Paul McGrath, R.I.P.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Paul McGrath. Paul was the staff genealogist for the Canadian family history television show “Ancestors in the Attic” (now in its third season) on History Television. Paul suffered a heart attack in Scotland working on an episode of the program. He passed away on Wednesday, October 22, 2008. He was 49 years old.

I had an opportunity to listen to Paul speak last May after the banquet at the annual conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society. He gave a delightful talk, describing some of the lighter moments from behind the scenes of the filming of History Television’s successful genealogy program, now in its third year of production. "Ancestors in the Attic" has filmed all over the world to try to prove or disprove family legends, re-unite lost relatives and highlight some of the best and unique genealogical resources in the world. Indeed, Paul was in Scotland working on an episode of the program when he was stricken and passed away.

Paul McGrath was a professional genealogist and researcher who specialized in exploring early Ontario and Toronto roots. He also served as Chair of the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and a Director of the Friends of the Archives of Ontario.

Memorial donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (http://ww2.heartandstroke.ca/splash/) or the Canadian Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.ca/?sc_lang=en0).  Condolences for the family may be offered at http://www.eganfuneralhome.com.

Comments

[Cathie]

Is it not a coincidence that Ryan Taylor also of that program recently passed away?

[Pat Jeffs]

Paul McGrath will be greatly missed by his colleagues and friends at the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Although his work with Ancestors in the Attic will be known to more people, he also was an expert on the history, particularly the social history, of Toronto in the 19th century. He wrote several articles on areas which were villages in their own right back then, and which have now been absorbed into the city and forgotten.

Through his website www.ontarioroots.com he provided a number of necessary geographical keys to finding ancestors in the Toronto area. I had the opportunity to collaborate with him on transcribing and indexing the Caverhill Directory of 1859-60, and also in accumulating a street index for the 1911 census.

He had great ideas about combining together many databases of Toronto history. Toronto's earliest complete and extant census, the 1861, is currently being transcribed. Along with Caverhill's Directory and that of Mitchell in 1864, and Paul's earlier work "Toronto in the 1850s: A Transcription of the 1853 Tax Assessment Rolls", a broad picture of Toronto in the mid 19th century can be built. It is to be hoped that this project can come to fruition in other hands.