McCanns Easter break Donegal 2007

Phil McCann was born in Lifford (20 miles from Londonderry) but the family re-located to Glasgow in 1967

russiandoll wrote:Kate says in her book that the police in Portugal took Maddies passport. that does not prove she was in Portugal though does it?. I am just starting to read the posts suggesting she might never have been on the Algarve in May........can't understand what the heck was going on if that was the case but Im intrigued. While the girl in the tennis ball photo looks much older than the compact girl at the pool, I have seen photos of a younger Maddie looking facially very similar to the Donegal photo.

Im beginning to ask myself if she had a twin !

Marian wrote:I certainly think that the stories linking the McCanns to Donegal are as suspect as everything else about them. Why would anyone whose child had been genuinely abducted be planting false stories with no relevance to whatever happened in Portugal? I have tried looking up Irish records and got nowhere; perhaps someone less clueless (that will be nearly everyone) can find the birth records for John and Philomena as they would confirm whether or not they were born in the pub. John was born on 15th February 1959. I can't find Phil's date of birth but she is 47 so would have been born in 1964? Trisha is 51 so year of birth 1960? Nobody seems to have claimed that she was born in the pub too! Not that I believe any of them were.

It does seem feasible that great-grandfather Joe McCann ran the pub at one time hence the place still being known locally as Joe's Bar, nothing to do with the mysterious Joe Peoples.

uppatoffee wrote:Unfortunately online Irish records for births only go up to 1958, so too early for any of the McCann siblings. Scottish records go much more recent and it's possible to see Gerry's birth entry on the Scotland's people website, although you have to order the certificate rather than view details online.

Marian wrote:

It does seem feasible that great-grandfather Joe McCann ran the pub at one time hence the place still being known locally as Joe's Bar, nothing to do with the mysterious Joe Peoples.

uppatoffee wrote:You would think so Daisy, but I am having trouble finding any record of them! I have also checked the 1901 Census transcript for St Johnston and there are no entries for McCann. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I seem to remember reading the father John McCann was actually born in Derry. I can't remember where I saw that though, so don't know if its true. There are certainly more records for McCanns in Derry in the 1901/1911 Census. Kate mentions that John's parents and elder brother all died before he was 16, leaving him to bring up his little brother, who I think was called Hugh.

There is that old fashioned photo of Madeleine with John on Pamalam's site which also appears in the bewk. How old do you think he is in that photo? At least 60. I find it very hard to judge ages! I have just scoured the bewk for references to Gerry's father and it says that he died in March 2005 in hospital in Glasgow, just six weeks after Sean and Amelie were born. However looking on the Scotlandspeople website there don't appear to be any McCanns whose death was registered in Glasgow and who were old enough. Joe Peoples in the article below also has John's year of death wrong, which is odd, but hardly surprising.

Why is nothing in this case straightforward?

Also interesting is that the article says that it was an annual event for the McCanns to visit the county over Easter, but wasn't this supposed to be the first time they'd ever been?

Marian wrote:You can see the name McCanns on the pub. I would guess that it was at one time owned by someone called McCann (remember it's a very common name in Ireland) and that has led to the myth that it was Gerry's parents.

I'm at a loss though to think of a reason for the McCanns to keep the story going.

The pub certainly doesn't appear to have been in use for years.

Daisy wrote:I’ve just signed the guestbook on: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I don’t expect it will stay there long before it’s whooshed though. I'm hoping I'll get an e-mail back with some explanation - I can hope. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Entry:	164	Time:	Thu Dec 1, 2011 02:27pm
Name:	Daisy	City:
Message:
Why have the people of this site (talking about you Joe People's)allowed the good people of Ireland to be manipulated into handing over their money based on the lies that Eileen mcCann owns the pub 'Joe's bar''McCann's bar' This is not true! The McCann's don't even have relatives in Donegal - another lie! Isn't this fraud? - obtaining money by false pretenses. Shame on you.

uppatoffee wrote:I remember reading somewhere that Gerry's mum Eileen was also called Ellen sometimes. I can't remember where it was, but I think it was in one of the Irish newspaper reports of Madeleine's disappearance.

I have found a birth entry for an Ellen Frances Ferry in 1939 in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, which would fit with the dates we have for her.

Daisy wrote:

uppatoffee wrote:I remember reading somewhere that Gerry's mum Eileen was also called Ellen sometimes. I can't remember where it was, but I think it was in one of the Irish newspaper reports of Madeleine's disappearance.

I have found a birth entry
for an Ellen Frances Ferry in 1939 in the Gorbals district of Glasgow, which would fit with the dates we have for her.

Nice one uppatoffee! that's most defintely her. I've read that about her name being Ellen too. The Gorbals eh?
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