Tom McCabes Genealogy 2022

MICHAEL McCabe came from Ireland in the 1830's. Supposedly he came up the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario and then to the Province of Ontario, Canada - probably to a sea-port, Port Hope, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, just south of where the town of Lindsey is situated. He, along with many others, walked north about thirty miles and settled in the Township of Ops. The history of "Ops Township," called the "The Land of Plenty," states that many families came from Ireland the following years because of several famines in Ireland. The 1861 census of Ops Township lists nine McCabe families there with some but,not all, related.

Research has shown the Michael bought his land in 1832 - Lot 15 Concession 7, a Clergy Reserve section. He received actual title much later. The land stayed in the family until 1934 when Michael's youngest son William sold it to his nephew Thomas O'Keefe.

Michael was married about 1839 and had a son Peter - in 1840. His wife died while Peter was an infant and on Nov 16, 1842 Michael married again to Jane Muldoon. They had a family of nine children and their births or baptisms are listed in the records of the Church of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lindsey. They were of the Roman Catholic religion.

[The newspaper Lindsay Post on July 22, 1864 had article stating that several homes south of town had burned down, including the home of Michael McCabe. Since there were 3 Michael McCabes living south of town it is not certain that it was one our two Michaels. TMc]

The son Peter McCabe moved in the 1850's to Iowa and met and married Jane Hoey, who had come from Lindsay just a short time before. Whether he knew her before or not we do not know. A marriage license application is on file in the town of Lansing, Allamakee County, at the present time. Peter later moved on to Brookings, SD where he was a successful businessman.

Most of Michael and Jane's offspring moved to the great plains of the US in the 1870s and 1880s. Before 1880, Pat and Art moved to Kittson Co Mn and Pat later moved on to Minot ND but returned to Ops in his old age. James moved to Wisconsin, then to Minnesota, Montana and back to Houston, Mn. Mary McCabe and her husband Michael moved to Hegton Township near Larimore, Grand Forks Co, ND in 1883. Mary's younger sister Rose Ellen followed at the turn of the century where she married Richard Faddin.

Ann Jane McCabe married Daniel O'Keefe and she remained in Lindsay for the rest of her long life.

The eldest son Michael stayed with his father through 1881. In the 1880s he was committed to a mental asylum in Toronto where he died in 1894.

Michael's youngest son William inherited the farm after Michael's death in 1889. Michael's daughter Elizabeth never married and she continued to live on the farm with William and his wife until her death.

At this time it is unknown where Michael came from in Ireland.

See the media section on Michael's page for copies of land documents, wills, etc for Michael.

Jim McCabe, son of Michael and Mary McCabe, annotated a genealogist report from the 1950's. Jim was born in Lindsay in the 1860s and lived there until he was a teenager. He returned to Lindsay several times after that, marrying a young lady from there. He was very familiar with all the McCabes from Lindsay,Ops in the late 1800s.

Jim stated on the report that the family of John McCabe and Mary BURNS were cousins of his mother Mary (nee) McCabe and, this family was part of the "Cooper McCabes". (Since John was a cooper, it may have been part of the family tradition.)

Thus, we may conclude that Mary's father, Michael McCabe of Concession 7 Lot 15, was a brother to John McCabe, the cooper.

From "The Canadian Post", Lindsay, 16 Nov 1888

"Two prosperous farmers of Dakota in the person of Messrs. JAMES and MICHAEL McCABE arrived in Lindsay last week after an absence of 12 years on a visit for a couple of weeks to their father Mr. Michael McCabe of South Ops [Township]. Their reception at the homestead and from many oldtime friends may naturally be inferred to be a warm one."

Note: Article may have been incorrect. Michael, the son, was held in the Queens Street asylum in Toronto at that time. The second visitor could have been Michael McCabe, son-in-law of old Michael, or it could have been one of James' other brothers in the Dakotas, Pat or Art.