McCanna family

The McCannas were early settlers in [[Miles City]]. The matriarch and a daughter and two sons (both with fair sized families), weathered two [[fires]] and a major death while living in Miles City. All three branches eventually moved westward to Washington and [[Alaska]]. They are related to the [[Rooney family]]. The adults were born in County Latrim, Ireland and came from Minnesota to Miles City. Mother Bridgett ran at least one boarding house on Main Street between 3rd and 4th streets. They were [[Irish]] [[Catholics]].  

About 1848, Myles McCanna (1810?-1879) and his wife, Bridget McDevit (1849-1890) emigrated from Ireland (possibly Waterford) to Canada with four children: Elizabeth (1837?), James S. (1842?), Mary Ann Lavina (1844?), and Michael Bernard (1846?). They settled in the "Queen's Bush" area of Ontario until 1868. Three more children were born to them there: '''Katherine Bridgette "Madge"''' (1850?), Catherine (1854?), and '''Margaret Jane "Bridget"''' (1858?).  

In time, the children married into neighboring familes and several of these intermarried groups emigrated to Minnesota about the time that the Homestead Act was passed in the US in 1862. These included Myles and his wife '''Bridgette'', Elizabeth and her family, James and his family, plus Michael. '''James''' had married Sarah Anne Duffy in Mt. Forest, Ontario on 4/11/1866. They emigrated by spring of 1868.

Myles homesteaded a 160 acre farm near Lake Alice. As he was in his late fifties, and since Michael Bernard was unmarried and nineteen, Michael probably worked this farm with his Dad while Bridget took care of the house and the three young girls. James and Sarah Ann had another 160 acre farm nearby, as did Mary Ann Lavina's husband John Hanrahan. Myles McCanna became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 10/14/1873; James followed suit the next day.

They had settled near Padua, MN which at that time was called "Rooneys' Settlement". The place was thick with a large branch of the Irish [[Rooney family]] (see), who had also immigrated through Canada. By 1872, one of them, '''Katherine Ann Rooney''' was twenty years old. She had been well schooled for a young girl living in rural Canada. Indeed, she became the first teacher in Raymond Township and taught in a small one-room schoolhouse about three miles east of present-day Padua. The school director was her cousin Hugh Rooney, who would end up in Montana with her family. Two years later, on April 9, 1874, '''Michael McCanna''' married Katherine Ann Rooney. The best man was her brother Michael; the bridesmaid was his sister Margaret Jane. In all likelihood the new couple moved in with the Myles McCanna family. Elizabeth Elinor, their first child, was born at this farm in Grove Lake on [[13 May 1875]].

Either that Fall or early in 1876, the McCanna family moved on for newer lands in the West. Mary Ann and her family did not leave and raised 4 children on their Pope County farm. Indeed, a sick Myles also stayed, probably with them. He died of jaundice in 1879 and is buried in the Hanrahan plot at the Lake Alice Cemetary, on land that probably was once part of his farm.  

[[File:MichaelMcCannnaFamily.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Michael McCanna family]]

1877 Katherine Brigette '''“Madge” arrives''' in Miles City.

Jan 1878 '''Michael''' is building a large hotel at the corner of Casey and Jew street in Oldtown, 24 by 72 feet, to be ready the first of February.

1878 Katherine Brigette '''“Madge” marries Charles Johnson'''. (Johnson was one of the original suttlers, with the troops in the cantonment. He was the first merchant to set up shop (general merchandise) when they were evicted from camp to the site of Oldtown. He and Bridgette were the first to marry here, and also the first (whites) to have a child born in the area.)

1878 '''James''' is a teamster and railroad contractor. (Note: construction of the NP extension from Bismarck didn't start until 1870?)

1878 '''Michael''' is a teamster.

[[8 Jun 1879]] '''Emmett Joseph born''' to Michael and Katherine Ann McCanna. ("Miles Emma" according to Hoopes.)

Mar 1880 Michael begins operation of the '''Tongue River House''' at 3rd and Main in new Miles City. His mother runs it (or possibly Sarah, James' wife, but not likely). Will be open about [[8 Mar 1880]], run by the firm of McCann & Co. (sic) Board is $6/wk, room is $7/wk.

'''1880 Census''': Michael is a laborer and in his house live his wife and three children, plus mother Bridget and Maggie (listed as a wife?)

