkenny and a third from Co. Kerry. Of those three areas, the only one with Drummond families listed on Griffith's Valuation was County Cork. That would make Cork the most likely place of origin in Ireland for Joseph and Judith (Shea) Drummond, if they were married in Ireland. It may be that they had relatives already in Montreal when they arrived.

Joseph appears to have been, at one time, middle class or lower middle class, -- at least not a peasant farmer. His signature is impressive, and someone more experienced in analyzing signatures might be able to draw more information from it regarding how much education Joseph received. By comparison, most of the witnesses at his second marriage or at the baptisms of his children could not even write their own names.

Joseph is referred to on one record as a "gentleman" and on another by a word in French which looks like it can be translated "man of commerce" or "business-minded." There was no one else referred to as gentleman in any of the records examined. But on most of the records he is a common "day laborer." Interestingly, on the 1870 Census in Cleveland, his occupation was "grocer" not "laborer" or "mill worker."

If our assumptions are correct, the Drummonds arrived in Montreal just a few years before the great famine in Ireland. Fortunately they escaped the direct effects of the calamity. However they seem to have experienced the indirect effects. The Irish immigrants which arrived in Montreal during the famine brought a plague of typhus. The Drummonds lost three of their four known children between 1845 and 1853. Judith herself died in January 1853 also, and Joseph's future wife Bridget lost her first husband in 1850. The causes of death are not on the parish records but no doubt some of these deaths can be attributed to the general state of affairs among the recent immigrants.

Judith is called by that name on all the records except for her burial record which calls her Julia. The book Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland by Robert E Matheson (Dublin: Alex Thom & Co, 1901) says "the people of the county of Kilkenny and some other places consider the names Johanna, Judith, and Julia to be the same." Or it was an error, or maybe that is what Joseph called her. Joseph's re-marriage makes it fairly certain that the burial record is really hers, and not a "Julia" Drummond who is nowhere else to be found.

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At Judith's death, Joseph was left with at least two young daughters, and married Bridget Mcmullen in August 1853. (See Bridget's father's notes for information on the McMullens.)

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Joseph and Bridget's first two children were baptized in Montreal: Joseph in 1854 and Alexander in 1855. There next known child, Dennis, was born in Canada about 1860 but is not on the Montreal church records. A posting at rootsweb by Frank Johnson, a descendant of Joseph, says they had one child born in Toronto and another in "Peeth" [could that be Perth, Ontario?] (source: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SHAMROCK/2001-07/0996333743)

At any rate the Drummonds arrived in Ohio around 1860 or 1861, when their daughter Lettie was born (evidently missing both the 1860 Census of the U.S. and the 1861 Census of Canada.)

The city directories on line do not go back as far as the 1860's or it might have been possible to find out more exactly when Joseph came to Cleveland and what he did for a living at the start.

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His 1870 Census and a brief record of his death follow. Note: Newburgh was a separate town from Cleveland at this time.

1870 Census OHIO CUYAHOGA NEWBURGH
Series: M593 Roll: 1193 Page: 450

Drummond, Jos/Jas?, 60, Ireland, grocer, retired
Bridget, 40, Ireland
Alexander, 14, Canada, works in ... mill
Dennis, 10, Canada
Lettie?, 9, Ohio
Amelia, 7, Ohio
Mary, 4, Ohio

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Death information from Cleveland Necrology file:
Id#: 0083547
Name: Drummond, Joseph
Date: 1871
Source: Cemetery record; Cleveland Necrology File, Reel #021.
Notes: age 65. St. John's Cemetery Cleveland, Ohio.