A Canadian Family

Thomas Sarenhes Hall (Akwesasne) & Maryanne Kanerahtakwas McGregor (Kahnawake) | Series: Families of Caughnawaga

I was contacted this week by Louise for assistance in climbing her family tree. Louise’s mother was Margaret Hall, daughter of Thomas Hall of Akwesasne and Maryanne McGregor of Kahnawake. Besides daughter Margaret, Thomas and Maryanne had at least three sons: John Hall, Michael Hall and contoversial Mohawk activist and artist Louis Hall. If you’re interested, you can read a biography of Louis Hall which was written by a family member. For different perspectives on his life and actions just google “Louis Hall Caughnawaga” and you’ll find a variety of articles.

Louise wanted to know more about Thomas and Maryanne and offered the following information: ” … I do not know when they married or when they died. I’ve heard stories that they had a total of 10 kids, but only these four survived to adulthood. I do not know anything more about those other six children. Nor do I know anything about my grandparent’s parents. I believe my grandfather used to be a performer at Chief Poking Fire’s …..”

Information 1 – Genealogy Notes

I was unable to find much on these McGregors in the St-Francois-Xavier Church registers or the other usual sources, however I did run into a bit of luck when I found the marriage of Thomas and Maryanne’s son John Hall to Louise Montour, because their marriage record listed his parents’ full names – Thomas Sarenhes Hall and Marieanne Kanerahtakwas McGregor. Using a few primary documents plus the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census, I was able to make a preliminary reconstruction of this lineage. I say preliminary because census data is notoriously unreliable so this should be considered a “draft” until more primary documents are found. Note also that I’ve suppressed some post-1911 data for privacy reasons. Read more »

November 22, 2009 Posted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault | . | Caughnawaga, Genealogy, Iroquois, Kahnawake, Mohawk, Native American, Quebec Genealogy | 1 Comment