1881 James' family (Sarah and 4 children) arrives.

[[21 May 1881]] (or 25 May 1881) '''Mary Cordelia born''' to James and Sarah Ann McCanna. and was baptized at the Jesuits' Sacred Heart Parish on [[1 Oct 1881]].

[[31 Jul 1881]] sister Mary Jane ('''Margaret Jane “Bridget”''') and her husband Robert Cobb Matthews travel 10.5 days on horseback to Miles City to have their 6 week old son baptized by Father Lindesmith. (They could have taken the train if they waited until the end of the year, could have taken a stage regardless.)

1881 '''James''' is a teamster and railroad contractor.  

1881 '''Michael''' is a freighter, living on Main street, Block A, lots 9 & 10. Mother Bridgette operates it as a boarding house.

Jun 1882 '''John born''' to Michael and Catherine. (d. four years later on the way to Alaska)

In [[8 Feb 1883]], '''James McCanna dies''' of a liver ailment, leaving Sarah and 5 children. A lingering illness of over a month. Was a contractor, leaves his family in comfortable circumstances, was a "good and peaceable citizen".

[[28 Sep 1883]] Margaret J. and Frances E. McCanna were confirmed.

[[4 Nov 1883]] "Mrs. M. McCarthy has opened a laundry at Mrs. McCanna's house and proposes to compete with John Chinaman in both price and excellence of work. Give her a call."

1883 Katherine Brigette '''“Madge” has divorced''' Charles Johnson sometime between 1880 and now.

1883 Katherine Brigette '''“Madge” marries''' a soldier from the fort, Patrick H. Fox, who was a baker.

1884 '''Philip Francis born''' to Michael and Catherine. According to Phillip (as told to his son Mickey), just hours before his birth his pregnant mother was walking alone on the edge of town. Suddenly, a band of Sioux on horseback  came hurtling down the hills toward her. She darted into a nearby cattle corral.  She ducked down among the steers in order not to be seen. The rampaging riders opened the gates for the penned cattle and drove them out. Katherine ran along in their midst and, somehow, avoided detection. She returned home safely. She delivered Phillip the next day.  

[[18 Jan 1884]] The Ursuline '''nuns stayed at her boarding house''' when they first arrived in Miles City and described the filth quite graphically in their letters home to the motherhouse in Toledo.

Feb 1884 Michael has contract to excavate lot for new Stebbins-Mund Bank building at SW corner of 6th and Main.

[[26 Feb 1884]] Mr. McCanna, living on Main Street west of the post office, and the residents of the other houses in that block moved out Sunday night and had barely time to do so before the water backed up by the gorge came hurriedly into their houses and covered the lower floor to the depths of a foot and more. '''[[Floods]]'''

Mar 1884 Michael is a street grader.

[[1 Mar 1884]] Mr. McCanna, will shortly '''grade the street''' at the corner of the post office building, running at right angles to Main.

[[10 Apr 1884]] Quite a lively scrap occurred last night between Contractor McCanna and a gentleman who had been under his employ. The latter, it seems had a bone to pick with the contractor and led him on an exciting scrimmage, in which Mc took a tumble and was assisted home by one of his numerous friends.

[[16 Apr 1884]] The illness of Lizzie McCanna, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M.B. McCanna, is greatly regretted by their friends. She is afflicted with St. Vitus dance but there are some hopes of her recovery.

[[20 Apr 1884]] and [[23 Apr 1884]] Ad in YJ: Furnished rooms to rent at my house corner of Fourth and Main streets. Mrs. McCanna.

[[17 May 1884]] Philip Francis born to Michael and Katherine Ann McCanna.

June 1884 lives in a frame building about 2 houses away from his mother's residence at 3rd and Main.

1884 mother Bridgette runs a boarding house at 3rd and Main.

