Ellen JORDAN
1836 - 1909 (73 years)-
Name Ellen JORDAN Birth 28 Apr 1836 Co. Mayo, Ireland Gender Female Burial Dec 1909 St. Andrews R.C. Cemetery, Brechin, Mara Twp. Ontario County, Ontario, Canada Death 23 Dec 1909 Brechin, Mara Twp., Ontario Co., Ontario, St. Andrew'sR.C Ch Person ID I00264 McCORKELL Last Modified 17 Jan 2023
Father Martin JORDAN, b. County Mayo, ireland d. 30 Mar 1947, Mara Twp., Ontario Co Mother Cecilia GARRETT, b. 1815, County Mayo, ireland d. 1875, Mara Twp., Ontario Co (Age 60 years) Family ID F11 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 Peter O'DONNELL, b. 1830, Co. Mayo, Ireland d. 1864, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario (Age 34 years) Marriage 08 Jan 1854 Ontario County, Children 1. Mary O'DONNELL, b. 16 Oct 1854, Mara Township, Ontario, Canada d. 28 Feb 1928, Brechin, Ont (Age 73 years) 2. Anne O'DONNELL, b. 21 Dec 1856, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 18 Dec 1931, Saginaw, Michigan, USA (Age 74 years) 3. Marrin Joseph O'DONNELL, b. 04 Jun 1858, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 19 Aug 1945, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada (Age 87 years) 4. Catherine O'DONNELL, b. 10 Mar 1860, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 03 Jun 1947, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada (Age 87 years) 5. Cecelia O'DONNELL, b. 23 Mar 1862, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 11 Mar 1943, Medonte, Simcoe Co (Age 80 years) Family ID F00071 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 2 Patrick MANGAN, b. 25 Dec 1840, Ireland d. 26 Jan 1929, 129 Coldwater St., Orillia, Simcoe Co (Age 88 years) Marriage 18 Feb 1865 Children 1. Bridget MANGAN, b. 13 Jan 1866, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 9 May 1955 (Age 89 years) 2. Peter MANGAN, b. 28 Mar 1868, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 8 Sep 1939, Orillia, Simcoe Co., Ontario (Age 71 years) 3. Margaret MANGAN, b. 28 May 1871, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 19 Jan 1939, Chicago, Cook, Illinois (Age 67 years) 4. Sarah Catherine MANGAN, b. 12 Sep 1873, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 27 Apr 1937, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada (Age 63 years) 5. Patrick Joseph MANGAN, b. 08 Aug 1876, Mara Twp, Ontario Co., Ontario d. 7 Oct 1962 (Age 86 years) Family ID F00072 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Notes - excerpt from Rev. Edmund McCorkell's Family history, circa 1972, source www.ramarahistoryonline.web
"...A big change in the O’Donnell -Jordan branch of the family took place in the year 1864. The head of the household, Peter O’Donnell, was fatally injured at a barn raising, and died soon after at the age of 34, leaving his wife, Ellen Jordan with 6 children, 5 girls and 1 boy. What was the widow to do? My Mother, the eldest child, had not yet reached her 11th birthday. If there was a school in the area, which I doubt, my Mother left it and got what work she could. It was probably a few years later than this date when she did domestic work for a family in Rochester, N.Y. How she got there and how long she remained I have never been able to find out. It may well have been that she had already fixed her gaze upon Joe McCorkell of the Brechin parish, who was exactly her age. If so, one can understand why she came back after such a short time that details of her Rochestor period have been completely forgotten. What we do know is that she did return and as a result our history was substantially altered.
In the meantime Divine Providence intervened. Patrick Mangan (always referred to as Pat) married the O’Donnell widow with 6 children. It was a time of strong faith nourished by the trials of pioneer life, when men and women envisioned large families as blessings. They never completely forgot the passage in the Book of Psalms:
Truly sons are a gift of God
Indeed the sons of youth
Are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.
Oh the happiness of the man
Who has filled his quiver with them (Psalm 126)
Pat Mangan took over a family of 6 and went on to add 5 more. It was a happy as well as a fruitful marriage. I had the privilege of being at the bedside of the dying Ellen (Jordan) Mangan 40 years later. Touching indeed it was to see the sorrow of her grown up sons and daughters, and in particular to see the sorrow of her surviving husband. There was, nevertheless an undercurrent of joy too at the end. They knew that a great soul had gone to God.
This was to be the scene after another 40 years. In the meantime Pat Mangan had his work to do. If a family have been bequeathed to him, the children had to be clothed, fed and trained in Christian living, and additional children also if God sent them. Indeed God did send them in due course to the number of 5. One, of them, named Patrick after his father, is of special interest to me. He was to be my godfather at baptism. The others were Bridget Ellen, Peter, Margaret and Sarah. ..."
- excerpt from Rev. Edmund McCorkell's Family history, circa 1972, source www.ramarahistoryonline.web