From Stowaway to Stagecoach: The Evolution of My Family's Favorite Legend

Why I think family legends deserve preservation even when they're not entirely true.

Imagine you’re a young Irish boy from long ago, and you’re in trouble.

Your mother has a switch in her hand and no patience left. You take off running barefoot down the alley, dodging crates and stray dogs, your feet slapping against wet cobblestones.

You don’t know where you’re going, just away. Then you smell it, salt and tar.

The wharf. And a ship, creaking, loading, almost gone.

You don’t stop to think. You just run, straight for the gangplank ...

From Hearing Stories to Collecting Them

When I was young, children's stories were full of cowboys and Indians, Pilgrims and pioneers, orphans, trappers, pirates, stowaways. So you can understand my delight when Mom told me the tale of my Irish great-great-grandpa, John McGuffin, who stowed away on a ship to Canada way back when he was nine years old. Wow. Imagine that!

As an adult, I began to collect McGuffin information from older family members. One cousin gave me a copy of a letter, written by my grandmother's oldest brother.

“John McGuffin (first) was born in County Armagh North of Ireland. When he was 9 years old his mother was a going to thrash him and he said no and she did not for he ran away from her and boarded a boat just as the boat left for this country and she never saw him again.”

-- Excerpt From William McGuffin's 1957 letter to his nephew Bob McGuffin. Full excerpt in Appendix.

By then the allure of stowaway adventure had dulled, and my inner skeptic had learned to ask annoying questions. I mean, where did Grandpa John go to the bathroom while he was hiding? And didn't those bare feet get cold? And honestly, has anybody looked at a map to make sure County Armagh is even close to the sea?

County map of Northern Ireland. CC-BY-SA-2.5 Self-published work User:Maximilian Dörrbecker

I did find a map, and you know what? Maybe it’s possible. There’s a little finger of water way down in the bottom between counties Armagh and Down. That’s called Carlingford Lough, and the town of Newry connects to it from the Newry Canal. It’s been a port town for a long time.

And then there’s a large inland body of water at the top of County Armagh called Lough Neagh. It appears that Newry Canal went all the way between Lough Neagh and the Irish Sea back when Grandpa John was a boy. So, OK, he may have been near some ships.

In this map section you can see Carlingford Lough and the canal going up to Newry and then on up to Lough Neagh. The full public domain file can be found at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Old_maps_of_Northern_Ireland#/media/File:Ireland-Northern_Ireland_Terrain_and_Railroads_-_DPLA_-_20c3891031a93aaed7698e4c9c5bbf37.jpg

Visiting The Old Place in Michigan

In the early 1990s, I visited Michigan. Bob McGuffin took me to see the house where Great Grandma Mary and her family lived. She was the wife of our stowaway's son, John Junior. We found the creek where my grandmother and her siblings used to play. And in my mind, a new story began to take shape.

It’s a Saturday night in the early 1890s. The kids are tired from playing by the creek. They build a fire. Great Grandma makes popcorn. They beg for a story and stare wide-eyed as she describes John's bare feet running up the gangplank. Will he make it before the ship leaves the dock?

The best popcorn maker in the next generation would have been Gramps. If I close my eyes I can see him methodically shaking the popcorn pan — back and forth, back and forth. Grandma would be the story teller this time. The wide-eyed kids would be Mom and her sibs.

It’s a Classic

As the years passed, the internet made it much easier for me to find more family members. I learned that Grandpa John’s three children had many descendants and found out that this story was known in other branches of the family besides ours. 

So, how could I figure out if this story is true? Did John McGuffin really stow away on a ship to Canada when he was nine years old?

Just between you and me, it feels a lot like a classic adventure story. Think about books you’ve read. A child makes a daring escape. Often a boy. Usually an orphan, or neglected, running from some kind of trouble. Think Peter Pan. Huck Finn. Little Orphan Annie. Oliver Twist. 

As a matter of fact, there’s a category of stories called Escape or Secret Journey legends. Often families tell them to explain how someone ended up in a new country without any official records, or maybe to make the whole thing sound a little more epic.

Later someone in the family might find the actual records and realize the ancestor traveled to a new country on a ship, all nice and legal. The real story might seem boring compared to the legend, not as entertaining to tell at family reunions, or on Saturday nights in front of the fire.

The Timeline

One suggestion for verifying old stories is to create a timeline and see what the records tell us. I haven't looked closely at this part of the family tree for a long time, so I got out my notes, and they bring back a lot of memories from the early nineties.

This was back when I was just starting to pull together the pieces of the extended family. We communicated by telephone or U.S. Mail. When I needed to look things up, I went to the library or the local family history center. How quaint.

