Mary Ellen Maguire 1872 - 1959

Salford Born, both resolute and courageous Mary Ellen Downey née Maguire and her children sailed on the S.S. Dominion - Liverpool to Philadelphia - on the 16th. of September 1914 Mary Ellen was married to Daniel Downey 1872 - 1920. He must have been a very unsatisfactory husband, for reasons it is impossible for me to have first-hand knowledge. On the 16th. of September 1914 Mary Ellen and her five children embarked from Liverpool to the USA and then on to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Some weeks before emigrating she had distanced herself from Daniel and he had no knowledge of her intentions. It is astounding when you consider the attitudes to marriage and the role of women current at that time. I often think about Mary Ellen and her children: Gertrude, John, Hilda, Elsie, Lillian. The youngest child was just two years of age, onboard a single funnel ship, that took six weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The final destination was Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, I am assuming this was chosen because of the importance of this city in the manufacture of cotton textiles, and the possibility of employment. Mary Ellen and her children, arrived, settled, and thrived. My grandparents had eight children. Five boys and three girls. In total they only produced five grandchildren. The dynasty created in Canada by Mary Ellen now numbers more than three hundred individuals. I can only speculate about the reasons for this remarkable contrast in Fecundity.