Tag Archives: Canada

Sheriff John McCanna – (1882-1885)

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John McCanna, Sheriff of Schoolcraft County (1882-1885).
Photo Courtesy of Sue Cucchiarella.

        The early history of law enforcement in Schoolcraft County is closely tied to the McCanna family. The family patriarch, Henry McCanna was born in 1822 in county Donegal, Ireland. McCanna immigrated first to Canada before settling in the Vermont/New York area in the mid 1840s.  Henry married Nancy (Anna) O’Kane in 1845 in Sandy Hill, New York. Ten children were born to this union, eight of whom survived into adulthood. Read More...

Thomas J. MacMurray – Clergyman, Poet, Lawyer, Lecturer & Journalist

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Thomas J. MacMurray

Thomas J. MacMurray

            He traveled alone on horseback, riding for miles through an uninhabited wilderness before coming at last to a tiny hamlet. While there, he conducted religious services, visited the sick, buried the dead, comforted the grieving, joined couples in marriage and baptized the faithful uninitiated. The names and exploits of many of these frontier clergymen have faded into obscurity with the passage of time. But the Methodist circuit rider who visited Manistique left a legacy that endures to this day. Read More...