McConihe

I love Google Books - it always leads me to books I probably never would have come across that may have my ancestors in them. One such book is Drawn To Art by Diana Korzenic (1984). This book is about the role of art in the lives of 19th century Americans, through the Cross family of New Hampshire. On page 205, she mentions a name that is familiar to my family tree. A family I have been looking into since I began genealogy about 5 years ago. The McConihe family. I waited patiently for this book to come in through Interlibrary Loan at my local library and was very excited when it arrived. I don't remember if I went straight to the page the McConihe's were listed on or browsed through the book to get the gist of the subject matter, but I quickly came to the conclusion the McConihe she writes about on page 205 is not the Samuel McConihe I was looking for. I was a bit disappointed but still took the opportunity to read most of the book to get an idea about the lives of my ancestors who lived in the same area as the Crosses.

I will give a little background on the family I am looking for. In June of 1808, James McConihe was born in Bedford, NH. (birth date is estimated from his death record, town of birth is from his children's vital records). On James' death record, it states his father was Samuel McConihe and Elizabeth Campbell. This is were I get stuck. I have found a Samuel McConihe and Isabel Campbell in Bedford NH - but not Elizabeth. Even if this were his correct parents and the vital records mistold his mother's name as Elizabeth instead of Isabel, I have not come across where Samuel McConihe came from - who his parents were. To make matters more confusing, there seems to be two, maybe three, Samuel McConihe's from New Hampshire. One of the Samuel's is well documented and easier to trace. I am sure that my McConihe and these other McConihe's are most likely cousins, but I have to find more evidence to find where they all fit in. Eventually, I will need to go to NH to look more closely at cemeteries, vital records, and deeds. In the meantime, I have been tracing both families to keep them all straight. So you can see why I was excited to see a Samuel McConihe in this book I found. Even if it did not lead me to my ancestor, it would still provide information on the other McConihe line I am tracing.

I have to return this book tomorrow, so I thought I would note the important genealogical information I obtained through it. The Cross family moved to Merrimack, NH on a farm in 1874. She writes, "The Farm was located on the old Daniel Webster Highway, now Loop Road, whose narrowness even today shows its age. At the time the Crosses acquired their place, houses on either side dated back to the eighteenth century. Their neighbor to the north, Samuel McConihe, had already been there some fifty years. He had acquired his property from John Clapp, who purchased it in 1808 from a family that had owned it for two generations. The houses to the south are believed to have been millhouses back in the 1700s."

I am assuming she got the information on the Cross's new neighbors from land deeds; but unfortunately, she does not state this. The problem with this information; however, is that the Samuel she is referring to was actually deceased by 1853, according to cemetery transcriptions in Merrimack, NH. Looking at the 1870 Census for the McConihe's in Merrimack, it seems Samuel's son Massena is living on his farm with a Reed family. By the time the Crosses move in though, even Massena has passed. In the 1880 census; however, on the same page as the Crosses, the Reeds seem to be still living on the McConihe farm. The wife of the family is Carrie Reed. I will have to look into this more closely, but Massena had a daughter Carrie - and it seems highly likely that Carrie married a Reed and is now living on her father's (Massena's), and previously grandfather's (Samuel's), farm. I guess the interesting part of all this is that Carrie very well knew the Cross family which Diane writes about. So where were my McConihe ancestors in the 1880s. My Samuel McConihe is also deceased, and his son James McConihe dies in 1881 in Abington, MA. James' son James is living in the Hanover, MA and Rockland, MA areas in 1880 and 1890. Unfortunately for me, it does not seem likely that my McConihe ancestors new the Cross family that is living in Merrimack NH near their cousin McConihe's (if they are even cousins). Still, I find this connection to this book interesting!