In response to CJGetchell's query: You have fallen into the same trap as I did when I first started research in this area of Ontario. "Carleton Place" is not in Carleton County. It is a charming smallish town in Lanark County....not that far from the County line, but... Probably the earliest Catholic Church in the area was St. John the Baptist of Perth. Records for that church begin in 1823 and have been microfilmed by the LDS and are available through any FHC. The earliest priest there was a true circuit rider and his parishioners were scattered throughout Lanark County, parts of Carleton County, and parts of Leeds and Grenville Counties. A pair of book(let)s have been published by the Leeds and Grenville Genealogy Society and they contain extracts from the diaries, notes and comments of that earliest priest (Rev. John MacDonald) at St. John's. There are Collins and Cally families mentioned in one of these book(let)s. Happy Hunting Jan Gorman

Jan and Jean: This is a good example of why it's challenging to research these early Irish families! If you stand in Carleton Place (the town in Lanark County, Beckwith Township) and throw a stone, it could land in either of two Counties (Lanark or Carleton) or in several townships - Beckwith, Ramsay, Huntley, Marlborough, or Goulbourn. Also, many families, the "Cayley" family for example, had different children baptized in different parishes. Jean states that there were 5 children born in Carleton Place. I believe the family lived closer to the Town of Almonte, about 5 miles North, in Ramsay Township. Two of the children were baptized at St. Michael's, Corkery, Huntley Township in the late 1840's. The other three were probably baptized at St. Mary's, either in Almonte or in Carleton Place. There is (I think) a common RC cemetery at Almonte for both of these parishes. To further confuse things, the spelling varies over time. A lot of our Irish ancestors could not spell and the priests often wrote down the phonetic spelling of the name. I believe that "Cayley" is the 19th century Irish pronunciation for KEALEY. The spelling for the 2 Cayley children baptized at St. Michaels is Kyley and Kielly, both pronounced KEELY in English, but pronounced KAYLY in 19th century Canadian Irish/English. Here are the 2 children baptized at St. Mikes: 1. Kielly, Daniel son of Kielly, Daniel and Collins, Catherine born 9/12/1850 Godparents: Brinnan, John (Brennan?)& Whelan, Ellenor 2. Kyley, Catherine, daughter of Kyley, Daniel and Collins, Catherine born 8/17/1846 10/4/1846 Godparents: Collins, Daniel & Collins, Ann Also, speaking of itinerant preachers (Father Macdonald from Perth): Notre Dame in Ottawa also sent out missionary priests. These records start in 1827 and many of the early records show marriages from Perth, Renfrew, Marlborough, etc. ... Al Lewis E-Mail: [email protected] Genealogy Web Site: http://www3.sympatico.ca/ag.lewis/search.htm (Bytown or Bust !! - Search Engine) ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 1:04 AM Subject: Re: [CAN-ONT-CARLETON] My Interests > In response to CJGetchell's query: > You have fallen into the same trap as I did when I first started research > in this area of Ontario. "Carleton Place" is not in Carleton County. It is a > charming smallish town in Lanark County....not that far from the County line, > but... > Probably the earliest Catholic Church in the area was St. John the > Baptist of Perth. Records for that church begin in 1823 and have been > microfilmed by the LDS and are available through any FHC. The earliest > priest there was a true circuit rider and his parishioners were scattered > throughout Lanark County, parts of Carleton County, and parts of Leeds and > Grenville Counties. > A pair of book(let)s have been published by the Leeds and Grenville > Genealogy Society and they contain extracts from the diaries, notes and > comments of that earliest priest (Rev. John MacDonald) at St. John's. There > are Collins and Cally families mentioned in one of these book(let)s. > Happy Hunting > Jan Gorman > > > > ==== CAN-ONT-CARLETON Mailing List ==== > Please feel free to contact me at: > [email protected] > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com >