Settling in Millstream
A Publication with information on Millstream
and surrounding communities
Mum was
ahead
of her time as she believed in recycling way back in the 1940s. Tonight
Cliff
and I were glad that she had kept those empty tomato cans as we needed
them
to use as containers for our sap gathering. With hammer and a nail,
Cliff
made two nail holes near the top of each can and then I threaded rabbit
wire
through the openings to fashion a handle.
Luckily we awoke on Saturday morning
to sunshine. Off we headed to the pasture with Dad's brace and bits,
some spiles,
hammer and tomato cans to start our yearly venture into the world of
tapping
maple trees. Cliff bored the holes and I hammered the spiles into the
tree
trunk. We hoped the weatherman would co-operate with chilly nights and
warm
days so the sap would run. Maple syrup tasted some good on Mum's hot
home
made bread.
I wonder if the Keirstead children, who
lived
on Keirstead Mountain hurried to the woods each March to tap the maple
trees
and then carried the birch bark buckets of sap home to their mother.
Benjamin Keirstead was their
ancestor. He
came to New Brunswick with the Loyalists in 1783.
In 1984 the New Brunswick
Bicentennial Commission
sponsored the publishing of "Echoes of the Past - From the Millstream
and
Surrounding Areas" a joint project of: Berwick-Mt. Middleton Women's
Institute,
Millstream Regional Recreational Council Inc., and the Millstream
Senior
Citizens Club with contributions from several individuals on the
history
of the communities of Berwick and Millstream Road, Centreville,
Carsonville,
Collina, Gibbons and Head of Millstream, Keirstead Mountain, Marrtown,
Lower
Millstream, Manitoba Road, Mount Hebron, Mount Middleton, Pearsonville,
Perry
Settlement, Pleasant Ridge, Snider Mountain and Summerfield.
Matthew Fenwick left his home in
England and came to Nova Scotia in the 1770s and in 1801 he came up the
Kennebecasis River and settled on the Millstream where he received an
eight hundred acre
grant.
Samuel and Jane Carson were the first
land grantees of Carsonville. In 1850, William Gaunce was born in this
community and he overcame many hardships to obtain an education from
Normal School and
the University of New Brunswick. In 1933, two years before his death,
he
addressed the United Empire Loyalist Society of Victoria, British
Columbia and spoke of his early life with a description of preparing
food for to last
the winter.
Thomas Musgrove came from Durham,
England in 1795 and was one of the pioneers who settled along the Lower
Millstram Valley. In 1854, two days of heavy rain caused this area to
be hit by a great
freshet which caused loss of livestock and buildings.
Three Sharp brothers were granted a
parcel of land that included most of what is now known as Mount
Middleton but in
earlier times it was referred to as Sharp's Settlement. In 1886
‘A
Sons of Temperance league' was initiated in this community.
The first settlers of Perry
Settlement were
brothers, Robert and William Perry, who came from Ireland in the early
1830s.
Robert Perry married Mary Gailey from Letterkenny County, Ireland and
they
had eight children.
In 1824, the first white baby, Lester
Snyder, was born on Snider Mountain and in 1847 he was married to
Margaret Long.
Tragedy struck the John and Elizabeth
Long family of Snider Mountain in January of 1886 when they lost three
of their children within a week to Black Diphtheria and then again in
July of 1888, three other children died of the dreaded disease.
"Echoes of the Past - From the
Millstream and Surrounding Areas" is a journey to a valley in Kings
County. The book
is filled with memories of the early settlers, the struggle to survive,
churches,
schools, industries and land ownership and can be found in several
research
institutions in New Brunswick.
Query 822
Wade - Turner: I am looking for a
Benjamin
Wade, possibly a doctor, who was born in England on Aug. 28, 1773. He
moved
to Canada at some point and married Sarah Turner who was born in Saint
John.
We do not know when they were married or where. He died on Feb. 27,
1833
in Nova Scotia. They had 7 children: Jane (1818); Ann (1819); Marg
(1822);
Benjamin Jr. (1824); Joseph W. (1826) -our branch of the family; Lidey
(1828)
and Hanah (1831). If there is anyone who can help us locate the places
of
residence of Benjamin Sr. Wade, we would like to hear from you.
-Colleen Wade, 12418 Pacific Hwy
#2,
Long Beach, WA., 98631, USA. E-mail jmaggs@willapabay.org.
