Michael Ryan & Bridget O'Meara marr. 11 Feb. 1853, Templederry, Tipp., Wittnesses: John Burke & Catherine Burke; Dtr. Bridget Ryan b. 1 Feb. 1854, Templederry, Tipp., Sponsors: John Burke & Honoria Ryan
Michael's d. 27 Dec 1890, Old Chelsea, Quebec; buried St. Stephen's RC Cemetery, Old Chelsea, QC
Ottawa Citizen Newspaper: 1928 ~ "Dragged the Chain in Snow Behind Sleigh - Peculiar Error of Inexperienced Kingsmere Settler: When talking about errors of the pioneers, it should be remembered that many of those who came out here early last century and took up farming, had known nothing of farming in the land from which they came.
Such was the case with Mr. Ryan, a tailor, who settled on Kingsmere Mountain back in the fifties. [1850's]
Mr. Ryan did a little farming and a little tailoring for the settlers and thus made a living. He did not profess to know anything about farming. Particularly did he not know anything about sleighs, especially sleighs which were taken down steep hills in slippery weather.
And so it befell that Tailor Ryan had hard experiences when he took a load of wood from the mountain to Ottawa.
One of the experienced neighbors said to him one day: "Mr. Ryan, when you use a sleigh in bad weather, you should always use a chain. You'll get into trouble if you don't" "I will", said the tailor.
Took the Advice
The neighbor's advice had reference to the practice of winding a chain around one or both of the runners when descending the Kingsmere Mountain or Lariault's Hill.
The next time Tailor Ryan went to town, he brought a chain. But, instead of tying it around the runner when he again went down the Kingsmere Mountain, he tied it to a sleigh stake and let it drag behind in the snow.
When the more experienced neighbours saw the chain and asked the tailor what it was for and received his answer, they had a great laugh.
Tailor Ryan, however learned and in time knew as much about Canadian practices as the best of them."