[[File:MichaelMcCannnaFamily3.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Michael McCanna's family after his death. L-R: Phillip, Liz, Robert, Hillary, Jim, Katherine]]

[[2 Jun 1884]] 1 am Monday morning, a fire broke out in the home of Mrs. Sarah McCanna at Third and Main. Discovered by a soldier and Gus Malden, who raised the alarm. The upper floor rooms had light cloth lining the walls instead of plaster and the house went up quickly. The night watchman and deputy sheriffs Conley and Zahl had been at the RR depot waiting to arrest someone on the incoming train, but on hearing the yelling, ran to the fire, firing off the 2 shots that indicated a fire. The wind was blowing across Main (northward) so only the back of the adjoining house received extra damage, about $100 worth. Using only pumps and buckets, the citizenry turned out and saved as much furniture as they could and the house being unable to save the house, worked to save the remaining structures to the west, towards the river. Mrs. McCanna only discovered the fire by seeing its reflection. The fire started in an upstairs room and came down the chimney. Soon she was overcome with smoke and was only able to escape with the help of neighbors. The house was seven years old and one of the oldest ones in town, having been dismantled from its original site in old Milestown and moved here in 1877. It was old fashioned but comfortable and estimated to be worth about $1000, and was mostly covered by insurance. The adjacent building was owned by Chinese laundryman Gee Lee. They emptied their building and doused it with water. The damaged laundry was "bad" but "as Sunday was past the stock of washing on hand was light". A keg of powder was placed in the laundry building to blow it up if needed, but the wind changed and they didn't have to use it. Michael (often referred to as "B. McCanna"), who lived in the second house from his mother's burning building, was carrying valuables from his house, including an incubator and a packaged mixture of dynamite and giant powder which he stacked near the barn. A spark ignited the package, blowing the end out of the incubator, scattering chickens and eggs all over and causing the crowd to fall back. (One separate reference has his house around the corner on 4th, between Main and Pleasant, two houses away from his mother's.)

Jun 1884 Patrick H. Fox and his wife, Katherine Brigette “Madge”, move to Milford, KS.

[[17 Mar 1885]] A '''fire''' broke out in the 2 story building on Main near Fourth Street, the front of which was Toy Siug's laundry. A multitude of alarm shots brought a large crowd who rescued belongings and tried to put the fire out. Apparently, between the flames and the ignited keg of gunpowder, the buildings on each side were also destroyed, a small house to the west and Mrs. McCanna's house on the corner of Main and Fourth. Her house was valued at $600 and was insured. Total damage estimated at $1200 - $1500.  

[[18 Mar 1885]] A fire left Mrs. [[M. McCanna]] homeless and [[Towner Savage]], [[Major Borchart]] and [[Sam O'Connell]] took up a subscription for her, raising $150.

Two days later the YJ published a different version: Smoke was pouring into Mrs. McCanna's house pretty lively when [[Dave Roche]] and [[Jim Whelan]] and other burst the door open and wakened Mr. and Mrs. Judd who also lived on the corner. Their furniture was all removed but Mrs. McCanna, lived in the next house, where the fire started, lost everything. [[Kid Roche]] and Jim Whelan had their hair and hands burned in the efforts to save property. A keg of powder was placed in one of the buildings, but Jim Whelan saw it and removed it. [[George Silverberg]] heard McCanna's hens cackling and transferred them from the coop to a place of safety. He also saved her cat. Probable cause was thought to be a lamp explosion. [[Judge Conger]] organized the bucket brigade.  

[[16 Apr 1885]] The Whitesides have taken the contract to '''rebuild another house''' for Mrs. McCanna on the site of the burned structure. [[1 Jul 1885]] the new house has a roof and will soon be completed.

During 1885, Mrs. B. McCanna spent $2000 on 2 buildings and Mrs. M. McCanna spent $800 on a residence (according to a list of construction for the year).

In 1885 the Government opened up '''Alaska''' to self rule and started urging immigration.

Sep 1885 Patrick H. Fox and his wife, Katherine Brigette “Madge”, went to Douglas, Alaska.

Apr 1886 '''advertisement''': Leave your clothes at the Miles City dying works back of McCanna's.

In Aug 1886, the '''Michael and his family move to Alaska''', and they quickly become involved in the gold rush, establishing a claim near Douglas, Alaska. It is presumed that son John dies on the trip, having fallen from the wagon.

[[File:McCanna_Katherine Ann_Emmet_Elizabeth_Philip_Jim.jpg|thumb|900px|Katherine Ann, Emmet, Elizabeth, Philip, Jim]]

Dec 1886: [[Abe LeRoy]] receives '''a letter from [[Jimmy McCanna]]''' who is with his father in Alaska. He tells his "old pard" that he doesn't like Alaska as there ain't enough winter there.

