By Kate Tobbe Ptak.

Last month was the last of Mudi's Memoirs. The first ones related to her life growing up in Bay City, and the last one focused on her father, W.P. Kavanaugh, his prominent role in the fish industry in Bay City, Saginaw Bay, and Lake Huron. W.P. was a savvy businessman, an entrepreneur, and an active conservationist, focused on the best conditions for fish in the rivers, bays, and lakes. For the next few months, I will be writing more about W. P. himself. This first installment introduces him based on his family history.

Peter Kavanaugh, our great-grandfather, immigrated to Canada from Fetherd-on-Sea, a small fishing village near Wexford City, County Wexford, Ireland, when he was just a baby. Census records show that he was born in Fetherd-on-Sea in 1835, but the next two sons, twins, were born in Glengarry, Ontario in 1836(1). This was a decade before the Great Potato Famine that caused many poor Irish families to migrate from their homeland to survive.