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The earliest official record of the family’s residency in Canada dates from the early 1860s.

The 1861 census indicates that Robert and Elizabeth lived in Rawdon Township in a one-storey

log house, and that Robert farmed on the 200 acres of land that he owned [12]. Also recorded in

that same census is the household of their oldest son William, who lived in Belleville with his wife

Catherine, his children Eliza and Robert, and his younger brothers John and Henry [13] [25].

William was a blacksmith. The 1860-61 Hastings County Directory lists the Front Street shop

and Coleman Street residence of William McInninch (spelled with three ‘n’s), and William placed

an ad in the 1 August 1862 The Intelligencer of Belleville thanking the people of the town and the

county “for the liberal patronage ex’ended [sic] to him for the past seven years, begs to say that

he has recently built new and commodious premises on the old site, where he is prepared to do all

kinds of work connected with the Carriage and Blacksmith business, in the best manner and at the

lowest prices.” The ad is signed “Wm. M’Inninch”. Only two years after opening the new premises,

however, William died on 17 April 1864, after suffering a kick to his lower abdomen by a young

horse behind which he stood.

William’s younger brother Henry McIninch, who lived, and presumably worked, with him in 1861,

took over the blacksmith business following William’s death [24]. Henry, an Anglican, married

Margaret McDonough, an Irish-born Roman Catholic who had emigrated to Canada in 1850 [22],

sometime between 1861 and 1871 [16] [17]. Henry’s obituary [29] states that he emigrated to

Canada at the age of 14 (which would mean that he arrived circa 1854), and the 1901 census of

Canada [22] states that he emigrated 1854.

Henry and Margaret had four children, all of whom were born in Belleville and were raised as

Catholics: Robert Henry (born 29 March 1871 and baptized on 23 April 1871 at St. Michael’s

Catholic Church in Belleville), William John (born 27 March 1874 and baptized on 1 April 1874 at

St. Michael’s), Mary Florence (born 5 July 1878), and Mabel (born 6 July 1883 and baptized on

23 July 1883 at St. Michael’s). Henry had a prominent local political career. After Belleville was

incorporated as a city on 1 December 1877, Henry served as an alderman from 1878 to 1886 [32].

In January 1886, he was elected mayor of Belleville and served for one year, after which he retired

from active municipal political life [27]. Like his father Robert, he was a mason, and he served as

the master of Eureka Lodge A.F. & A.M., No. 283, G.R.C., Belleville, in 1890 and 1891 [28].

Robert McIninch and Elizabeth Colgon’s three other known children, Elizabeth, Patrick, and John,

also remained in the Belleville-Stirling area, like their brothers William and Henry.

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McAninch Family History NL, v.XIV n.1 / January 2006 / Frank McAninch, Editor / page 2006-03