Sep 1887 Bridgetta McCanna owed $1 as a witness in probate court by the board of county commissioners.

[[2 Mar 1890]] '''Mrs. Bridgetta McCanna''', an old resident of Miles City, '''died''' on Sunday at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Maggie Mathews, at Williston, ND. She was quite elderly and feeble when she left MC to live with Maggie. She had quite a bit of real estate which yielded her considerable income at one time, but as the town shifted focus to the east, became less profitable. When they left Minnesota they sold their farm which they had just proved up. The buyer defaulted at some point and daughter Magaret Jane inherited it. She then sold it to her aunt, who had remained in Minnesota.

1895 '''James' widow Sarah marries''' Alfred Schmidt. They later move to Seattle, WA. (A "Fred (Little Johnny) Schmidt" arrived in Miles City from Carrington, D.T. in 1884. He worked on the John Leonard ranch.)

[[13 Jun 1899]] on way back from gold fields with son Jim, '''Michael dies''' of Bright's Disease (abt 55). His daughter, Lizzie, went up on the Topeka RR from Skagway to Lake Bennett, met James there, and helped him bury their father.

Michael Bernard McCanna b: 1846 in Waterford or Leitrim, Ireland ; d. 13 Jun 1899 in Alaska.

Katherine Ann ROONEY b: 02 APR 1852 in Farrellton, Quebec, Canada; d. 1939 LA, CA.

:Elizabeth Elinor McCanna b: 13 MAY 1875 in Grove Lake, MN; d. 1930 Goldendale, WA; m. Rbt J Willis

:James Adelbert McCanna b: 16 DEC 1876 in Fargo, D.T.; d. 1918 Portland, OR; m. Francis G. Morrissette 1911; d. of pneumonia on trip to wife's family in AL. His father-in-law gave them $10,000 for a house, which was one of the best in the area. James studied at ?seminary?, worked gold fields with his father, ran a ferry company in Juneau, then was a merchant and finally a realtor.

:Phillip Francis MCKANNA b: 17 MAY 1884 in Miles City; tried to find gold in Alaska.; d. 1940 LA, CA. 2 wives and 7 children.

:Robert J. McCanna b: 21 MAY 1889 in Douglas, Alaska; d. 1958 Fairbanks, AK; m. Theodocia L. Wheeler; worked on the docks, probably with Jim's ferry co. Served in WWI.

:Hillary M. McCanna b: 11 JUN 1892 in Douglas, Alaska; d. 1957, Spokane, WA mental hospital, hung himself (manic-depressive psychosis and cerebral arteriosclerosis); Farmer/Clerk/Railway Ag Dishman, transfer business; m. Vivian L. McDonald 1929

James S. McCanna , b. 1841; d. 1883;

Sarah Ann Duffy, b. ; d. ;

:Margaret Jane, b. 1869

:Francis "Frank" Edward, b. 1871

:James Scott, b. 1874

:Charles Michael, b. 1878

:Mary Cordella, b. 1881

Charles S. Johnson, b. 1847, d. ?

Bridgett McCanna , b. ?, d, ?

:Charles Alphous, b. 1877

:Ellen, b. 1879

divorces Johnson and marries Patrick H. Fox

==Michael's family after Miles City==

In 1886 Michael Bernard McCanna loaded his wife and five young children into a wagon bound for Alaska. The McCannas settled on Douglas Island, across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau. Michael labored as a hard-rock gold miner in adjacent Treadwell. The family grew by two as Elizabeth gave Michael two more sons: Robert John on [[21 May 1889]], and Hilary on [[11 Jun 1892]]. From this time on, they spelled their name "McKanna".

From 1892-1898 Elizabeth McKanna, having graduated from St. Ann’s Academy in Juneau, found work on the Island as Douglas’s postmistress.  

Michael and his two oldest sons began working the Yukon gold fields in the spring of 1897, a whole year before the stampede begun by a shipload of gold-laden miners disembarking at the Port of Seattle. Michael McKanna, while mining in the Yukon gold fields with his Jim and Emmet, came down with Brights Disease, a kidney ailment. Making his way back toward Douglas with Jim as his support, Michael died near the shores of Lake Bennett, in the District of Atlin, British Columbia. When news reached Douglas, his daughter Elizabeth took a boat to Skagway and a recently built rail line up the Chilkoot Pass. She and Jim buried their father’s body in a small miners’ cemetery located at the top of the Pass, one the Forest Service maintains to this day.