Old Notes from the Nineties. Scribbles by the author. Composite from Canva.

In this notebook, I can relive the discovery of each new cousin, see the scribbled phone numbers, notes, the dates we spoke, what we said. At first, I only vaguely remembered the story. I knew it was Ireland. But was he a McGuffin or a McMillan? And how many generations back? Then, page by page, the story unfolds.

It turns out that while we’re missing records from Ireland or the trip to Canada, we do have census records, a marriage bond, Uncle Will’s letter, notes from the family Bible, and a couple of death notices. That’s enough for a timeline, so I made one, and I’ll put a copy in the appendix at the end.

I think the most telling information comes from the death notices. They state that he is 85 years old in December of 1896. This would mean he was born about 1811. Of course, every single census record gives him a slightly different estimated birth year, from 1813 to 1815. But at least we have a range: 1811-1815.

Both death notices also say he came from County Armagh in 1830. If he was born in 1811, that would mean he was 18 or 19 when he arrived. At the very youngest, he might have been 15. Age nine does not seem to fit into this equation.

So perhaps he did stow away, but at an older age. Until we find his travel records, I’m not qualified to say. My inner critic thinks it’s unlikely, but that critic isn’t always qualified either. After all, at one point, the critic was ready to dismiss this story as silly family fiction. Drop it. Kick it to the curb. Eliminate it from the family canon.

I can’t say for sure whether it’s true, but I can say that I cherish it. I cherish how my mom used to tell it to me, and how I forgot it for years and then rediscovered it, and with that rediscovery, found so much unknown family history and so many unknown cousins.

An Old Legend for a New Century

I don’t think the story circulates in the family as much now as it did in my grandmother’s day. For them, it was an origin story — a single, high‑stakes scene that provided an easy‑to‑retell answer when the kids asked, “Where did we come from?” 

At the same time, it highlighted the fact that our family thinks courage and resourcefulness are important. And aren’t those important now? So I think it’s worth recirculating, perhaps with some 21st century updates.

My youngest granddaughter will be a good age for exciting adventure stories pretty soon, and when I pass this along to her, I’ll have some choices. 

If you look at an excerpt from Grandpa John’s death notice, it says that he had a contract to carry mail in the old stagecoach days and was a pioneer on the Governor’s Road. These facts may not seem as exciting as stowing away on a ship, but both items have excellent story potential. So, I could reframe, update, or refocus. 

I’m leaning towards the idea of a story book, where my granddaughter is next in line. It’s her turn to be the keeper of the family legend, just like her mother before her, and her grandmother, and all the generations of girls back to that house in Michigan. We don’t know if all the details are true, but we do know that the story is ours. And we know that certain parts seem true, like County Armagh, and cold feet, and salt air, and being a pioneer, and delivering mail in the stagecoach days. 

And we are definitely, absolutely positive that the story goes really, really well with popcorn. 

Something like that. She’s just three now, so I have time to think it through.

What’s your family legend? Does your inner skeptic think it’s true? What message did it highlight for your family? Tell me down in the comments.

Appendix

Full Excerpt from Will McGuffin’s Letter

“John McGuffin (first) was born in County Armagh North of Ireland. When he was 9 years old his mother was a going to thrash him and he said no and she did not for he ran away from her and boarded a boat just as the boat left for this country and she never saw him again. He landed u see. Went to work in railroad from Detroit to Paris and St. Thomas to Paris and he made a fortune so my mother told me. Could not read nor write but could figure in his head. Later he married a woman by name of Hale. Her husband was killed by a trotting horse and John McGuffin the first married her and they had three children: John McG and Bill McG and 1 girl and she married a man by name of Crozier. My mother was out to see them when they were all alive. I had to stay home and keep house for my dad... My mother told me all these things about John McGuffin the first.” Excerpt From William McGuffin's 1957 letter to his nephew Bob McGuffin.

Grandpa John’s Timeline

• 1811–1815: Birth, County Armagh, Ireland (Obits suggest 1811, Census records 1813-1815)

• 1830: Emigration from Ireland, to Dundas, Upper Canada (Supported by death notices, oral history)

• 1830s: Learned wagon-making with William & John Hersee, Dundas / Old Princeton (Mentioned in death notices)

• 1837-03-24: Marriage to Amanda Pelton (widow of Mr. Wells), Port Burwell, Ontario (Marriage bond record. Oral history says “Hale” - Uncle Will likely misremembered.)

