Church Records Are Integral Part
of the New Brunswick Provincial Archives
By Ruby M. Cusack
Going to the Kirk on Mother’s Day was always a very special occasion to us. On this Sunday morning, Cliff and I were up early to go to the back of the cemetery to find some white ground phlox for Mum to wear on her lapel as a symbol her mother was deceased. We would wear the pink ones. We also noticed a patch of bluets growing in the pasture so we picked Mum a handful of them and proudly carried them back to the house.
There seemed to be a larger crowd than usual in attendance at the church service as several grown-up family members had come home to spend the day with their mothers. Our family was going to Gram’s house and Mum had made two Washington pies covered with boiled icing to take as dessert.
A different kind of Mother’s Day started way back in the 1700s in Britain. The church parishes covered a very wide area and often had both a parish church and daughter churches, known as Chapels of Ease. Week by week the parishioners worshipped in their local churches but on the fourth Sunday in Lent they were required to attend the Mother Church of the parish and this was referred to as Mothering Sunday. Since many young people worked away from home as servants or apprentices in the homes of the wealthy, they were given the day off to visit their home church and would naturally also be able to visit their families. As they walked along the road, they would pick flowers to take to their mothers. Sweets were often waiting at the church and one special cake was called the Simnel Cake, which was like a fruit cake covered with a layer of almond paste.
New Brunswick Churches of various denominations have taken their records to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, the Mother Institution of New Brunswick. Here the records have been microfilmed. Thousands of people make the trip to Fredericton to search these records in the hunt for information on their ancestors. Copies of many of these microfilm reels have been loaned to institutions throughout North America through the interlibrary loans system and are a beneficial source to researchers who find it difficult to make the trip home. A listing of the church records on microfilm can be consulted at the Provincial Archives or viewed on PANB's website at http://www.gnb.ca/archives/e/default.asp.
Twila Buttimer, an Archivist at the Provincial Archives, has organized church records over the past several years. She and Frank Morehouse, Archivist for the Diocese of Fredericton have been working closely together, with the support of Bishop Hockin, to create an awareness of the Anglican Diocesan Archives and to persuade parishes of the importance of transferring their records to the Archives.
Some parish records have been compiled and indexed. These also can be viewed at the Provincial Archives in Fredericton.
Although our celebration of Mother’s Day in North America appears to have a different origin, it is an opportune time to reflect on all the young children, some as young as ten years, who went out to work as domestics or apprentices. Being allowed to come home to church and family was probably one of the highlights of the year for them.
The ability to view Church Records has also become a highlight in the
lives of family researchers and has made possible the connecting of family
members.
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Query 949
Cox - King - Marter: I am searching for Sophia Amelia Cox. When was
she born and where? Who are her siblings? Her parents are John
S. Cox - born January 26, 1791 in Kingston, Kings County, New Brunswick and
Isabella King, whose father was John King. Sophia Cox married Charles William
Marter at Trinity Church, Digby, Nova Scotia on June 13, 1846. Their
children were all christened at Trinity Church, Digby. Any help will be most
appreciated.
-Beverly Martorano, P.O. Box 1598, Sutter Creek, CA., 95685, USA. E-mail
to
martor@cdepot.net.
Query 950
Connoe - Starkey - Jagoe: I am hoping to find information on two
different family groups that lived in Saint John during the 1800s and possibly
beyond. The family names are Starkey / Starkie and Connor/O'Connor. Jagoe
is a family name too, related through marriage. William Starkey / Starkie
arrrived with family in 1836. He was from Rosscarbery in County Cork,
Ireland. He worked as a carpenter and as a carpenter on ships. He died
about 1855 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Anna Maria (Alcock) Skinner Starkey
married first Joseph Skinner, but he died, she then remarried to William
Starkey about 1824 in Rosscarbery. Her father was Williamm Henry Loftus Alcock,
Capt. Wexford Militia, married to Levina Mary O'Connor in 1797. In
1798, he was arrested and charged as a United Irisman and sent to Botany
Bay, Australia with his brother-in-law, Dr. Bryan O'Connor. When Anna
Maria and family arrived in Saint John in 1836, she applied to teach school
according to records of teachers applications. She may have died as a result
of a kitchen fire in the 1880s. William and Anna Maria Starkey's eldest daughter,
Ann Limerick Starkey, was born in 1827, and married my John Connor in Saint
John in 1844. Their son John Starkey Connor, was born in 1846, in New Brunswick.
The father John Sr. was also a teacher in Saint John according to teacher
application records. John Sr. had a brother and sister in Saint John, Thomas
Conner also a teacher, died there in 1862. Their sister Margaret Conner,
also was a teacher who married Edward Henry Jagoe in 1846. All were teachers
in Saint John and also surrounding counties. John and Ann Connor had
a second son John R. Connor in 1849. John, Ann, and the Jagoes left
for Illinois to join another of John Sr.'s brothers about 1850. Ann
and John R. Connor both died Jan 5th, 1851. There were several other children
of William. and Anna Maria Starkey that are in the 1851 census of St. John
County. Wm. Henry Starkey died about 1875, in Saint John, when he fell off
a bridge and drowned. If anyone has information about any of these persons,
I would love to hear from you.
-Mark O'Connor, RR5 Box 850 Kula, HI., 96790, USA. Telephone 808 878-1626
or e-mail mfoc@maui.net.
Query 951
Flanagan - Aylward: John Flanagan's son’s death certificate states
that John Flanagan was born in New Brunswick in 1814. I also know that John
Flanagan married Bridget Aylward and that they had a number of children,
all of whom were born in Quebec. Can someone provide me with information
as to the Flanagan and Aylward parents and siblings?
-Dan Flanagan, 1608 Garnaas Drive, Austin, Texas, 78758-2222,
USA. E-mail to
dflanagan@austin.rr.com.