Finding James Doyle ...

Why was I looking for James Doyle?  I already had at least 7 of them on my tree. Surely that was enough!  But I also had suspicions that there were at least 2 more.  Why?

• There was a James Doyle living with Michael & Elizabeth Doyle on the 1861 census of South Crosby Township  (Michael and Elizabeth are my gr-gr-grandparents)
• Gertrude Phelan, Michael & Elizabeth's granddaughter, has a postcard sent to Elizabeth by "Jim" which calls her "Aunt" and mentions Gertrude and Gerald. 
• She also has 2 postcards addressed to Elizabeth Doyle and signed by Gertrude (not the Gertrude who now has the postcards).  One is postmarked Portsmouth, Ontario 1920 and says that she is Jim Doyle's daughter and that she is visiting there. The other is postmarked Toledo, Ohio 1920 and says she has returned home safely.
• Gertrude had travelled alone from Toledo to Ontario, so she was probably born in the late 1890s or early 1900s.

With these clues, I searched the Toledo, Ohio censuses for 1910 and 1920 where I found a James Doyle with a wife, Margaret, and children including Gertrude (b. 1904) and Gerald (Joseph G). On the 1900 census I found them living with another James Doyle - James and Margaret are shown as his son and daughter-in-law.  Ah-ha!  Two James Doyles!  

The Ohio census reords indicated that James Doyle Sr and his family had immigrated from Canada in 1892. A search of the 1881 and 1891 census of Ontario found the family in Portsmouth, Frontenac County. On those censuses, the elder James is married to Margaret. The 1871 census of Portsmouth shows James Doyle, single, and working as a guard at the Kingston Penitentiary.

From there it was easy to find the marriage of James Doyle and Margaret Fitzgerald which confirmed that James is the son of James Doyle and Ellen (Helen) Burns.  The same parents as Michael!  My original theory was true - my gr-gr-grandfather Michael had a brother named James who also came to Canada from Ireland during the potato famine.

There are now 9 James Doyles on my tree (and at least 4 more with a middle name of James).  The two "newest" ones are here: James (1837-c.1901) and James (1872-1941)