Madden Moments

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Francis McArdle

Francis McArdle was born about 1765 in Armagh County, Ireland. We do not know the name of his wife at this point in time, but we do have a list of known or surmised children.

Alice was born about 1787. She married John Haffey (see the Haffey page)
Cornelius was born about 1805. The name of his wife is unknown.

Cornelius had a son Peter who married Bridget McGeone. Peter had a daughter Mary Ann who married James McGeown. Their daughter Sarah Ann married John Gribben and we have a DNA match to their grandson.

Henry was born about 1805 and died abt 1875. He married Mary Hughes and they had three known children.
John was born about 1806.He had a daughter Anne who married George Loughran. They had nine known children. We have DNA matches to descendants of three of those children.
Margaret was born about 1815. She married a LaVelle and they had a son James. James had a son Bernard who had a daughter Anne. Anne married a Coyne and we have DNA matches to descendants of two of their children.

Francis died on the 3rd of April 1847 in Madden.

The number of deaths shown for March and April of that year suggest the impact of the famine. This is not the city, but small farming townlands. Where the record says nil, it means that there was no fee paid for the burial. Looking through the names, I began to wonder if that didn't indicate other recent deaths in the family. Although McArdle is not an uncommon name in the area within the two pages I examined there are deaths for Felix McArdle on March 12 with a fee of 0-6-0, Tally McArdle on Mar 23 no fee, Francis, and Rose McArdle on April 30 with a fee of 1-11-6. There are also ten others of Madden who died within that two month period.

Fourteen residents in two months is a high number for a townland that had 288 residents in 1841. Approximately one in 20. That definitely suggests either hunger or a contagious deathly disease. A search for nearby newspapers might answer the question. By 1851 there were only 162 residents in Maddan just over half as many as ten years before. Most likely some had moved, to England, Canada, Australia, the US or even just to the nearby city of Armagh or perhaps to Belfast. But, obviously a disproportionate number had not survived this famine.

John Haffey of Magherarval

1830 Ordnance Survey Map

John Haffey was born about 1776 in Magherarval County Armagh. He married Alice McArdle before 1806 when their son James was born. Although there is no actual proof that John Haffey born abt 1819 was their son a number of things make it very likely.

First is that DNA matches with James and other children suggest a fourth cousin relationship among the current generations.

Second is that John named his oldest daughter Alice, a name that is found in other descendants families as well.

Third is that James's son James settled close to our John in Canada and family tradition said that he was a nephew.

Fourth is that we have McArdle matches to siblings of Alice, which proves that she is a connection and not just John.

A number of John's children or grandchildren emigrated, most to Canada but at least one to Australia.

John was living in Magherarval when the Tithe Applotments were taken in 1832. Magherarval is a townland consisting of about 171 acres in Lisnadill Parish, south of the city of Armagh.

Haffy, John - Townland: Magheriarval Year: 1832 (Note spelling of Haffy and of Magherarval.

We don't know when John died at this point. He is listed in the Vicar Choral's Rent Books in 1836 but has been replaced by his youngest known son Joseph (spelling Haughey) by 1855, so it assumed that it was within that time frame.

About the extractions from the Vicar Chorals Rent Books

The suggested Family of John Haffey and Alice McArdle includes:

James 1806-1871 m Catherine Corr (christening record exists) DNA match

Ten known children matches Walsh O'Brien Reynolds

Peter 1809-1869
Mary 1810-1874 m. James McMahon DNA match

matches Haughey, Lomas, McKinney, Cairney

Eliza 1811
Ann 1814
Rose 1816 m .Thomas Harrold (to Australia)
Susan @ 1819 m Patrick McAvinchey DNA match

matches Feighan Hamill

John
Catherine 1821 m. Patrick Sheridan
Margaret 1824 m. Owen Tunny
Joseph 1827 m. Margaret Donnelly

Monday, February 16, 2026

Isabel Louise Haffey

Isabel Louise Haffey was born on 28 Jul 1897 in Bay City, Bay, MI, the youngest child of Joseph and Mary (Murphy) Haffey. Various articles in the Bay City Times tell us of parties and outings.

Treble Clef 1917

She attended local schools, in 1916 she was a student at the state Normal School in Ypsilanti, Mi, a teachers college. Her father, Joseph, died while she was still in school. After graduation she taught locally before marrying Francis Martin Madden on 11 Jul 1921 in Bay City

The Bay City Times Tribune described the wedding in the Society column of the next days paper.

Isabel and Francis settled first in Flint, Michigan, where Frank was participating in the transportation business with his brothers. Shortly after the birth of her second son they moved to Duluth, MN. Isabel was eager to be part of "society" often living above their means. Unfortunately, it did not always lead to a happy home. The family moved around in Duluth over the next twenty years, and two daughters joined the family. In 1930 a son was lost in childbirth.

They survived the depression and remained in Duluth until after WWII, Frank serving on the rationing board for the duration. After the was they moved to Minneapolis where Frank went to work for Northwest Airlines and Isabel began teaching art in the local catholic school. They purchased their first home there, using the veteran's benefits of their son Jim.

Over the years three of Isabel's four children had ended up in California, so as Frank's health failed they decided to move in 1966. She had moved Frank temporarily in with Jim's family while she went back to Minneapolis to pack up the house. Franks went steadily downhill and was in the hospital by the time she returned.

She buried him in Bay City and then settled in San Diego for near her sister Grace for a while.

Isabel was very outgoing and could be a lot of fun. In my senior year of high school, a group of us took a road trip to visit colleges and my friends had a great couple of days staying with her.

Lots of fun doesn't necessarily lead to easy to live with. Her relationship with all of her children was always tenuous especially with my father. She was very self-centered, and intolerant of any number of things, including the life choices of many family members. One of my favorite stories to tell occurred when my daughters were three and five. She had by that time move to the San Francisco Bay area where both of her daughters lived, and where Greg and I had settled.

I would take turns with my Aunt Jane taking her shopping and to appointments. This particular day she was visiting for a while before I took her home. She decided to teach the girls how to play Spite and Malice while I was fixing lunch. She told them the rules and lo and behold my daughters were really bright and caught on right away. Now I ask you, if you as an adult were playing cards with a three and five year old wouldn't you maybe go slow, give them a little leeway. Well, my girls were quite smart and got the game right away. They were winning. As I came to call them to lunch, I heard Grammy changing the rules so that SHE WOULD WIN!!! I don't think they could quite believe it and they were ready to quit for lunch. That was my grandmother. I did dearly love her but I was one of a very few, I can't help thinking her dissatisfaction with everything was of her own making.

As her health deteriorated and she needed to go into a care home, Grammy decided to move once again. Her son Tom had retired to Sun City, Arizona so she found a home there. She died in the Cosada Villa Nursing Home in Mesa, AZ on 30 Jul 1989 at the age of 92. She is buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Bay City, MI.