In 1901 the citizens of Treadwell elected Robert Willis as the town’s first mayor. The next year the federal government appointed him as Treadwell’s postmaster. On November 7, 1903 he married twenty-eight-year-old '''Elizabeth''' McKanna. The wedding took place in the McKanna family home in Douglas; Rev. Peter Bougis, S.J. officiated. Nine months later, on August 18, 1904, Elizabeth gave the couple their first child, Robert John Willis (II).

[[File:KatherineRooneyMcCanna88yrs.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Katherine, 88 years old]]

Sometime during this period, Robert Willis took over the management of the Alaska-Treadwell store, certainly during 1905-1906. But other opportunities beckoned. His best man, Douglas Ledbetter, purchased with Earl Wallace a general merchandizing store in Goldendale, a small farming community in south-central Washington State. Ledbetter talked his manager/ friend into transferring with him to Goldendale; he would manage the new store’s agricultural department.  Willis accepted the offer. In February 1907 Robert Willis preceeded his family to their new home; they joined him on the Fourth of July. Thus began the transporting of the combined McKanna and Willis family from the Alaska Territory to Washington State.

The two oldest McKanna boys for some years followed their father’s path. '''Emmet''' mined around Dawson from 1897-1900, '''Jim''' from 1897-1904.  

When Emmet came back to Douglas, he worked first as a clerk in the P.H. Fox Department Store ([[Patrick Fox]] was married to Emmet’s aunt, ?Madge? ?'''Bridgett'''? McCanna, Michael Bernard’s sister and they were the first to come to Alaska).  On July 15, 1909 in Douglas he married Lillian Penglase, the twenty-four-year-old daughter of John and Mary Penglase, residents of Douglas since 1894 when they migrated there from Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Soon afterwards he and Lillian struck out across the water to Juneau. Emmet bought an interest in a brokerage firm, Epsteyn and Gilmour; by 1914 he acted as a wholesale agent for the company of Geddes and McKanna. In 1917 he, Lillian, and their three children (Emmet, Mary, and John) followed Bob and Elizabeth Willis to Washington State. They settled in Yakima. There Emmet sold automobiles for three years before he switched to real estate, a business career he practiced with notable success until his death in 1958. Emett wore gold ring fashioned from a raw nugget.

'''Jim''' McKanna stayed in Alaska. He too married, lived and worked in Juneau, on the wharfs and in a sawmill. On a trip to Oregon in 1918 he contracted the deadly influenza virus and died at the early age of forty-two. He left behind his wife, Frances Morrisette McKanna, and three young children: Edmund (6), Jim (5), and Christine (4). He also left an imposing home, one he built with Yukon gold-money and $10,000 from his wife’s father, on the hill above Juneau. This structure at 236 Gold Street later became the residence of the Alaska Territory’s delegate to the United States Congress. The governor lived in the  mansion next door. Both stately places still exist (not according to Google Street View, else they aren't that special), overlooking Juneau, the Gastineau Channel, and the buildings of Douglas dotting the horizon.

The younger McKanna boys all married:

'''Philip''' became a prospector in Douglas, a farmer in Montana, a mill worker in Aberdeen, Washington, and even a fur farmer in Juneau.  

'''Robert''' married a young stewardess of the Alaska Steamship Company, Theodocia Louise Wheeler, or “Theo” as people knew her. Bob and Theo were settling into Seward where Bob managed the docks and supervised loading and unloading activities. Disaster stuck the Robert Willis family in 1930. His wife, Elizabeth, had a stroke some time in the Spring and was bedridden, unable to speak. Then their son, James Emmett (b. 12/13/1912), drowned while boating on the Columbia River in July. Elizabeth died on August 10th; she was never told about her son's accidental death, though she probably knew.

The youngest, '''Hilary''', farmed in Alaska and Washington, worked on a dairy farm as a milker in Juneau, and ended his laboring days as a railroad employee in Spokane, Washington. Tragically, he died in 1957, in a Spokane, WA mental hospital by hanging himself. He was diagnosed with manic-depressive psychosis and cerebral arteriosclerosis.