The McCarthy Family of Keene

Jennie Weir McCarthy and Vince McCarthy

Vince McCarthy

Eugene Vincent McCarthy was born in 1882, the youngest son of Isabella Daly, 1843 -1896 and Owen McCarthy, 1838 -1886 who died at age 47. If my grandfather were ever nervous of horses it would be well understood, because his father and his brother were both killed in accidents involving horses. Vince was only four when his father died in 1886 when he was hit by a train while driving a team at Downers’ Corners on the outskirts of Peterborough. He was partly deaf and did not hear the train approaching. He was thrown against a large stump by the side of the road. Sadly, Vince’s mother died ten years later.

An orphan at 14, he worked on different farms until he was old enough to take over the family farm. One winter he lived with the Roche family who had 22 children, including three sets of twins. Mrs. Roche was a Doris.

Vince and his older brother, Daniel, shared the farm until 1919 when Daniel was killed by a runaway horse that dragged the hay rake over a stone, knocking him off. Vince then bought Daniel’s 100 acres from the estate, then added 65 more acres next to the Indian River. Dan had lived in the farm opposite Stewart Nelson’s. The house is no longer there.

Like most McCarthys, Vince was a very good athlete. He played hockey and soccer, and won a bike race from Hope’s Mill to Keene. Aunt Loretta Bolin recounts how he was given the chance to play hockey for Queen’s University, but declined because he was about to assume responsibility for the home farm. She said he once scored nine goals in a game in Peterborough. He coached softball and baseball teams in Keene. Loretta remembers boys from Keene coming out to the farm to listen to the World Series on the McCarthy radio, and staying to eat supper.

Vince married Jennie Weir in 1905. She was 19. He was 23. Besides addressing the challenges of raising a family of 15 they faced adversities of fire. In 1911, a fire started by lightning destroyed eight buildings on the farm. Vince’s sister, Mary Ellen, 1869-1936 saw the smoke as she walked home after going to a neighbour, Harry Reid, to ask if the family could help in haying the next day.

In 1914 there was another fire scare when children in Keene set fire to some brush and lumber on McCarthy land near the Indian River. They had to plough a field between the fire and the barn to head off the fire. Because the weather was so dry it took some weeks for the fire to burn itself out. Jennie used to circle the fire area every night before going to bed to assure herself that it was safe.

He loved to play cards at home, euchre or bridge, and hated to lose. He was a great fan of the Montreal Canadiens. All of his children became great sports fans. He would play pool in Keene on a regular basis. Until I was 18, I used to get my hair cut at Whelan’s in Keene where we would see Grampa McCarthy playing pool on many occasions. I remember my grandfather as having a “stern” manner about him. I recall Uncle Gene in his 40s getting in an accident with his father’s car, and being quite nervous of the anticipated reaction !

About 1911, an English orphan named Jim Prescott came out to Canada and lived with the McCarthy family as a hired man. In respect for the family, he decided to change his name to McCarthy. He later fought in World War I. When he retired from working for the Toronto Transit Commission he moved back to Keene and built the house at the top of the hill going down to Bolins. He was known as Pat McCarthy in Keene and was active with the Legion.

Vince made a living by selling grain, cream, and a few beef cattle and sheep. After he sold the cream to the dairies, he would feed the remaining separated milk to his pigs. Cows were milked by hand, but this was not a chore when several family members pitched in to help.

Uncle Joe reminded me that when school started in the fall Vince would trace the outline of his children’s feet on paper, then go to Peterborough to buy seven or eight pairs of shoes at one time.

He died in 1953 at age 71.

Jennie Weir McCarthy

Born on January 18, 1886 and baptized Janet Isabella, Jennie Belle Weir was a wonderful woman who was loved by everyone. She was the only daughter of James Weir, 1851 -1914 and Sarah Dixon, 1860-1897, and born in the Gall family’s house in Keene. When her mother died at age 37 in 1897 in Kaslo, British Columbia, Jennie’s father sent her and her siblings east to be raised by other family members. At the McCarthy farm, Lot 15, Con. 5, Otonabee, RR#1 Keene, there are photos of the mothers of Jenny and Vince.

Her Aunt Belle Weir paid for Jenny to take elocution lessons in Toronto as a young girl. She could recite beautiful poetry, a tradition her daughter, Marlyn, in particular maintained. Jennie married Vince in 1905 in Hastings. She played the organ at the Presbyterian church in Keene until the 1920s when she converted to become a Catholic. As a youngster in Calgary she had attended a Catholic school since it was right behind their house. Her conversion later in her marriage resulted in strained relations with her Aunt Belle who refused to visit the McCarthy’s.

I remember her in the 1960s as a woman with lots of smiles, and always a cookie and tea when we went to visit, which my mother and my siblings did on a regular basis. There often would be four or five other family members visiting at any one time.

Her father came east to visit her several times before he died in 1914. She kept a photo of her brother Orm taken in England shortly before he died in 1916 in her bedroom till she died. Their home, which was eventually to house 13 children, had four bedrooms upstairs, plus a bedroom downstairs. There was also a bed, usually in the hall. Baking bread, churning butter, cooking meals, and washing clothes for over a dozen children at a time must have been onerous indeed. Fruit would be preserved in two-quart jars. At the same time there was always food for any children from Keene who came out to sleigh on the hills behind the barns.

Jennie had diabetes and died aged 79.