Hampton Parish Census
Kathy Cormier has compiled the records of the
1901 Hampton Parish census into a 76-page booklet.
The warm bright sunny days of February were a real break from the bitter cold ones of January. Yet Dad was concerned that Gram was getting cabin fever from being stuck in the house for so many weeks. Hence he suggested she accompany us on a drive to Norton to the store of E. K. Cripps as he needed to purchase some driving caulks for the horse shoes.
Gram was hesitant about going until she heard him say, "We will go to Norton by the Salt Springs Road." No more needed to be said. She went into the long hallway and came back with her hat and coat.
Once the car made a right-hand turn at the Burnt Corner, Gram proceeded to give us a detailed commentary of the folk who used to occupy the houses on this road. She pointed to a little hollow on the left where Amor Dempster's house once was . . her grandmother had lived in the house now occupied by Billy and Martha McAllister . . the Aiton family lived in the Bob Hanlin House as Mrs. Hanlin was an Aiton . . .Harry McCarron homestead had once belonged to the Hogans. . . and at Salt Springs Corner, Hiram Tays had a Blacksmith Shop.
As we neared the Church and Cemetery she became just a little teary eyed as she pointed to her ‘home' on the hill, where death had claimed four of her sisters. It seemed to us that Gram knew everybody who lived on the road and from what she was telling us, she certainly must have done a lot of walking to go visiting all these folk.
For the last few months Kathy Cormier has been spending many hours walking along the roads of Hampton Parish with Enumerators Robert Earle and George Ketchum or maybe I should say she has been retracing their footsteps of 1901 as they took the census.
Kathy lets her fingers do the walking as she types the information from this 1901 census into her computer programme. The completion of her journey has resulted in a 76 page publication transcribed from the 1901 census of the Parish of Hampton, Kings County, New Brunswick, in the order written in the original census. There are 2024 entries showing: Page Number in original census, Dwelling number, Surname, Given Name, Sex, Color, Head of Household or relationship to, Marital status, Date of Birth, Age, Country of Birth, Year of Immigration to New Brunswick, Racial Origin, Nationality, Religion and Occupation.
The census taker recorded the family information as he went house to house. It is very interesting to walk along with him stopping to gather the family data that has been made available to us one hundred years later.
William Purdy was found on page one of Division number two in dwelling ten. He was the Head of the household, aged fifty-nine years with birth date given as March 21, 1842 having been born in New Brunswick. He was a Baptist and his occupation was given as a farmer. In the household was his wife Ellen, daughters Charlotte D. and Georgie M,. son John J. and son Theodore with his wife Millie. Looking at the census one notes his neighbours were probably the Appleby, Hannington, Ryder and Daniels families.
The "1901 Census Index for Hampton Parish, Kings County" compiled by Kathy Cormier is available for viewing at the Kings County Museum, 27 Centennial Road, Hampton, New Brunswick.
Kathy has put on her running shoes and has nearly completed her next publication on the Upham and Norton Parishes from the 1901 Kings County Census, which will also be available for viewing at the Kings County Museum.
* * * *