Most people recognize the surname Cavanagh and invariably associate it with the St. Peter’s Cavanaghs, particularly the politicians who gained fame as the first and second Roman Catholics to sit in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
The Cavanaghs acquired property in Cape Breton, including Rocky Bay on Isle Madame. It is probable that the Irish prominence on Isle Madame, and particularly in Rocky Bay, was precipitated by the initiative of the Cavanaghs. It is difficult, however, to draw direct connections between the original family and the extended families in Richmond County and beyond.
Family 5
Mary (daughter of Daniel and Jane) married William Doyle. Mary died at age 75 in 1879 and they had three children: Michael born in 1828 married Catherine G. Deveaux; Margaret married P. Bulger on July 11, 1843; and Mary was born in 1831.
Family 6
Mary (daughter of Mary and William Doyle) married Michael White, who was born in 1827 and died in Whiteside. Their children were: Marth, who married Herbert Holmes and died in the United States; Ellen Jane born on March 7, 1867 and married John Shannon; Michael John married Flora MacDonald; William John married twice, first to Melinda Wilson, then to Melinda Lafford; Jerome; Mary, who married Daniel MacDonald and died in Port Royal; and Elizabeth Anne, who married Hugh MacEachern.
Family 7
Alexander Kavanagh was born in 1823 and died at age 80 in 1903. He married Isabel MacDonald and they had Ellen May Elizabeth, who was born on Jan. 30, 1860 and Daniel James.
Family 8
Daniel James (son of Alexander and Isabel) married Anne McPherson on Nov. 19, 1888 in D’Escousse. Daniel James died at age 77 in 1896. Anne was born in 1870, and she was the daughter of Etienne McPherson and Anna Davis. Their children were: Stephen William, born March 11, 1896 and died May 26, 1935 at age 39 in Louisdale; William Wallace was born on Oct. 21, 1901, he married Laura Jane Covin, daughter of Cesar Forgeron and Jane Shannon, and died in Martinique on July 19, 1991; Levina Annie was born on Aug. 24, 1890; Anna Isabella was born on April 25, 1899; Joseph was born on May 12, 1898; James William Cavanaugh married Laura Jane Forgeron, who died at age 89 in 1948, and she was the daughter of Cesar Forgeron and M.J. Shannon.
Family 9
Catherine (daughter of James and Mary Grady) and Matthew Maddox had the following children: Mary Anne, who was married on Sept. 26, 1898 to Edward Thibeau, and she died at River Bourgeois; James Daniel was born on Feb. 9, 1886 and died in the US; Sarah Ellen was born on Dec. 12, 1886 and died in the US; John baptized on Nov. 11, 1892, married Sarah Campbell on April 28, 1965; Robert Michael was born on Sept. 20, 1894; Catherine Margaret was born on Oct. 10, 1896; and Thomas married Florence MacNeil and died in the US.
Family 10
David Kavanagh married Johanna White and he died on March 3, 1883. There were two children: Johanna, who was born in 1811 and died at age 54 on May 25, 1865; Lizzie married Abraham Samson (son of Joe Samson and M. Petitpas) on Feb. 2, 1891 in D’Escousse.
Family 11
John Daniel Kavanagh (son of John Daniel and Mary Grady) and Catherine E. Murphy. Their children were: Wallace Michael baptized Feb. 1, 1890; Sarah Blanche, born Sept. 4, 1892, died in Halifax on Nov. 6, 1903, and she married T. Morrison; Maurice William Henry born December 6, 1895, died age 7 months on Feb. 11, 1894; John Joseph Vincent born Nov. 13, 1896; Marie Agnes Theresa born Nov. 4, 1898; Alice Mildred Maud was born on Oct. 10, 1901 and married Joseph Godfrey Goyetche; and Patrick Thomas Lawrence was born on Sept. 29, 1903.