Surname Saturday: McFadden

I'm not related to the McFaddens but their close relationship with my Wood family makes think there is a deeper family connection, namely that they originated in the same location in Scotland or Ireland before both families came to Canada in the mid-1850s.

I do know that before the Wood family came to Canada, they were in County Cavan, Ireland.  For how many generations and from which town specifically, I do not know.

James McFadden was born around 1825 in Ireland.  He married Margaret Ragan, who was born around 1823 in Ireland.  James and Margaret had three known children:

• Margaret, born ca. 1858.  "Maggie" married Alexander Wood in Wolverton, Blenheim, Oxford, Ontario, Canada on 5 January 1876.  The family was in Medina, Orleans, New York at the time of the 1880 US Census.  However, they returned to Canada and Margaret died in Chinquacoury, Peel, Ontario on 2 September 1886.  Margaret and Alexander had three known children: Helen Beatrice Wood (Cawston), Arthur William Wood and James Alexander Wood (who was born and died in 1886).
• Mary Ellen, born 10 December 1859 in Blenheim.  Mary Ellen married John Morton in Blenheim on 28 May 1884.  The family resided in the Ayr Twp. area of Waterloo, Ontario.  They had the following: Norman Wood, Margaret Smith Wood (Stonehouse), and Elizabeth Annabella Morton (Babcock).  Following John Morton's death, Mary Ellen married secondly William Wood.  This second marriage was brief as William died in 1926.  Mary Ellen returned to Ayr and died there on 4 November 1936.
• Dorinda, born April 1865.  Dorinda is living with her future brother-in-law, William Wood's family in Lockport, Niagara, New York at the time of the 1900 US Census.  Dorinda would marry Stephen Loads and live in Medina until her death on 30 October 1937.

Perhaps I'm grasping at straws, but I do feel like learning where the McFadden and Ragan families originated from will help me in my Wood family research.  In any event, if anyone knows anything about the origins of any of these families, I'd love to know.