Edited February 16, 2025 to include details on the birth/death of Margaret and John Francis Whelan as well as the death of Bridget Phillips Whelan.
When Daniel Whalen/*Whelan was born on July 4, 1863, in Hungerford, Ontario, Canada, his father, Thomas Whalen (1815-1900), was 48 and his mother, Margaret (nee Coughlin) (1823-1888), was 40. He had two sisters and six brothers.
(*Although Daniel’s parents spelled their name “Whalen”, Daniel’s name is spelled “Whelan” in most documents, and I will use his preferred spelling.)
Daniel married Bridget Phillips on August 10, 1888, in at St. Carthagh’s Roman Catholic Church in Tweed, Hungerford, Ontario. Daniel was 25 years old, and Bridget was just 16.
When Bridget Phillips was born in 1872 in Ontario, Ontario, Canada, her father, John Phillips (1839-1913), was 31, and her mother, Mary (nee O’Donnell) (1849-1920), was 23. She had four brothers and three sisters.
They had one child during their marriage, Mary Anne Whalen, born August 18th and baptized on August 24th in St. Patrick’s Church in Napanee. The baptismal record suggests that her sponsors were John and Nellie O’Donnell, her mother’s maternal uncle and his wife.
On September 3, 1890, Bridget gave birth to a second daughter, Margaret Whelan. The child was baptized on September 7th, also at St. Patrick’s in Napanee. The baptismal register suggests her godparents were Patrick Sexsmith and Catherine Harrigan.
I have not located a specific death record, but little Margaret is laid to rest in St. Patrick’s cemetery in April the following year.
We find Daniel, Bridget and Mary Anne on the 1891 Canada Census in Desorento, Hastings, Ontario. Daniel is a labourer.
In April, 1892, only a year after laying little Margaret to rest, Bridget gives birth to a son, who the couple names Francis John Whalen, named after either Bridget’s father John or her brother John Francis. There is disagreement between the baptismal record and a newspaper announcement about the specific day in April, but the child is baptized on May 1st. The child’s godparents are Daniel’s brother, Patrick Whalen and Bridget’s sister, Mary Ann Phillips.
In the first week of November, 1894, Bridget dies of typhoid fever. I have not been able to find an official record of her death or burial despite 20 years of searching. I was however finally able to add her death information after finding a mention of her burial in the Kingston Whig Standard on November 15 and 22nd 1894. The newspaper suggests she was interred at Erinsville. There is no mention of her children.
In fact, beyond his baptismal record have found no further records of the couple’s son. I suspect he died before his mother, sometime between 1892 and 1894.
On the 1901 census, Mary Anne is shown both in her father’s household, where her father is listed as a Farm Labourer:
And at her maternal grandparent’s home (it is from these records that we know the date of Mary Anne’s birth). From her descendants, we know that Mary Anne spent a lot of time in the Phillips home as a child.
By the 1911 census, Mary Anne is married and living in Toronto, Ontario.
Daniel hasn’t been located on either the 1911 or 1921 Canadian Censuses. There is some speculation that he moved to the United States (Michigan) for work, but that has not been verified.
Daniel is found on the 1931 census living on his own in Herschel, Ontario. The census suggests he owns the 2 room wood home he is living in. At the age of 71, his occupation is listed as “Farmer.”
Daniel died on September 14, 1938, in Maynooth, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 75. His death certificate lists his daughter as his next of kin. Mary Anne’s daughter has suggested that her mother returned to Read for the funeral and washed her father’s body in preparation for burial. The record suggests he was buried in Stoco, Ontario, but I haven’t found a burial.
Main image: Postcard of Huyck’s Hotel on the east side of Victoria Street North in Tweed, Ontario, with a car parked in front of it. (image via Wikimedia)
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