Daniel Meagher

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Daniel Meagher was born 1794 in Killaloe, Ireland and died December 26, 1865 in
Cape Breton Island. He married Mary O'Brian, daughter of David O'Brian and Abegail
Squires. She was born 1800 and died 1897 in Cape Breton Island. Daniel Meagher came
from Killaloe, County, Kilkenny, Ireland. This is a "Townland" outside of the city of Callon.
He arrived in Newfoundland late in the second decade of the nineteenth century and came to
Port Hood in about 1820, then to Brook Village. His wife, Mary O'Brian was the daughter
of Abegail Squires, an Irish woman who came from Conneticut and Guysborough and then to Port Hood in 1789.
Daniel Meagher's brothers, John (Skye Glen) and Nicholas (Melrose Hill/Mount Young), followed him
to Cape Breton. John (1789-1856) and his wife Margaret(1788-1866) are buried in Mabou R.C. Cemetary. They had one daughter.
Nicholas Meagher and his wife Mary had ten children. He died between 1863 - 1865.
Nicholas's son John inherited his land. His son Edmund married Janet Adams from Hillsborough and
lived near the old farm. Most of Nicholas's family are said to have died early or moved to the U.S.
Daniel Meagher's farm in Brook Village was large and by 1871 census it had been divided between
>sons . John and James. The old homestead was one of the most prosperous farms by then. The
original farm went into Beaton ownership when John's (1833-1873) widow marries Alec Beaton. The
Campbell family owns this farm as of 1994.
James' farm is still in Meagher hands.
Daniel's son, Nicholas lived in Halifax and was a Supreme Court Justice from 1890-1916.
He was knighted by the Pope. He championed the cause of Catholic's rights and at times
was an opponent of Joseph Howe.
Daniel's son, Michael died at sea in 1859, unmarried.
Daniel's son Edmund died in Lower Stewiacke at age 70 in 1895 and was unmarried.
Daughter Ellen married Malcom MacNeil of Hillsborough and raised a large well educated family.
Daughters Honora and Mary died young.
Daughter Sarah may be the widow Doyle who moved to Boston East in 1873.
Because Daniel Meaghers' mother-in-law, Abegail Squires may have been married three times,
the early Meaghers' had many half-step cousins from these unions - Hawleys, O'Brians, Whiteheads.
Judge Nicholas Meagher had a monument to Abegail Squires and David O'Brian erected but it was
mysteriously vandalized becoming a part of local folklore.
Lauchie Meagher, son of James, has four sisters who died in their 20's and 30's and are buried in
Brook Village with their parents and bachelor brother Daniel. These women were not married except
for Sarah who was Mrs. John Gasper
Musical talent abounded in the James Meagher family both in voice - Uncle Dan and violin Lauchie.
Lauchie was later well known on the island for his lively dance music.
He and his wife Katie were known for their hospitality, kindness and love of life.
Many of their family followed their father into the mines and into music.
Donald, Joe and Allan served overseas in World War II and John A. has ensured that the Meaghers
are still in Brook Village after 170 years!
The Gaspers descended from Francis Gasper of Portugal, whose ship the "Sally"
floundered of Port Hood in 1812. He settled in Brook Village.

Meagher’s Grief at McNab’s Island

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On a pleasant autumn day, a sight seeing boat trip around Halifax Harbour is an exciting undertaking
for young and old. The many fine buildings along the waterfront are insights into Halifax of old, for
some of them are more than a hundred and fifty years old. The newly reconstituted Pier 21 is an
important sight to see from the water, for some of our Inverness County immigrant Dutch families first
set foot on Canadian soil there and their names are recorded in the records inside the building.
The old fort at the top of Citadel Hill is impressive from the water as is the 200 year old clock tower
half way up the slope. The location where the Mont Blanc and the Ino collided at the Narrows with the
resultant Halifax Explosion of 1917 is a place of significance.
There is so much to see on both sides of the Harbour that an hour long tour is all too short. The tour
guides point out the islands in the Harbour: McNab’s with its old buildings and legends; and Devil’s at
the very entrance to the deepwater Harbour of Halifax-Dartmouth.
Rarely, however is any mention made to the various ships that met disaster on those outcroppings of
rock. Several of them have a Cape Breton connection – as do many people and places in Halifax.
Early in December of 1859, owners of coastal sailing vessels realized
that the season for shipping out produce from the wharves of Inverness County was coming to a close.
As well, small and large schooners were arriving in our ports with supplies of molasses, wheat flour
and rum, sufficient to see us through the winter months, when ice prevented the arrival or departure of
vessels.
Towards the middle of the month, the schooner Rival was tied up at the shipping wharf in Port Hood.
Tubs of local butter, barrels of potatoes and firkins of local cheese or salted fish were being stowed in
the hold and lashed together on the deck.
The Rival was outbound for Halifax with produce from local farms and fish merchants. The Young
captain was Michael Meagher, age 31. Born in Brook Village in 1828, shortly after his
parents Daniel Meagher (1794-1865) and Mary O’Brien
(or Breen as her name is often written), (1800-1897) moved there from Port Hood, Michael left the
farm as a young man to seek his fortune at sea.
Captaining a coastal schooner of perhaps 70 or 75 tons was a demanding task.
Michael had arrived at the standing of “captain” at a young age, after some years of experience at sea. He may have learned
elementary navigation at the Hillsborough Grammar School when William Ayres was the teacher. The
remainder of his knowledge had been acquired at sea.
With an eye to the sky and a simple glass barometer, Captain Michael gave the order to his crew,
among them Donald MacDonald (perhaps an Inverness County native) and James O’Neil (perhaps
from Guysborough County) to cast off the line.
Out past the reef and sandbar on the eastern side of the harbour and the headlands of the inner and
outer Port Hood Islands went the Rival down the Gut of Canso and around the
headlands of Guysborough County she went. Nothing is known of her journey until her arrival at the
entrance of Halifax Harbour. The “glass” must have been falling and the sky giving the indication of a
coming storm as Captain Michael Meagher tried to reach the safety of Halifax Harbour.
He passed Devil’s Island with the prow of the ship bucking the rising waves, for a full gale had
developed. For whatever reason the crew lost control of the ship. The Rival was no rival for the
power of the wind and the waves, and it crashed into the rocks of McNab’s Island.
The crew and the cargo were lost. However, the bodies of Captain Michael Meagher and crewman
O’Neil and MacDonald were recovered and buried in a Halifax cemetery.
A journey started in confidence had ended in disaster. The same night, December 21, 1859, another
schooner laden with produce from Prince Edward Island, Sarah Elizabeth, perhaps built at Arichat,
Cape Breton was lost on the ledges of Devil’s Island with the loss of all aboard. A bad storm had
exacted a terrible toll. We will never know how often, in later years, Captain Michael’s younger
brother, the Honourable Nicholas Meagher of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, may have toured
McNab’s Island to recall his older brother. Nicholas, born in 1842, was only seventeen years old on
the December day of 1859 when the Rival met a sad fate at the entrance to Halifax Harbour.
Nor will we ever know how many days or weeks went by before the news of Captain Michael’s death
reached his parents and brothers and sisters in Brook Village. By that time, the storm had long since
abated and the waters of both Halifax and Port Hood harbours had grown calm – awaiting only the
next gale. But McNab’s Island had brought the Meaghers much grief. When on a tour of Halifax
Harbour, we may indeed recall a young Inverness County native, Capt. Michael Meagher.
Perhaps his present day relatives by the name of Meagher, MacNeil or Chisholm or Beaton or
MacDonald may also remember their relative of long ago, for his story is indeed part of the heritage of
Inverness County.