Query 823
Palmer - Gooden: I am looking for
the
first name of Miss Palmer from Dorchester, New Brunswick who married
Daniel
Gooden Jr. who was born in 1764. Any information on this Palmer
family
would be appreciated.
-Pat Logan, Box 332, Atlin, BC.,
Canada,
V0W 1A0. E-mail jplogan@atlin.net.
Query 824
Craig: Hugh Craig came to Canada
about
1836 from the Orkneys Islands, Scotland. He was listed in the
Restigouche County 1851 census as being age 27. His wife was Jane
Farrell. Any information on this family would be greatly appreciated.
-Jean Thomas, 4987 Gertrude
St.,
Port Alberni, B.C., V9Y 6K8.
E-mail thomas@cedar.alberni.net.
Query 825
McBride - Griffin - Cogger - Curran: James
McBride was born in Ireland in 1816 and his wife Lydia Curran was born
there
in 1823. A son Richard McBride (1875) married Agnes D. Griffin on Nov.
21,
1901 at St. Joachim's Church, Silver Falls. For many years he farmed on
the
Ashburn Lake Road, Saint John. Their son William Patrick McBride was
born
in 1902 (my father). I am trying to determine the parents of Agnes D.
Griffin.
Was she related to Thomas Cogger of Haymarket Square or to the Griffin
family
in Norton? Any help in leading us to determine the place of origin of
the
family will be appreciated.
-James Richard McBride, 18 Orchard
Drive,
Bedford, N.S., B4A 1R9, E-Mail jim_anne_mcbride@hotmail.com. Telephone (902)835-5229.
Query 826
Leetch: I am searching for
documentation on the birth in Saint John in the early 1860s of Minnie
Ella Leetch. Her cousins
include members of the Wassen, Broadbent and McGarvey families. She
married
Joseph E. Heath in1889 in New Jersey. Their daughters, Mabel Pollard
(Fleet)
and Ella Schoals (Abberley) were born in Brooklyn, New York. Later, the
family
moved to East Orange, New Jersey. Minnie died in Demarest, New Jersey
in
1951. Any information about Minnie, her parents and her brother would
be
sincerely appreciated.
-Carole Dilley, 20 Caiger Lane,
Portsmouth,
Rhode Island, 02871, USA. E-mail jamesed3@home.com.
Query 827
Travis - Merritt - Hodgkins: I am
a
descendant of Caleb Travis who originated in Weschester, New York and
who
I believe may have moved to Nova Scotia - New Brunswick following the
Revolutionary
War. He may have been the son of Jeremiah Travis of the same place. He
was
married first to Susan Merritt daughter of Joseph Merritt and secondly
to
Sarah Hodgkins, both in Lincoln County, Ontario. He may also have
married
a Priscilla (Pruella), last name unknown in or near Granville Nova
Scotia.
It appears he may have come to Ontario along with the Merritt family
but
I cannot determine if they came directly from New York or from New York
via
the Maritimes. Thanks for any guidance given.
-Jack Peltier, 824 Woodpark Way
S.W.,
Calgary, Alberta, T2W 2V8. E-mail peltierj@cadvision.com.
Query 828
McKenney - Hartford: I am
searching for the parents of Clarence McKenney. I believe he was born
in Nova Scotia in1869 of parents, Nicholas and Sarah McKenney. He
migrated to Columbia, Washington
County, Maine as a young man and is listed as being married with two
children
in 1900. He married Alzena Hartford of Columbia. He was buried in
Columbia
in1925. Does anyone have information on Clarence McKenney and the
family
origin?
-Isobel McKenney Brown, 255 East
Pearl
Blvd #322, Burlington, New Jersey, 08016, USA. E-mail ibrown@iopener.net.
Query 829
Tracy - Hopey - Godsoe - Wilmot -
Macleod: Daniel Tracy and Sarah Hopey had ten children. They were
living in Quaco, Saint John County when their first three sons,
Charles, Harris and Jacob, were born as their baptism were recorded in
St. Peter's Anglican Church at
Upham, Kings County. In 1878 the family was living in Sommerville
(Mass). I am interested in finding church records for the other members
of the family
and I am also interested in the families of Godsoe, Hopey, Wilmot and
Macleod
of New Brunswick.
-Harris A.Tracy, 273 Central St.,
Stoughton,
MA., 02072-1940, USA. E-mail hrrsharryt@aol.com.