• 1841-08-17: Birth of daughter Amanda, Princeton, Ontario (Marriage register, census records, family bible)

• 1844-02-11: Birth of son William G., Paris, Ontario (Census records, death record, family bible)

• 1846-02-09: Birth of son John Jr., Blenheim, Ontario (Census records, family bible)

• 1850: Stockholder in Paris & Ayr Road Co., Brant County, Ontario (Stockholder list confirms involvement in building road)

• 1851: Residence, Blenheim, Oxford Co., Ontario (1851 census)

• 1861: Residence (Head of House), Blenheim, Ontario (1861 census)

• 1871: Residence, (Head of House), Blenheim, Ontario (1871 census)

• 1889-03-01: Death of wife Amanda, Princeton, Ontario (Mentioned in Newspaper)

• 1891: Residence, (Widowed), Blenheim, Ontario (1891 census)

• 1896-12-23 or 24: Death at home of son-in-law Adam Crozier, Princeton, Ontario (Expositor says 23rd; Daily Sentinel Review says 24th)

• 1896-12-26: Funeral at Crozier home; burial at Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, Ontario (Death notices; officiated by Rev. J. Kennedy)

John and Amanda McGuffin’s Marriage Bonds Transcription

Province of Upper Canada

Know all Men by these Presents, that We, John Tait of Port Burwell in the London District, Blacksmith and Thomas McKinsly of the same place, Blacksmith

Are jointly and severally held and firmly bound unto our Sovereign Lord the King in the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds, lawful Currency of the Province aforesaid, to be paid unto our said Lord the King, or His Heirs or Successors: for which payment well and truly to be made, We bind ourselves, our and each of our Heirs, Executors, and Administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these Presents, Sealed with our Seals, at Port Burwell in the District and Province aforesaid, this Twenty fourth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty seven.

The Condition of this Obligation is such, that whereas a License of Marriage has this day issued from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of the said Province of Upper Canada, for the purpose of joining together in Holy Matrimony John McGuffin of the township of Oxford in the London District, waggon maker, and Amanda Wells of the same place, Widow.

Now if it shall appear that there is no affinity, consanguinity, pre-contract, or any other lawful cause or impediment, to hinder their being so joined together, as aforesaid, then this obligation to be null and void, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

in presence of

Thos. Brunell

John Tait

Thomas McKinsly

Marriage Bonds 1837

Public Archives Canada

John’s Death Notice Transcription

Mr. John McGuffin, of Etonia, died on Wednesday, 23rd inst., at the residence of his son-in-law, Adam Crozier, in the 85th year of his age. He was a native of County Armagh, Ireland, and came to Canada in 1830, and went to Dundas and learned the trade of wagon-making. For some time he worked with William and John Hersee in their shop on the Governor’s Road, then called old Princeton. He afterwards became a contractor and built most of the Governor’s Road between Paris and Eastwood and the London Plank road from Brantford to Woodstock. He also did much of the fencing on the Great Western railway, furnishing ties and telegraph poles for nearly all the road. He had the contract for carrying the mails on this road in the old stage coach days. His death removes another of the first settlers on the Governor’s Road, of whom very few now remain to tell of their hardships and trials in hewing out homes for themselves and families. Deceased leaves two sons, William, of Burford, and John, in Michigan; and one daughter, Mrs. A. Crozier, his wife having died some few years since at their home in Etonia. The funeral took place to this cemetery on Saturday, 26th inst., service being held at Mr. Crozier’s by Rev. Mr. Kennedy. The pall-bearers were J. Wallace, G. Minnette, D. Kipp, M. Showers, T. Elmes and M. Cane. In politics, Mr. McGuffin was a Conservative.

— 1897-01-01 The Expositor page 9

If you want to read more about Family Canons, Family Legends, and Legends in general

• Elizabeth Stone's book Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins: How Our Family Stories Shape Us is a classic popular exploration directly on this topic. Look for copies at used book stores. Do not be fooled by oddball prices like 99 dollars. Paperbacks can be found at reputable stores for more like $6.95.

• Stith Thompson Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (Vol. 1–6): This is old, dry, and out of print, but you can find references to it in many places, and Hathitrust has all 6 volumes available online. (Like I said, very dry, but if you want to see every legend or myth ever told, all categorized and subcategorized and numbered …_)

• Volume 1: A to C
  Volume 2: D to E

  Volume 3: F to H

  Volume 4: J to K

  Volume 5: L to Z

  Volume 6: Index

• Jan Harold Brunvand - The Vanishing Hitchhiker - American Urban Legends and Their Meanings: Not specifically about family history but definitely about legends, and much of it pertains.