James Doonan was born in Ireland around 1796-1799. He was married to Prudence who was a bit younger – born in 1811 in Ireland. Due to the destruction of records over the years in Ireland, I cannot say who their parents are with any certainty. James and Prudence immigrated to Canada by 1835 as their first known son was born in Canada in 1835. James and Prudence would ultimately have 10 children (that are known): John born February 7, 1835; Elizabeth born April 10, 1836; William born September 29, 1837; James born April 13, 1839, Armour born December 29, 1841; David born April 20, 1843, Edward born November 20, 1844; Alexander born May 8, 1846, Johnston born March 19, 1848 and Sarah Ann born June 2, 1851. William is my second great-grandfather, making James and Prudence my 3x great-grandparents.

Several years ago, I had hired a researcher to try to find out more about the ancestors of James and Prudence. The report that was generated lacked documentary evidence, but supposed that James parents were William Donan and Jane Glenn. It also supposed that Prudence’s maiden name was Morton and her parents were James Morton and Margaret Johnson. I really don’t know if this is true or not. In 2012 I made a trip to Northern Ireland – to Belfast – to do research and found there were no records to support or deny these claims.

I talked to another researcher who claimed that Prudence’s maiden name was Johnston – like her last son’s given name. It’s not unusual for a son to be named after the mother’s family – sometimes using the surname as a given name for the child. Then there is this curiosity from the 1861 Census of Canada:

There’s the Doonan family living seemingly next door to a Johnston family whose parents were born in Ireland. Prudence is 13 years older than James Johnston here which means they could possibly be siblings. It would not be unusual for siblings to immigrate to a new area and live next to each other. So, there certainly seems to be evidence supporting the Johnston surname – although quite honestly it’s not proof either.

Most of the Doonan’s remained in Canada, but John and William moved to Michigan sometime in the 1860’s. John would immigrate to Bay county and die in 1900 in Roscommon and William came to Bay City where he was married 4 times (most likely divorced 3 of those 4 times – but no divorce records are found, nor death information for 3 of the 4 wives).

John Doonan was married on April 10, 1861 in Bruce, Ontario to Eliza Jane Walker. Two of their 10 children were born in Canada. William J. born 1861 in Canada, Prudence E. born October 28, 1863 in Canada. Then they moved to Michigan where Francis was born in 1865, Elizabeth born 18 May 1868, Eliza Jane born 1870, David born June 21, 1874, Sarah A born 1876, Ruth born March 14, 1879, Amanda born July 1882 and Charles born November 14, 1884. Coincidentally, after John’s death, Eliza Jane would re-marry in 1903 in Higgins Township, Roscommon, Michigan to Samuel Johnston who was born about 1846 in Canada. At this time it is unknown if Samuel Johnston has any connection to that Johnston family from the 1861 census.

William and his fourth wife, Rosa Smith, would have 10 children – 8 of whom lived to be adults as far as I can tell. Frank, born  June 30, 1896 and Pearl born May 25, 1905 are both buried in Fraser Township Cemetery in Bay County. Sometime between 1905 and 1910 (probably 1908) William moved with his wife, 4 sons and 2 of 4 of his daughters back to Canada. The two daughters who stayed in Michigan were married – Rose Jane Doonan born August 22, 1882 was married to Alonzo Davis, and my great-grandmother, Margaret born on June 2, 1888 was married to William Henry Lacy in 1907. William would ultimately commit suicide on October 13, 1913 in New Liskeard. Rosa would re-marry in 1918 to Ernest Ball. William and Rosa’s sons, James, William Nelson, Archie and Abraham Possinger would all serve during World War I in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.